Gordon has serious shot at 1,000-yard year

Rookie Browns receiver Josh Gordon, a.k.a. Gordo, is having one of the best rookie seasons in Browns history with 34 catches, 646 yards, and five touchdowns.With four games remaining, Gordo needs to average 89 receiving yards per game to hit the millennium mark.

Time after time this year, Gordon has blazed¹ by the defense to haul in a Weeden bomb for a long gain. His big play ability has made the Browns offense even fun to watch at times this year. And that’s saying a lot for an offense that in recent memory has looked as if they were playing a different sport than Green Bay, New England, and New Orleans.

If Gordo is able to reach 1,000 yards, it will mark only the 11th time in Browns history a player has done so, and will be the first since both Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow did so during The Season of Dreams in 2007. Coincidentally it’s been since ’07 that the Browns have had anything that remotely resembles an offense. The words vertical, passing, and game weren’t even thought of to be used in the same sentence from 2008-11. However, this season has been different in large part due to Gordon. The ability Gordon has to burn the roof off a defense not only results in big plays for him, but opens up the underneath routes, as well as keeps safeties back which creates more running room.

At a fat 19 yards per catch, Gordon is third in the NFL in yards-per-catch, only one yard behind leader Vincent Jackson of Tampa Bay.

Would it be nice to have Gordon lead the league in yards per catch? Of course.

Would it be great to see him reach 1,000 receiving yards? No doubt.

But regardless of where the numbers end up, Gordon’s impact on the Browns can’t be denied.

The 21 year old has blazed² onto the scene and helped transform the Browns into a football team with an actual offense. The Browns won’t have a second round pick in this year’s draft, but they will have a legit threat lined up out wide for the years to come.

1. No pun intended… [↩]
2. Pun may or may not have been intended [↩]