Offensive weapons bring good problems and the latest from Odell Beckham
By STEVE KING
Fresh off a torn ACL, not even a year later, #Browns WR Odell Beckham Jr (@obj) was the fastest player on the field Sunday, per NFL next gen stats.
— MoreForYouCleveland (@MoreForYou_CLE) September 28, 2021
He reached a peak speed of 19.53 mph. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/afX8YgC3E6
Over and over through training camp, the preseason and in the first three games of the regular season, the offensive themes have been different but, in essence, the same, for the Browns.
“The Browns have to pass the ball.”
“They have to get the ball to Jarvis Landry.”
“They have to get the ball to Odell Beckham Jr.”
“They have to get the ball to Donovan Peoples-Jones.”
“They have to get the ball to Rashard Higgins.”
“They have to get the ball to Anthony Schwartz.”
“They have to get the ball to Harrison Bryant.”
“They have to run the ball.”
“They have to get the ball to Nick Chubb.”
“They have to get the ball to Kareem Hunt.”
“They have to get the ball to Demetric Felton.”
This is a good problem to have.
The Browns have a lot of offensive weapons, and they do indeed need to try to get the ball to all of them. By doing that, they can keep defenses honest and guessing, and when defenses are being reactive instead of proactive, they are a whole lot less effective.
The onus will be on head coach/offensive play caller Kevin Stefanski to spread the ball around to the right weapons at the right times.
That’s the same way it was during the Bernie Kosar era of the mid- to late 1980s with Kevin Mack, Earnest Byner, Ozzie Newsome, Webster Slaughter, Reggie Langhorne, Brian Brennan and Eric Metcalf.
That’s the way it was with Brian Sipe and the Kardiac Kids in the late 1970s and early ’80s with Greg Pruitt, Mike Pruitt, Newsome, Calvin Hill, Reggie Rucker, Dave Logan and Ricky Feacher.
That’s the way it was in the 1960s with Frank Ryan and Bill Nelsen having at their disposal Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly, Ernie Green, Paul Warfield, Gary Collins and Milt Morin.
And that’s the way it was back in the late 1940s and through the 1950s with Otto Graham and his guys, Dante Lavelli, Mac Speedie, Marion Motley, Dub Jones and Ray Renfro.
WR Odell Beckham Jr. (9.30.21)
On if when he believes he will have his legs fully under him, based on his postgame comments:
“I do not know. I do not know how to answer that. It is just one of those things you can’t emulate game speed. I am just looking forward to this week, a new opportunity and new game. We will see.”
On how long it took him to recover after last week’s game against the Bears:
“Get a good night’s sleep, come back to work the next day and just keep it going.”
On how much emotional exhaustion he faced compared to the physical exhaustion of last week’s game:
“I am sure that is what I meant. I have been training hard. I am in great shape so I am sure it is not so much physical my legs underneath as much it is emotions. Like I told you, it has been a long time to get back on that field, and you run out, you feel the love, your family is there and you are just excited. I am sure it was more that than the actual physical.”
On evaluating his performance against the Bears:
“I like that I just played. I never got too high and never got too low. There are obviously plenty of things I can work on and clean up. That is what we do. We come here, we watch the film, reevaluate ourselves, see what can get better and you work on that for the week.”
On QB Baker Mayfield potentially looking to hit him for a ‘homerun ball’ last week:
“It is just the gameplan we have. There are plays in there where we will have opportunities throughout the year, and I am sure that we will hit them. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, just make the most of it.”
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