Dawgs By Nature
The Cleveland Browns will host the Buffalo Bills on Sunday in the penultimate home game of the 2025 NFL season.
Cleveland comes into the contest riding a three-game losing streak for the third time this year, while the Bills have won three in a row to stay on the heels of the New England Patriots in the AFC East Division.
The Bills are 9-3 against rookie quarterbacks since 2019, allowing just 13.6 points and 271 yards of offense per game. That is not necessarily a good thing for a Cleveland team averaging 16 points a game and starting rookie quarterback Shedeuer Sanders.
On Thursday, Cleveland’s coordinators held their weekly meeting with the media, and here are the key takeaways from what they had to say about the upcoming game against the Bills.
The Browns have allowed 326 rushing yards in the past two games, and with the Bills leading the league in rushing yards, the defense needs to be better at controlling the run this week, according to Schwartz:
“We have as big a challenge as we’ve had the whole season with the run game of Buffalo, not just with James Cook, who’s an outstanding running back that can threaten all 53 and a third of the field, and he can run with power between the tackles, but you also have to include quarterback Josh Allen’s legs (as) he’s rushed for 500 and some yards also. So, 2,000 yards between the two of them.
“We had a couple streaks against Chicago where we lost like four snaps in a row, five snaps in a row, … and if you allow a team to run the ball that way, then they’re going to be able to control the game. So, I’d probably say that’s probably the biggest thing for us.”
One thing for certain is that if the Browns don’t start stopping the run, it is going to be difficult for defensive end Myles Garrett to break the NFL record for sacks, according to Schwartz:
“If we don’t consistently stop the run game, if we don’t throw teams into second and long situations and third and long situations, it makes it hard to rush the passer. So, we have to do our part in there. (Against Chicago) we saw third down, we saw screens, you know, we saw stuff like that because everybody knows what our strengths are and how they try to combat that. And it’s up to us defensively to force teams to be able to have the drop back and pass, which would help Myles, right?
“If Buffalo comes out and runs it 60 times, you’re not going to get any sacks. If he gets a lot of opportunities, his success rate is pretty high, and, you know, we’re a pretty good pass rush team, so I like those odds, but it all ties back (to stopping the run). And that’s the message we have, is...
