How Josh Gordon Opened Up the Browns Offense in Week 12 Return

Most things in this world do not live up to the hype. In the age of social media and endless analysis, almost nothing can ever live up to the billing. Almost is not Josh Gordon. His return to the Cleveland Browns was all we thought it would be and then some.

When Gordon returned from his four-game suspension in 2013 he was targeted 19 times. He managed to snag 10 passes that game for 146 yards and a touchdown. So there was no way the Atlanta Falcons would let him do that to them this time around, right? They had to be prepared for him to get force fed the ball, didn’t they?

Wrong and no. Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer targeted Gordon 16 times. He caught eight passes for 120 yards. The scary part was there were at least three passes where Hoyer missed Gordon wide open. Had he made those throws, Gordon would have at least another 40 yards and maybe even a touchdown.

The immediate effect for the Browns was obvious. Gordon is a freak of nature at 6’3” and 225 pounds. He has blazing speed and strength no cornerback in the league can match. His athleticism is so effortless he seems to glide downfield and it almost looks like he is giving lackluster effort.

For the next five games, the 7-4 Browns have a weapon on the field every team has to game-plan for. There will be meetings specifically for number 12. Last year, opponents tried to negate him every week and he still managed to catch 87 balls for a league-leading 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns.

He also made a heads-up play when a double reverse went awry on Sunday. Running back Terrance West made an errant pitch to him and he recovered the ball a solid 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Instead of panicking, he made some room and threw the ball away. It looked effortless. Just like the rest of his day.

By the way, this is your friendly reminder that Gordon had not played a real game in nearly a year. So this was, well, Gordon at less than 100 percent.

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Has Josh Gordon made the Hall of Fame yet?

— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) November 23, 2014 "

What Gordon accomplished on Sunday went far beyond his own stat line, however. His presence in the field helped so many other people wearing orange helmets.

We will start with the obvious. Hoyer can now legitimately have a chance to throw for 300 yards every game. That is how good Gordon is. Those two were clearly not on the same page today. When they finally are, the deep balls will start to connect.

In what was another poor start for Hoyer, he still threw for 322 yards. That is how much Gordon opens things up for an offense. Of course it didn’t hurt that the Browns were facing the worst passing defense in the NFL either.

Hoyer is not the only one who should be thanking the heavens above that Gordon has returned. Wide receivers Andrew Hawkins and Miles Austin looked like completely different players with him on the field.

Hawkins, who was having a stellar year without Gordon on the field, now has the room to run free in the middle of the field, which is his strong suit. He was averaging 67 receiving yards per game heading into Sunday. He racked up 93 against Atlanta and most of those were yards after the catch because he was able to find space.

Austin was not having a good year before Gordon returned. In fact, he was among the biggest disappointments for the Browns this season. I think most people felt that if he were healthy he could be a serious contributor with Gordon suspended.

Heading into Sunday, he was averaging just three catches per game and 42 receiving yards. That is not quite the production you want form your primary receiver. With Gordon back and the double teams on the other side of the field, he caught six passes for 64 yards and also dropped a touchdown.

Magically, Austin is relevant again.

It wasn’t just the passing game that benefited from his return, though. The rookie running backs Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell had huge games for the first time in a while as well.

West was averaging 12 carries and 45 yards per game before Sunday. He rushed 14 times for 62 yards. Crowell was averaging nine carries for 40 yards. He carried the ball 12 times for 88 yards and two scores on Sunday.

Again, not all of that was Gordon’s return. The Atlanta defense is bad and now that Ben Tate has been released, the rookies seemed to be running with more confidence. Still, it would be foolish to think Gordon pulling the safeties off the line didn’t help matters.

DawgsByNature.com did a great job of illustrating on their Twitter account just how crowded the box got when Gordon was out of the game. 

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No Josh Gordon on the field? Defense packs that box. pic.twitter.com/YDhnBVa5Mz

— Dawgs By Nature (@DawgsByNature) November 23, 2014"

I rest my case, your honor.

While the Browns will see much better defenses than Atlanta’s down the stretch—and Hoyer will have to play much better than he did on Sunday—Gordon’s return gives the Browns a little room for error.

That is something they have not had much of this season. The Browns offense has had to walk a tightrope for 10 games and now has a huge safety net underneath it. If they use that net wisely they can be very dangerous for the last five games of the season and possibly beyond.