The Cleveland Browns hadn't even reached 120 rushing yards in a game in 2015 before grinding out 230 yards in a 24-10 win against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. It was easily the team's best rushing performance of the season and Isaiah Crowell thinks it's a long time coming for a team that's already eliminated from the postseason.
Isaiah Crowell knows why the Browns are 3-10
The Browns ran for 230 yards on 41 rushing attempts against the 49ers, and Isaiah Crowell thinks the team could have more wins if it committed to the run all year.
Crowell, 22, racked up 145 rushing yards with two touchdowns on 20 carries, notching the first 100-yard rushing performance of his career. Rookie Duke Johnson also tallied a season-best 78 rushing yards on 13 carries.
No team had fewer rushing yards entering Week 14, although the big day moved the Browns past the San Diego Chargers and Detroit Lions to No. 30 in rushing. Only three teams in the NFL have fewer rushing attempts than Cleveland.
If that were different, and the Browns committed to the rushing attack all season like the team did on Sunday, Crowell thinks Cleveland would have found more victories earlier in the season. Via Nate Ulrich and Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal:
”“I think about it all the time,” Crowell said. “Right after the game, I thought about it. What if we did that all the time? We’d have a lot more victories.”
At 3-10, the Browns are tied with the Tennessee Titans and San Diego Chargers for the NFL's worst record. Cleveland head coach Mike Pettine isn't ready to admit that an increased emphasis on a rushing attack would've made a difference in previous losses, though.
“I’m not looking back at anything that went behind us and have regrets,” Pettine said. “We have no control over what came before today. We only control moving forward. We’re not going to sit here and lament. A lot of it was matchups, a lot of it was defensive looks that we felt we could take advantage of.”
Still, Pettine and plenty of players on the Browns offense spoke about the advantages that come with a consistent ability to run the ball.
“There were holes for our backs to run through, and when they were there, they hit them,” Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel said. “When our defense plays the way that they did, run the ball the way that we did and then that opens up some of the play-action pass game. It’s a good combination for us to come out and score some points.”
Manziel finished with 270 passing yards, a touchdown and an interception, completing 21 of 31 passes on the day. He connected with Brian Hartline eight times for 107 yards, making it the first time since 2009 that the Browns finished with a 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver in the same game.
In the last 30 seasons, the Browns have finished a year with a 1,000-yard rusher just four times. The last was Peyton Hillis in 2010 and it was Jamal Lewis in back-to-back seasons in 2007 and 2008 before that. Top draft selections like Trent Richardson, Montario Hardesty, Terrance West and William Green haven’t panned out for the Browns and have stunted the team’s ability to establish the run.
Even if the Browns commit to running the ball for the rest of the year, it could be tough sledding in the final three weeks. Next up is a game against the Seattle Seahawks, owners of the second-best rushing defense in the NFL. After that, the Browns face the No. 7 rush defense of the Kansas City Chiefs and the No. 6 rush defense of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Crowell might be right that running the ball more could’ve led to more victories earlier in the year, but it might be up to Manziel to lead the team to some wins to round out the year.
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