Last season, the Cleveland Browns defense was one of the most dominant units in the league, but the group underwent significant change this offseason. The franchise traded away star defender Myles Garrett, replacing him with Jared Verse, and revered defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz stepped down after not being named Cleveland’s head coach.
While the Browns still have several talented players on defense, everyone was curious to see if the group would decline without Garrett and Schwartz. After an embarrassing 34-10 loss in Week 1 to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Browns fans are fearful that the answer is yes.
Cleveland’s defense on Sunday looked nothing like the unit that kept them in games last season. Because of that, fans are ready to reset expectations and give up on the idea that this unit can remain dominant without Myles Garrett and Jim Schwartz.
Time will ultimately tell if that’s the case, but fans should resist the urge to overreact. While Sunday was a bad outing for the defense, it’s important to remember that Cleveland had some defensive stinkers even when Garrett was in the lineup and Schwartz was calling plays.
Browns could still be a good defense after embarrassing Week 1 performance
Make no mistake, the Browns defense was bad on Sunday. They gave up 34 points, and 24 of those points came in the first half. Cleveland allowed 360 total yards, 234 passing and 126 rushing, and couldn’t consistently get off the field on third down, with Jacksonville converting 5-of-10 third-down attempts. The unit also registered just one sack, didn’t have any turnovers, and allowed the Jaguars to score on their first three drives.
While the performance was horrid, there’s no guarantee that will be the norm for the remainder of the year. Browns fans can look to last season to see that even good defenses struggle sometimes. With Myles Garrett and Jim Schwartz in place, Cleveland had five games where they allowed more than 30 points, and the unit gave up 41 to the Baltimore Ravens in one of those games. The Browns even gave up 31 points to a horrid Tennessee Titans team.
The reality of football is that even good units have bad days; it’s very rare that a defense is elite every week of a full NFL season. While Week 1 always leads to massive overreactions since it’s the first time learning about the new version of a team, it’s still just one game of 17.
Could the Browns defense actually be bad? Absolutely. Could this performance just prove to be an uncharacteristic outing for a good defense? Definitely, and hopefully that’s the case. Either way, the truth will reveal itself over the course of the next 16 games.
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