Browns’ offensive snap counts, stats, and notes: Week 14

Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 14 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

• Deshaun Watson needs to be better, but this was an encouraging game from the rust department. Compared to his performance against the Texans, where the rust was so bad that I kept thinking, “What the $%#& was that?,” the rust in this game was more understandable. He was late to some reads or late in pulling the trigger, but I didn’t sense panic, even though the offensive line was bad. His mechanics were also much improved in game two. Now, he needs to finish drives.
• I guess Watson needs to remember that he can’t take for granted the spots he’s given when running. On the first drive, I could’ve sworn that Watson ran a full yard past the first down. But the officials marked him short by a full yard, and Cleveland was stuffed on third down, and then Jacoby Brissett overthrew a touchdown on fourth down. In the second half, Watson had a couple plays where he wasn’t stretching the ball out as he reached the marker out of bounds, and the officials nearly marked him short on a bad spot.

• For as good as running backs can be, they can look pedestrian if the offensive line goes to hell, and that’s what has happened with Cleveland’s line these past couple of weeks. I attribute it to the center play, where Ethan Pocic is sorely missed. When Cleveland tries their pulling guard, defenses are just shooting the gap hard and blowing up plays before they can even get started.

• Amari Cooper had two catches early on, but none the rest of the way. I don’t know if Cooper’s injury prevented him from getting open like he usually does, but I suspect it was a factor.
• Donovan Peoples-Jones had a nice day, catching 8 passes for 114 yards. He was also open on the pass that Watson was intercepted on, which could’ve changed the game if Watson gets that ball out early. Later on, Peoples-Jones didn’t catch the fourth down fade, but the defensive back would’ve been pushing him out of bounds even if he had caught it.
• David Bell was back and had his usual 3 catches for 27 yards as a safety valve.
• Michael Woods returned and played 21% of the snaps, but did not catch a pass.

• This seemed like the least that the Browns have played tight ends this year beyond the starter. David Njoku played almost every snap, and on the team’s touchdown drive, he caught three straight passes and was fired up. I seriously wonder why the Browns don’t just feed this guy like 20 times a game, because I think he’s such a mismatch.

• A couple of holding penalties helped stall some of the Browns’ drives, and there was also a snap infraction on Hjalte Froholdt.
• The Browns allowed 2 sacks and 9 quarterback hits.