Browns’ defensive snap counts, stats, and notes: Week 8

The Browns’ defense died a slow death heading into the bye.

By Chris Pokorny@DawgsByNature Nov 2, 2020, 7:14pm EST

Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on defense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 8 game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Pos	Player	Plays	%	Stats
Pos	Player	Plays	%	Stats
DL	Olivier Vernon	60	83%	3 tackles, 1 assist (4 combined). 2 sacks, 2 TFL, 2 QH.
DL	Sheldon Richardson	60	83%	3 tackles, 1 assist (4 combined). 1 pass defended.
DL	Larry Ogunjobi	58	81%	3 tackles, 1 assist (4 combined).
DL	Porter Gustin	34	47%	2 tackles, 5 assists (7 combined).
DL	Myles Garrett	33	46%	3 assists (3 combined).
DL	Jordan Elliott	24	33%	2 tackles, 2 assists (4 combined).
DL	Adrian Clayborn	21	29%	1 tackle, 2 assists (3 combined).
DL	Vincent Taylor	10	14%	No stats registered.

The Browns allowed a season-low 16 points, and yet we head into the bye week more frustrated than ever with the defense. For weeks, I’ve tried to tout that at least Cleveland’s run defense is respectable. But the more we see of things, it looks like the truth is that teams can pick and choose how they want to beat the Browns’ defense, and the defense lacks the talent to stop them. Teams may not rip off 10-yard gains left and right, but if they want to commit to power football, they’re going to get that push and win.
Myles Garrett being hurt was a factor this week, as he only played 46% of the snaps. He’s been the type of guy this season who, even as the rest of the defense sucks, can come up with that one play out of no where to save the day.
Olivier Vernon tried to step up and registered his first two sacks of the season. He also probably had his highest-graded game of the year, with a grade of 79.7. If there was ever a time to trade him, it’s probably after that performance.
Porter Gustin was the team’s highest-graded defender with a grade of 81.4.
Larry Ogunjobi’s production has faded, as he received a grade of 30.0 from PFF. He had a costly 15-yard penalty in the fourth quarter.

Pos	Player	Plays	%	Stats
Pos	Player	Plays	%	Stats
LB	B.J. Goodson	71	99%	4 tackles, 2 assists (6 combined).
LB	Mack Wilson	52	72%	4 tackles, 2 assists (6 combined).
LB	Sione Takitaki	21	29%	1 tackle, 1 assist (2 combined).
LB	Malcolm Smith	20	28%	2 tackles, 4 assists (6 combined).

Is it weird that the Browns’ linebacker don’t seem good, but B.J. Goodson is actually putting together consistent performances? He once again received a favorable grade by PFF (72.9).
Mack Wilson saw his most playing time of the season with 72% of the snaps. Unfortunately, he graded out terribly with a grade of 27.2. I don’t mean to rag on Wilson, I wanted him to have a great season, but what we thought in the preseason is true: the linebackers are probably the worst group in the NFL by a large margin, and the defense is suffering a slow death each week.

Pos	Player	Plays	%	Stats
Pos	Player	Plays	%	Stats
CB	Denzel Ward	70	97%	4 tackles (4 combined). 1 FF.
CB	Terrance Mitchell	70	97%	4 tackles (4 combined).
CB	Kevin Johnson	40	56%	3 tackles, 1 assist (4 combined).

Denzel Ward forced a late fumble on Derek Carr that could have given Cleveland a slimmer of hope, but the Raiders fell on top of it. Otherwise, there wasn’t much action for the cornerbacks on a windy day, and the cornerbacks didn’t do well bringing down the bigger running backs.

Pos	Player	Plays	%	Stats
Pos	Player	Plays	%	Stats
S	Andrew Sendejo	72	100%	4 tackles, 1 assist (5 combined).
S	Ronnie Harrison	69	96%	2 tackles, 8 assists (10 combined). 1 pass defended.
S	Karl Joseph	6	8%	2 tackles (2 combined).

Andrew Sendejo received a 41.3 grade from PFF. Can we please get a change at safety after the bye? It’s at a point where you just can’t get much worse, even with trying out a change.
Ronnie Harrison continued to start and led the Browns with 10 tackles and nearly had another interception.
Karl Joseph was limited to 6 snaps.

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