4 Sensational stats that stood out in Cleveland Browns Week 2 win
By Randy Gurzi
2. Cleveland Browns defense struggled mightily on third-down
There’s no denying the Browns defense needs work. Even after Andrew Berry added a ton of talent in the offseason, the first two outings left a lot to be desired — especially this weekend.
Struggling with a Kansas City offense that’s trying to come back from a huge deficit is one thing but to be carved up by the Houston Texans is another. However, those who are already calling for Joe Woods to be removed need to be patient.
In fact, patience is required when you talk about bringing in seven new starters on defense. Remember, most of these guys never played together and communication is key. Right now, the communication is not there and we saw that as they surrendered eight first downs on 14 attempts for Houston.
And it was especially bad on the final Texans scoring drive as pointed out by Mary Kay Cabot who said they were 4-of-4 on third-downs on the drive that ended in a touchdown to make it 24-21.
#Browns defense allowed 4/4 3rd down conversions on that 16-play, 75-yard TD drive by #Texans. 2-yard TD from Mills to Cooks closes the gap to 24-21 with 11:32 left in the game.
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) September 19, 2021
It’s not as if these are stats that the Browns should be proud of, but it means that there is hope. If they can get better at making the stops on third downs, this defense could actually start to turn the corner.
They’re getting teams there, they’re just not bringing it home. It might not seem like much right now, but the longer they work together the more that percentage will improve.