BEREA — The NFL game has put a premium on passing the football. Running the ball, though, remains a secret to success.
More importantly, stopping the run is a critical piece to any success the Browns’ defense wants to achieve.
The last few games, the Browns have struggled to stop the run when they’ve needed to the most. The results, at least from a defensive perspective, have not been good.
“I think probably the biggest thing, like I said the last couple weeks, has been run game,” defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said Dec. 18. ‘We held San Francisco in pretty good check with Christian McCaffrey. And then we gave up a couple big plays against the (Tennessee) Titans. And then last week it wasn’t big plays, it was more the consistency of the run game. And we need to be able to shed blocks a little bit better.
“We didn’t tackle very well in the Chicago game, particularly out on the perimeter and we paid the price for it. So, when it’s all said and done, defenses are judged by your ability to tackle, your ability to stop drives, and a big part of that is stopping the run.”
The Browns allowed a season-high 184 rushing yards twice in the last five weeks, to the Baltimore Ravens in a Week 13 loss and to the Titans in a Week 14 loss. They allowed 142 rushing yards to the Chicago Bears in a Week 15 loss, the fourth-most they’ve given up this season.
Next up for Cleveland is a home game against the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo comes into the game as the No. 1 rushing offense in the league at 158.5 yards per game, and second in the league averaging 5.01 yards per rush.
Schwartz, three days before kickoff, knows exactly what’s going to happen should the Browns continue their struggles to slow down the run.
“Great challenge this week with Buffalo,” Schwartz said. “They’re the best run offense in the NFL. So if we don’t get it corrected, we won’t stand a chance in this game.”
The Browns, be it Schwartz or the defensive players, have talk repeatedly about how their pass rush works hand-in-hand between the rush and the coverage. The overall defense works the same way.
If the Browns can’t stop the run, then they don’t force teams into obvious passing situations. If they don’t force teams into obvious passing situations, then All-Pro Myles Garrett and the rest of the pass rush can’t be turned loose to savage the quarterback.
The Bills, even with an elite quarterback in Josh Allen, would be just fine running it down the Browns’ throats with some combination of James Cook and Allen. Both teams understand that going into the game.
“Yeah, we got to be able to stop the run,” linebacker Carson Schwesinger said. “And I think with them, they know what they’re going to do and they’re going to do it and they’re just going to keep running it. And for us, it’s just a matter of being physical and staying disciplined throughout every play. We can’t have a lapse on a play here and then just getting all 11 guys to the ball every play makes up for a lot.”
There’s some commonality between three of the Browns’ four worst performances against the run: Ravens in Week 13, the New England Patriots in Week 8 (177 rushing yards) and the Bears. All boast quarterbacks who add pressure on the defense because of what they can do running the ball.
In Allen, the Bills have one of the best at it, a player Schwartz and others have referred to as a “fullback” and compared him to Ravens running back Derrick Henry. The 6-foot-5, 237-pound quarterback has 535 rushing yards on 98 carries, for a team-high 5.5 yards-per-carry average.
The pressure Allen puts on as a complement to Cook who has rushed for 1,415 yards is akin to what Jackson, in particular, provides as a counterpunch to Henry. That means one thing for the Browns’ defense when they’re dealing with him.
“Just gap integrity is the biggest thing,” linebacker Devin Bush told the Beacon Journal Dec. 18. “Knowing your keys. Knowing where they’re trying to get the ball to, what their whole scheme is and just punching it.”
The key isn’t just to do that, but to do that consistently. That’s been the issue in some of the Browns’ worst performances.
Tennessee’s Tony Pollard has two big touchdown runs, of 62 and 32 yards, that accounted for 94 of his 161 rushing yards in Week 14. Baltimore’s Henry had 59 of his 103 rushing yards in Week 11 on one run.
“Stop the run, I think that’s what it comes down to,” safety Grant Delpit said Dec. 18. “It’s easier said than done but like you can do a great job stopping the run, then two plays they open up and it’ll be like they rush for five yards a carry off of two plays. So just try to do everything you can to not zone out in those moments and stay locked in for the whole game.”
