Grading Browns defense in Week 7 against Bengals: Secondary still floundering

Before Week 7 kicked off, before Deshaun Watston's Achilles ruptured, and before the Cleveland Browns lost yet another game and fell to 1-6 on the season, Cleveland's defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz had a message for the team's secondary.

“I expect more from our corners."

Schwartz went on to explain in his practice availability to media on Thursday ahead of the Bengals game that he feels that the Browns have some of the best defenders in the league, so the fact that the secondary has been struggling so mightily to get turnovers and stops consistently was a huge problem.

“We challenged our corners to improve their play for us. I’ve been very strong in saying that I think our corners are the best group in the NFL. We haven’t played that way so far this year.”

Schwartz ended up predicting, accidentally, another poor performance from his corners. While stopping Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins is a tall task, if you're being hailed as the best unit in the league by as good of a DC as Schwartz, you should probably be trying a whole lot more to prove you're worth guarding the best of the best. There was no evidence of such confidence in Week 7.

Rating the secondary and defensive line against the Bengals is the tale of two defenses - a unit led by Myles Garrett and a unit led by Denzel Ward have had complete opposite impacts on the field so far this season. In Week 7, that disparity was evident whenever Joe Burrow decided to pass.

Defensive line grade: B+

Pass rush win rate continues to be a great indicator of just how good this Browns defensive line is. When taking Week 7 into account, the team is third overall in pass rush win rate with an average of 53 percent of its pass rushes ending up in a win for the line over opposing teams' pass and run blockers. Burrow was pressured a ton in Week 7, and he ended up with less than 200 passing yards on the game.

That unfortunately didn't result in a win. The defensive line - and the secondary - are still struggling to make its stops mean scores. And, perhaps more important prior to Watson's injury, that seemed to be the only way the Browns would score. Maybe now, the D-line will feel a lot less pressure to generate fumbles and scores with a new QB at the helm on other side of the field.

Secondary grade: D-

If you feel like the Browns haven't really gotten any interceptions this season, you'd feel almost right. With just one on the season, Cleveland is all the way down the list of defensive units across the league that have gotten picks, right there with the terrible Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, and New York Giants. That's simply not the way to win with your defense.

Again, it's extremely hard to contain Chase downfield. But this has been an issue all season - not being able to stay in front of their man without committing a penalty, or getting beat out on passes. The Browns were aiming to implement a zone defense more often on Week 7, which was definitely working in the first half but failed to contain Chase and Higgins in the second half.

Martin Emerson Jr. and Greg Newsome II continue to be a tough watch in the secondary. Grant Delpit and Juan Thornhill are racking up tackles, but not much else in the way of turnovers. Ward has 12 passes defended on the season so far, good for first overall in the NFL. But, he can't do all the heavy lifting - especially in Week 8 against such a potent Baltimore Ravens offense run by a sharp passer in Lamar Jackson.

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