3 Super Bowl Takeaways For the Browns
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers looted and pillaged their way to a dominating performance, defeating the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl. With how close the Cleveland Browns appear to be for contending themselves, a few aspects of the game stood out.
The Chiefs were down both starting tackles, a difficult scenario for any team to encounter, especially in the Super Bowl. There's absolutely an element of luck in being able to secure a championship. They had been down their starting right guard most of the season as well in Kelechi Osemele. Mitchell Schwartz, their best lineman and former Brown had been out with a back injury, but when Eric Fisher suffered a torn Achilles' against the Buffalo Bills, that was too much to bear.
The Chiefs put their swing tackle, Mike Remmers at left tackle. They moved their left guard and former Brown Andrew Wylie to right tackle. So rather than just playing two backups, the Chiefs shuffled their line so they were playing four.
As if the Browns needed another reason to be grateful for both Bill Callahan as their offensive line coach and their depth, this was the latest example. Beyond the starting five, the Browns got key contributions from a pair of players brought in under John Dorsey in Chris Hubbard and Kendall Lamm. Hubbard was a poor starter for the Browns, but he was an invaluable backup stepping in and playing both tackle spots and right guard this season before he .
Lamm, a pending free agent, played a critical role in the Browns playoff victory over the Steelers. After Jack Conklin suffered a hamstring injury, Lamm stepped in and after one bad play, he shut down T.J. Watt.
This was in a game where the Browns came in without Joel Bitonio due to COVID-19, forcing them to use Michael Dunn, who had never played a regular season snap. He turned in a great performance before he had to leave the game with a calf strain, clearing the way for Blake Hance to step in and play. Hance, who had only met his teammates a few hours ago for the first time.
Rookie Nick Harris also turned in a productive performance against the New York Giants at right guard.
Lamm seems unlikely to return. The Browns seem to really like what they have in undrafted rookie Alex Taylor. They should get back Drew Forbes, who was slated to enter a camp to compete with Wyatt Teller for the right guard job before he opted out, clearing the path for Teller to become second team All-Pro.
Hubbard is under contract for another year and it's entirely a question of timeline with his knee. The Browns still have Harris as their backup center, Dunn and two more guards returning from the opt out list in Colby Gossett and Malcolm Prigdeon. There is a very real possibility the Browns will be in the market to trade depth along the offensive line because they simply can't keep it all on their final roster this year.
The Bucs offense, in many ways, did what the Browns offense would like to do but was incapable in their playoff game against the Chiefs. With Mike Evans and Chris Godwin putting stress on the Chiefs secondary down the field, it allowed the Bucs to pick on Alex Okafor to run the ball. Right tackle Tristan Wirfs and tight end Rob Gronkowski were able to simply bully Okafor off the line, creating running lanes for both Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette with defensive backs forced to make tackles.
Tom Brady also was able to take advantage of the space created with their receivers going down field by taking the profit underneath to his backs for easy plays to move the chains.
The Bucs receivers put stress on the Chiefs secondary that the Browns simply couldn't. As a result, the Chiefs committed penalties (some real, some assumed) and gave up big plays, which caused specifically Tyrann Mathieu to melt down at the end of the half.
The Chiefs secondary was never worried about the Browns receivers beating them down the field, simply played man coverage and put every extra body near the line of scrimmage focused on stopping Nick Chubb. Tom Brady had open passing lanes to take advantage of while Baker Mayfield had to make a number of key hole throws to move the offense.
Browns defensive coordinator Joe Woods has been criticized for his defensive scheme this season, but the Bucs ran the exact same playbook as Woods did against the Chiefs. Woods didn't invent anything as the Las Vegas Raiders slowed down the Chiefs offense slightly with the same approach, but Woods' theory of the case was correct.
Play your safeties deep to take away the deep passing game, force the Chiefs to take underneath throws and make tackles while trying to pressure Patrick Mahomes. The key difference, beyond the Chiefs line being in shambles, was the fact the Bucs simply have more talent, which is what the Browns hope to change or at least mitigate this coming offseason.
The Chiefs didn't utilize the running game much until the Bucs already had a substantial lead, so defensive coordinator Todd Bowles just had Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul sprint up the field and try to create pressure against Mahomes. They did some blitzing and made some tweaks like putting Vita Vea up against Remmers, but it was largely the same approach.
The loss of Olivier Vernon due to a ruptured Achilles' is a huge hurdle to clear, but the Browns must keep investing in their defensive line to create that kind of consistent pressure, so it's not waiting for Myles Garrett to make a play.
The Bucs have more invested in linebacker than any team in the league. They have that in lieu of investing heavily in their secondary. None of their defensive backs make any money yet, all largely on their rookie deals. Their highest paid defensive back, Ryan Smith, earned $1.75 million this season.
By contrast, in 2020, Denzel Ward made $8.044 million, Terrance Mitchell was paid $3.666 million and Kevin Johnson had a salary of $3.5 million plus whatever incentives he might have earned based on his contract.
The Browns can and should invest in defensive backs in the draft to mitigate some of the costs they have, but it doesn't change the fact that Ward's salary will continue to increase with a potential extension on the way. He makes more money than the entire secondary for the Bucs did this season.
Teams have to pick their battles when it comes to investment and all indications are the Browns are for more interested in putting their money and draft capital into their secondary than at linebacker. Given the landscape in the AFC, including teams like the Chiefs and Buffalo Bills and others who all have an embarrassment of riches in terms of receiving threats, it's defensive backs, not linebackers, that are their best path to the Super Bowl.
The Bucs showed it can work their way, having one of the best linebackers in the league already on their roster in Lavonte David and using a top five pick on another in Devin White. The Browns have a top four pick at corner instead in Ward.
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