The Browns moved to 2-1 Thursday after they beat the rival Pittsburgh Steelers in Cleveland here are 3 defensive players who stood out in the win.
After a historic collapse leading to a heartbreaking loss in Week 2 against the Jets, the Cleveland Browns bounced back on Thursday and moved to 2-1 on the season. Much has been said about the defense’s poor play, especially late in the team’s first two games of the year. With a lead late in this game, the defense stood tough and helped the team seal a victory.
Let’s take a look at three Browns defenders that stood out in Thursday’s win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
3 defensive players that shined for the Browns in Week 3
No. 3: Jacob Phillips, Linebacker
During the first two weeks of the season leading into Week 3 against the Steelers, third-year linebacker Jacob Phillips had struggled. While there were still some issues this week he really flashed and showed potential especially with increased snaps after the injury to Anthony Walker.
Phillips displayed great speed and athleticism, something that was his calling card in college when he lead the LSU Tiger defense. He had the team’s only sack on quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and showed great coverage skills including a big pass breakup late in the game.
He still needs to clean up the tackling issue with another missed tackle but if he can continue to be strong in coverage and a sure tackler this defense will be better for it.
With Walker now lost for the season, Jacob Phillips will need to take another step forward for the defense to succeed.
No. 2: Greg Newsome, cornerback
The communication issues between the Browns’ corners and safeties were all anyone could talk about after the collapse against the Jets — and for good reason. Though it was far from perfect and still needs improvement, it was much better this week. Greg Newsome looked like he did as a rookie with the announcers rarely calling his name which for a corner is always a good thing.
Newsome continued to split time as a slot corner and outside corner while spending most of his snaps in the slot. On the night he was only targeted three times by the Steelers allowing two catches for a total of eight years. He didn’t miss a tackle in this game and that is a big deal considering how many missed tackles the defense has had resulting in extra yardage in the first two games of the year.
If Newsome can continue to play at this level and show more improvements this Browns defense can hopefully progress towards the unit most fans believed they were getting this year. With fellow corner Denzel Ward struggling on the other side it will be an even bigger deal to get high-level play from Newsome.
No. 1: John Johnson III, safety
Another player that had struggled the first couple of weeks that showed up Thursday night was a defensive leader in safety John Johnson III. He has had an up-and-down year-plus in Cleveland after signing a big free agent contract to come over from the Rams. In this game, he really showcased a lot of things that made the Browns reward him with the big contract they gave him.
Johnson allowed just 14 yards in coverage against the Steelers and really showed great coverage skills and range from the safety position. The team had struggled with deep coverage and communication and for one game it looked to be improved. Johnson has been a vocal leader and will play a big part in improving the coverage on the back end.
After a week of no one being in the right place, Johnson seemed to find the football a lot and was in the right place to make plays all night long. Still needs to clean up some of the tackling issues after missing a couple more tackles this week. If this defense is to reach its potential it will need more play like this out of Johnson and the safety room.