Travis Benjamin gives Cleveland Browns spark with 93-yard punt return for a touchdown

CLEVELAND — The surprise move resulting in a 93-yard punt return by Travis Benjamin for a touchdown Sunday has been in the Browns bag of tricks for weeks. They were just waiting for the right opportunity to pull it out.

Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor has a code name for the play: Banzai.

The Browns trailed, 10-3, when the Chiefs lined up to punt on the first play of the second quarter. Benjamin, not usually part of the punt return unit, was in the middle of the pack near the line of scrimmage when the two teams were aligning for the play. As the Chiefs were getting set, Joshua Cribbs sprinted forward from where he had been standing to receive the punt and Benjamin ran back to take Cribbs’ spot.

The worst that could have happened was the Chiefs would have punted before Benjamin was in position; Kansas City would have downed the ball and the Browns would have started a drive inside their 20.

Instead, the deception worked perfectly.

“Chris Tabor did a nice job,” Coach Pat Shurmur said. “We messed around with the coverage on the gunners, which caused the gunner to come in.”

When the Chiefs saw Cribbs dashing toward the line of scrimmage they correctly sniffed out the Browns’ intent to block Dustin Colquitt’s punt. The Chiefs’ gunner on the Browns’ left ran in to join on punt protection, leaving only the gunner on the right, and he over ran Benjamin.




(morningjournal.com)