Cleveland Browns: 3 defensive takeaways from Week 7

The Browns defense earning their respect

2017 has not been pretty in Cleveland. Yet, there has been remarkable growth with the Browns defense. The team held Tennessee to a season low of 12 points in another impressive performance on Sunday.

The Titans have relied on their run game entering Week 7 but struggled to find any consistency at FirstEnergy Stadium. In fact, DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry had them ranked No. 5 in rushing the ball entering their matchup against the Browns. However, as a team they were limited to just 80 rushing yards.

The secondary and linebackers did their job as well also. Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota threw 34 passes against Cleveland – his second-highest total of attempts this season. Though he only threw for 203 passing yard,s which is his second-lowest of the 2017 NFL season. Mariota threw for 96 passing yards Week 4 against the Houston Texans but only attempted 10 passes.

The outstanding performance comes as a bit of a surprise considering starting defensive backs Jason McCourty and Jabrill Peppers both were out. There is no doubt defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is pleased with his team after the game despite the loss. The Browns held the Titans to zero touchdowns and only 12 points and kept them in the game for four quarters even with poor play from the offense.

It took an overtime for the Cleveland Browns to notch their seventh loss of the 2017 NFL season. The improvement on the defensive side of the ball has become evident and is now becoming a staple for this Browns team.

The likes of Myles Garrett and Emmanuel Ogbah are putting quarterbacks in a bad spot and opening opportunities for their teammates to make a play. It’s been exciting to watch the growth and development and it doesn’t seem like that should stop anytime soon.