Browns’ offensive snap counts, stats, and notes: Week 9

Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 9 game against the Denver Broncos.

• For the first time this season, Mayfield did not turn the ball over in a game. He also achieved his second-highest quarterback rating of the year with a 90.7. Mayfield played an OK game, and perhaps the most encouraging thing was in the fourth quarter, when he started to finally throw the ball to his top two receivers and let them make magic happen.
• On the downside, we’re still not seeing the best balls from Baker Mayfield. In the first half in the red zone, Antonio Callaway was targeted over the middle, but the defender reached his hand around to knock the pass away. Just a little higher or further out in front, and it’s six points. Mayfield also missed an open screen pass at the start of the second half when he threw it too high from a blitz.

• There is no doubt that Nick Chubb ran hard, earning his 65 yards of rushing. His YPC was hurt by a couple of plays in which he was hit for 3-5 yard losses when Denver sold out for the run.
• The story of the game was the amount of reps that Dontrell Hilliard was getting, in key situations no less. Look, if this was Duke Johnson, then I would be a little more OK with it, but Hilliard is still a poor man’s Duke Johnson to me. For a team (Cleveland) that is desperate for a win, you cannot take your MVP off the field for those key situations. I thought that maybe the altitude played a factor, but that theory went out the window when Hilliard randomly received the first carry to begin the second half.
• Kareem Hunt returns this week against Buffalo. Seeing Freddie Kitchens’ management of talent, who knows what he’ll do. It’s unpredictable. For all we know, Kitchens could just give Hunt 80% of the snaps and turn Chubb into a backup.

• The cleat situation was dumb. Follow the uniform guidelines.
• Although it still could’ve been better, this was really the first game of the season (around the fourth quarter) in which Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry looked ready to take over the game. In other words, get the ball in their hands, and let them make magic happen. These guys don’t just catch the ball well, they are good after the catch. The ridiculous thing is that it took eight games to get any sense of that coming to fruition.
• For the last play of the offense, I’m more upset that Landry was open right away. By the time Mayfield threw it, two defenders were closing in on Landry to contest the catch.
• While I still much prefer Rashard Higgins, I have never been against Antonio Callaway, so it was nice to see him haul in 4 catches, including a nice catch-and-run screen pass. Higgins saw 20% of the snaps. KhaDarel Hodge played eight snaps. Normally a special teamer, I have to assume that his reps came as a result of the injury to Ricky Seals-Jones.

• Props to Landry for helping Demetrius Harris stay on his feet to turn a three yard gain into about a 10 yard gain. Harris was well out of the end zone earlier in the game when he caught a pass for what he hoped was a touchdown. The throw led Harris, but Harris looked to be tapping his feet like he still thought he had plenty of room.
• Stephen Carlson saw his first action (31% of the snaps). He was targeted once on a play that could’ve been a chunk gain, but the throw was behind him as Mayfield either wanted him to sit in the opening, or was just inaccurate. Ricky Seals-Jones left with an injury.

• Greg Robinson returned to the starting lineup. He left twice for a total of two snaps in the second half due to injury, but quickly returned.
• Wyatt Teller finally started with the Browns and played every snap. The team’s run blocking grades were quite terrible on Sunday, per PFF: