CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Versatility shines in Kevin Stefanski’s offense. The ability for a tight end to line up wide, on the line or in the backfield is valued. A running back splitting into the slot or out wide is required.
It’s something we talk about a ton when Kareem Hunt’s name comes up or one of the pass-catching tight ends gets mentioned.
You know who we don’t talk about? Jarvis Landry.
Landry can do a lot of things within this offense once he settles in as he works away from his offseason hip surgery. He can line up anywhere on the field. He can, of course, catch, but he can run, throw and, most importantly, block effectively. In fact, he loves to block.
When I rewatched Thursday night’s games, there were three plays, in particular, I noticed from Landry.
At 13:28 of the second quarter, Landry walked in behind the tight end and left tackle and did some lead blocking for Nick Chubb.
At 11:50 of the third quarter, the Browns went back to it. This time Landry went through the line and ran a route while Mayfield ran a play action fake.
At 10:15 of the third quarter, on 4th-and-2, he motioned slowly right to left and, on the snap, changed his tempo and, with some help from an Austin Hooper pick, caught a pass and gained 21 yards.
Add Landry to the list of players on this roster I’m looking forward to seeing Stefanski figure out as the 2020 season moves along.
Here are more observations from rewatching Thursday night’s Browns win:
* I loved the aggression of going for it on fourth-and-goal in the third, but I was disappointed with the approach. Stefanski has been creative on the goal line and wasn’t on this series. Giving Chubb a shot or two to finish the drive was fine, but Stefanski has been good so far at scheming players open in these situations and didn’t do it on this series.
Sunday, the Browns went big and got David Njoku wide open for a touchdown in a goal-to-go situation. Thursday, they spread the Bengals out and got Kareem Hunt free for an easy six earlier in the game. This is the type of stuff teams have been doing to the Browns for a long time and they’re finally figuring out ways to do it back, except in this instance.
Then again, it could have been whatever the Bengals were doing after Giovani Bernard’s score was taken off the board and Tyler Boyd failed to haul in a sure score, so, in reality, handing the ball to Chubb and letting him try and get in isn’t so bad.
* Adrian Clayborn was the signing no one talked about, but he showed up in the short time he was on the field on Thursday before leaving with a hip injury. In 18 defensive snaps, Clayborn had a sack, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. His sack came on 3rd-and-6 on the Bengals' opening drive and forced a field goal. He earned an overall grade of 76.5 from Pro Football Focus.
Another impact from Clayborn? After practices during training camp, he would work with Porter Gustin on the side. Gustin had a nice game on Thursday filling in after Clayborn left the game.
* Clayborn was part of the good on the defense. The defensive line lived up to the hype in this game. They also showed off some versatility.
Myles Garrett still lined up mostly at left end, but, according to data from PFF, he spent 33 of his 84 defensive snaps at right end and lined up inside on four snaps. One of those was the play when he stripped the ball from Joe Burrow.
Sheldon Richardson, whose versatility is underrated, moved to left end for 17 snaps and right end for two.
Even Larry Ogunjobi got a little work on the ends.
Some of this is likely the result of not having Olivier Vernon and losing Clayborn, but versatility and movement on the line is a good thing.
* The rest of the defense -- oh, boy. Not sure what to really say other than they need to get healthy and hope the players who are missing can help fix this. Getting Ronnie Harrison up to speed will help, too.
* The deep touchdown to Odell Beckham Jr. was perfect play design. In 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end, three receivers), they moved Harrison Bryant into the backfield as an offset fullback, had him lead Chubb to the right on play action with the rest of the line and created a one-on-one matchup on the left for Beckham, which he won.
* Rashard Higgins played just five snaps and it’s becoming clear there might not be much of a role for him right now. KhaDarel Hodge is the third receiver and the Browns simply don’t go very deep on the receiving depth chart. JoJo Natson is getting more opportunities as the fourth receiver because of the eye candy he gives the defense when he comes around the end -- one of these days they’re going to hand it to him -- and you don’t want take snaps away from Kareem Hunt or Chubb just to force Higgins on the field.
* I didn’t anticipate special teams being such a problem. I had concerns about the kicking game with Austin Seibert, but the unit was so improved last season under Mike Priefer, I thought they would be fine this year.
Last week, Devin Duvernay returned a kickoff to the Ravens' 37. Thursday night, Cincinnati opened the game with a return to their 39 and another to their 43. It’s probably time to stop getting cute and just kick the ball out of the back of the endzone.
* Here’s the Joe Burrow note: The thing I like best about him is I trust him already. I don’t get nervous wondering what’s going to happen when he drops back, even after he threw one of the season’s worst interceptions to Melvin Ingram in Week 1.
Burrow has yet to show the ability to hit big plays -- he’s just 1-for-12 on throws of over 20 yards, according to PFF -- but his calm and toughness are evident and he makes throws you notice. Those intangibles don’t matter if he can’t consistently attack outside the numbers, but it will come as he gets more comfortable.
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