The Baltimore Ravens are taking on the Cleveland Browns on Sunday afternoon with their sights set on their fifth win of the season and second in a row with Tyler Huntley under center.
To get the lowdown on Todd Monken’s squad, Baltimore Beatdown spoke with Dawgs By Nature’s Chris Pokorny and asked him five questions about the Browns. Here are his answers:
1. When Todd Monken was hired as the Ravens’ OC, he was noted for his ability to scheme around his personnel. How has he done that in Cleveland?
I think he’s brought that type of culture overall. I’ve told a few other sites this, but the top thing I hated about former head coach Kevin Stefanski and former defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is that I never saw them make in-game adjustments, and would occasionally make them during a game. With Monken’s team, he encouraged competition to find the team’s best starting five offensive linemen, he’s not been afraid to lessen veteran Jerry Jeudy’s reps at the expense of the rookies, and I’m sure he has some oversight of the need to be willing to make adjustments to defensive gameplans during the game.
2. What parts of Monken’s scheme in Baltimore have carried over to the Browns offense?
He doesn’t have the exact same personnel obviously, but he’s worked with another mobile quarterback and has more designed runs for him like you might have seen with Lamar Jackson. Monken has tried establishing a good rushing attack, but it hasn’t panned out well in the YPC department yet — but it still allows him to try dialing up those deep balls for explosive plays (namely to rookie WR Denzel Boston thus far). Overall, I think the offense still feels very different due to the personnel styles differing between the teams, but he’s making it work and hoping to achieve more success as time goes on.
3. The Ravens have been able to game plan around Myles Garrett in the past (though not always). Who is the Browns’ biggest pass-rushing threat now?
The pressure has been coming from everyone, as ten different members of the Browns have registered at least one sack thus far (compared to just seven for the Ravens). Because it’s so spaced out, it’s hard to pick out the Browns’ biggest pass-rushing threat. You’d think that it would be Jared Verse, who came over from the Rams for Garrett, but he doesn’t even have a sack this year. Despite Verse’s numbers being down, he’s received a lot of praise from the defensive coaching staff for doing his job and helping free up the players around him.
4. Cleveland is dealing with a few injuries headed into Week 6. Which potential absences could have the biggest impact?
My biggest question marks are surrounding DT Mason Graham and LB Carson Schwesinger, who are both questionable. They both returned in some capacity to practice on Friday, which is a positive sign. But the Browns also promoted two defensive tackles from the practice squad for Sunday’s game, and from a positional perspective, you usually think that’s a sign of depth issues at the position again (i.e. maybe they’ll give Graham’s knee injury another week to rest). Schwesinger seems more likely to play, but either of those players would be a huge detriment to the defense. Graham was playing at an All-Pro level for the first 3 weeks, and Schwesinger is coming off of his best game of the season.
5. Is there any chance that the Browns would consider a QB switch mid-game on Sunday?
As crazy as it sounds — because fans hated the fact that Deshaun Watson was the starter heading into the season, and would’ve answered “absolutely yes” if this was asked back in Week 2 — but now, it would be a shock to see a quarterback switch mid-game for performance reasons. Watson helped get the Browns to 3-1, and even though last week was a rough performance for everyone in rainy conditions, he technically led a go-ahead touchdown drive again mid-way through the fourth quarter. Watson has done a solid job of using his legs to pick up key yards, and when he’s at his best, he’s taking the easy/smart yards underneath on passes, and then occasionally going for the longer ball. He almost seems like a game manager at times, but it’s definite growth from what he was doing for the Browns prior to his Achilles’ injuries.
