Browns still working out kinks along left side of offensive line

The Cleveland Browns returned to the practice field on Monday as they prepare for Sunday’s season-opening game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Oddly enough http://www.clevelandbrownsteamonline.com/christian-kirksey-jersey , the Browns may not know who will be lining up on the left side of the offensive line come game day. That’s not entirely true, maybe, as head coach Hue Jackson said he knows what the plan is, but he’s not ready to reveal it because the team is still working things out, according to clevelandbrowns.com:The plan throughout the preseason was to have Joel Bitonio shift to left tackle and have rookie Austin Corbett take over Bitonio’s position at left guard. That hit a bit of a bump over the weekend when Jackson announced that the decision was still fluid in the run up to the game against the Steelers.What appears to be giving the coaching staff pause is the play of Desmond Harrison, an undrafted free agent from West Georgia, who looks to have shown the coaching staff enough to warrant talk about him taking over the starter’s role at left tackle, as Jackson told clevelandbrowns.com:The person most impacted by all of this, outside of quarterback Tyrod Taylor, is Bitonio http://www.clevelandbrownsteamonline.com/joe-schobert-jersey , who does not know where he will be lining up when the Browns break the huddle for their first offensive snap on Sunday.But Bitonio is not sweating it, at least outwardly, because he said everyone will know soon enough, according to the team’s website:The Browns had all of training camp and the preseason to figure this out. Now, just days away from the first game of the season, they are still sorting out the details. One way or another, we’ll find out soon enough what the answer is. Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on offense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 8 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.QuarterbackPosPlayerPlays%StatsPosPlayerPlays%StatsThe Steelers kept blitzing Baker Mayfield and Cleveland’s protection had no answer for it. The gameplan on the team’s first drive of the game was a sound one — get RB Duke Johnson the ball in space in the flat, and then negate Pittsburgh’s blitzing pass rush with running plays with Nick Chubb. But you can only go so long without a downfield threat.As the game went on, Joe Haden was ready for every receiver screen that Cleveland threw. On Mayfield’s interception in the first half http://www.clevelandbrownsteamonline.com/seth-devalve-jersey , he was in the middle of calling some type of adjustment when JC Tretter snapped him the ball — and Mayfield just chucked it deep right, presumably because he tried to make something out of an abandon play of sorts.Mayfield isn’t absolved of blame here. His throws were a bit high and not on target. Something needs to be done about the pass protection — I look at the time to throw that Ben Roethlisberger was afforded to throw and would love to see what Mayfield could do with that same amount of time. When Pittsburgh brings an extra man, they get a free lane. When Cleveland brings an extra man, Pittsburgh so easily picks it up.Running BackPosPlayerPlays%StatsPosPlayerPlays%StatsIt was extremely frustrating to see Duke Johnson get the first two plays of the game (2 catches for 16 yards), and not have a reception the remainder of the way. It’s like — “we have something that works, so let’s not use it again.” Johnson’s injury may have played a factor, but then why did he still play 21 snaps after that?I thought Nick Chubb had some really nice runs in the first half, going 10 carries for 52 yards. In the second half, he had 8 carries for 13 yards. That’s what happens with an imbalanced offense, though. Lots of Cleveland’s success seemed to involve running from a non-heavy package Womens Emmanuel Ogbah Jersey , yet they’d insist on bringing in heavy packages in which they were out-matched.Dontrell Hilliard played some snaps late in the game and had a nice catch-and-run for 24 yards.Wide ReceiverPosPlayerPlays%StatsPosPlayerPlays%StatsIf I’m looking for a shred of optimism this week, it is the fact that Antonio Callaway made two very tightly-contested catches, and also did not drop the wide receiver screens that were thrown to him. The touchdown grab was his second of the year.Jarvis Landry wasn’t getting separation, and to have 8 catches for 39 yards shows just how limited his downfield presence was. His longest catch went for 21 yards on a scramble play, so besides that, he had 7 catches for 18 yards. How many times did Cleveland want to go to the same play before realizing it wasn’t working?Tight EndPosPlayerPlays%StatsPosPlayerPlays%Stats54 snaps for David Njoku, and he wasn’t targeted once all game.In need of offensive playmakers, the Browns once again refused to play Seth DeValve...that is, until the final (garbage time) drive, when Mayfield targeted him twice for 28 yards http://www.clevelandbrownsteamonline.com/briean-boddy-calhoun-jersey , including a touchdown. Remind me again why he isn’t seeing at least a third of the snaps each week?Offensive LinePosPlayerPlays%StatsPosPlayerPlays%StatsThe Browns allowed 2 sacks and 7 quarterback hits.Week 1 against Pittsburgh was a bad game for LT Desmond Harrison, and the Steelers exposed him again in Week 8. Per Pro Football Focus:I am not saying that JC Tretter should be benched, but you can tell he is laboring a bit on his ankle when the pressure comes up the middle. If I’m the Browns, I look at the fact that the bye is coming up in three weeks. Cleveland should consider moving to Austin Corbett at center for these next two games, giving Tretter more than enough time to heal up — and you also get to see what your No. 33 overall pick has to offer.Greg Robinson was the lucky sixth lineman to get two bonus snaps this week. Custom Indianapolis Colts Jerseys