According to a tweet from Football Insights, the Cleveland Browns ranked 29th out of 32 in Week 1 in explosive offensive play rate. The only three teams below Cleveland were the Chicago Bears, Washington Commanders, and Carolina Panthers, respectively:
https://twitter.com/fball_insights/status/1833530398569382221
Football Insights defines an explosive play as a rush of 10 or more yards or a pass of 20 or more yards. To make matters worse, the first explosive play of the season didn’t come until the third quarter when tight end David Njoku caught a pass for a 29-yard gain but suffered an ankle injury on the play.
The other explosive plays from the Browns in this game came in the fourth quarter, when the game was out of hand, via a Jerome Ford rush, a Deshaun Watson rush, and a Pierre Strong Jr. catch.
For anyone who watched the game even once, this was evident from the eye test alone. The Browns couldn’t create big plays or stay ahead of the chains, which led to a catastrophic result.
On the bright side, the Ravens, Steelers, and Bengals ranked 25th, 26th, and 28th, respectively.
