Every NFL club has 53 players on their main roster. Many teams have a large nucleus of star players. For the Cleveland Browns, that number just might be one.
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Defensive end Myles Garrett is annually one of the finest pass rushers in the league. He was Defensive MVP in 2023 and is a yearly candidate each season. But things are not going well for Cleveland so far this year. They are currently 1-5-0, with their lone win a combination of a blocked field goal and an interception deep in their opponents’ territory that assisted the victory.
The offense for Cleveland isn’t finishing drives, which means the defense is then called upon to go back onto the field, thus cutting their rest time.
In the Steelers contest, the Browns offense had four punts, three field goals, and a loss of possession on downs twice. One was a 10-play drive while the other was seven plays. One of the field goal drives resulted in using a whopping 18 plays.
The Browns’ defense has been ranked at the top of the league for most of the year. That has changed after the Pittsburgh loss, but they are still ranked #4 against the run (478) and first down conversions on the ground (26), plus are #1 in yards per carry average (3.1).
In the meantime, Cleveland’s offensive attack is rated near the bottom of the NFL in most categories. This group is ranked #20 in passing yards (1,245) and ranked #27 in rushing yardage (544).
After another defeat to division foe the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday in a game in which the Browns were never really in contention to win, Garrett had a few words to say in the post-game presser:
“It’s frustrating. Losing the same way every time, it’s frustrating as hell.”
Cleveland’s offense has had six different combinations of offensive linemen, and drops by receivers seems to be a theme this year. This means this group is coming off the field early without any points scored. The Browns are dead last in total points scored with 82, which is an average of 13.7 points a game. This offense has yet to eclipse the 20-point range in any game.
Garrett continued:
“We got to win quick. We got to put the offensive line in the quarterback’s lap. Got to make the quarterback uncomfortable sitting right there in the pocket, not setting back. And eventually, we are going to start taking away those short throws, those short intermediates. There will be opportunities to make plays. Those third and longs, we got to put the quarterback in those situations.”
Last year in the win over Pittsburgh, Garrett had three sacks and eight pressures. This time around, he was completely neutralized after having a vanilla game in which he had one tackle, one pressure, zero sacks, and zero QB hits.
And the Steelers used a lot of double teams against Garrett:
“The script’s pretty much the same if you want to stop us along the D-Line front. They got in chunk formation and chipped. And (Aaron) Rodgers gets the ball out as quickly as possible. And he sprinted out to the other side often and moved the pocket.”
What was Garrett’s advice to his defensive compadres?
“Put it back together. I wouldn’t say we have any broken men. Just a matter of being the same player every day. Don’t let this situation define you. Continue working. We’ll find a way out of it. You learn from the losses more than you learn from the wins.”
During Garrett’s tenure with the Browns, he has experienced only two winning seasons in his nine years in the league. The franchise went 3-14-0 last season. And now, already in this year’s schedule, the team is 1-5-0 and apparently headed for another season of double-digit losses.
Does Garrett have to dig deeper each week to try to be all fired up each game?
His answer? “Yeah.”
