3 Browns who should thrive in Week 6 matchup

Washing our hands clean of that Week 5 loss against the Washington Commanders, we look ahead to the Philadelphia Eagles awaiting the Cleveland Browns for a Week 6 matchup. While the Eagles have not been playing inspiring ball - currently 2-2 in an NFC East being dominated by those Commanders - they're a supremely talented team offensively.

Between Jalen Hurts at quarterback and RB Saquon Barkley in the backfield, the team on paper seems diverse in what it can run out and succeed in executing. But, its been the teams' defense that's led to a few losses. Basically the opposite of what ails the Browns this season.

Can Cleveland actually beat a recent Super Bowl powerhouse in the regular season? Or, will the team once again make a lackluster defense look elite? We'll have to wait until Sunday to see, but for now, we can look at 3 Browns who can make an impact on this game early.

3. Dalvin Tomlinson

Tomlinson has been doing a great job of stopping the run game so far this season, with five assists on sacks and 1.5 sacks to boot. He's also recorded eight tackles so far, and is a great complement to Myles Garrett on the defensive line as he can be explosive and stop the quarterback from stepping too far out of the pocket and can stop the run from leaving the line of scrimmage with some help.

His assignment this week, of course, is tough. Barkley is no slouch, already having picked up 435 rushing yards which is good for third in the league. While he's only gaining about six yards on his runs, he's also picked up four touchdowns with his legs. Tomlinson will have his hands full if Hurts can piece together a decent pass game and get the Eagles to the goal line often.

2. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah

Owuso-Koramoah has 39 tackles already this season. He's doing it all for this Browns defense - if you need a pressure on the quarterback, he's quick enough to blitz from further into the secondary. If you need someone to stop a large tight end target, he can be there. With five solo tackles, a sack, and two stuffs at the line of scrimmage last game, it's fair to expect another big showing in what feels like another must win game for Cleveland. With the Eagles sitting about about 40 percent efficiency on third down, look to Owusu-Koramoah and the rest of the D-line to be blitzing a ton.

1. Jerome Ford

Here's where the Eagles' defense struggles. They've been unable to utilize Bryce Huff effectively against the run this season, and the teams' best defensive end is a 36-year-old in Brandon Graham. Not great against younger legs like Ford or even Foreman. If the Browns O-line can be even a bit healthier than it was this past weekend, they could help to gain some seperation for a Cleveland team desperate for yards outside of Deshaun Watson's passing.

Perhaps Ford can be act as a receiver for short yardage as we saw briefly work against the Commanders in Week 5 between Watson and Njoku. Having Ford try to run it up the gut over and over became predictable - but he has the legs to make something out of nothing against this subpar Eagles defense and secondary.