Chris Carson will have a huge day against the Browns
The Seahawks can expect a big game from Chris Carson Sunday versus the Browns. Cleveland really struggles to contain running backs.
It would be an understatement to say Chris Carson didn’t get off to the best start this season. Through the first three games, he hadn’t gone over 60 yards rushing. Far more troubling was his sudden propensity for putting the ball on the ground, as he had three fumbles. The Seahawks were solidly in his corner, but there was certainly cause for doubt. Happily, Carson eradicated all those worries with back-to-back MVP-worthy performances. Over those last two games, he’s run for 222 yards for a 4.5-yard average. He’s also caught five balls for 46 yards and one very big touchdown. You can expect much more of the same for Carson when he invades Cleveland.
You see, the Browns just aren’t very good against the run. They currently rank 29th in the league in yards allowed and 30th in average allowed, at 5.2 yards. The 275-yard beatdown San Francisco’s backs administered inflated the numbers to be sure. Even before that game, the Browns allowed 4.56 yards per run, which ranked them 19th in the league. Their pass defense is quite a bit better and just got an upgrade of sorts with the return of two starting corners. Neither Denzel Ward nor Greedy Williams will help much against Chris Carson, though.
Cleveland has held two opposing running backs under a four-yard average twice so far this season. The first was Le’veon Bell, the second Todd Gurley. That’s impressive until you see that Bell added 61 yards receiving. Overall he had 129 yards of offense on 31 touches. Admittedly, they handled Gurley. Then again, Gurley just had 14 carries, and Goff only targeted him once. That’s not a lot of opportunities. I credit the containment to the Rams as much as the Browns.
That’s all the good news the Browns can muster against running backs. In their loss to the Titans, Derrick Henry ran for 84 yards and gutted them for a 75-yard score on a screen pass. That’s 159 yards on 20 touches. Mark Ingram had 71 yards on just 12 carries while Gus Edwards added 28 on six runs. That’s 99 yards on 18 carries, a 5.5-yard average. Lamar Jackson had 66 yards on nine carries himself, but as he made clear, he’s not a running back.
If they thought the Ravens ripped them on the ground, they found a new level of destruction against the 49ers. 275 yards on 40 carries is a really bad look. The Browns couldn’t stop either Matt Breida or Tevin Coleman. Heck, they couldn’t even stop Raheem Mostert. He had the lowest average, and he managed 4.86 yards per run.
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So just imagine what Chris Carson is going to do to the Browns. He’s running like a crazed hybrid of a freight train and a Lamborghini again. He’s pulled in 15 of his 17 targets, well on his way to Schotty’s goal of 50 targets. And we’ve seen that Cleveland is very vulnerable to passes to backs. All in all, I expect Chris Carson will have his best game of the season yet this Sunday.