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October 28, 2016The Browns are still in search of their first win of the season after losing their seventh game of the year to the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-17. The Browns suffered yet another quarterback injury, to Cody Kessler, making the team play their sixth quarterback of the season.1
But, the Browns defense had their own problems. The defense allowed 31 points and 559 total yards of offense to the Bengals offense. It was another tough day for Browns defense. One of the biggest problems the defense faced against the Bengals was Cincinnati’s ability to produce the big play. The Browns were hurt throughout the game by the explosive play of the Bengals. Those plays changed the game and helped lead Cincinnati to points and victory.
So, in this week’s Browns film room, I will examine some of the Bengals big plays against the Browns defense, looking at what went wrong for the defense. Let’s get to the film room!
Browns Film Room Series: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6
40-yard run by RB Jeremy Hill
This early first quarter run by running back Jeremy Hill set up the Bengals first touchdown of the day. On the play, the Bengals line up in the pistol with three receivers out wide and tight lined up on the left of quarterback Andy Dalton. The play was actually supposed to go up the middle, but Hill decides to run to the right end. The Browns have four down linemen and two inside linebackers in the box, meaning the Bengals have six blockers to block the six defenders in the box. If blocked perfectly, this leaves the Browns safeties in charge of making the stop. The Bengals do block the play well, leaving the two safeties the only ones unblocked. The play is an immediate success, but it could have been held to a medium gain. But, the two Browns safeties take horrible angles to tackle Hill. Ibraheim Campbell is first to get a chance to stop Hill, but he is completely fooled by Hill’s juke move. Campbell is frozen, allowing Hill to get past him. Tracy Howard is the second man on the play who could make the stop, but he takes a bad angle and whiffs on the tackle, allowing Hill to go for a huge gain.
44-yard touchdown reception by WR Brandon LaFell from QB Andy Dalton
This touchdown play helped give the Bengals the lead back and the momentum after the Browns’ successful touchdown drive the series before. On the play, the Bengals line up in a shotgun formation with a running back to his right, a three receiver bunch formation in the left slot and a single receiver out wide to the right. The Browns defend the play with single man coverage on the five receiving targets, including the leaking running back, and a single deep safety. The Browns are rushing four down linemen and are blitzing one of their inside linebackers. The two key routes on the play are by tight end Tyler Kroft and receiver Brandon LaFell. Kroft runs a streak route up the seam, while LaFell runs a stutter streak out. Kroft is important because he takes the attention of the deep safety, leaving LaFell one-on-one with cornerback Jamar Taylor. Taylor is completely snookered by LaFell’s stutter in the middle of the route. Taylor thinks LaFell is stopping for a curl route, so Taylor stops in his tracks. LaFell continues up field and causes Taylor to lose his balance and get beat deep. LaFell catches an easy wide open pass from Dalton and strolls into the endzone.
48-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass from QB Andy Dalton to WR A.J. Green
This Hail Mary touchdown pass at the end of the second quarter was probably the biggest blow for the Browns defense. On the play, the Bengals are in a shotgun with four receivers out wide. The Browns rush four with man coverage on the four out wide and two deep safeties. All four receivers run streak routes to the endzone. Receiver A.J. Green is able to beat his man down field, allowing Green to settle in the endzone. The Browns defense was more concerned about the ball, rather than finding where Green was at. Green, then, uses his talent to complete touchdown play. He out-jumps everyone else in the endzone and then uses his eye-hand coordination to make the one handed grab and pull it in through contact. It was a great play by Green, but it was also a play the Browns could have defended better.
74-yard touchdown run by RB Jeremy Hill
This touchdown run was another response score by the Bengals, after the Browns drove down for a touchdown in the opening series of the second half. On the play, the Bengals line up in a single back set with a receiver out wide on the left and the other receiver motioning to the left end of the line. The Bengals also have two tight ends lined up on the right side of the line. The Browns have seven defenders in the box against this formation. The Bengals design a run to the right end of the line with two pulling linemen leading Hill to the hole. The Bengals once again block the play perfectly. The tight end on the end of the right side of the line seals the inside part of the hole. The two pulling offensive linemen come to the end of the line and pushes the oncoming linebacker to the outside, sealing the outside of the hole and completing a huge gap for Hill to run through. With no penetration coming from the left side of the line, the last line of defense is safety Ibraheim Campbell. But, he once again takes a horrible angle on the play, forcing him to have to dive to attempt to take down Hill. Campbell misses, giving Hill a clear path to the endzone. The Browns defense had no penetration and had no defender beat his block, so the play came down to one player. And Campbell failed on the play.
48-yard catch by WR A.J. Green from QB Andy Dalton
This big catch led the Bengals to a field goal and their last points of the game. On the play, the Bengals line up in a shotgun with a running back to the right of Dalton, three receivers out wide and a tight end on the left end of the line. The Browns have man coverage on the outside with a safety on the right side of the field. The Bengals run a play action pass that confuses quite a few Browns defenders, including Tramon Williams in the slot. Williams bit on the fake, making safety Derrick Kindred have to come up and cover the receiver in the slot, who is running behind Williams and is about to be wide open in the middle of the field. Kindred going down to cover the slot forces a one-on-one matchup between Bengals receiver A.J. Green and Browns cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun. This is an obvious mismatch to say the least. But, Boddy-Calhoun does not do that bad. He is able to stay with Green for most of the way, falling a little behind at the end of the route. Dalton throws a dime to Green, who makes a great one-handed catch. Boddy-Calhoun did all he could do, but without any help over top, it was a huge mismatch advantage for the Bengals.
Highlight of the Game
The highlight of the game was quarterback Kevin Hogan’s running performance against the Bengals. On the day, Hogan rushed seven times for 104 yards and a touchdown. It was fun to watch Hogan be able to run all over the Bengals defense. His 28-yard touchdown run was impressive display of athleticism from the quarterback. His running was a bright spot, but his passing performance in the game is a different story.
Lowlight of the Game
The lowlight of the game was the Browns run defense. After having a solid start to the season, the Browns run defense returned to its horrible 2015 form. The Browns allowed 271 yards rushing in the game. The Bengals averaged nine yards per rush against the Browns defense. The Browns unit allowed huge chunks of yards and gave terrible memories of the past few years run defenses.
- Hello, Kevin Hogan. [↩]
3 Comments
Indians. Cavs.
I’ve never cared less about the Browns than I do this year.
Hats off to you Joe for doing your best to make lemonade here.
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