Bills vs. Browns: Analyzing the Snap Counts (Defense)

The Browns' defense gave up three rushing touchdowns against the Bills, but still came up with some opportunistic plays. The snap count distributions for the Browns' defenders against the Bills are listed below. [Week 5 offensive snap counts for Cleveland can be found here]

Defensive Line
Ahtyba Rubin	Phil Taylor	John Hughes	Desmond Bryant	Armonty Bryant	Ishmaa'ily Kitchen
69% 53/77 plays	56% 43/77 plays	44% 34/77 plays	43% 33/77 plays	21% 16/77 plays	14% 11/77 plays

Ahtyba Rubin: 5 tackles, 3 assists (8 combined). 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, 1 quarterback hit.
Desmond Bryant: 2 assists (2 combined). 2 tackles for loss.
Phil Taylor: 2 tackles, 2 assists (4 combined).
John Hughes: 1 tackle, 2 assists (3 combined).
Armonty Bryant: 1 tackle (1 combined). 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, 2 quarterback hits, 1 pass defended.
Ishmaa'ily Kitchen: 1 tackle, 1 assist (2 combined).

Thoughts: With Desmond Bryant having to leave the game due to shortness of breath, rookie seventh-round pick Armonty Bryant saw his first defensive action of the season (Billy Winn being out made that possible). Bryant made a lot of noise late in the game with a limited number of reps, notching a sack, some hits on the quarterback, and defending a pass. Ahtyba Rubin also had a big day, and Phil Taylor enticed Fred Jackson into tossing him the football, which drew a 15-yard penalty on the Bills.

Inside Linebacker
D'Qwell Jackson	Craig Robertson
100% 77/77 plays	100% 77/77 plays

D'Qwell Jackson: 3 tackles, 8 assists (11 combined).
Craig Robertson: 3 tackles, 3 assists (6 combined). 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, 1 quarterback hit.

Thoughts: The stretch of forcing or recovering a fumble ended, but Craig Robertson added a sack and continues to prove that the inside linebacker position isn't a weakness for this defensive unit.

Outside Linebacker
Paul Kruger	Barkevious Mingo	Eric Martin	Paul Hazel
92% 71/77 plays	92% 71/77 plays	13% 10/77 plays	3% 2/77 plays

Barkevious Mingo: 2 tackles, 1 assist (3 combined). 4 quarterback hits, 1 pass defended.
Paul Kruger: 1 tackle, 1 assist (2 combined). 1 pass defended.
Paul Hazel: 1 quarterback hit.
Eric Martin: No stats registered.

Thoughts: After Paul Kruger and Barkevious Mingo saw all of the defensive snaps against the Bengals, the Browns decided to give a couple of reps to Eric Martin and Paul Hazel this week. Mingo's streak of sacks ended, but he still got pressure on the quarterback with four hits. He did have a big blunder when he failed to have outside containment on C.J. Spiller's touchdown run. It's good when you can have those mistakes, and still walk away with a victory.

Cornerback
Joe Haden	Buster Skrine	Chris Owens
97% 75/77 plays	97% 75/77 plays	57% 44/77 plays

Joe Haden: 3 tackles, 1 assist (4 combined). 1 pass defended.
Buster Skrine: 6 tackles (6 combined). 1 sack, 2 passes defended.
Chris Owens: 2 tackles (2 combined).

Thoughts: This was Joe Haden's first "off" game of the season, but remember that he has a pretty high standard. You could actually make the case that Buster Skrine had a better game this week. One thing is for sure about Haden, though: he'll be ready for Calvin Johnson next.

Safety
T.J. Ward	Tashaun Gipson	Johnson Bademosi
100% 77/77 plays	99% 76/77 plays	3% 2/77 plays

T.J. Ward: 4 tackles, 1 assist (5 combined). 1 interception, 1 touchdown, 1 pass defended.
Tashaun Gipson: 4 tackles, 1 assists (5 combined). 1 pass defended.
Johnson Bademosi: No stats registered.

Thoughts: The Browns took advantage of an undrafted rookie quarterback under center late in the game as T.J. Ward had a pick six for the defense, the first time that's happened this season. Johnson Bademosi, a guy who was a contender for a starting role most of camp, finally saw a couple of defensive snaps. Tashaun Gipson was the guy who knocked E.J. Manuel out of the game on a legal hit. This Gipson guy can lay the wood.