Potion No. 35 and No. 16: The Cure to Offensive Monotony?

Cleveland first down. Jamal Lewis, up the middle, one-yard gain.

This is has been pretty much the motif for the Browns' running game and maybe offense for the season. The lack of offensive imagination is infuriating; it's almost as if they are running a 1960s style Packer offense. This team is capable of so much more, and unfazed Romeo Crennel and company are leading this team toward a path of mediocrity.

On the bright side, the Browns do have certain personnel that if used correctly, could add some offensive punch before everything is said and done.

Jerome Harrison

The times they are a changin', the days of the feature back are numbered, ushering in a era of two-pronged (and in the Giants' case three-pronged) rushing attack. In this is the atypical combo is the pairing of home-run threat with a bruiser.

This helps because defenses have to prepare a gameplan to stop two runners, and if used in the latter stages of the game, a speedster can tear tiring defenses apart due to their relative fresh legs.

While in the first three quarters the bruiser is running over people. The Browns are behind the times in the respect that not only do they field exclusively an aging Jamal Lewis and an ineffective Jason Wright, they don't diversify the play calls at all, for God sakes, run a draw or a pitch!

But there is a bright side, his name is Jerome Harrison.

Jerome Harrison was a fifth-round pick out of Washington State during the 2006 draft. He currently sits third on the Browns' depth chart, despite rushing an average of 7.5 yac this year. Harrison had 48 yards on five carries during the Broncos game! Can the Browns be so blind as to see the kind of production this kid can put up! Every time I have watched him on T.V, he runs for a minimum of nine yards.

Like Reggie Bush in the same class, every hand-off he receives I hold my breath on what could be a game-breaking run. Let's face it, the years of feature backs are over, the years of factor backs are in, and Jerome Harrison is a factor back.

Joshua Cribbs

I admire that the Browns factor special teams player has been inserted into the passing game, but on the wrong end. The new fad on the NFL block this year is the Wild Hog formation.

In Miami, you would often see Ronnie Brown line up at shotgun with Ricky Williams. This saw great success due to the fact that the defense now had to account for not only one running back, but two running backs and an entire compliment of wide receivers from Ronnie can dump the ball off, too. He even threw a touchdown pass to Anthony Fasano during the Patriots-Dolphins game.

Now let's see, this offense has defenses around the league perplexed, but there are certain requirements:

*A speedy athlete who can run in the open field, run a basic offense, and can complete the occasional pass.

*A good O-line (Nothing happens on offense if the O-line is bad). The O-Line is especially important because these guys open up the huge holes for the duel speed threats.

* An open-minded coach.

The Browns have the line, but who can be the field general? Joshua Cribbs seems like the ideal candidate. He used to be quarterback at Kent State, so he knows how to pass and run an offense (The university that bears the famous shooting's name, Kent State has quietly produced three 2007 Pro-Bowlers in Joshua Cribbs, James Harrison, and most notable, Antonio Gates).

Joshua Cribbs is deceptively quick, and is a speed demon; he already is the punt return and kickoff recipient. The ironic thing about this situation is that the Browns have probably the most qualified man in the league who can run this offense, but don't choose to implement it!

The Browns are offensively backwards right now, but they have the power to fix it.