Cleveland Browns Defense Relied On Defensive Line, Denzel Ward
The Cleveland Browns offense was great, well balanced and dominated the game. That was not a problem, problem arises on the other side of the ball. Even without fans, a rookie quarterback should not come into an away game and lead his team to score 30 points. That is exactly what Joe Burrow did.
Cleveland has a banged up secondary, including a linebacker that figures to help out in the coverage game. M.J. Stewart isn’t believed to be 100% as he has only played 12 total snaps this season, coming on special teams. Kevin Johnson and Greedy Williams could come back next week, but that’s yet to be seen. Also, a possibility Mack Wilson could return to practice this week, he may not be quite ready yet though. Cleveland misses what Grant Delpit could have been this year for them. With a ten day break until the next game, it can only help with injuries.
Terrance Mitchell stepped in for the injured Greedy Williams and did a solid job on the outside. Cincinnati made it a point to target Tavierre Thomas and they did it often. Thomas was not all that great in coverage, he flew around and made some tackles to make up for it.
Bengals ran about 30 more offensive plays than the Browns, thanks to the Cleveland offense doing basically whatever it wanted. Whenever you throw the ball 60+ times like Burrow did, it usually will not mean good things. They had no balance in this matchup. Instead, Burrow was able to go over 300 yards, in which you better when throwing the ball 61 times. Adding three touchdowns and no interceptions, Burrow was okay, had some good moments and some bad.
Cleveland’s defensive line anchored the game, sacking Burrow three times including a forced fumble close to their own goal line. Myles Garrett showed why he is one of the best in the game with nine pressures and the strip-sack. A point being made here is, the Browns defense wouldn’t have held up without the play of the line. Porter Gustin stepped in and was solid in place of Adrian Clayborn who was starting for the injured Olivier Vernon.
Linebackers and safety’s may have struggled in the Browns win, Denzel Ward was another player who stood out though. In fact, Ward had one of his best games as a pro. Ward matched up with AJ Green for a total of 16 routes. Seven balls were thrown Green’s way and he caught just two for 14 yards. Ward had multiple pass break ups on the night and showed why he is a pro bowl caliber player. The injured Mack Wilson was impressed after the game.
Cleveland’s defense needs to get healthy and fix a couple things, which were exposed by Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati passing game. When you have a lockdown corner in Ward and an aggressive defensive line it will hide a lot of the damage. Especially when you’re able to make the run game non-existent for one of the NFL’s best running backs in Joe Mixon.
