Browns’ offensive snap counts, stats, and notes: Week 6

Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 6 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

• This was an ugly performance for the Browns in general, and that obviously includes Baker Mayfield. For as much as the offensive line was responsible for the pressure he faced and Kevin Stefanski responsible for putting together a bad gameplan to account for the Steelers’ pressure, Mayfield didn’t do the team any favors with his pick six on the first drive. It set the tone right away that, “I’m fearful and on edge that I won’t have time to throw.” Pittsburgh smelled the blood in the water and kept on coming.
• PFF is worried about the play of Mayfield in general, despite the Browns’ 4-2 record.

• I don’t think there was much to evaluate with the running backs yesterday. There is nothing that Kareem Hunt could have done besides what he did really. Now, looking at a few of the plays, I did think to myself, “Nick Chubb wouldn’t have gone down that easily.” And it was a down game for D’Ernest Johnson, who dropped a swing pass, and also fumbled the ball on a give up draw play backed up at his own end zone.
• Andy Janovich should have definitely been leveraged more in this game as an extra blocking back for Mayfield. Cleveland could have had him on the edge of either side to help offer some protection, but he only played seven snaps.

• Odell Beckham led the way in snaps for the Browns. I don’t get the complaints about his behavior. He tried to fire up the offense when they weren’t playing well. When the game got out of reach and his day was done, he lightly tossed his helmet to the floor and took his cleats off, as I’m sure Pittsburgh fans in the stands were chirping at him. I saw a guy who was hungry to win, and hated the way the game went down, especially when the gameplan (given Pittsburgh’s run defense) should have been to leverage Beckham heavily in one-on-one match-ups with the Steelers’ corners.
• Rashard Higgins had a touchdown for the second week in a row. It’s good that he is showing off his receiving skills, but given the team’s blocking nature, I get the feeling that KhaDharel Hodge will be put back in the lineup when he’s ready to return.
• Jarvis Landry was the team’s highest-graded player on offense by PFF, but only with a grade of 64.7.
• Taywon Taylor saw some reps at receiver for the first time this season.

• David Njoku saw an uptick in snaps (40%), but now a report is out that he would still like to be traded before the trade deadline. At this point, given what I’ve seen from Austin Hooper and Harrison Bryant, I wouldn’t mind trading Njoku. However, I imagine that his value is to low that I don’t really want a draft pick for him — if the team could find a depth safety or linebacker, then sign me up.
• Austin Hooper had five catches, but seemed to be getting absolutely blasted every time he was tackled by a defender.

• This was a terrible performance by the Browns’ offensive line, starting with the right side of the offensive line, where Jack Conklin could not handle T.J. Watt. Part of the problem was that both Pittsburgh edge rushers were timing the snap count very often, putting the tackles in a bad spot. Chris Hubbard was a big downgrade from Wyatt Teller, and that is where you lose a lot of that consistency in the running game. Cleveland is great when they can keep an opposing defense off balance with their zone blocking, but against a unit like Pittsburgh that just bullies them, that throws that out the window: and one on one, Pittsburgh is just better.