While the Browns may sit at the bottom of the standings in the AFC North and are the only team in the NFL not to gain a win yet in 2016, there’s one stat that may surprise people about the 0-4 club.
They lead the NFL in rushing.
Yes, a stat that is usually reserved for smash mouth teams that have veteran offensive lines is being led by the Browns, as though four games they are averaging 149.3 yards per game.
The 3-1 Dallas Cowboys are second in the league in rushing, just behind the Browns at 149.0 yards per game, and the Browns opponent Sunday, the Patriots, are third in the league at 135.5 yards per game.
Browns running back Isaiah Crowell is second in the NFL in yards per game at 98.5 yards per game, and will come into Sunday as the leading rusher in the AFC with 394 yards.
“Really, I just feel it is all the men on the field doing their jobs,” Crowell said Thursday about the team leading the lead in rushing.
“I feel like it is the offensive line, the receivers blocking downfield, the fullback and the running backs just hitting in the hole and putting the ball in the right place. I feel like it is everybody just doing their job.”
Maybe the Browns are just fulfilling the prophecy set forth by coach Hue Jackson, who said the team was going to lead the league in rushing.
Thus far the team hasn’t been able to get a ‘W’ in the in win column, but their ability to run the ball effectively has been a key they have been in basically all four games to this point.
Count Crowell as a believer in what Jackson has to say, and the coaches trust in the players and the run game has been paying off thus far for the Browns.
“I did believe him because I knew we had the guys in the room to do so and I know he trusted us,” Crowell said of the coaches early promise.
“I know the coaches and the staff are just going to put together a good gameplan for us so that we can do so.”
Crowell has shown more speed as well as ability to make players miss in the first few games than he did all last season. Against the Redskins more than once he was able to use a smaller and quicker frame to get past the first line of defense.
He put up in the 31-20 loss 120 yards on 16 carries, a 7.5 yards per carry average to go along with a touchdown, and three catches for 22 yards.
“I’m not surprised by anything he is doing,” Jackson said of his running back.
“He is a tremendous football player, and he is only going to get better. If he will continue to grind and work at it and stay to it, him and Duke and the rest of the group, they will. They will get better.”
Sunday Crowell will again look to carry the Browns as they look lay what would be a big upset on the New England Patriots. If he can continue to play as well as he has the first four games, anything is possible.
“I feel like just the rhythm,” Crowell said.
“I feel like I’m in a good rhythm in the game and I feel like that’s where it comes from. I don’t feel like it is anything different that I’m doing. I really don’t know.”
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