its funny, cause in 2006 with our 5 yard rushing performance, we won that game too. I remember Ronnie had 3 yards and Joey Harrington had 2.

 

A lot of teams struggled rushing today.. Looks like a league wide trend this week.

 

I will be more worried if we can't run against the Colts.

 

Yeah no one besides ap really ran the ball well today.

 

Charles Clay made up for the running game.

 

troublesome. Here's hoping we make up for it next week. If we get that clicking, watch out.

 

I suspect we'll have to run more toss plays to the wide side of the field while the OL sorts itself ou.

Also think that Sherman dislikes using the short pass as the sub for the handoff, I base that on last season and not using Bush very often in that role.

This defeats penetration, Sherman needs a memo...:lol:

 

Only 2 100 yard rushers. 1 barely hit it. The other was a QB!

 

And whats with all the god damn play action when your starting RB has 3 yards rushing. Was Dan Henning calling the game?

 

As I've been saying, Defenses really do not respect our passing game as a means of hurting them yet, the play action takes advantage of that reality.

What would be more interesting is what Tannehill's performance off of play action was today.

 

That play action wasn't fooling anyone. The pass protection was much better at times later in the second half.
It was pointless. Tannehill started to get a better feel against that D. That 85 yard drive was very important as I recall.
So was the 34 yard bullet to Hartline. Ryan was sneaking with his eyes over there and Hartline ran a great double move.

 

A Raiders QB, to add.

 

Not really, after that 78 yard TD run at the 10:39 mark of the 1st quarter he got 15 more yards rushing the rest of the game. And he wasnt much of a factor in the passing game either, 4-18.

Reggie got 3 yards less than AP did on 3 more carries and his longest was 12 yards proving Bush was much more consistant throughout the game then AP. Bush was also a bigger factor in the Lions passing game with 101 yard on 4 receptions.

The better RB today was Bush.

 

This.

 

I've watched a few games on NFL Rewind and its true. I haven't seen a good running game yet.

 

Backs can't run if the defenders are in the backfield and the line gets no push. Cleveland appears to have game-planned to take away the run and dare Tannehill to win the game with his arm. He did.

 

Although we won today and I'm ecstatic about that, if we don't find our next Ricky Williams & can't run the ball we're going to lose!

 

Have you seen the Raiders-Colts yet? That's first on my list.

 

Every game I watched had struggles with the run game....Every game. The league is becoming pass happy but that doesn't mean a good running back won't be appreciated.

 

I must admit it felt pretty dang good to wake up w/ one in the win column. Plenty of positives too. I'm enjoying it.

 

After AP's first carry he didn't to much either.

 

I think the Browns front 7 is pretty salty. I was really impressed with their DL, Jackson and Kruger. To add to that, we really struggled at the POA. I thought we might struggle in the running game coming into this season. We have 2 new starters on our OL and 2 very critical positions. I'm hoping Jerry's play can improve as he gets back into football shape.

 

True enough... And we really didn't have any game film on the D, other than preseason. It surely wasn't the fault of Miller or Thomas. Bush would have done no better with that inept run-blocking yesterday. They'll get it fixed.

 

Sort of, what we could really use is a sneaky Rb or Te who knows how to slip out of the backfield and be the dump off option who can make things happen.

I had hopes for Thigpen in that role, maybe Thomas can do it, or Clay.

That little 6 yd completion is as good as a handoff.

 

Which was odd to me. You'd have thought Ray Horton, the Browns DC, would have learned his lesson last season when Tannehill lit his passing defense up with AZ. Apparently he thought Tannehill's big passing game against his defenses last season was a fluke...

 

I surely hope this is more of a Cleveland has a good defense, than a Dolphins have a crappy offense issue.

I predict their run D will be in the top 5 at the end of the year. But you know what... So will ours :shifty:

 

I can't believe the #1 explanation being fronted on this thread for such a dismal performance running the football is some theoretic, ethereal, cosmic godhand that indiscriminately destroyed every single run game in the NFL this weekend.

I tend to doubt that in the meetings today and tomorrow reviewing the video from the game, the coaches are going to put up rushing totals from around the league and then absolve the players of their failure.

The lack of run game to me was a matter of the offensive line blocking poorly and the tailbacks not helping out by showing good vision, daylight instincts, or the ability to produce yards after contact.

They didn't have to deal with Ahtyba Rubin yesterday, Paul Kruger was supposed to be a weakness against the run, and that Browns run defense was really only mediocre in 2012 though much of that was without Phil Taylor. I think Mike Pouncey said the performance was inexcusable and I agree with him. Richie Incognito really sucked in run blocking but John Jerry, Jon Martin and Tyson Clabo were no better.

 

Is it just me, or did anyone else feel the real problem with the running game wasn't the backs but the OLine.

 

Part of the credit must go to Cleveland, and part of the responsibility goes to the run pro Miami O-line and the RB's we have.

 

^^^^ this !!

 

I truly think Horton thought they could survive Tannehill if Wallace was locked down like he generally is by Haden. Horton survived last year even being gouged by Tanny to Hartline. That's why I think they keyed on the run.

Again, that's the Philbin way though. We aren't a run first offense. We aren't a pass first offense. We a team that adapts.

We are going to become an infinitely adaptable team on offense and defense. All hail Coach Joe.

 

I gave them both poor grades. When you have as Lee2000 put it the third worst rushing performance in franchise history, there's more than just one unit factoring in. The OL blocking was poor but there were SOME opportunities for the backs to produce more yards by finding daylight. They really didn't do that. Also, the backs generally went down pretty quickly on contact. Doing more after contact would have increased the tailback average off its ridiculous sub-1.0 level.

I look at it this way. Trent Richardson had similar poor blocking from his OL against our stout front, but he still found sneaky ways to average 3.6 yards per carry.

 

Yeah, the OL and RBs were abysmal yesterday. This is something that has carried over from the preseason, so it can't be chalked up to opening day stuff, D's generally being ahead of O's, or a league wide issue with running the ball early in the season....this performance was because our OL's run blocking stunk the joint up and our RBs didn't make anything happen on their own either.

The real question is can we survive against the Ravens, NO, pasties or even the Dolts if this trend continues ?? Tanny showed improvement in this game versus last season. The WR corp is obviously better, good enough that they keyed on one guy and the other two guys still were effective enough to score some points. ( and no one has mentioned that we'd have had 4 more points if Gibson hadn't dropped the one in the endzone early in the game)... Clay had his ups and downs and showed he's not Dustin Keller by any stretch at this point... Can we ask the D to do what they did yesterday every week?? Me thinks not...

 

Beat me to the punch on this. That theory is absurd.

 

I think play design can get us better than 1 yard per carry.

 

It's not just you. The backs really didn't have a lot to work with. Again, if it happens again next week, then i'll start to worry.

 

No I haven't watched that one yet, but it's definitely on the list.