2) Who Needs Le’Veon?
The Browns had the luxury of playing the Steelers TWICE without All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell to worry about out of the backfield. Bell is still holding out over his tenuous contract situation with the organization. Truth be told though, they haven’t missed him much. That’s because James Conner has exceeded expectations and become a top tier back in his own right as the Browns found out for the second time this season.
Conner ran through, around and over the Browns defense 24 times on Sunday to the beat of 146 yards (a career high) and two touchdowns. He added another 66 yards as a receiver on five catches. Combine that with his 135-yard rushing, 57-yard receiving performance against the Browns in Week One and Conner has put up over 400 total yards of offense against the Browns all by himself.
Conner’s outing highlights a glaring weakness of the Cleveland’s defense: they can’t stop the run. Only once have the Browns held an opponent under 100 yards rushing this season. They entered Week Eight with the fifth worst rushing defense in terms of average yards allowed per game (134.7). That number got worse after this one.
Cavaliers
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