Rotation on the defensive line key for Browns defene in Week 1 vs Bengals
The Cleveland Browns’ defense out-gained the Bengals in yards 327 to 141. In the first half, Cleveland allowed 134 yards of offense. That means in the second half, the Bengals had just 7 offensive yards, and managed to win. The Browns were a bit shaky early on, allowing Cincinnati to put together some methodical drives. They did a better job at not allowing the big play, though, and in the second half, they allowed nothing. They continuously gave the offense a chance to re-take the lead, but they didn’t
capitalize.
Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on defense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 1 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Myles Garrett is often at his best to start the season, and I always say how there are often those moments in a game where he makes what should be a game-changing play. In this game, there were three different instances in which he was responsible for killing a drive: laying a hit on third down to force an incompletion, giving Joe Burrow immediate pressure to force him to abandon a play on third down, and then the point in the second half where he had back-to-back sacks.
Despite those efforts, Garrett only received a grade of 72.1 from PFF, which is somewhat pedestrian for the grades they typically give him.
We were wondering who would get more snaps between Isaiah McGuire and Alex Smith. It was pretty even overall, but McGuire (29 snaps) had more work than Smith (21 snaps). McGuire received a grade of 88.2 from PFF, and Smith was graded a 72.8.
No. 5 overall pick Mason Graham graded out to 66.7 by PFF — a solid, but not spectacular, debut.
A lot of Browns defenders graded well on the day, but veteran Shelby Harris was not one of them, grading out to a 31.6 from PFF.
Joe Tryon, who received a 1-year, $4.75 million deal from the Browns, only got 2 snaps on defense in his Browns debut after a quiet training camp.
Highest Week 1 pressure rates at QB:
53% – Cam Ward vs. DEN
43% – Joe Burrow vs. CLE
42% – Jalen Hurts vs. DAL
41% – C.J. Stroud vs. LAR
41% – Matthew Stafford vs. HOU
41% – Baker Mayfield vs. ATL
After seeing the preseason, I think Browns fans had more eyes on Carson Schwesinger being a top player than Mason Graham, and he delivered in his regular season debut. He led the Browns with 8 tackles, including one for a loss, and was the team’s highest-graded defender by PFF (90.0).
Devin Bush, who was impressive last year, also had a nice game, and was the team’s third-highest graded defender by PFF (87.5).
Mohamoud Diabate only played 9 snaps, but from my eye, seems to be victimized on a couple of negative passing plays.
Cornerback
Pos
Player
Plays
% Snaps
Stats
CB
Denzel Ward
50
96%
2 tackles (2 combined). 1 pass defended.
CB
Greg Newsome
48
92%
3 tackles (3 combined). 2 passes defended.
CB
Myles Harden
19
37%
3 tackle (3 combined).
CB
Cameron Mitchell
9
17%
No stats registered.
It didn’t seem like Denzel Ward was targeted very often. It’s amazing how many times you see games where the Bengals’ star receivers can’t get much going against the Browns. Ja’Marr Chase had 2 catches for 26 yards, and Tee Higgins had 3 catches for 33 yards.
Greg Newsome was flagged for a pass interference penalty against Chase early on that led to a touchdown, but he stayed strong later on and tightly defended a couple of passes to the sideline. PFF had him as the team’s top-graded member of the secondary (76.6).
Myles Harden saw more snaps (19) than Cameron Mitchell (9 snaps) as the team’s next cornerback up.
It seemed like a quiet day for Grant Delpit and Ronnie Hickman. That’s not always a bad thing, especially when you see that the Bengals’ longest pass play on the day was 20 yards (and that came via a catch-and-run).
Rayshawn Jenkins was the only other safety to see action (15 snaps).
