Defense might save the Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns have largely been a bastion of despair for a long time, especially the last two years, but they finally have a semblance of hope thanks to the defense. Cleveland has invested heavily in draft picks for that unit since 2016 — and now, it’s starting to pay off.

Although the Browns sit with a record of 0-1-1 heading into their Thursday night game against the New York Jets (and no wins since Christmas Eve 2016), their defense has done a good job of playing against two of the best offenses in the league.

How are they doing it?

When the Browns selected Myles Garrett with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, they were hoping to get a dominant force off the edge who can change the course of games. So far, he looks like he’s going to live up to the hype. After a promising, yet short, rookie season, Garrett’s having a great start to the season.

He logged two sacks and two forced fumbles against the Pittsburgh Steelers, including a strip sack that gave the Browns the ball in prime field position. Unfortunately the Browns couldn’t make use of it. They went three-and-out and wound up punting from the Steelers 39-yard line.

Here’s the first sack Garrett had against Pittsburgh.

Once he confirms the Steelers are passing after the play action fake, he rips to his right, accelerates, turns the corner, and hawks down Roethlisberger for a sack. The agility for a man his size (6’4, 272 pounds at the NFL combine), is unreal. Garrett finally got that sack against Ben Roethlisberger.

His second sack against the Steelers was a bit easier. Pittsburgh pulled right guard David DeCastro across the offensive line, admittedly a difficult block to make, and Garrett ran right by him for the strip sack.

Garrett didn’t do too much against the Saints (only had one tackle), but his presence is always going to open things up for others.

He isn’t the only young defensive lineman on the Browns making plays this year. Larry Ogunjobi, their third-round pick from the 2017 draft class, had a big game against the Saints. Ogunjobi finished the game with two sacks, two tackles for loss, and two quarterback hits against one of the best offensive lines in the league.

His quickness, disruption ability, and athleticism makes him a perfect fit to replace Danny Shelton’s snaps in defensive coordinator Gregg Williams’ aggressive, up-tempo scheme. Shelton was a good player for the Browns, but he was run-stuffing nose tackle — that’s not the type of player they were looking for, which led to his trade to New England.

Here’s a perfect example of how Ogunjobi fits the Browns’ defensive style.

Max Unger is a talented center and Ogunjobi made him look like he didn’t belong on an NFL field. His ability to cross the face of offensive linemen while getting up the field allowed him to create plays in the backfield on Sunday.

Ogunjobi’s three sacks in two weeks have given the Browns’ defense life. The Browns rank 11th in opposing Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt (ANY/A) and 12th in opposing passer rating. Last season, Cleveland was 28th in opposing ANY/A and 32nd in opposing passer rating. They now have an interior disruptor to go along with Garrett off the edge.

And don’t forget about Emmanuel Ogbah, their second-round pick from 2016.

Ogbah missed the first two games of the season with an ankle injury, but in 2017 he had 14 tackles at or behind the line scrimmage, which was tied for sixth in the league. Cleveland is ninth in sack percentage so far this season, last year they were 20th. That’s a testament to the players that they’ve hit on and some solid coordinating by Williams.

Williams has made many stops and had varying degrees of success throughout his career, but it looks like he’s starting to figure out how to use this group of Cleveland defenders in his second year with the team. One area the Browns have greatly improved upon is their ability to defend tight ends. In 2017, that was easily one of the weakest parts of their defense.

The sample size for this year is small, but the fact that they haven’t been completely ripped up is promising. Josh Hill and Jesse James aren’t exactly world beating tight ends, but the Browns’ improvement here is still notable:

2017: 125 targets, 89 catches, 868 yards, 10 touchdowns, 54.3 yards per game

2018: 11 targets, 7 receptions, 84 yards, 0 touchdowns, 42 yards per game

Williams has also figured out better spots to bring the heat with blitzes. Take this sack by cornerback T.J. Carrie from their game against the Saints.

If that blitz looks a bit convoluted to you, you’re right. There’s a lot happening on just that one play — but it’s the perfect counter to what the Saints called. Let’s look at the responsibilities of the players.

The blitz was the most exciting and explosive part of the play, but the coverage responsibility executed by the linebackers was equally important. New Orleans has two receivers breaking across the middle of the field and the Browns have three linebackers sitting in coverage.

Two of the linebackers (the yellow arrows pointing up in the photo) have to wall off the middle of field from potential threats where New Orleans’ passing strength is (three-receiver side). The third (the yellow arrow pointing down the field) is waiting in a zone to cover any potential crossers that the Saints might send. It wasn’t perfect as Jamie Collins had to cover a bit for Genard Avery letting the receiver run past him, but the coverage was good enough to force Drew Brees to hold the ball for an extra second.

Cleveland confused the hell out of the left side of New Orleans’ offensive line. Garrett slanted two gaps inside, Jabrill Peppers took the left tackle out of the way by rushing far up the field, and Carrie was able to get home due to the space that Garrett and Peppers created. The end zone view is nasty — Carrie isn’t even in the screen before he comes flying in to blow up Brees.

The Browns are starting to click as a defense. As the cliche goes, defense wins championships (ignore the last two Super Bowls) and the Browns finally have a unit that looks like it can be a force in the AFC.

With the AFC North absolutely up for grabs this year, why can’t it be the Browns’ year?