The weapon:
Browns left guard BEREA — Joel Bitonio wasn’t too upset to see the offensive line and running game have a strong first day in pads on Saturday.
“As much as (defensive coordinator Gregg Williams) screams and has that defense rallied up, it was nice, from my perspective, to get a couple runs in,” he said the day after getting his first work in team drills since having foot surgery that ended his 2016 season.
Before Bitonio said that, though, he admitted that he was expecting a very different defense.
“I’m expecting to see some blitzes or something crazy today at practice,” he said, “so it will be an exciting show.”
Bitonio wasn’t in team drills on Sunday to face those blitzes, but he did get to see them from the sideline. Williams’ defense accounted for six sacks — or would-besacks, since defenders can’t actually tackle the quarterback during practices.
That’s not to say that the defense was flawless. The ball found the end zone Sunday more than any other day in camp, including multiple times during the practice-ending red zone drill. It was still tougher sledding, though, especially on the ground.
A couple running backs were able to stand out Sunday, including Matthew Dayes, the next-to-last-pick in April’s draft, and Duke Johnson, who made a diving catch in the end zone and took a swing pass into the end zone, too, both in red zone drills and both from quarterback Brock Osweiler. (More on Johnson later.)
The real optimism for success running the ball comes in the men up front. Bitonio was part of the team’s big investment in the interior of the offensive line, signing a contract extension to go along with the signings of center JC Tretter and right guard Kevin Zeitler. Hue Jackson’s offense came out running hard to start the weekend, running on 10 of 11 plays during an early team session on Saturday.
“We want to run the ball,” Bitonio said. “That is part of our IQ. We have some big guys up front. We brought some new guys in. I think that is the goal of any team. A lot of people talk about running the ball, running the ball. We have to make that statement. We have to make ( Jackson) trust us to run the ball. If we are not getting 4 or 5 yards on a carry, then it is going to be hard for him to keep calling runs.”
It’s hard to evaluate offensive lines in practice settings. It’s nearly impossible to evaluate them without pads. The first two days in pads showed that, when the full line is on the field like it was on Saturday, it has the potential to be a group to be reckoned with.
Bitonio’s feelings about having success against Williams’ defense — and Williams’ on-field response to that success — is one thing we learned on Sunday. Here is another:
Jackson’s answer for how he plans to use Johnson this season was pretty straightforward.
“He is going to do everything . ... We ask a lot of Duke,” Jackson said. “Duke is doing a lot of things for us. He is a terrific football player. Glad he is a part of our organization and team. He is very valuable to what we do.”
So expect another busy season for Johnson, who rushed the ball 73 times last season and caught it 53 times. He also added 17 punt returns and a kickoff return.