Browns studs and duds Week 4: Defensive issues lead to late loss

The Cleveland Browns have had defensive letdowns each week this season and it led to another loss as they couldn’t defeat the Falcons in Atlanta

After four games, the Cleveland Browns are 2-2 and have more questions than answers. They’ve been involved in several close games and while the first was a win in the final seconds, the next two one-score games ended with Cleveland hanging their head in defeat.

In Week 4, it was the Atlanta Falcons winning thanks to a Younghoe Koo field goal, followed by Jacoby Brissett being picked off while trying to move into scoring position.

Here we look back over the loss and identify a few studs and duds from Week 4.

Browns studs and duds Week 4

Stud:  Jacob Phillips, LB

When Anthony Walker went down, the pressure was on for Jacob Phillips. Of course, the talent was there for Phillips who was a third-round pick in 2020. What hasn’t been there is his health or consistency.

So far this season, he’s been able to make it to the field and on Sunday, he was all over the place. He was tied with Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah for the team lead with seven tackles. However, six of his were of the solo variety. It’s only one game but it seems as though he’s going to do just fine in place of Walker.

Dud: Jerome Ford, KR

The Browns kick return game has been a problem all season and it might be time to just start taking touchbacks every single time. On the opening kickoff, Jerome Ford ran it out of the end zone and was tackled at the 18 — seven yards away from where a touchback would have placed the offense.

After the first field goal from Atlanta, he again ran it out of the end zone and was tackled at the 16. Making it worse, there was a holding penalty that put them back to the eight-yard line. From there, he let all go into the end zone, and should do this going forward.

Stud: Nick Chubb, RB

Again, this spot needs to be saved for Nick Chubb. Week after week, he proves to be the best and most consistent player on this team. While many players were struggling to be consistent weapons, Chubb simply ran for 118 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.

His longest run was a 28-yarder, which was also the fourth-quarter touchdown that gave Cleveland a 20-17 lead. This was the third game in a row where Chubb topped 100 yards and his lowest output of the season was 87 yards in the loss to New York — but he did have three touchdowns in that one.

Chubb is the heart and soul of this offense and is the main reason for hope despite this frustrating start.

Dud: David Njoku, TE

There was some good and some bad for David Njoku on Sunday. He did have five receptions for 73 yards but there were a couple of plays he would surely like to take back.

The first came on the second drive of the game for Cleveland. Atlanta had just gone up 3-0 and on the second play of the ensuing drive, Njoku caught an 11-yard pass but then coughed it up when being tackled. The Falcons recovered and took advantage of the short field to go up 10-0.

Later in the first half, he was involved in one of the uglier plays as he came around for a tight end reverse, a poorly designed play that was blown up for a six-yard loss. This was a bad play, so it wasn’t all on Njoku but it still wasn’t a great look for him.

Stud: Grant Delpit, S

Atlanta went 84 yards on their opening drive but had to settle for three, thanks in large part to Grant Delpit. On third-and-goal from the 12, Mariota threw it to Drake London in the end zone but Delpit was there to swat the pass to the ground.

Delpit came up again later as midway through the second quarter, the Falcons were facing a third-and-four and Mariota avoided the pressure and got the ball off toward Kyle Pitts. It would have been short of a first down, assuming Pitts was tackled right away, but they didn’t even need to worry about that since Delpit broke up his second pass of the day.

Then as the Falcons looked to take a lead midway through the fourth after Cleveland had just gone up 20-17,d the Falcons responded by going deep into the red zone. But then on third-down, Mariota was looking for Kyle Pitts as he avoided pressure. He couldn’t get it to him thanks to Delpit’s blanket coverage and the Falcons had to settle for three.

Dud: Joe Woods, Defensive Coordinator

We knew it would be tough with three starters out, and the defensive line should be praised for how they held up for the first three quarters. But then in the fourth, things fell apart. Cordarrelle Paterson, who was dealing with a knee injury all week, was sent to the bench and Caleb Huntley — who was just brought up from the practice squad — led them on a touchdown drive, which was all done on the ground.

Huntley himself had eight carries for 54 yards and a touchdown, to put the Falcons on top. There was also another major miscommunication where Olamide Zaccheaus hauled in a 42-yard pass with no defender near him.

Woods wasn’t helped with the missing players but this wasn’t his best outing as the defensive play-caller in Cleveland.

Stud: Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, LB

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah filled up the stat sheet on Sunday with seven tackles, one of which went for a loss. However, he was much more impactful than this even showed.

Once again, he was all over the field, showing off his impressive speed and high football IQ. JOK can sense what the offense is doing and constantly puts himself in a position to make the tackle. With so many key defenders out, he was expected to step up and he did exactly that.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to get the win but he did his part.

Dud: Jacoby Brissett, QB

At first, it looked as though Jacoby Brissett was going to have a strong game. He started out 13-of-16 but was just 8-of-15 after that and had the dreadful interception to end the game. It’s true he was just trying to make a play at that point, but part of that was on him.

Following a terriblly-timed penalty from Joel Bitonio, Brissett was unable to get the ball out of his hands on second-and-15, leading to a third-and-23. At that point, he also didn’t need to force it, since it was four-down territory at this point.

When all was said and done, he had 234 yards on 21-of-35 passing. He had some impressive plays — especially with his legs — but overall, this was not his best outing.