BEREA: Browns coach Hue Jackson isn’t going to let New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick steal his bread and butter without a fight.
Although the Browns are the NFL’s only winless team, they have been running the ball better than anyone and are ranked No. 1 in the league with 149.3 rushing yards per game.
So everyone knows Belichick will attempt to mastermind a way to ground that running game when the Patriots (3-1) visit the Browns (0-4) on Sunday.
“I’m used to dictating the game, and I’m sure he’s used to taking the game away,” Jackson said Wednesday. “So it’s a good chess match and they’ve been very good at it, and we have great respect for them and what they do. But we’ve got to kind of go be who we are and let the chips fall where they may.”
In other words, Jackson isn’t willing to concede his team won’t run well against the Patriots. He made that clear in a playful exchange with a reporter who asked about it.
“So basically you just said, ‘They just took the run away,’ ” Jackson said with a laugh.
“You have to be a balanced team against them,” he added. “You can’t just do one thing. They’ll take it away, so we have to play a balanced football game. We have to be able to throw the ball, and we have to be able to run it.”
The Patriots defense is ranked 19th overall (365.8 yards allowed per game), 15th against the run (101.3), 20th against the pass (264.5) and fourth in points allowed (15.3).
The Browns offense is ranked 12th overall (371.3 yards per game), first in rushing, tied for 25th in passing (222) and 26th in points scored (18.5).
The Browns obviously don’t want to put the game solely on the shoulders of rookie quarterback Cody Kessler in a duel with Patriots four-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady, who’s coming off his four-game suspension from Deflategate.
“As we have success [running the ball], the stakes become higher,” nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas said. “People will try to sell out more in trying to stop the run game. One thing we know about the Patriots ... they are going to try to take away what we do the best. Currently, it is run the football. We can expect them to come up with some big-time wrinkles to try to take away our run game.
“You can’t just accept the fact they’re going to try to take away your run game and not try to still run the ball. We’ll just have to try to come up with new wrinkles to try to be able to attack whatever their game plan’s going to be to take it away.”
Jackson said he considers Belichick one of the greatest coaches in NFL history, but he isn’t intimidated as he prepares for him.
“I don’t feel that way. I’ve never,” Jackson said. “Obviously, I’ve played his teams before [as a coach elsewhere]. They’re good. They have a proven quarterback. He’s one of the best head coaches there are, and so they know how to defend teams and take away teams’ strengths and go expose your weaknesses everywhere.
“So what we have to do is play our best football game of the year, and I think our guys have been getting better. But we’ve got to continue to grow and this is a really good test for our team, and I think we’ll be ready to play.”
If the Browns play the way they would like, running backs Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson will continue to thrive. Crowell has rushed 60 times for 386 yards (6.4 average) and three touchdowns. Johnson has 25 carries for 156 yards (6.2 average). They rank first and second in the league in rushing average, and this is the first time an NFL team has had two running backs average at least 6 yards per carry with a minimum of 25 attempts since Jim Brown and Bobby Mitchell did it for the Browns in 1958. And Crowell is No. 2 in the NFL in rushing.
“They are running with a lot of anger,” Thomas said. “The first and second guy are not going to be tackling [Crowell and Johnson] right now. It is fun to block for a guy like Crow and a guy like Duke when they run so hard. Even when we have them blocked for 2 yards, they gain 4.”
Crowell and Johnson have talked to Earnest Byner about each of them rushing for 1,000 yards in the same season like Byner and Kevin Mack did for the Browns in 1985.
“[Byner] said we can do it,” Johnson said. “We just have to believe like he does.”
They need to believe they can produce like the NFL’s top running offense against the Patriots.
“Everybody has a hand in that,” Jackson said. “Obviously, I think Isaiah is playing extremely well and Duke, those guys are running like I think big-time runners run. But at the same time, they can’t do it alone. I think everybody has a piece of that — our tight ends, our receivers, our linemen.”
As Jackson plans for Belichick, he dreams of what his counterpart and Brady have achieved.
“We all are envious of what they have. I know I am,” Jackson said. “I want our organization to model that someday. That’s what we’re chasing. That’s why we do what we do. I’m not speaking for the other 31 teams. I know it’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. Someday I hope to have a relationship like that with our quarterback and have our organization hoist that trophy someday, and truly that’s what it’s all about.”
For now, Jackson would be thrilled with a gargantuan upset against the Patriots.
“Who knows what can happen in a three-hour period?” Jackson said. “You’ve got to go play the game, and we’ll find out.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.