Browns Report Card: Myles Garrett and defense score high in Week 3
By John Suchan
Behind several new Browns records and spectacular play by a few players including Myles Garrett and Kareem Hunt the Browns earned an ‘A’ in several areas
When the Cleveland Browns took the field Sunday to face the Chicago Bears, there were many questions surrounding its defense and exactly what we were to expect moving forward. That defense had given up a lot of yards, especially in the secondary in the first two games of the season.
There was speculation surrounding Browns defensive coordinator Joe Woods and what he would need to do to stop the conversation as it pertained to his job security.
Well much of those negative vibes, at least for this week came to a sudden halt as the Browns defense came to play and dominated the Bears in 26-6 drubbing. Cleveland’s defense only gave up 47 total yards of offense in the whole game. The Browns on the other hand had 418 yards of total offense. Amazing!
The Browns defense also registered nine sacks, which was three more then the number of first downs that the Bears were able to get all game.
Let’s go and look a little more closely at each part of the teams’ performance from Sunday and give them our grade for the game.
Special Teams Grade: A
“In Phil We Trust”, was a common saying back in the day for Browns fans as it reference the Browns great former place kicker Phil Dawson, who played with the Browns from 1999-2012 because Dawson never missed field goals and could be counted on by the Browns and its faithful fan base to score points in some very lean years of Browns football. That saying might now be “In Chase We Trust”, for new Browns place kicker Chase McLaughlin
On Sunday McLaughlin was outstanding, kicking a First Energy Stadium record 57 yard field goal. He also connected on three more field goals to help the Browns extend their lead and pull away from the Bears.
The Browns have had a series of mishaps with trying to find a reliable place kicker over the last several years. Will McLaughlin’s stellar play continue? He certainly looks the part and the fans walked away from this game appreciating his efforts.
The Browns return game was good Sunday as well. Rookie returner Demetric Felton continues his impressive start to the season. In this game he had seven returns for 103 yards including a nifty 24 yard run back.