Browns blame 'certain situations' for lack of run game in opening loss to Dallas Cowboys

CLEVELAND — The first offensive play of the season opener for the Browns was a 4-yard run by Jerome Ford. The last offensive play of the game was a 2-yard touchdown run by Ford.

In the 68 plays between those two Ford runs, there were a total of 12 carries by a Browns running back. There were five more by quarterback Deshaun Watson, but most of those appeared to be scrambles instead of designed runs.

That is a total of 14 rushing attempts by running backs, contributing 54 net yards. Add in the quarterback runs, and it's 19 carries for 93 yards.

The Browns obviously went into the opening-day loss to the Dallas Cowboys knowing they weren't going to have Nick Chubb, one of the best running backs in the league, available to them. Chubb, on injured reserve, won't be available until Week 5 at the Washington Commanders at the earliest.

Still, there was a belief the Browns weren't going to abandon the running game even with a new offensive coordinator and their best back still coming back from a knee injury. The play-caller, coach Kevin Stefanski, remained the same and defended the lack of true runs against Dallas.

“No, and I think the mentality for us is to be an explosive offense, whether that’s through the air or through the ground," Stefanski said this week. "We have a lot of faith in our guys. Obviously, we didn’t throw it well enough yesterday. We didn’t run it well enough yesterday. So those are things that we’ll make sure we get corrected.”

The Browns' next opponent, the Jacksonville Jaguars, are in the same boat of coming off an opening-day loss. However, unlike Cleveland, the Jaguars at least lost to the Miami Dolphins at the buzzer instead of being down double digits for the final two-plus quarters.

Jacksonville's defense was hardly the big issue in the 20-17 loss in Miami. The Jaguars' run defense certainly wasn't, limiting the Dolphins to just 3.2 yards on 25 carries.

The Dolphins were sixth in the NFL last year in rushing yards per game at 135.8. The Browns, meanwhile, were 12th at 118.6.

However, the Browns were also fourth in rushing attempts per game at 30.5. On Sunday against Dallas, they finished 25.6 yards and 11.5 carries behind their season averages from a year ago.

"Yeah, I think the run game's always going to be a priority," said Ford, who ran for 44 yards on 12 carries. "I think our coaches and our O-line, I think everybody loves to run the ball. But, like you said, certain situations."

Those "certain situations" almost certainly have to include the Browns finding themselves in a 20-3 halftime deficit, and a 27-3 hole one series into the third quarter. The natural inclination would be to open up the offense then to try to play catch-up with the Cowboys.

The only problem was the Browns only ran it six times for 23 yards while falling into that 17-point halftime deficit. They ran it six times for 40 yards on their final drive of the game, although half of those were quarterback scrambles netting 28 yards.

There was also the fact the game was played with the Browns spending a large percentage of it in second- and third-and-long situations. That's certainly not conducive to running the ball.

"I don't think so," Ford said. "I think we just kind of, let's get the play call from coach, whatever it is, run or pass, and we follow the plan that's in place. Me personally, I feel like I'm a gear in a big system, and just making sure that I do my job, whether it's pass, whatever play is called in, I just make sure that my gear is turning and if we all individually make sure the gears are turning, the machine will work."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns blame 'certain situations' for lack of run game in opening loss to Dallas Cowboys