While the story coming out of the Week 12 matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Las Vegas Raiders is whether or not QB Shedeur Sanders did enough to hold on to the starting job, the real story was about the Browns defense, starting with DE Myles Garrett.
Some of the raw numbers say a lot. RB Ashton Jeanty only gained 50 yards on 17 carries. Star TE Brock Bowers had six catches but for only 55 yards. The Raiders offense was able to gain 19 first downs, but a lot of those came as Las Vegas was trying
to make a comeback from being down double-digit points for the vast majority of the game.
Brian Baldinger highlighted the work of Cleveland’s defensive line in Week 12 in this video, as Raiders QB Geno Smith was hassled all day:
If we put some factual numbers to it, courtesy of the NFL media site, the Browns:
- Sacked Smith 10 times
- Hit Smith 20 times, including six by Garrett
Beyond those stats, according to early Pro Football Focus grading, Cleveland was hassling Smith all day:
Given that number, the real question is how many times Smith was not pressured.
- 44 pass attempts plus 10 sacks plus 3 scrambles equals 57 drop backs
- Minus 46 pressures
- Equals 11 times Smith dropped back on Sunday and was not pressured
What makes it even more interesting is that Smith was, in general, getting the ball out quickly with a 2.63 time to throw average in Week 12.
Anyone watching Cleveland’s defense against Las Vegas’ offense knew that Smith was getting pummelled on Sunday. The numbers show just how bad it really was.
