It has been a rough couple of weeks for the Browns defense as Sean Payton of the Broncos and Sean McVay of the Rams have out-schemed them badly. They have shown the blueprint on how to beat the Browns defense: use their aggression to your benefit with motion and misdirection.
Jim Schwartz’s unit has had no answer for zone reads with athletic quarterbacks or jet motion runs. The Browns defense has been so aggressive this year and for a while, it was working until they got a little too aggressive. They aren’t playing assignment-sound football and haven’t had many answers in the run game.
Against the Rams, it was clear that McVay was not going to allow the Browns pass rush to disrupt his offense. They got the ball out of Stafford’s hand so quickly that it neutralized the pass rush and Schwartz couldn’t adjust. The injury to Denzel Ward has been huge for the Browns, as the past couple of weeks, teams have taken advantage of Greg Newsome II, who has been playing poorly in Ward’s absence.
The good news is this is fixable. The Browns have the talent if they can show they are willing to adjust their game plan on game day if things go wrong initially. We have seen them do it before, but Cleveland has got to fix its run defense and stop biting on play action and misdirection. They must get it figured out as Cleveland controls its own destiny for the playoffs and it all starts at home on Sunday.
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