Cleveland Browns By the Numbers: Tony Pashos at Right Tackle Is the Answer

The Cleveland Browns needed to find more depth at right tackle going into the 2010 season, so they went out in free agency and found veteran Tony Pashos, who would hopefully help solidify the right side of their offensive line.

One the left side of their offensive line, the Browns are set for many years with left tackle Joe Thomas, left guard Eric Steinbach, and center Alex Mack.

In the 2010 NFL Draft, the Browns selected their hopeful right guard of the future when they picked the 6' 2" 315 pound guard out of Arizona State, Shawn Lauvao.

Lauvao has been slowed by injury and has yet to really see any significant playing time through four games, but Floyd "Porkchop" Womack has played well in his place.

In 2009, the Browns signed right tackle John St. Clair in free agency and that experiment did not go well with St. Clair getting benched in the last half of the season, moving Womack over to right tackle and backup center Hank Fraley to right guard.

This alignment helped the Browns develop a nearly unstoppable running attack that helped them win their last four games in a row.

During the first two games of the 2010 season, St. Clair was yet again starting at right tackle and in those first two games, the Browns ran for a total of 104 yards against the Buccaneers and 73 yards versus the Chiefs.

Not the greatest rushing numbers from a team who said would be a run-heavy team and bring back smash-mouth football to the AFC North.

St. Clair was then replaced with Pashos in the Browns' third game against the Ravens when Peyton Hillis and the running attack finally broke out and ran all over a premier run defense for 173 yards.

After that run performance, Pashos stayed in to start versus the Bengals and once again the Browns totaled 116 yards on the ground.

Now to total everything up between the two right tackles, when St. Clair played in the first two games, the Browns totaled 177 rushing yards with a 3.65 yard per carry average.

When Pashos played right tackle, the Browns rushed for 289 with a 4.65 yard per carry average.

The numbers really do not lie in this comparison. Pashos needs to be the starting right tackle from now on barring an injury, because his ability to run block is helping the Browns' offense move the ball a full one yard per every carry in the last two games.

While Hillis is running through linebackers and knocking down safeties (he sent Bengals safety Roy Williams to the locker room after Williams tried to hit Hillis as hard as he could and just bounced off), the Browns have the 13th best running attack in the NFL right now and look to continue moving up the ranking.

One year ago, the Browns finished with the eighth best running attack in the NFL, and with Pashos at right tackle, they look to continue giving Hillis the ball and rolling over defenders as the preferred game plan of choice.

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(Also posted on Dawg Scooper: THE Cleveland Browns Blog)