Popular Podcast Previews Browns

On the latest episode of the Athletic Football Show Podcast, Hosts Robert Mayes and Nate Tice did their preview episode of the AFC North as they spoke about each team. They had many interesting things to say about all the teams in the division but the following things of note were said in regard to the Browns.

Most of the talk about the offense centered around one player. Yep, you guessed it, quarterback Deshaun Watson. Tice described watching film of Watson last year and said that it felt like a freshman getting his first live action college reps in regard to Watson's return. He said that overall Watson looked very robotic.

The biggest question that both agreed on is how will the Browns mesh what Head Coach Kevin Stefanski likes to run with what Deshaun Watson was good at running during his time in Houston. Tice noted that in Watson's last year in Houston, the Texans snapped the ball in an empty formation 22% of time. The Browns were in empty less than half of that during the last six games with Watson.

In an article I wrote after seeing the starters in the Washington game, I noted that the Browns were in empty in 3 out of the 12 plays they ran for a 25% clip. This is definitely a positive sign from the preseason and will definitely look for more clues in Kansas City. Tice went on to explain that for Watson, much of the damage he can do out of empty formation with players spread across the field can come from his legs and running the football.

They also expect to see an uptick in eleven-personnel out of the shotgun with plenty of RPO looks mixed in. They noted that before Watson returned last year with Brissett they were bottom 5 in the league in RPO's and during Watson's last year in Houston, they were a top 5 team in the league.

Speaking of shotgun they expect to still see Nick Chubb get his share of attempts running out of it, which is good for the Browns because they had a higher EPA doing it.

They went on to cover the defensive side of the ball and said that the Browns have the most improved defensive line in the league. They said Andrew Berry deserves credit and bringing in Jim Schwartz is going to finally give us the mindset needed to run the defense he and Stefanski envisioned when they hired Joe Woods originally.

In summary, they both listed Watson as the team's X-factor and Tice named Ogbo Okoronkwo as his breakout player while Mayes listed wide receiver Elijah Moore as his. I highly recommend listening to the full episode for their preview of the AFC North. You can listen to the episode here.