Browns’ offensive snap counts, stats, and PFF notes: Week 12

Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 12 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

• The great stretch for Baker Mayfield continued on Sunday, when he threw for a career-high 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Remember the years when it’d be tough for a Browns quarterback to even throw for 20 touchdowns in an entire season?
• In Mayfield’s last 5 games, he’s thrown for 13 touchdowns to just 2 interceptions. Everything is clicking for him, especially since Freddie Kitchens took over the playcalling. Mayfield had a PFF game grade of 80.3, the third-highest grade on offense.

• The Browns didn’t light Cincinnati up on the ground, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have a commitment to it. When was the last time a Browns running back (Nick Chubb) had 28 carries in a game? He grinded out those 84 yards, and also continues to show impressive hands as a receiver, including the incredible behind-the-defender’s-head catch.
• It’s kind of funny how we complained about Duke Johnson’s utilization earlier this year. But when he only plays 28% of the snaps against a linebacker-thin Bengals team, it doesn’t get brought up. To be fair, much of the second half was milking the clock and short drives, so Chubb got that workload.
• Dontrell Hilliard got three snaps; at least one of which was in the full house formation.

• The Browns’ success over the past two games has involved spreading the ball around a lot, and the players are doing their jobs when called upon. I do wonder if Jarvis Landry is at all frustrated with his lack of targets despite the winning, since he’s used to catching so many passes.
• Antonio Callaway just catches everything now! He caught a touchdown pass and also had a nice sideline grab where he kept both feet in. Rashard Higgins, for the second week in a row, had his only catch come on a somewhat-improvised scramble play.

• What a game for David Njoku! Yes, his decision to leap from the 4 yard line, thinking he was going to fly into the end zone, was pretty laughable, but somehow it worked! He had the top receiving grade amount tight ends (92.1) for Week 12, and that mark was also the highest on offense for Cleveland.
• Darren Fells also got a touchdown grab in. Orson Charles is staying on this roster for his passion and feisty nature. Seth DeValve isn’t being utilized much still, but again, that complaint gets overlooked when you keep winning.

• The Browns allowed 0 sacks and 1 quarterback hit. It was another great day in pass protection for Cleveland. Kevin Zeitler (79.0) and Joel Bitonio (75.1) were the Browns’ 4th- and 5th-highest graded offensive players.
• Per PFF, “Mayfield was pressured on just five of 27 dropbacks against the Bengals.” They also say that “since head coach Gregg Williams took over, Mayfield has been pressured on just 23.4 percent of his dropbacks, the fourth-lowest rate for any quarterback in the league.”