Last night was a bad coach (Hugh Jackson) calling a bad game. He showed why he was not a head coach last night and showed why he only landed an OC gig because Gruden left to take a HC gig.
How do you continue to throw when running is and has been your best option.
They actually ran quite a bit in the first half but had 2 holding penalties, a personal foul, and 2 turnovers. And were down 24-3 early in the 3rd with the Browns then cramming the ball down their throat (52 rushes). The running game isn't going to get them back in to the game at that point.
They went on a pass happy attack in the final four minutes of the first half when the game was still close and want away from the run while bringing in Burkhead.
Uhhh no. Hue said before the game that we would be seeing "a lot of Hill this game" with the wind conditions etc. and that was the game plan. They tried cramming it down CLE throat but they were not effective running the ball. Hill did pad his stats with a few late game rushes vs a defense that was protecting a big lead and willing to let him small gains on rushing plays as long as they didn't give up the deep ball, but make no mistake, the beginning of the game was just like the JAX game. Don't believe me?
Q1
(15:00) 32-J.Hill right guard to CIN 26 for 6 yards (92-D.Bryant; 98-P.Taylor).
(14:39) 32-J.Hill left end to CIN 28 for 2 yards (92-D.Bryant; 53-C.Robertson).
(14:07) (Shotgun) 32-J.Hill right tackle to CIN 30 for 2 yards (92-D.Bryant; 56-K.Dansby).
(10:40) 32-J.Hill left guard to CIN 29 for 9 yards (99-P.Kruger; 22-B.Skrine).
(9:03) 32-J.Hill right end to CIN 38 for 3 yards (53-C.Robertson).
(8:20) 32-J.Hill right tackle to CIN 36 for -2 yards (56-K.Dansby; 97-J.Sheard).
(7:14) 32-J.Hill left tackle to CLE 19 for no gain (90-B.Winn).
(3:35) 32-J.Hill left guard to CIN 38 for 2 yards (31-D.Whitner).
after the 1st Quarter, Hill is on pace for 32 carries!!! He is clearly the focus of the offense. But 8 for 22 isn't gonna get it done on the ground ... So far, Hill's 4.6 ypc isn't translating to the field against a fresh defense. It's a little different when you spell the starter. Despite his rather ineffective 22 yards on 8 carries with him as the focus of the offense they continue to feed him into the next quarter.
Q2
(12:21) (Shotgun) 32-J.Hill right guard to CLE 40 for 13 yards (39-T.Gipson). FUMBLES
After that Hill wasn't the focus of the offense any longer and he did manage to up his ypc avg to 4.6 by the end the game, but it wans;t going to mean much to the outcome of the game. When it counted he was not effective. It's funny how the Hill supporters can sustain the fantasy that Hue didn't go into this game wanting to run the ball. He was on pace for more than 30 carries when he fumbled. In the 2nd half there was no way they could pound it out being down so much. If you go back and look at the JAX game you will see more of the same effectiveness in the run game until he followed his block in I formation through the gaping hole for a 60 yard TD.