Dawgs By Nature
The Cleveland Browns will hit the field on Sunday against the New York Jets refreshed and raring to go after enjoying their bye week.
At least everyone hopes that is the plan, as the Browns did not leave anyone feeling good in their final game before the break, a frustrating loss to the New England Patriots that felt over in the second quarter.
As for the Jets, they picked up their first win of the season last week against the Cincinnati Bengals, and in the process became the third team in four tries to take down the Bengals since Joe Flacco took over the starting quarterback role in Cincinnati.
This is a game of two teams angling for draft position as they continue a decades-long quest to find a franchise quarterback, so it might be an afternoon where the first team to reach double digits on the scoreboard ends up the winner.
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 Jets.
Rookie linebacker Carson Schwesinger is dealing with a high-ankle sprain and is likely going to miss some time. How will the defense adjust to his absence, according to Schwartz?
“We have some experienced players there. Mohamoud (Diabate) got a lot of starting experience last year. Devin Bush has played in there. You know, Bake (Jerome Baker) has played in there, you know, so we have a lot of different ways that we can go with it, and you know, we’ll practice that way and just see where it lands. But yeah, Carson means a lot to us, not just from his play – but also his communication and, you know, things like that.”
New York quarterback Justin Fields is not a threat in the passing game – 30th in QBR and three games with less than 50 passing yards – but can make plays as a runner. How can Cleveland’s defense adjust to the threat of Fields running the ball?
“It’s like defending an extra blocker; you have to account for the quarterback. Fields has tremendous speed, size, and they call quarterback runs, sweeps, draws, and options like zone reads or RPOs. It’s like playing a triple-option; you have to cover the dive, quarterback, and pitch. It requires assignment football and a full-team effort to defend it.
“We’ve seen other teams that do it, so we have a good plan to be able to handle it. But sometimes a plan is a little bit easier in theory than in execution. You know, it’s one thing to say, yeah, you have the quarterback on this, but another thing, when you have a guy that’s the athlete that Justin Fields is and the speed that he has. So, it’s going to take a good team effort to defend that stuff.”
Head coach Kevin Stefanski made the...
