Look, this is not rocket science to suggest that when the team is down to its fourth string quarterback, running the ball makes a lot of sense. Coach Kevin Stefanski has usually been a run-first advocate, but with his team struggling on offense, he has increasingly leaned on the passing game. The view here is that that will probably make things worse.

This goes against the modern NFL doctrine of pass, pass, pass, which to some degree is supported by analytics. Back in the day, passing was a risky proposition. For example, 50 years ago, 13 NFL teams had more interceptions than touchdown passes. That seems unfathomable today. Keeping the ball on the ground was less likely to result in a big gain, but at least coaches felt they could retain possession of the ball. Passing the ball was a high-risk, high reward-proposition.

Today, the argument goes, the interception percentage is way down, plus the officials are much more likely to penalize the defensive team on pass plays, so passing gets your team more yards and the turnover probability is low. So pass like crazy and only run the ball in short yardage situations or just to keep defenses honest.

But our Browns are not a typical team. New quarterback Joe Flacco has only had two weeks with the team. So is it crazy to expect a Super Bowl winner–one who threw for 300 yards versus our Browns last year and followed it up with another 300 yard game–to master the offense in two weeks? Yes.

Likewise, Dorian Thompson-Robinson is a rookie Round 5 draft pick who weighs only 203 pounds. He has demonstrated passing skill, but life will be better if the Browns keep the ball on the ground a bit more. Last time out, the Broncos about crushed him on an ad lib scramble.

It is foolish to expect the Browns to suddenly become a high-scoring passing team. They rank 29th in the NFL with 4.8 yards per pass attempt. They’ve allowed 35 sacks on the year, eighth-highest in the NFL, and Dawand Jones is out this week. Joe Flacco is not exactly twinkletoes at age 38.

On the ground, the Browns are 16th at 4.16 yards per rush attempt. That’s not great either, but 44 pass attempts versus 23 rush attempts was way out of balance. That followed the same trend as the Denver game, in which they threw the ball 42 times and ran only 24 times against the NFL’s worst run defense.

The Browns have been using extra linemen frequently to help out the running game. Nick Harris, Michael Dunn and James Hudson III have all been used either at fullback or as an eligible lineman.

If the Browns can stick with it, these formations may work better in the second half, as defenses tend to wear down and yield yardage on the ground. However, coaches with an offensive background seem to lack patience in the running game, and quickly lean on the passing game if they do not have immediate success.

Hopefully, this author is way wrong and Joe Flacco will go for 300 yards against Jacksonville. However, the 2023 edition of the Browns seem more likely to triumph in “ugly” 1970s-style 17-16 type ballgames. The situation does not favor deep balls and 40 or more pass attempts versus Jacksonville. The Browns would be better served by striking a balance with the running game, using extra offensive linemen if necessary, and seeking to prevail in the second half.