Corey Bojorquez's punts becomes a weapon for Cleveland Browns defense | Takeaways

CLEVELAND — The only assists they hand out in football come on tackles. They don't hand them out like they do in basketball or, especially, hockey.

If football had the hockey assist — in other words, the play that sets up the play — Browns punter Corey Bojorquez would have picked himself up at least one during Sunday's 27-0 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

The Browns' first possession of the third quarter had bogged down at their own 26 when Bojorquez was called upon to punt. That's exactly what he did, unloading a 73-yard blast that teammate Mike Ford Jr. downed at the Cardinals 1.

"I mean, that's huge," defensive end Myles Garrett said. "It's almost like he made a score and play himself, putting defense inside the 5 and allowing us to go hunt, make negative plays, trying to put points on the board ourselves or keep them backed up so the offense in great position. He flips the field, and he had a hell of a day, but none greater than what he did today."

The defense couldn't turn that into points, although it twice came close to doing so. On second down, safety Juan Thornhill came on a blitz and nearly sacked Cardinals rookie quarterback Clayton Tune for a safety.

On the next play, linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. and cornerback Denzel Ward both nearly picked off a Tune pass that was thrown under heavy duress. Arizona had to punt the ball away.

"Man, I feel like that's one of the best feelings in the NFL," defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson said. "You go out there, the fans are going crazy and everything. You really want that safety, though. We really wanted it. We thought we had it on the first play, but we were just fighting for it. When you force a point or get a turnover or something down there, it's just amazing."

Bojorquez finished the day averaging 58.6 yards with a net of 46 on seven punts. The 73-yarder was one of two he placed inside the 20.

The veteran's next punt was nearly downed again inside the 5, but it rolled into the end zone for one of two touchbacks. Still, on the very next play defensive tackle Shelby Harris forced a strip sack of Tune, which led to a touchdown pass from Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson to tight end David Njoku to make it 20-0.

Bojorquez is averaging 50.5 yards with a net of 43.6 on 42 punts this season. He's put 14 punts inside the 20.

Deshaun Watson, Amari Cooper draw it up in the dirt

Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper has talked repeatedly about the importance of communication between receiver and quarterback. The reason for that was shown on the final throw of the day Sunday for Watson.

On third-and-6 from the Browns 48 with 8:41 remaining, Watson and Cooper schemed up a play based on what Cooper had been seeing out of the Cardinals defense. The result was a 49-yard strike to the Cardinals 3 to set up Kareem Hunt's touchdown run to provide the final margin.

"I saw they were doubling me on third down, but the way they were doubling me was kind of counterintuitive to stopping me," Cooper said. "I was just like, OK, the corner is playing outside leverage. But then (safety) Budda (Baker), he's running like downhill at me trying to double team me, so I was like, I think I can beat them on the post."

What both Watson and Cooper acknowledged as critical to the play was the third person in the conversation. They both credited coach and play caller Kevin Stefanski for listening to what they had to say and going forward with the call.

"Yeah, he just knows he trusts what we see because we put the preparation in throughout the week." Watson said. "And that's what we saw, and he wanted to make sure that he gave me the play and he gave me the opportunity to check it, and that's what I did, and we capitalized on it. So, the more times we see that he trusts our preparation and we capitalize, then I think more opportunities he will let us do that. So, it was cool."

James Proche II provides some life to the Browns punt return game

Special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone said Thursday the return game was where he felt the Browns still needed to grow the most. Growth can come in little steps a well as big ones.

The Browns took a little step forward in their punt return game because of the elevation to the game-day roster by James Proche II, who was signed to the practice squad on Tuesday. Proche averaged 9.2 yards on six returns, including a long of 17 yards.

Before Sunday, the Browns averaged 7.7 yards on 19 punt returns. They traded away Donovan Peoples-Jones, who had been their top punt return man, on Tuesday.

Peoples-Jones averaged 6.5 yards on 13 returns this season. Jaelon Darden averaged 9.8 yards on four returns in a Week 6 win over the San Francisco 49ers.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Corey Bojorquez a weapon for Browns defense with punts: Takeaways