Recently, we mused on social media about what team in what sport would be the first team to go with an “old school” approach in building a team and in terms of style of play.
One of the reasons behind the thought was the Cleveland Browns and their constant search for a quarterback and using that need as the reason they cannot put together a winning team.
If you don’t have a “franchise QB”, why not just become highly proficient at running the football? We understand that would present its own set of challenges, such as what do you do if you fall behind, especially in the second half. That’s when a team needs to throw the ball and if you can’t do it, the team is essentially screwed.
Last year, the Baltimore Ravens threw the least number of passes in the NFL at 422, 24.8 per game, and they actually ran more than they threw, averaging 29.8 running attempts per game. That figure was almost three passes fewer than the next team, the Washington Commanders. The Ravens also ranked second in the league in rushing yards.
Buffalo and the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks also run more than they threw, but again, that might be a product of being ahead late in games and running the ball to keep the clock moving.
They did have Derrick Henry, who was second in the league in rushing behind Buffalo’s James Cook. The Bills led the NFL in rushing yards as a team.
Buffalo finished the season 12-5 while the Ravens were 8-9.
We thought back to when the Browns had Nick Chubb and in their playoff season of 2020, they ranked third in the league in rushing. In that year, they still threw the ball over 30 times per game. They also had Kareem Hunt on the roster, who led the league in rushing his rookie season for Kansas City. So, they had two great runners and threw the ball as much as they ran.
They were fourth in running the ball the following season and QB Baker Mayfield was battling a shoulder injury for most of the year.
They threw the ball 30.6 times per game that season and ran it just 28.5 times.
We get that it is never been easier to throw the ball in football than it is today. When the Miami Dolphins went undefeated in 1972, they ran the football 617 times and threw just 259 passes. For the season. Of course, wide receivers were allowed to be held up by cornerbacks at the line of scrimmage. And the Dolphins had two 1000 yards rushers in Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris.
In 1985, just 13 years later, the Browns had two 1000 yards runners in Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner and ran the ball 533 times. But that was in a 16-game schedule. Miami was running it 44 times per game. Cleveland ran it 33 times per contest and threw it 25.8 times.
We guess our question is if you don’t have a solid quarterback, why do NFL teams keep throwing the ball all over the place? The answer is they probably can’t help themselves. That’s how the game is played today, much like basketball players who keep firing up three pointers even though their team is ahead late in games.
That’s how they played coming up and they can’t change it.
You would think if you don’t have a good QB, you would put less emphasis on the position. Maybe that’s just using logic.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 