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Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on defense for the Cleveland Browns' Week 4 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The #Browns started a defense in Week 4 worth a combined $17.9M in 2017 cap, lowest in the league by $10M. https://t.co/H9EWSnncm2
— Spotrac (@spotrac) October 1, 2017
Defensive Line
| Pos | Player | Plays | % | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Player | Plays | % | Stats |
| DL | Carl Nassib | 44 | 69% | 2 tackles (2 combined). |
| DL | Nate Orchard | 43 | 67% | 2 tackles, 1 assist (3 combined). 1 TFL. |
| DL | Emmanuel Ogbah | 42 | 66% | 4 tackles, 2 assists (6 combined). 1 sack, 1 TFL, 2 FF, 1 FR. |
| DL | Trevon Coley | 42 | 66% | 2 tackles, 2 assists (4 combined). 1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 QH. |
| DL | Jamie Meder | 31 | 48% | 1 tackle, 1 assists (3 combined). 1 TFL. |
| DL | Larry Ogunjobi | 28 | 44% | 1 tackle, 1 assists (3 combined). 1 TFL. |
| DL | Caleb Brantley | 16 | 25% | 2 tackles (2 combined). 1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 QH. |
| DL | T.Y. McGill | 5 | 8% | No stats registered. |
Notes:
- I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this before: as a team, the Browns had more sacks (3) than quarterback hits (2). How is that even possible? I guess it’s because the first sack by Emmanuel Ogbah was a strip of a pass (before the arm was moving forward) and not a hit on Andy Dalton. Ogbah had two forced fumbles in the first quarter.
- If you’re looking for a silver lining, the Browns’ run defense was good again, allowing 86 yards on 30 carries (2.9 YPC). But that’s one of the issues again — even if teams aren’t getting big YPC, they have the lead and run up the number of carries to bleed clock (Cleveland had 17 carries as a team).
- With Danny Shelton (calf) out, about 10 extra snaps were each given to Jamie Meder, Trevon Coley, and Larry Ogunjobi. Ogunjobi (79.6 grade by PFF) continued to shine against the run.
- Caleb Brantley recorded his first career sack. T.Y. McGill made his debut with the Browns.
Linebacker
| Pos | Player | Plays | % | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Player | Plays | % | Stats |
| LB | Christian Kirksey | 64 | 100% | 4 tackles, 4 assists (8 combined). |
| LB | Joe Schobert | 64 | 100% | 4 tackles, 7 assists (11 combined). |
| LB | James Burgess | 53 | 83% | 2 tackles, 3 assists (5 combined). |
Notes:
- I don’t know where else to stick this, so I’ll do it here. Before the game, I talked about the Browns’ poor red zone defense. The Bengals also had poor red zone offense. When those two statistics clashed, who came out on top? Cincinnati — they were 3-of-3 in the red zone. That really kills an already-struggling offense. If the defense would’ve held them to 1-of-3, it’s still ultimately a lop-sided game, but maybe the team doesn’t mentally feel like the score is too much to overcome early on.
- Joe Schobert led the team with 11 tackles, but he and Christian Kirksey were each victimized by TE Tyler Croft for a touchdown. Kirksey was also flagged for a pass interference penalty late in the game.
- Coverage against tight ends and receivers by this unit continued to suffer. Per PFF, the three starting linebackers allowed Andy Dalton to complete 15-of-15 passes when targeting the unit. For the game, Christian Kirksey (41.8) and James Burgess (44.0) graded low, while Joe Schobert (71.4) had a more respectable rating.
Cornerback
| Pos | Player | Plays | % | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Player | Plays | % | Stats |
| CB | Jason McCourty | 64 | 100% | 7 tackles (7 combined). |
| CB | Jamar Taylor | 59 | 92% | 3 tackles, 3 assists (6 combined). 1 pass defended. |
| CB | Briean Boddy-Calhoun | 42 | 66% | 2 tackles, 1 assist (3 combined). |
| CB | Mike Jordan | 5 | 8% | 1 tackle (1 combined). |
Notes:
- Statistically, it might be a surprise that A.J. Green had just 5 catches for 63 yards. Later in the game, Jamar Taylor missed an interception when he was matched up against Brandon LaFell.
- Overall, PFF said that Taylor was only targeted once in 33 coverage snaps (the missed interception).
Safety
| Pos | Player | Plays | % | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Player | Plays | % | Stats |
| S | Jabrill Peppers | 62 | 97% | 2 tackles, 3 assists (5 combined). |
| S | Derrick Kindred | 36 | 56% | 1 tackle, 1 assist (2 combined). |
| S | Ibraheim Campbell | 4 | 6% | No stats registered. |
Notes:
- Jabrill Peppers was matched up with A.J. Green on his touchdown to get the Bengals’ scoring going. That’s not a match-up we should be seeing, but Cincinnati caught Cleveland in a designed blitz, exposing Peppers. A big question should be why so many other teams are easily knowing what is coming from defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.
- Peppers took a terrible angle again on Giovani Bernard’s 61-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown. With the amount of space and two lead blockers, I don’t fault Peppers for not making the tackle. But, he needs to do everything possible to give the defenders behind the play a chance to come up and prevent the touchdown, and he didn’t.
- Not as many snaps for Derrick Kindred this week. I’d have to check the tape, but some people said that Briean Boddy-Calhoun was taking some snaps at his spot this week.