In the Cleveland Browns’ Week 2 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the defense was able to get back on track with a good outing. It was a much-needed performance after the unit was embarrassed in Week 1, leaving Browns fans concerned that they may have a terrible defense.
While it has only been two weeks, it doesn’t seem like that will be the case. Of course, time will tell, but the improvement that Cleveland made in one week should give fans confidence that the unit’s talent will come together and establish itself as a strong group. For that to actually happen, the Browns have to keep moving in the right direction, and there’s a specific area that they need to improve quickly.
That area is run defense, which Cleveland has been surprisingly bad at to start the season — 26th in the NFL. Considering the importance of stopping the run, the Browns must make it a priority to clean up their run defense.
Browns must quickly fix surprisingly bad run defense
In Week 1, Cleveland gave up 129 rushing yards on 29 carries, not including the three kneel downs at the end of the game. That breaks down to 4.4 yards per rush, which is unacceptable. The Browns’ defense bounced back in Week 2, though, so fans can throw the performance of the rush defense out, right?
Wrong. While Cleveland’s overall defensive production improved, it was still pretty bad against the run in Week 2. The Browns allowed the Buccaneers to pick up 137 rushing yards on 25 carries. That equates to a disgusting 5.5 yards per carry. Tampa Bay was having its way on the ground, and Cleveland is lucky that the Bucs, inexplicably, went away from the run.
Now, as the Browns move forward, they have to improve the rushing defense, or things could get rough for the defense again. Stopping the run is like keeping a car’s engine from overheating; if you can’t do that, it’s only a matter of time before the entire car is unserviceable.
A defense that can’t stop the run is always at the mercy of opposing offenses. Opponents could simply run through the defense, use the run to set up an explosive passing attack, and control the tempo of the game. That’s why it’s paramount that Cleveland gets its run defense figured out.
The good thing is that the Browns have the talent in their defensive front to stop the run. With guys like Mason Graham, Jared Verse, and Maliek Collins on the line, as well as Carson Schwesinger and Quincy Williams at linebacker, Cleveland should be a good run defense. Hopefully, the defense will get things figured out before it’s too late.
Add us as a preferred source on Google