Cleveland Browns Offense in 2010: Peyton Hillis Looking for Some Help

As the Cleveland Browns march unceremoniously toward another season of missing the playoffs, one of their few bright spots on an otherwise dismal offense has been fullback Peyton Hillis.  Indeed, Hillis, traded to the Browns during the offseason from the Denver Broncos in exchange for quarterback Brady Quinn, appears to be one of the better personnel moves first year team president Mike Holmgren has made. 

Hillis' 391 yards rushing is good for 17th in the league, and while at first glance that might seem somewhat average, considering he has done it on an otherwise anemic Cleveland offense makes it all the more impressive.

What is even more is that Hillis' 26 receptions on the season place him fourth among running backs in the league, behind only Frank Gore, LeSean McCoy, and Jahvid Best.  So there is little doubt that, as the midway point of the season rapidly approaches, Peyton Hillis is the Browns offensive MVP. 

However, Hillis' hard nosed, north-south running style begs the question: will he be able to last the remainder of the season as the Browns' feature back? I would argue that in order for Cleveland to continue to reap the rewards their workhorse back provides, they need to find someone to spell him or risk losing him to the injured reserve list.

To that end, the Browns had recently trade tailback Jerome Harrison to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for Mike Bell.  Bell saw a couple of snaps last week against Pittsburgh, but can anyone really tell how good a back is against an aggressive Steelers D? 

This week Cleveland faces New Orleans defense that has been allowing a little over a 100 yards per game, a much more reasonable test.

Then there is James Davis.  The second year running back out of Clemson has seen only spot duty this season after having the potential to steal the starting job away from Jamal Lewis last season.

Head coach Eric Mangini continues to say that Davis is not in his doghouse, yet there continues to be little evidence that Davis will get more playing time anytime soon.  This is a guy who once started in front of CJ Spiller at Clemson, and everyone has seen what Spiller has done with Buffalo this season. 

Maybe Davis is the answer.  Or maybe he isn't

The Cleveland Browns have many questions on offense; fortunately Peyton Hillis isn't one of them.  However, unless they can find someone who can share the offensive load with Hillis, he might become a question mark sooner rather than later.