Last year, the Cleveland Browns had one of the best defenses in the entire NFL. This year, their defense is still strong and has been impressive over the first five weeks of the season, but there is room for improvement. Writing for ESPN, Daniel Oyefusi highlighted Cleveland’s biggest problem with defense: their inability to stop other teams running.
The numbers prove that they are having a tough time slowing down opponents when they get running, and it has led to them giving up 4.5 yards per attempt.
“Biggest issue on defense: Run defense,” Oyefusi wrote. “The Browns’ defense rebounded after giving up 34 points to the Jaguars in Week 1, but the inability to stop the run has been a consistent theme this season. Cleveland is giving up 4.5 yards per attempt, the ninth-worst mark in the NFL. And its success rate on opponent rushes (52.8%) is the second-worst mark in the league. Tackling has been an issue; opponents are averaging 2.53 yards after contact per rush, which ranks 30th.”
The team looked like quite a mess during Week 1 when they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, but they definitely got on the right path after that. They enjoyed three wins in a row before they hit a speed bump against the New York Jets in Week 5. During that game, their glaring problems were more obvious.
Cleveland has a new defensive coordinator, Mike Rutenberg. So far, he has earned some strong reviews from the fans, but he will need to improve the team’s run defense as soon as possible.
The team’s next challenge will come this weekend when they square off against the Baltimore Ravens. Obviously, that squad can be very productive with its offense. If there was ever a time to step up the defense, it would be now.
The good news for Cleveland is that they have shown they can have lockdown defense, and there is every reason to believe they will get back to where they were. Rutenberg has his work cut out for him, but he has a lot of powerful tools that can help the Browns reach their goal.
Fans will be keeping a close eye on the defense this weekend, hoping to see them shut down Baltimore’s run game with fierce resistance.
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