BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The jumbo tackle-eligible packages worked like a charm in Monday night’s 32-13 win over the Bengals.
Michael Dunn came on for 24 snaps Monday night as an extra tackle eligible player and James Hudson III joined him on the field for five of those snaps.
“I think there is always that element where you are trying to give the defense something they have not seen or make them prepare for something,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “There always will be a package of plays that we can run out of those sets. I can tell you the entire offense is very excited to watch those plays when Drew Forbes is at fullback, James Hudson is at the wing tight end and Mike Dunn is out there. It is unique. They enjoy it.
After Nick Chubb’s 3-yard TD run with him lined up at quarterback, the Browns went for two following a Bengals penalty that saw Drew Forbes come on as the eighth lineman.
“We are trying to figure out a way how to have 11,” right tackle Jack Conklin joked. “It is just fun for our room to get more guys involved and throw some different looks at defenses.”
Hudson had the block of the night when he took out Bengals linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither on the 2-point try after going in motion.
“We watched it a couple times today,” Conklin said. “That was awesome. He wrecked him. That was awesome to see him do that. Those are the type of plays you look back on and you see the entire team just takes to that. You see just the power and the physicality of it. That is what we pride ourselves on, and that is what we want to be as a team.”
It set the tone for the rest of the night up front and led to the Browns racking up 172 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
“It gave our players a lot of energy – just watch James Hudson running off the field after that two-point conversion,” Stefanski said. “It really goes to show you how much those guys love competing and love to play that physical brand of football.”
High for the bye – Ending the four-game losing streak allowed the Browns to go into the bye week feeling much better about themselves at 3-5 rather than 2-6.
“Nobody likes the feeling when you lose, and I can tell you the locker room after you win, all those high fives and all that goodwill is just a deposit of goodwill after those wins,” Stefanski said. “You enjoy them, but what you can’t do is you can’t lose sight of what causes those wins and how you get those results. I think it just goes back to how we prepare and how we handle our work week. Yes, it feels better today.”
The victory kept their faint hopes of contention come December alive.
“All week, we were just talking about doing the little things, just stacking little things together,” Conklin said. “If we kept doing that, then something big would happen. That was our goal going into the game was just give us a chance, and if we play well as a team, we will be able to get that win. I think that is huge having this break to get guys back healthy and to have a win is huge.”
Stack ‘em – Stefanski preaches stacking games and for the first time this season the Browns got quality performances from the defense the last two games.
Could this be a sign of things to come, much like last season?
“We played really good defensive football last night,” Stefanski said. “Just how we played early in that game getting the takeaway, then forcing them to punt after we missed the field goal and forcing them to punt after we throw the interception, us playing good defense early, I think, really set the tone for that game because if we don’t play good early, they are able to put points on the board. Of course, you always want to build on those type of things, but it is a week-to-week basis. We have to make sure after we get back out of this bye we put together a plan for Miami. That is really where our focus will be.”
Stefanski felt it was the best tackling effort to date this year. Joe Burrow was under siege all night and they racked up five sacks to go with seven QB hits.
Linebacker Sione Takitaki led the way with 13 tackles, a sack, tackle for loss and forced fumble.
“I feel like we tackled well, knowing that this team likes to work out in space,” Takitaki said. “We have been working weeks and continue to emphasize it during practices. I feel like we did a great job during practice emphasizing tackling and doing all of that stuff. Coaches do it well, leaders do it well and players and everybody. I feel like it showed out there on Monday.”
Road warriors – When the Browns return from the bye, they’ll have to become road warriors to make a run at turning their season around.
Cleveland will play six of their final nine games away from home. The Browns are 1-2 on the road this season and 2-3 at home following Monday night’s win.
Injury report – Stefanski did not have any updates on TE David Njoku (ankle), LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (knee), CB Denzel Ward (concussion), RG Wyatt Teller (calf) Monday.
“All of those guys are progressing,” Stefanski said. “They are all heading in the right direction. Again, this bye week is helpful that they can use these extra days. All progressing, and I am hopeful on those guys.”
Up next – Meetings and light work Wednesday then players off until next Monday for the bye.