Browns’ offensive snap counts, stats, and notes: Week 2

Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 2 game against the New York Jets.

• For the type of quarterback performance that Jacoby Brissett had this week against the Jets, and how he helped lead the team to a two-score advantage with under two scores to play, it’s insane that he was saddled with the loss. He was darn-near perfect on the day, playing complementary football with the ground game. He also did some things with his legs that you typically don’t see from him in his career. The lone mistake came on the final pass, an interception that ended a comeback hope, but that’s a tough situation because if you throw an incomplete pass, you don’t know if you’ll have enough time to run another pass play to try to get that many yards for field goal range — so you kind of have to take a chance still.
• Brissett received a grade of 83.2 from PFF.

• To a degree, I would say that Kareem Hunt made a mistake by twice running out of bounds on first down plays, which prevented the clock from running before the two-minute warning. The second-to-last of those plays had him go out of bounds with 2:02 to play, but if he falls down in bounds, the clock goes to the two-minute warning and it’s over. Nick Chubb could’ve done the same when he ran for a touchdown, but you don’t expect to lose in that circumstance, even against all odds.
• With all of that said, Chubb and Hunt were great on the day, both on the ground and in the screen game. Both backs do need to be careful about not needing to be Superman when it comes to hurdling; on Hunt’s hurdle, he actually did lose the football, but recovered it (the announcers didn’t catch it, so it sort of went unnoticed).
• Chubb received a grade of 82.6, per PFF.

• Amari Cooper had a No. 1 receiver-type-of-day this week, clicking with Brissett on all cylinders. He was the Browns’ highest-graded player on offense with a grade of 90.9. Of course, you wish he could’ve been able to get his hands on that onside kick, or knock it out of bounds.
• Donovan Peoples-Jones was only targeted once, on a nice diving catch in the end zone. DPJ did all he could on that play, but the replay review ruled it an incomplete pass.
• Anthony Schwartz wasn’t targeted this week and saw a reduced role, with rookie David Bell having more snaps.

• We saw David Njoku get more involved in the passing game this week, but he also made a couple of mistakes in the fourth quarter: dropping a wide open pass, and committing a false start. He also couldn’t keep his feet in bounds when he high pointed a ball in the end zone, even though that’s a play I’d usually expect him to be able to keep the feet in on.
• Harrison Bryant had a 30-yard catch-and-run off of a broken play.

• The offensive line did their job again, and credit to James Hudson for playing well at right tackle for these first two weeks before likely giving way to Jack Conklin.
• Joel Bitonio was the Browns’ highest-graded offensive lineman with a grade of 82.3, per PFF.
• Brissett was sacked once and took five quarterback hits.