The Cleveland Browns are riding high off a stellar Week 3 performance against the Green Bay Packers and will look to get back to .500 when they take on the Detroit Lions in Week 4.
Cleveland’s defense made a big statement in holding Green Bay to 10 points while handing the Packers their first loss of the season, but one analyst recently raised a major concern on that side of the ball heading into the matchup with Detroit.
Cleveland.com’s Kelsey Russo wondered in a recent article if the Browns are going to be able to stop the Lions on fourth down, as Dan Campbell and his boys have been arguably the most aggressive fourth-down team in the NFL since he took over as head coach and have done a great job extending drives so far this year.
“How does the Browns’ defense stop the Lions on fourth down?” Russo wrote. “Through the first three weeks of the season, the Lions have converted 7 of 8 fourth down attempts. They are a team that will try for the first down, and the Browns must treat those fourth downs similar to how they would treat a third down. If they get the third down stop, the Browns must be prepared to make another stop on fourth down.”
The Lions have remained aggressive on fourth down despite losing offensive coordinator Ben Johnson in the offseason, and with so many weapons on offense and a bottomless bag of tricks to dip into, the Lions have established themselves as the most dangerous team in the NFL in these situations.
Cleveland has been the most stout run defense in the NFL thus far, giving up just 57.3 yards per game despite having to deal with Chase Brown, Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and Josh Jacobs through three weeks.
The Browns could see plenty of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery on fourth downs, so it will be a fun matchup of each team’s biggest strength on Sunday.
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