The Cleveland Browns defense forced one punt in the two football games before their bye week. To say that they had issues getting off the field would be a vast understatement.
The defense really has had trouble getting off the field on third down much of the year but their ability to create take-a-ways early in the season helped to cover up some of their deficiencies. Turnovers are fantastic, the thing about turnovers though is that they aren’t sustainable.
The Browns defense has had trouble communicating in their new scheme, brought over by defensive coordinator Joe Woods. It also became very evident that they were having trouble creating pressure with just their front four, excluding Myles Garrett pressures. With time for plays to develop, teams have easily found open receivers in the Browns zone defense.
However, with a bye week to scout themselves and another week to prepare for the Houston Texans and the explosive Deshaun Watson, they looked like something had finally clicked. The Browns only allowed one play of over 15 yards in the first three quarters of the game.
When the Texans did put together a 14-play drive on their second possession of the game, the Browns defense and Myles Garrett came up huge with a 4th down stop inside their own 5-yard line, forcing a turnover on downs.
The Browns were able to get pressure on Watson and did so smartly. Often, defenses will rush upfield leaving running lanes open for Watson to run through. The Browns stayed disciplined, keeping Watson in the pocket by staying in their rush lanes and forcing hurried throws and incompletions.
The Browns did mix in some different personnel groupings. Sheldrick Redwine played more than he has in prior weeks. With Redwine often playing the single high safety position when he was in, Woods deployed three safeties with Andrew Sendejo and Rodney Harrison playing closer the line of scrimmage.
Woods has talked about using three safeties since the preseason but went away from it when the Browns lost rookie Grant Delpit to his season-ending injury.
There is no doubt the weather played a helpful role in the Browns’ best defensive performance to date. However, both teams had to contend with the high winds and rain. The Browns defense did what was needed to help them move to 6-3 on the season and showed signs of improving as a unit.
