Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns: Week 3 Film Room session

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Breaking down several key plays from the Cleveland Browns’ Week 2 loss against the Miami Dolphins in another close game that should have been won.

Facing injuries and adversity on the road against the Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson got the best of his young team despite a 30-24 overtime loss. The Browns had several chances to win the game, but a missed field goal by recently signed kicker Cody Parkey at the end of regulation sent the game to overtime.

Rookie quarterback Cody Kessler shook off two early fumbles in a gutsy debut performance. Kessler looked much improved from the preseason and threw decisively and accurately to his receivers. The biggest thing that stood out about Kessler was he threw no interceptions and managed the game effectively.

In the absence of rookie wide receiver Corey Coleman, Terrelle Pryor played his best game overall since converting positions. Pryor had 200 total yards on the day, and was the catalyst of a Browns offense that featured his dynamic skill set. Coach Jackson comprised a great game plan making Pryor the focal point on the day.

To relieve pressure off the rookie quarterback, the offense used Pryor at quarterback for 17 percent of the snaps on Sunday. In the special shotgun formation, Jackson utilized Pryor’s strengths by running the read-option with Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson Jr. In addition, to keep the Dolphins defense off-balance, Pryor ran five pass plays, primarily bootlegs off play-action fakes. Pryor completed three of the passes on the day and gave an added successful widget in the offense.

Defensively, Briean Boddy-Calhoun received the start in place of the injured Joe Haden. Boddy-Calhoun is an undrafted rookie out of Minnesota University. He spent training camp with the Jacksonville Jaguars before being claimed off waivers prior to Week 1 by the Browns.

Boddy-Calhoun made the most of his NFL debut by intercepting a pass and returning it for a touchdown. The rookie made the most of his opportunity and should receive playing time even when Joe Haden returns.

Let’s take a closer look at the play of the aforementioned players in this week’s film study.

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Pryor had himself a historic day as he recorded 200 all-purpose yards through passing, receiving and rushing. He recorded eight catches for 144 yards, four rushes for 21 yards and completed three of five passes for 35 yards. Pryor gave the Browns a new dimension with his versatility as a playmaker. Without the creative usage of Pryor, the offense may not have been able to stay in the game.

This first play comes from the Browns’ second offensive drive of the game. This is the first time in the game Pryor is used at quarterback. On the play, Pryor lines up under center, but shifts to a pistol set.

In the backfield, Pryor has fullback Malcolm Johnson to his left and tight end Randall Telfer to his right, while Crowell is the tailback. The play is read-option, and Pryor reads the end man on the line of scrimmage and has a choice to hand off to Crowell or keep it himself and get to the outside.

The left defensive end crashes hard on the run and Pryor makes the right decision to keep it himself and get to the edge. With Pryor’s speed and athleticism he is able to excel in space and pick up a solid gain of 15 yards. This was a great play call early in the game by Hue Jackson to relieve some of the pressure on Cody Kessler and to get his best playmaker the ball in space on the outside.

On the very next play, the Browns line up again with Pryor as the quarterback in shotgun with Crowell to his left. After setting up the run on the previous play, the Dolphins defense is now keyed on stopping the run with Pryor in at quarterback.

On the play, Pryor sells the run to Crowell on the play-action fake. The Dolphins linebackers are sold on the fake and attack downhill to play the run. Pryor rolls to his left where he has a wide open passing lane. Tight end Gary Barnidge is the end man on the line of scrimmage on the right.

On the play fake, the Dolphins defenders don’t account for Barnidge, and Barnidge has a free release off the line of scrimmage and runs wide open across the field. Pryor makes an accurate throw to his tight end for a big gain. These two plays were perfectly scripted by Hue Jackson and set up to fool the Miami defense and it did exactly that.

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Following Terrelle Pryor’s touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter, the Browns trailed by five and elected to go for two. On the play, the Browns line up in a goal line formation with no spilt wide receivers.

Before the snap, the Browns motion tight ends Seth DeValve and Gary Barnidge to split out to the right. Barnidge is in the slot with DeValve on the outside. Tight end Randall Telfer motions to the far left on the play. The motion creates a mismatch the Browns want that is in their favor. Barnidge is lined up on a cornerback and has a huge size advantage.

On the play, Barnidge and DeValve run an inside outside route concept. Devalue runs a slant, while Barnidge runs to the back corner of the end zone. The idea of this route concept is to get the defensive backs who are in man-coverage to get confused or tangled up by the two crossing routes. On the route, Barnidge gains a step of separation and uses his bigger frame to attack and secure the catch.

Cody Kessler delivers a great a pass to the back corner of the end zone in a spot where only his guy can make the play. The execution on this play was great by both DeValve and Barnidge and capped off by an impressive fade throw by the rookie quarterback.

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

If you haven’t heard of Briean Boddy-Calhoun before Sunday, you sure have now following his momentum-swinging pick-six in the second quarter. On the play, the Browns defense does a good job of disguising their coverage and confusing Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

The defense has no down lineman on the play and makes the Dolphins offense guess who is rushing and who is dropping into coverage. Another thing it does is it doesn’t allow Tannehill to change the pass protection for his offensive line. With his defensive look, the Dolphins linemen are just taking a guess on who is blitzing and dropping in coverage. This allows for the Browns to generate a rush from the edge.

On the snap, the defense gets a good rush from the left end spot in rookie Tyrone Holmes. Holmes is an undrafted player the Browns added via waivers prior to Week 1. Holmes hits Tannehill as he throws, forcing the ball to sputter out of his hand. Boddy-Calhoun is in perfect position to catch the tipped pass and shows off his athletic ability by returning it for a touchdown.

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