It has been well covered this offseason on the amount of talent general manager Andrew Berry collected around Myles Garrett on the defensive line for the Cleveland Browns. Sunday was the first season to see all of that talent together on the field and they did not disappoint. The team kept Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow under pressure and uncomfortable from the first snap when Za’Darius Smith hit him as he threw the ball incomplete.
The weather played a factor but according to PFF, Joe Burrow was pressured on 17 of his 33 dropbacks Sunday. That means the Browns’ defense pressured Burrow over half of the time he dropped back to throw. The Bengals were clearly trying to get rid of the ball quickly to try and neutralize the pass rush and if they weren’t there would’ve been even more pressure.
It was truly impressive to watch as Jim Schwartz was creative moving players around and creating mismatches to create pressure. He trusted his defensive backs who also played well in the blowout win. Let’s take a look at more of the numbers from the Browns’ defensive line.