Browns vs Texans: Breaking down Kareem Hunt’s touchdown run – Film don’t lie

A breakdown of Kareem Hunt’s touchdown run in the 1st quarter

The Cleveland Browns endured a heartbreaking 45-14 loss to the Houston Texans on Saturday in the first round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs.

Though it’s incredibly tough for the fanbase and organization to deal with, the amount of “good” that came from the 2023 regular season can’t be suppressed for long. It was a storybook season full of hope and excitement that was fueled by luck, a dominant defense, and Joe Flacco’s arm.

Despite an insane amount of injuries, they were able to win 11 games and finish as the No.5 seed in the AFC heading into the playoffs. That’s an incredible consolation prize for a season that “should” have been lost as soon as Deshaun Watson was announced out for the year in November. This team showed an inconceivable amount of heart and determination in the 2023/2024 campaign that will never be forgotten, despite what happened in the playoff game on Saturday.

The Browns started fast against Houston with an impressive one-yard touchdown run from Kareem Hunt on their opening drive.

The play began with TE Harrison Bryant (“X”) going into motion across the formation behind Flacco. Once the ball was snapped, both he and TE David Njoku (“Y”) double-teamed the backside edge defender. LT Geron Christian cut-blocked the defender over him while LG Joel Bitonio pulled around C Ethan Pocic, who executed a great gap block on the defender lined up over the Bitonio.

Pocic was able to wall off the penetrating defensive tackle while RG Wyatt Teller completely erased the defensive tackle lined up in the play side “A” gap by torquing and driving the defender inside.

RT James Hudson and OG Michael Dunn, who was lined up as the extra tight end (“Z”), both blocked the defenders over them on the play side of the formation.

FB Nick Harris (“F”) provided some deception on the play by running to the weak side “C” gap or “5” hole in an attempt to influence the linebackers to follow the lead blocker and sift away from the play.

What essentially ended up happening at the goal line was a Joel Bitonio “iso” block on the linebacker, with Kareem Hunt punching into the endzone behind him.

What did you think of this play call on the 1-yard line? Join fellow Browns fans in the comment section below.