The Cleveland Browns faced some questions on the defensive side of the ball heading into the 2026 season.
The biggest concern was how Mike Rutenberg would handle being a defensive coordinator for the first time, especially since he was taking over for the highly regarded Jim Schwartz, who had been in charge of Cleveland’s defense for the past three seasons.
Outside of a Week 1 disaster against Jacksonville, the defense has been one of the consistent bright spots in Cleveland’s 5-3 start.
One area that
has been an issue, however, is the run defense, which has been up and down through eight games.
When the run defense has been good, it’s been pretty good, as the Browns held Carolina, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh (in the first meeting) all under 100 rushing yards.
But when it has been bad, it has been bad and steadily getting worse. Cleveland allowed an average of 132.2 rushing yards to Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, and the New York Jets. But in the last two games, Tennessee rushed for 141 yards, while the Steelers piled up 200 rushing yards in Sunday’s rematch.
What’s worse, after allowing just one rushing touchdown in the first six games, the Browns have allowed a total of six in just the past two games.
So what is going on? Is it a lack of effort? Are opposing offenses figuring out the defense? Or is the defense wearing down from having to carry so much of the burden while the offense has struggled?
According to head coach Todd Monken, it is a combination of the last two items:
“I don’t see it as a mindset. Our guys play their rear ends off – they’re physical. Every game’s different, every week is different. We’ve got to play better on the road. We’ve got to play from in front. That will give us a chance to play the run better and force them to make calls. But there are a number of things we’re going to have to do to change, because we’re going to continue to see those types of runs, those schematic runs against the attack style, and where we go from here.
“We weren’t at our best the last couple of weeks in stopping the run. All right, now what? What are we going to do to stop the run? What are we going to do to put ourselves in a position where we’re always trying to make a team one-dimensional, no doubt, but where we can mitigate those long plays.”
It is worth pointing out that, despite the hand-wringing over Schwartz leaving the team, the Browns have been good at stopping the run for the better part of the past two decades.
According to numbers pulled by Chris Easterling at The Beacon Journal, the Browns are currently ranked No. 24 against the run as they are allowing 126.9 yards per game. Only once since 1999 have the Browns allowed less than 100 yards per game in a season, and that came in the winless campaign of 2017.
Even under the great and mighty Schwartz, the Browns struggled, as in his three seasons the defense allowed 105.5 rushing yards per game (2023), 129.7 in 2024, and 116.4 in 2025.
It doesn’t seem as if the offense is in any hurry to put a full game together, so the defense is going to have to tighten up against the run if there is any hope of not having the season spiral away.
This week will be a good test to see if the coaches can make any meaningful changes as the Browns face a New Orleans team that is No. 28 in rushing yards (86.0), No. 30 in yards per carry (3.52), and just fired its offensive run coordinator.
If the Browns can’t keep the Saints under control on the ground, there is no telling how bad things may get the rest of the way.
