The Cleveland Browns defense has been feeling the pressure through the first nine weeks of the season.
Following the complete team meltdown in Week 1 against Jacksonville, the defense has carried more than its share of the water each week.
It has become a familiar script: the defense keeps the Browns in the game while the offense bumbles its way through the first three quarters, only to catch fire when it appears all hope is lost to pull out a win.
At least that is how it has played out with Deshaun
Watson as the starting quarterback. Unfortunately for the Browns, Watson was sidelined for last week’s game against the New Orleans Saints with a concussion, so no winning comeback was to be found.
While everyone knows that playing the way the Browns have through the first nine games is not sustainable, most weeks it felt that way given the way the defense was playing.
But the strain has started to show on the defense over the past few weeks; in the previous three games, they have allowed an average of 24.7 points and 167 rushing yards per game.
So what can the defense do to get itself right and help the Browns avoid heading into the bye week on a three-game losing streak?
When asked about it on Thursday, defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg said it comes down to facing the challenge head-on and finding that extra bit of energy to make a difference:
“No one drive defines a game, and I think that’s important for the whole team to know, and that’s what Monk always talks about. Whether it’s starting fast, finishing faster, making the play at the end of the half, going in, getting a three and out after halftime. Each little six-second play defines the game.
“And then of course at the end of the game, great defenses try their butts off to finish. And during the week, I’m not going to get into what we do, but what I can promise you is we are always addressing whatever came up head-on, honestly, together, and figuring out the best ways, whether it’s in a meeting, whether it’s out at practice, whether it’s a drill. We do all that, and our guys are bought into that, and it’s really cool to see.”
But what about the run defense? While the Browns have never really been stout against the run, being ranked No. 27 against it (130.6 yards per game) this season doesn’t make life any easier.
The Texas don’t present a daunting challenge as they are ranked No. 29 in rushing (87.1 yards per game), but neither did the Saints, and they ripped off 141 rushing yards.
Rutenberg went back to his standby answer when asked about what the coaches can do this week to get things back on track:
“Every week, whatever it is, we address it, like I always say, because that’s just what football is. And in terms of the run defense, great run games are based on violence, which is what we’re built off of. Discipline fits and straining of the ball. And we’ll continue to preach our style of strain and violence and our style of the mind to do our best in the fits, practice it like we’ve been doing it, and continue to, whatever it is, take that approach in everything we’re trying to fix.”
The joy of being 5-2 and first in the AFC North has started to slip away over the past two weeks, and the defense has played a role in that.
This week presents another challenge, and if the Browns hope to enter the bye with a victory, they are going to need the defense to get back to its particular strain of violence when the Texans have the ball.
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