Browns’ offensive snap counts, stats, and notes: Week 5

Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 5 game against the Indianapolis Colts.

• It was an awesome first half for Baker Mayfield, who was 19-of-28 for 228 yards and 2 touchdowns before the intermission. The Browns must have felt that Indianapolis would stack against the run — Kareem Hunt, Andy Janovich, and D’Ernest Johnson ran 12 times for 21 yards in the first half. Kevin Stefanski utilized the playaction well, and while Mayfield was finding some open receivers, he was also taking some risks and counting on athletic plays from the likes of Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham.
• In the second half, the Colts adjusted their defense, and Mayfield and the passing game took a big turn downward. After the half, Mayfield was 2-of-9 for 19 yards and 2 interceptions. To Mayfield’s defense, two of those incompletions were good third down decisions by him to Jarvis Landry that would have extended drives, but Landry uncharacteristically dropped them.
• I picked on a lot of things with Mayfield’s mechanics last year. This year, I think better play design by Stefanski has helped him perform better. Sailing passes on seam routes are still an issue, though, as Jake Burns points out:

• Sometimes you have to play chess, and despite the Browns’ top-ranked run offense heading into the game, I liked how they handled the run-pass balance. There wasn’t a big commitment to the run in the first half, but once the Colts switched things up in the second half to cover the pass more, the holes for Kareem Hunt started to open a bit more. Hunt also continues to show his value as a receiver, catching a touchdown pass in the back of the end zone in a scramble drill.
• D’Ernest Johnson played 30% of the snaps this week as the backup, but those reps got a little higher in the final series when Hunt started cramping. Johnson ended up coming away with the biggest run of the game, a 3rd-and-9 draw with some key blocking that went for 28 yards.
• Andy Janovich had two carries. Even though they went for just four yards, I liked them. The first one was a nice play design that had a hole, but hey, the Colts are just a good defense and a defender chopped Janovich’s legs down. The other one was a first-down carry in short yardage. Forcing a defense to prepare for those things sets up things to work off of it in future weeks too.

• This was another solid week for Odell Beckham, who made one heck of a catch, and secured all the other catchable passes thrown his way. The Browns even dared to test the Colts’ defense with a Beckham pass, and he hit Austin Hooper for a first down on a nice throw. I love that Stefanski is finding a way to motivate Beckham and all-the-more. Even without a big statistical receiving day, he still felt like a big part of the offensive success. Beckham also had one end around that was sniffed out by the Colts, but Cleveland used him a few times on fake end arounds too.
• Jarvis Landry had an excellent first half, but dropped two passes in the second half that would’ve probably extended drives. I’m not going to bag on Landry, he’s earned his respect and knows he needs to haul those easy ones in:

• At last, Rashard Higgins got to be the team’s third receiver! He caught all three passes that came his way, including one in the end zone for a touchdown. That chemistry that we all know is there between he and Mayfield is something Stefanski has to value. On top of that, Higgins had a key block on Johnson’s 28-yard run to close out the game.

• Austin Hooper made some nice catches this week despite taking immediate hits. After a slow receiving start to the year, Hooper is starting to come on with 5 catches in each of the past 2 games.
• David Njoku returned to action and like we saw in the preseason/Week 1, is being valued as a third down receiving threat. Although I had to laugh at this tweet, because it seems oh-so-true in terms of fearing about his ball security or an injury:

• Joel Bitonio was the Browns’ highest-graded offensive player on Sunday, per PFF, with a grade of 80.4.
• Wyatt Teller exited after 14 snaps with a calf injury. I thought he would return when he was designated as probable to return, but that status shifted to questionable, and then out. Even though Chris Hubbard may not be the best, he has shown his value by being able to fill in for both Teller and Jack Conklin during this four-game winning streak.
• Once again with Jedrick Wills, we’re not setting a guy who is struggling for four quarters. As a rookie, he just simply gets beat here and there. Unfortunately for him this week, it led to some negative plays for the offense, including this shot on Mayfield and an interception: