Cleveland Browns: 3 defensive takeaways vs. the Atlanta Falcons

While the defense as a whole struggled, the same cannot be said of rookie defensive end Carl Nassib, who was all over the field against the Falcons.

“I don’t really care about stats. I just want to win games and help my team more next time.” – Carl Nassib

Nassib had a strip-sack of Atlanta quarterback Matt Simms in the third quarter (and recovered the fumble for good measure). He had an earlier sack negated by a penalty on cornerback Justin Gilbert, and also tipped a Matt Ryan pass while working with the first-team defense.

“The guy is doing some really good things, and he’s going to be a good football player, obviously,” head coach Hue Jackson said. “He has to keep learning how we do things, how we go about our business on defense and keep getting better, but he has the characteristics that we’re looking for.”

Nassib, who has a sack in each of the two preseason games, is hard to miss when he is on the field as he always seems to be in the middle of things. With the defensive line rotation still very much in doubt, if Nassib keeps playing the way he has, he may be in line for a starter’s nod sooner than expected.

“He has been tremendous for us,” linebacker Christian Kirksey said of Nassib. “A young guy like that can get to the quarterback. He is a big guy that can move. That’s a good thing to have.”

Next: Justin Gilbert? He's still not good