Don’t Yell At Us, But Browns Should Have Taken The Tie

First, let’s discuss the decision. Browns’ coach Todd Monken received many virtual pats on the back tor going for the win in Sunday’s 23-22 loss to the New Orleans Saints. We believe that’s because by and large, football people are aggressive and they like players and coaches to be aggressive. They want them to “go for it!”

And frankly, if the Browns came into the contest 2-6 or 3-5 instead of 5-3, going for the win would have been the correct call. But the reality is they did have a winning record for the season. Look, a tie is better than a loss in a playoff race.

As of this moment, the Browns are tied with New England for the seventh and final spot in the AFC playoffs. It’s unexpected for sure. But, if they’d have tied on Sunday, guess what? They’d be in the 7th spot all by themselves. There’s a time and place to push the envelope and with a minute to go in overtime with the Saints having no timeouts, that wasn’t it.

Remember, the Browns were also stopped inside the five earlier in the game so we had no confidence they could get two yards when needed.

And yes, we said that live. This is not a second guess.

Now, as for the actual action, the old problem plagued the Browns again, that is, they can’t run the ball and they can’t stop the run. Mike Rutenberg’s unit allowed 160 yards rushing, the third straight week over 140 yards and over the last five contests, the Cleveland defense has allowed an average of 144.4 yards on the ground.

They are 6th worst in the league against the run, ahead of only the Raiders, Cowboys, Colts, Saints and Panthers. And none of those teams have winning records. As good as the Browns’ secondary is, they are rendered useless if the other team doesn’t have to throw the ball to succeed.

And for the people saying Saints’ QB Tyler Shough had 51 of those yards, yes, that is a product of playing man-to-man defense, but since they play that way (a better way to play, by the way) the pass rushers have to contain him in the pocket.

Conversely, Cleveland’s rushing attack continues to be uninspiring. The Browns have rushed for over 100 yards just three times (all wins) and is in the bottom 10 in the NFL in that category.

The Browns have offensive line issues, but we felt before the season that maybe the team needs to do better than Quinshon Judkins, who is averaging just 3.3 yards per carry and doesn’t seem to have good vision in finding lanes to run.

The lack of the running game keeps putting the quarterback, either Deshaun Watson or Shedeur Sanders in bad situations and with a shaky line, that means the defensive line can pin their ears back and go after the passer.

The Browns next four games are at home starting Sunday against Houston (their GM is former University School and John Carroll grad Nick Caserio). The Texans are 3-5, but were a playoff team a year ago. Do we have confidence in this team? Not really.

Monken’s team hasn’t been great, but they are in the hunt at 5-4. If there is a decent blocking tight end out there, the Browns should be trying to get him, because they need Harold Fannin, who is averaging 12.2 yards per reception with a team high four TDs to be a receiver, not a blocker.

And on that note, please get the ball to Denzel Boston more.

More Embarrassing, The Browns’ Play Or The Taunting Down By 21?

Obviously, we don’t know Todd Monken, but we do think as a coach, he will have a lot of teaching points after Sunday’s 27-6 beatdown of the Cleveland Browns by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The first lesson? The Browns aren’t as good as they think they are. There was a lot of good feelings after another comeback win over a bad Tennessee Titans team the week before, and certain players on the defense started running their mouths now that the Browns came into this game with a 5-2 record.

The most embarrassing thing that occurred in a game where Monken’s team was outgained on the ground 200-34 might have been two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for taunting with the Steelers up by three touchdowns. That will likely irritate the head coach the most.

Deshaun Watson played much like he did with the Texans in 2020. He put up a ton of yardage, throwing for over 300 yards for the second straight week, but in a loss. Watson led the NFL in passing yards in that season, but his team was 4-12.

He was also sacked eight more times and continues to lead the league with 33. Yes, the offensive line struggled (again 34 yards rushing), but there is no question he either runs himself into sacks or doesn’t throw the ball away to avoid a loss of yardage.

Besides, he’s not putting up a great deal of points. Ignoring the game against the terrible Titans’ defense, the Browns have scored 12 (vs. the Jets), 13, and 6 points in their last three games. Not much of a change from last season.

Perhaps the only Cleveland player who had a good game was TE Harold Fannin, who hauled in 10 passes for 154 yards, but even he committed a turnover, fumbling in the first quarter. The two rookie wideouts, Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion both contributed just 37 yards each. Something has to be done to get each of them the ball on a regular basis.

As for the defense, the old adage is you have to be able to stop the run to be effective and the Browns have allowed more than 130 yards on the ground in three of the last four games. Coordinator Mike Rutenberg did a good job fixing things after the hammering on opening day against Jacksonville, and he has a new project. He has to figure out stopping the run.

That adage also says if you can’t run the ball, you can’t be a good team and the Browns continue to have difficulties. After 183 yards rushing last week, to get only 34 isn’t good and it’s the second time under 50 this season.

Quinshon Judkins had only 25 yards on 11 carries, and for the season, is at just 3.4 yards per carry. Of course, last year, he had just 3.6 per attempt. Monken has to get more production out of the ground attack.

So, the coaching staff has a lot of ammunition to discuss this week before heading to New Orleans to play a Saints’ team coming off a bye week. The biggest thing to fix is stopping the run, but being able to put points on the board is going to be a must because the Saints can put points up.

Hopefully, after that whooping, the staff will have the full attention of the players.

Is Watson The Reason For The Browns’ Success? We Say Not Really

With the Cleveland Browns’ 5-2 start and their hold over the Cleveland media, both print and broadcast, we figured we would start seeing and hearing about how good Deshaun Watson has been this season.

Yes, he’s led the Browns to five fourth quarter comebacks this season, the most in the league. Another way to look at it is his play hasn’t been good enough in the first three quarters of most games this season. In a weird way, can you credit someone for a team coming from behind because his play was part of the reason the team was losing in the first place?

We understand that passer rating isn’t the greatest measure of quarterback play, but currently Watson ranks 19th in the league right behind Bryce Young and Tyler Shough, and just ahead of Jordan Love and 43-year-old Aaron Rodgers.

In yards per attempt, a stat a lot of football people look at because guys who “dink and dunk” don’t rank that high, Watson is 17th surrounded by Love and Matthew Stafford (that’s good company) but also Malik Willis and Tyler Huntley.

The point is he’s right in the middle of the pack, nothing horrible, nothing great. Now, that’s better than some of the terrible play at QB the Browns as a franchise has had since returning to the league in 1999, but is it something to sign up for going forward?

Watson played his best game of the season last Sunday, but it was against one of the five worst defenses in the league as the Titans are. Again, we’d rather have him play well vs. a terrible defense than not, but let’s not pretend he carved up the ’85 Bears.

Watson is having his best season since 2020, and while we want to enjoy this present, a 5-2 start, if you look ahead to next year, do you really think he’s going to continue to play at a level he hasn’t played at since the end of the last decade? We would be very leery about that.

Here’s a bad argument. Watson isn’t playing awful and the Browns are 5-2. Does that mean he is the reason for the team’s success? On social media, we equated it to the arguments Cavs’ influencers used about Dean Wade.

They would list the wine and gold’s best performing lineups and they included Wade, so the inference was the lineups were successful because of Wade. The reality is they did well because of the other players in the group, actual solid NBA players. Our argument was how would the squad perform if you replaced Wade with a better player?

For the Browns, who would they be playing if say, Jared Goff or Joe Burrow, or Trevor Lawrence were guiding the offense? Our guess is a lot more points would be scored, and the fourth quarter comebacks wouldn’t be necessary.

We know there will be some who will say we should just enjoy the success. It’s been a while since the Browns sat at 5-2. And our answer (as usual) is yes, we want them to win. We grew up in an era where the Cleveland Browns were a perennial winner.

The issue is stop thinking this team doesn’t need better quarterback play and stop thinking the solution is keeping Deshaun Watson. It should point out to the front office though that you don’t have to tank to get decent QB play.

How? We Don’t Know, But Browns Keep Winning Games

It’s complimentary football, we guess. The Cleveland Browns’ defense didn’t play well on Sunday, giving up 322 yards of total offense to one of the worst attacks in the NFL. The Tennessee Titans had a season high in total yards and scored more than 20 points for only the third time this season.

It didn’t matter, because Browns’ offense went wild, tying their season high with 27 points and rolling up almost 500 yards in total offense (491) in a 27-24 win over the Titans.

Todd Monken’s squad is now 5-2 and although no one gave a second thought about the next week’s visit to Pittsburgh at the beginning of the season, the contest is now a showdown for first place in the AFC North.

Let that sink in for a minute.

In his 26th start with the Browns, spanning five seasons, Deshawn Watson finally had his first 300-yard passing game, completed 25 of 36 throws for 308 yards and running three times for 19 yards, including a TD run.

He was aided greatly by a ground game which totaled 183 yards on the ground, led by Quinshon Judkins 96. Dylan Sampson returned from the injured list to add 45 more on six carries and caught three more throws for 32 yards.

Rookie receiver KC Concepcion had his best game yet, catching 8 passes for 129 yards, and TE Harold Fannin caught 6 throws for 91 yards, including a 36-yard catch and run which set up Andre Szmyt’s game winning field goal.

Give credit where it is due, it was clearly Watson’s best game as a Brown. But the announcers being quick to absolve him from blame for his first quarter interception was crazy. Did Denzel Boston allow the defensive back to undercut the route? Yes, but if you see a defender there, you don’t have to throw the pass.

The defense gave up a game opening touchdown drive again, and that is something we are sure coordinator Mike Rutenberg isn’t happy with and will be looking to fix. However, we do have to credit the unit for the goal line stand in the 2nd quarter and with winning the turnover game, with an interception by Denzel Ward and a fumble caused by Tyson Campbell and recovered by Ronnie Hickman.

The question that keep being asked regarding the Browns is “is this sustainable?” It’s probably not, but who cares, they are winning. And not to get ahead of anything, but with ten games left, if they split them, they would finish at 10-7, which will likely land them a playoff spot.

They have been helped by having the division match up with the mediocre NFC South, but everyone in the AFC North has feasted on that. The latter has a 7-1 record against the South, the only loss being to the Saints by the Baltimore Ravens.

Of course, nothing guarantees that trend will continue, but…

We are sure only the most optimistic of Browns’ fans would have thought next Sunday’s contest in Pittsburgh would be for first place in the division. After all, Sunday’s win matched the win total for all of last season at five.

But here we are, a very important regular season game at a venue where Cleveland teams historically have had little success. With their defense, the Browns can very much win, especially if the running game can come close to performing like it did vs. Tennessee.

Browns Do Just Enough Offensively, Now Sit At 4-2

As we were watching the first half of Sunday’s Browns-Ravens game, we were wondering how long the head coach Todd Monken could stay with Deshaun Watson at QB. It was that bad.

We wondered why the Browns weren’t running the football. They had a few decent gains, especially giving Jaleel McLaughlin the ball, and the passing game simply wasn’t doing anything. And Watson was doing was he seems to do a lot, that is, running himself into sacks.

But somehow, again, the fourth quarter came and the Browns’ offense came to life, scoring 10 points to win 13-10 and run their record to 4-2. We don’t know how sustainable this style of play is, but as always, we subscribe to the Bill Parcells’ theory of you are what your record says you are.

One thing that allows these fourth quarter comebacks is the Cleveland defense, which remains one of the best in the league. After spotting the Ravens a 10-0 advantage in the first quarter, our thought was the Browns needed to score next, certainly falling behind 17-0, would be too much to overcome.

But Mike Rutenberg’s unit rose to the occasion again, holding Baltimore (without Lamar Jackson) to 235 yards, limiting Derrick Henry to just 58 on the ground and forcing a fumble by Henry in the 4th quarter to set up the tying touchdown.

We keep bringing up how Carson Schwesinger gutted out a late season game a year ago vs. Pittsburgh on an ankle sprain, which was a display of grit and toughness often missing from the Browns in recent years. The reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year was all over the field yesterday and forced the fumble by Henry in the last quarter.

He made a tremendous open field tackle on the elusive Tay Flowers earlier. He was a tremendous pick by Andrew Berry, and in addition to his tremendous play, he provides great leadership.

We also can’t say enough about the secondary led by Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell. Grant Delpit has been great too but missed most of the game with a concussion. And even without Myles Garrett, they still put pressure on the QB. Three more yesterday, all by different players. Maliek Collins (now 3.5 for the season), Quincy Williams, and Isaiah McGuire (now 3 on the year).

As we said before, the running game wasn’t as bad to us. McLaughlin had 41 yards on nine carries and made us think we might not be wrong in thinking the issue with the ground game just might be that Quinshon Judkins is either still hurt, or just not a big time NFL back.

And although we criticize him at times, kudos to Jerry Jeudy, who made two big fourth quarter catches and was the leading receiver with 4 catches for 69 yards. That doesn’t mean Denzel Boston shouldn’t be targeted more. Only five targets on Sunday, about half of what he should be getting.

Can this continue? It’s doubtful, but why not ride it as long as you can. The next three for the Browns are on the road, but the next week’s game vs. Tennessee is almost a must-win if Monken’s squad is to be considered a playoff contender.

That would have been crazy to think before the season, but here we are…

No Excuses. Browns Drop One They Should Have Won

We aren’t going to blame the weather, and we aren’t going to make excuses for the Cleveland Browns in losing Sunday to the New York Jets 17-12 in the Meadowlands.

The Jets are not a good football team. They came into the contest at 1-3 and were 3-14 last season, a worse regular season team than the Browns. So, after they won on Sunday, they are 5-17 since the beginning of last season and two of those wins are against Cleveland.

We don’t care about the conditions; this was a contest where the Browns were the better team and they lost. Good teams don’t allow that to happen, with the insinuation being Todd Monken’s squad isn’t a good football team.

Going into the season, we wrote about being concerned about the depth of the Browns and the lack of it showed up against the Jets. RT Tytus Howard was injured during the game which put Daward Jones out there.

That contributed to Deshaun Watson being sacked eight times, although to be fair, that number would be less if Watson would throw the ball away at times instead of trying to make something happen. That would seem to be a good trait, but he runs himself into a boatload of sacks.

And not having Mason Graham and Mike Hall at defensive tackle certainly didn’t help the defense, who outside of the first drive of the game, played pretty well, allowing less than 300 yards of total offense and forcing two turnovers.

Quincy Williams was all over the field and his fellow linebacker, Carson Schwesinger was excellent as usual. Both forced fumbles, the latter on a huge sack in the fourth quarter. And DT Maliek Collins had 1.5 sacks during the game.

The winning touchdown for the Jets was set up by a botched snap on a punt, giving New York a short field of 28 yards.

We know the Browns scored 20 or more points in their three wins, which means we have to address scoring just 10 and 12 points in the two losses. The biggest issue is the lack of a consistent running game. As a team, Cleveland averages just 3.7 yards per carry and if you take out Watson’s numbers (37 attempts for 167 yards), the average dips to just 3.4 per attempt.

That’s simply not good enough. Quinshon Judkins is getting just three yards per carry, yet the other running backs on the roster (Rocket Sanders and Jaleel McLaughlin) have just nine attempts.

Perhaps it’s the ineffective run blocking by the line, or a combination of that and just poor vision by the runners, but it’s not a good thing to have the QB be your best running threat.

On the other hand, when will the offensive coaches make getting the ball to Denzel Boston a priority? Through five games, the rookie has 16 receptions for a 20.6 average yards per catch. He had seven targets, the same number as Isaiah Bond (who dropped two passes) and Jerry Jeudy. That’s a head scratcher for sure.

By the way, TE Harold Fannin had just four targets. We aren’t geniuses but maybe try to get the ball to your best receivers more often and make that a priority.

Also, let’s not pin any flowers on Watson either. He had just 155 yards passing, the second time in three weeks that happened and although he had 205 in the season opener, a good bulk of that was in garbage time.

He’s been under the 200-yard threshold in 10 of his last 12 starts. Just sayin’

The Browns come home for a date with the first place Ravens (4-1) next Sunday with a chance to get back on top in the AFC North.

Again, it’s back on the coaches to clean up the mistakes and fix the problems, particularly on offense.

Another Fourth Quarter Rally Makes The Browns 2-1

Complementary football, coaches talk about it all the time and what they mean is they want all of the units, offense, defense, and special teams to support each other. The Cleveland Browns were failing in this regard in the second half on Sunday.

Leading 10-3 at halftime against the Carolina Panthers, the special teams failed when Malachi Corley fumbled the second half kickoff, leading to a Panthers’ field goal to cut the lead to 10-6.

From there, the offense had three consecutive three and outs which had the defense on the field for all but four minutes in the third quarter. The defense was growing wearier, allowing two more field goals to give Carolina a 12-10, before the Browns finally put a drive together for an Andre Szmyt 46-yard field goal.

That was followed by the Panthers going through the tired defense like a hot knife through butter, 72 yards in six plays resulted in an 18-13 deficit for the home team.

And then, the offense woke up. Heading into the fourth quarter, Deshaun Watson had frankly been terrible. He was fortunate to not throw a pick six in the first half. Missed an open KC Concepcion in the third quarter with a throw behind him.

He had completed just 8 of 19 throws for 67 yards to that point. But in the fourth quarter, Watson started making plays. He completed three of four throws for 43 yards on the drive to take back the lead at 13-12 and also ran for 11 yards on two carries.

Then, coming back into the game trailing 18-13, he moved the team hitting five of nine throws with a key scramble of 21 yards. He did throw an interception which was nullified by a roughing the passer call, but completed a TD pass to Harold Fannin to give the Browns a lead they would not relinquish.

The running game was much more effective, as Cleveland gained 132 yards on the ground, with Quinshon Judkins getting 70 on 18 carries and Watson getting 45 more. Todd Monken and offensive coordinator Travis Switzer have to get the ball to Denzel Boston more. He was targeted just four times on Sunday compared to nine each for Concepcion and Fannin.

We like both of those latter names, but Boston should be getting about 10 targets per game in our eyes. He’s the best wide receiver on the team.

Monken gave the game ball to defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg and deservedly so. We complained about playing zone so often in the first game, but Sunday, he put Denzel Ward on Tet McMillan, and he caught two passes for 17 yards.

As we said before, because the unit was on the field much of the third quarter, the overall numbers are skewed, but Quincy Williams was all over the field and Mason Graham was disruptive as well, getting two more sacks to give him four on the young season.

Mike Hall and Jared Verse also were impressive and remember, Cleveland was without starting cornerback Tyson Campbell, who is very good in man-to-man coverage.

It was tough to watch this game at times because the officiating crew seemed to want to make the game about them, as there were 19 accepted penalties. No one wants to watch a flagfest.

A short week for the Browns, who are tied for first in the AFC North with everyone else and take on the Steelers Thursday night. We imagine winning these last two games are difficult for the tank for a QB crowd, but we hate that kind of thinking, so we love it.

Seeing Good Things In A Browns Victory

Last week, we said this would be a big week for Browns’ defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg because of the way his unit was gashed in the opening week loss to Jacksonville. We thought it was a test of a coaches’ ego, he wanted to play a certain way and would he adapt after the poor performance.

Good for the coach and head coach Todd Monken that they made adjustments, and the result was a 23-19 victory over Tampa Bay and raised their record to 1-1 on the young season. The Browns’ defense was better, causing the game’s only turnover, an interception by Myles Harden, and allowed the Buccaneers to cross the goal line just once.

As for the offense, Monken said he simplified things on that side of the ball, which is great coaching. After getting blown out in game one, there was a lot of improvement and that’s a good thing to see if you are a fan.

For all of the quarterback talk during the week and even prior to kickoff, Deshaun Watson played well, not tremendously, but well, and that’s not a criticism. He didn’t turn the ball over, was sacked just twice, keeping the negative plays to a minimum.

He mostly dinked and dunked, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, completing 24 of 30 throws for 238 yards, and two TDs. He completed only three passes for over 15 yards, and two of them were the scoring throws. He also led the team in rushing for the second straight week, which is not a good thing, but more on that later.

The running game was nonexistent, getting just 44 yards on 23 rushing attempts with Quinshon Judkins getting only 21 yards on 12 carries, with an early carry being his longest, that of nine yards.

We have our doubts on how long the offense can be effective with no running game to speak of and a QB who doesn’t seem to want to push the ball down the field. But it worked against Tampa and a win is most definitely a win.

One player who has caught our eye on offense is rookie WR Denzel Boston. We were disappointed when the Browns chose KC Concepcion in the first round because we thought the team needed a big wideout but were thrilled getting him in the second round. He’s caught 7 passes in the first two games for 154 yards and two touchdowns.

In the second half, Cleveland was faced with a third and seven (or so) situation and our thought was find Boston. Watson did for a key first down. Monken and offensive coordinator Travis Switzer should be trying to get the ball in his hands more often.

On the defensive side, last year’s first round pick, Mason Graham looks like a standout. He had a sack for the second week in a row, and the reigning defensive rookie of the year, Carson Schwesinger, had ten tackles and a big play on the final drive when he corralled Baker Mayfield on a key third down.

The best thing about the win is a week off from talking about tanking and replacing the QB. Watson needs to continue to play well, avoiding turnovers and not sacking himself. Can he do that? We will see.

Besides, tanking is stupid and doesn’t work.

Monken’s crew finally comes home to take on Carolina next Sunday. Hopefully, this game is something to build on.

Browns Want Winning To Be Easy. It Just Doesn’t Happen That Way.

Comedian Steve Martin used to do a bit where he would tell the audience he could make a million dollars and not pay taxes. His first step was “get a million dollars”, like that’s the easiest thing in the world.

We bring this up because we think that’s how the Cleveland Browns view winning in the National Football League and they base every decision they make on one principal: Get a franchise quarterback.

But in reality, it’s not that easy. It’s not easy to find a great QB and once you have him, it’s not easy to achieve success.

You want proof? Under the Haslam family ownership, the Browns already went through a plan to tear the roster down to the studs to get the signal caller the franchise has been lacking since Bernie Kosar was unceremoniously released by Bill Belichick.

They went 1-15 in 2016, drafted Myles Garrett, the cornerstone of some great Browns’ defenses and the best defensive player in Cleveland history and followed that up by going 0-16 the following year and drafted Baker Mayfield, who will be at the helm today for Tampa Bay against his old team.

The Browns went 7-8-1 in Mayfield’s rookie season and there was hope the franchise could be contenders once again. They went to the playoffs in 2020 at 11-5 and even won a playoff game in Pittsburgh. But we guess making progress from that wasn’t easy enough, and after the following season the Browns went in hot pursuit of Deshaun Watson, a three-time Pro Bowl selection who led the NFL in passing yards in ’20, the same year Mayfield was guiding the team to the playoffs.

Why go after Watson? Because the front office thought he was better, and therefore it would be easier to make a run at the playoffs every season.

Again, let’s go back to 2020. The worst record in the NFL that season belonged to Jacksonville at 1-15 and they selected Trevor Lawrence as the first overall pick. They went 3-14, followed by making the playoffs at 9-8 and winning a playoff game under Doug Pederson. They had the same record in Lawrence’s third season, before dropping to 4-13.

The Jags didn’t give up on Lawrence and go after some shiny new keys jangled in their direction, but changed coaches bringing in Liam Coen, and went 13-4 last season. We don’t know how it will play out, but Lawrence looks like a player worthy of the first overall pick.

As for Mayfield, he’s directed the Buccaneers to two playoff appearances and a win in his three seasons, and if probably in the top half at the position in the sport. The shiny new toy in Watson? Browns fans know all too well how that’s working out.

Yes, you need a quarterback, but there is so much more a franchise needs to win consistently year in and year out. And tanking is a ridiculous way to try. We bring this up all the time, look at the best QBs in the league right now, how many were taken with a top three pick? The list is short, Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow. Lawrence might be on the cusp.

Here’s another example. The Miami Dolphins had Dan Marino and Don Shula, arguably the best coach in NFL history together. They made it to one Super Bowl, in Marino’s rookie season.

So, note to the front office. It’s not easy and stop thinking getting your QB solves all your problems. A solid roster, offense, defense, depth, good coaching are all parts of the puzzle. Until you get all the pieces, the puzzle isn’t complete.

Pressure On Rutenberg And The Defense Too.

As we wrote a couple of weeks ago, coaches have egos. They like to put their stamp on things, to show they made a difference. We are sure that Browns’ defensive coordinator, Mike Rutenberg, is no different.

Rutenberg will be 45 next month and this is his first gig as a defensive coordinator. He started as an intern with Washington at age 22, went to the college ranks, and has been in the NFL since 2013 where he was an assistant defensive backs coach with the Jaguars. So, he’s a guy who has worked his way up the coaching ranks and getting his first opportunity to run a professional defense.

On the other hand, he took over a Cleveland defense that just a year ago, Steelers’ coach Mike Tomlin said was the best unit in the AFC North. ranking in the top five defenses in the league three times in the last five years under Jim Schwartz.

In the words of Charles Barkley, “if it ain’t broke, don’t break it”.

To be fair, Rutenberg was put a little behind the eight ball when the Browns traded the two-time Defensive Player of the Year in Myles Garrett. But they did replace Garrett with a Pro Bowl player in Jared Verse. Still, that’s a drop off.

But the nature of coach’s egos is making something better. And we raised an eyebrow during training camp when Rutenberg said he wanted to play more zone defense, even though his starting cornerbacks, All Pro Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell, both excel in playing man-to-man.

We believe that in both football and basketball, man-to-man is the preferred style of defense. Zone defense is used because you can’t play man-to-man. And we understand in football, you can’t play man on every down.

In the season opener, the Browns’ defense, previously the strength of the team, was shredded by Jacksonville, giving up 360 yards, including 126 on the ground. And that was with the Jaguars taking their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter.

Watching the Jaguars’ completions down field, many of them were against a zone defense, which will happen if you can’t put pressure on the QB, and Cleveland had only one sack. Any decent passer, given time, will find the holes in a zone.

We bring all of this up because this week we will see what kind of defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg will be. Will he be so sure of his convictions that the Browns will use the same schemes this week against Tampa Bay? Or will he listen to his players, some of whom seemed puzzled by all of the zone looks.

A lot of the focus will be on the quarterback, and has there been improvement at that position from week one, but the game against the Jaguars was a blowout because the defense was terrible, allowing 24 points in the first half.

If that unit isn’t better, it will really be a long season because most experts figured the defense could keep the Browns in games.

No pressure on the new coach though.