What is the story about?
As
bad of a game as this was for the Browns’ offense, the Browns’ defense was fantastic, aside from the first drive. I thought Cleveland made a bunch of adjustments following that opening touchdown drive by the Jets, although I do question why they started with that approach in the first place.
Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on defense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 5 game against the New York Jets.
Defensive Line
- Still no sacks for Jared Verse. The defense in general is playing well, and the coaching staff says he’s helping other players succeed. I’ll take their word for it, since we are seeing a variety of players come up with key plays.
- Maliek Collins had 1.5 sacks in the first half, but overall, having the depth issues at defensive tackle hurt the run defense for sure.
Linebacker
- This was like an all-time game for Quincy Williams. My goodness, this guy has been lights out the past four games, but this week especially. Against his former team, he forced three fumbles, deflected a pass, and led the team with 11 tackles. He received one of the highest grades I’ve ever seen from PFF (95.7).
- It was also a strong performance from Carson Schwesinger, who had the huge strip sack late in the game that we thought was going to seal it for Cleveland. He was the Browns’ third-highest graded defender by PFF (84.9).
Cornerback
- Again, I’m still not sure who to blame for that opening-drive defense. Was Denzel Ward in zone coverage? Man? PFF didn’t approve of his performance this week, grading him out to a 53.4, one of the lowest on the team. But most of Garrett Wilson’s production on the day came on that first drive.
Safety
- It seemed like Ronnie Hickman missed a few open field tackles on that first drive, although those are also tough spots to be in.
- Emmanuel McNeil-Warren received a grade of 92.0 from PFF, mostly for his coverage.
