Cleveland Browns @ New York Jets
Final Score: Jets 27, Browns 20
Writer: Matthew Bevins (MattBQBList on Reddit)
The game that took place in New Jersey between the Browns and Jets would often be dubbed something along the lines of “The Toilet Bowl” or something along those lines. It’s far too rude, so I guess the best we can say about this game is it’ll be interesting to see which of these two teams ends up with the first overall pick. The Jets have been spiraling the drain halfway through the season yet again, in a constant battle between the front office, coaches, and players. Just last week, the trade deadline passed, and Breece Hall wished his former teammates good luck, mentioning they “were lucky” in some way, shape or form. What the Jets did on Sunday was necessary, but it left both teams at the end of the day with two wins and very little fantasy depth by the end of the game.
Three Up
- Jerry Jeudy — The options for this game, despite having some points, aren’t very exciting. Jeudy started his midcareer breakout last season and has since sunk back into his shell, allowing the offense to be overtaken more so by Quinshon Judkins and Harold Fannin Jr. Jeudy didn’t even have the most expressive showcase Sunday, but was able to rein in an early touchdown on a touch pass from Dillon Gabriel, one of the few drives where they were able to get a touchdown out of their play.
- Breece Hall — Breece does all in this offense. While the team was unable to decide on who its quarterback was until Saturday, or it cagily held the information back due to lack of faith in the answer, the fact of the matter is that Hall is the predominant lead here. Hall rushed for 83 yards on 21 carries, and had a big-boom touchdown rush, as well as another 42 yards in the receiving game.
- Jets’ special teams — There isn’t a lot to hang on to in this game, as Justin Fields only attempted 11 passes, and Gabriel couldn’t muster over 17 pass completions. The Jets had a huge punt return for a touchdown, then followed it up on the next punt return for almost another touchdown, then had it pulled back due to a penalty flag. While any football game is better than no football game, this one surely tried to test the limits we bring ourselves to.
Three Down
- Justin Fields — The Jets found themselves in a position where, between their defense and special teams, there wasn’t much that needed to be done by their offense to win. Between that narrative and the special teams’ dominance, they found themselves in short field positions or kicking the ball back to the Browns. While Fields has shown up in some big showcases before, we’re once again in a spot where Fields disappears and could’ve left you in a terrible spot if you had to start him in a bye-week necessity. I think this could be the end of any Fields value for the future, possibly at any point.
- Garrett Wilson — This one seems somewhat unfair, as he ended up leaving the game injured early, and didn’t even see himself catch a pass, but the overall nature of the situation now remains. Wilson has himself a team and quarterback problem. Between the fact that the team is completely out of the playoff race, it is also in a constant battle over who the less-bad quarterback will be to start on any given week.
- Dillon Gabriel — The quarterback situation on the other side of the field wasn’t much better. While the game ended up with 47 combined points, it was a difficult watch, and Gabriel wasn’t helping it very much. He had his moments, with a soft touch pass to Jeudy for a touchdown early on in the game, and he managed to find his tight ends when needed, but he also saw six sacks and had multiple passes that could have been picked off with a bit less luck.
Cleveland Browns
Quarterback
Dillon Gabriel: 17/32, 167 Yards, 2 TDs | 5 Carries, 54 Yards
The continuous quarterback carousel will continue in Cleveland, but Dillon Gabriel seems like he may be the only one who gives the Browns some upside. Gabriel had moments in this game and showed the potential the team saw in him when taking him over Shedeur Sanders in the NFL Draft. Gabriel has some elusiveness when rushing out of the pocket, which is a good thing after being hit in the backfield for six sacks. In their first drive down the field, Gabriel put a ball up in the air that landed in Cedric Tillman‘s hands for roughly 45 yards, but was called for pass interference despite an amazing pass and catch sequence. That pass alone would’ve put him over 200 yards, and we’d likely have a bit of a different conversation with this game. Gabriel was able to connect early on in the game with Jerry Jeudy for a touchdown, and then later on in the game, found David Njoku for a short touchdown pass that was fallen on. When Gabriel is on the field, there seems to be a bit more expectation of a varied offensive attack, but the team was also lining up across from the Jets team, which is struggling to stay together as a whole. Gabriel is still a major what if, more than anything else.
Running Back
Quinshon Judkins: 22 Carries, 75 Yards | 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 10 Yards
Dylan Sampson: 2 Carries, -4 Yards | 1 Target, 1 Reception, 3 Yards
Jerome Ford: 1 Carry, 1 Yard | 1 Target
The running back room has been completely overtaken by Quinshon Judkins, and while his line wasn’t incredibly impressive, he’s dealing with the misfortune of teams stacking the box up against him due to less worry in the passing game. Judkins had some solid overall burst and was able to extend some rushes, but the team was unable to capitalize on those rushes and get anywhere near the red zone for him. Judkins didn’t accomplish much for fantasy owners, but ended up with 10 fantasy points in PPR leagues, a huge win if you tied any players to this game. Judkins outsnapped everyone in the running back room, with his 38 snaps to Dylan Sampson‘s 22 and Jerome Ford‘s 14. It’s clear he’s going to continue leading out on rushing, but the opportunities will remain in an offense that is constantly looking for some form of spark. Continue to roll him out when you can and hope he can slip out for some long rushing to the edges.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Jerry Jeudy: 12 Targets, 6 Receptions, 78 Yards, 1 TD
Harold Fannin: 7 Targets, 4 Receptions, 44 Yards
David Njoku: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 21 Yards, 1 TD
Malachi Corley: 1 Target, 0 Receptions | 2 Carries, 32 Yards
Cedric Tillman: 4 Targets, 2 Receptions, 11 Yards
Jerry Jeudy ended up with almost as many targets as the next three players on the Browns, and it was very clear the Browns wanted to take advantage of the team losing their No. 1 defender, Sauce Gardner, over the trade deadline. It worked early on his touchdown, and this could be the game that jump-starts Jeudy’s season late, but more likely than not, we’re looking at a game where he outplayed a corner not normally lined up across from a 1A receiver.
Cedric Tillman is slowly working his way back into the offense, as this was his first game back from his injured reserve stay, and it started quickly with a huge pass-catching layout in a one-arm grab that was called incomplete. Still, it wasn’t seen on replay due to the correlated pass interference call. David Njoku and Harold Fannin Jr. continue to split targets, and while Njoku will likely see free agency in the offseason, they also saw the touchdown pass between the two. Fannin saw a solid pass thrown over his shoulder heading on an out route, but unfortunately, he was unable to get any targets near the red zone to convert. Fannin remains the one with the higher ceiling, but it seems as if the snaps will continue to split almost right down the middle, as Njoku saw 50 to Fannin’s 48.
New York Jets
Quarterback
Justin Fields: 6/11, 54 Yards, 1 TDs, 1 INT | 7 carries, 28 yards
Justin Fields has spent long enough tricking us, and this was unfortunately one of the games that showcased what his production floor can be. While Aaron Glenn has had his fallout with Fields privately, it’s very apparent that the starts he continues to make are under duress. The team has started to turn the tide and wants to play Tyrod Taylor when he’s healthy and able to play. Fields facilitated the majority of the game to Breece Hall, and while that turned out relatively eventful, what truly saved him from an unmemorable performance was a special teams and defensive showing that kept him off the field for a large portion of it. Fields saw 49 snaps, and of those, only 11 of them took to the air. There is a chance at any given moment that Fields will align with a receiver and produce over 300 yards with some touchdowns, but a 54-yard showing in the air with a pick is not going to help get that done. Fields found Hall on a receiving play for 42 yards, and that was almost 80 percent of his fantasy production. While the ceiling for Fields is immensely high, there’s no way you can put him out there in your lineups with this being an option that you could see. Fields looked pressured, uncomfortable, and not a bit the part of what he was, even to start the season.
Running Back
Breece Hall: 21 Carries, 83 Yards | 1 Target, 1 Reception, 42 Yards, 1 TD
Isaiah Davis: 3 Carries, 10 Yards
There is a two-person backfield in New York, and while Breece Hall wanted to find his way off of this team at the trade deadline, he continues to outperform the rest of the offense in a way that shows he has the upside of a top-three running back in the league. He continued to pound the ball with consistency, and while the Jets saw a meager amount of snaps, Hall was dominant in his showing. Hall played 35 of the 49 snaps, only saw four routes run on them, and took one of his four routes to paydirt with an impressive breakout rushing play on a rather average screen pass checkdown. Hall took out on his route through numerous Browns defenders down the middle of the field. While the reception was for 42 yards, Hall was able to get the ball into the end zone in an impressively quick fashion, and these sorts of plays are what make him such a dynamic player.
Isaiah Davis didn’t get a chance to do much in this game, but he was also the only other rusher, other than Hall, to even see a carry in the game, and he remains the backup for any Hall owners.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Isaiah Williams: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 4 Yards
Garrett Wilson: 3 Targets, 0 Receptions
Mason Taylor: 2 Targets, 1 Reception, 4 Yards
Jeremy Ruckert: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 0 Yards
John Metchie: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 3 Yards | 1 Carry, -7 Yards
This is one of the most brutal outputs for a receiver and tight end crew that you may ever see. The team was hamstrung early in the game when star receiver Garrett Wilson ended up leaving the game early, but there was both a poor showcase by Fields and an inept receiver game that led to a truly eye-opening box score (in a bad way). Hall was able to break away from an average screen pass play, but other than that, the team didn’t try to attempt any downfield passing. The Fields game was built around not giving the ball away (despite a pick in the game), and that led us to seeing the highest targeted person in the game not even playing half of said game. If there is no Wilson next week, don’t be so sure that there’s anyone in this crew that you want to bring out there and put in your lineup. Please stay far away, maybe poke it with a stick and tell it to do something.