Browns’ defensive snap counts, stats, and notes: Week 5

Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on defense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 5 game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

• Even though it didn’t seem like he made much of an impact on the game, Myles Garrett was still the Browns’ highest-graded defender per PFF, grading out to an 80.9. He finished the game with 2 tackles.
• We wondered how many snaps Garrett would play in his first action since the car accident, and he got a pretty full workload, playing 82% of the snaps. DE Jadeveon Clowney’s workload was pretty on par too after missing two games, as he played in 73% of the snaps.
• Per PFF, Garrett and Clowney generated 5 pressures each, representing 10 of the team’s 12 total pressures.
• The Chargers seemed to do an effective job in my opinion utilizing Garrett's pass rush against him, having running lanes cut into that void while no other Browns defender could make a play. Why the Chargers ran a 4th-and-1 fullback dive right at Clowney, though, is beside me.
• It's been discouraging to watch the play of Taven Bryan, Alex Wright, and Perrion Winfrey, knowing that there's no quick fix solution to Cleveland’s problem.

• Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah has not had the step up in year number two that I was hoping for. I haven't seen that same level of instinct and confidence for the entirety of a game.
• Sione Takitaki did not have a tackling day to remember, and it hurt Cleveland’s run defense significantly.
• We'll see if Deion Jones can offer some help, but how soon is he going to be ready to contribute? I guess the argument against that is that things can't get much worse than they've been.

• It was a pretty good day in coverage for Greg Newsome, who PFF had as the Browns’ second-highest graded defender at a 79.2.
• Denzel Ward left the game with a concussion, but before that, he was the team's leading tackler.
• Greedy Williams is expected back soon, but Martin Emerson has been gritty, and he came up with the tight fourth down stop at the end of the game to give the offense one more shot.

• I feel like John Johnson has quietly been the most stable Browns defender this season, but you wouldn't know it because of how bad the rest of the play has been.
• Johnson was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after he presumably complained to officials for them not calling a blindside block that was delivered to one of his teammates. I get his frustration, but his flag obviously didn't help matters.