Dawgs By Nature
The Cleveland Browns will be in a key battle for draft position on Sunday when they face the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Browns come into the game having lost six of their past seven games and have not won a road game since Week 2 of the 2024 season. The Raiders have only posted one win since Week 1, and have allowed 30 or more points in three of their past four games.
Sunday’s biggest story will be rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders getting his first NFL start, which has to have the networks kicking themselves, as the game will only be broadcast to a small portion of the nation.
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 Raiders.
Cleveland, which has had difficulties covering tight ends for decades, faces one of the league’s best this week in Brock Bowers, who has 20 receptions for 230 yards and three touchdowns in the past three games. The Raiders also feature rookie running back Ashton Jeanty, who may be playing better than his stats indicate, according to Schwartz:
“It’s never easy when you’re facing those kinds of guys, particularly (Brock) Bowers. He might be the best pass-receiving tight end in the league right now. He runs like a wide receiver. He runs great routes, and he has great instincts to set down zones. He’s good down the field, so we’ve got our work cut out for us with him. They really missed him when he was out early in the season. Their offense really took a big step back, and now they have him back.
“(Ashton) Jeanty’s tape looks a lot better than his stats. You know, you look at his stats, he’s averaging 3.7 yards per carry, which isn’t great. But then you watch his tape, and you don’t see where that is because that guy is breaking tackles, making people miss. You know, there is like nothing to hit on him. He’s like a bowling ball out there (at) 5-foot-8 and 215, 220 pounds. He’s a power running back. I think that he’s going to be a good player. But just like every week, we’ve got to try to stop the run. We’ve got to try to force them to throw it and take his part of the run game away. They’re a really good line zone running team, and that would be a great challenge for us.”
Rookie linebacker Carson Schwesinger earned Rookie of the Week honors after posting 10 tackles and intercepting a pass against the Ravens. But it was one play in particular on quarterback Lamar Jackson that stood out to Schwartz:
“I mean, (that play on Jackson) is going to be on my teach tape for how to play the zone read the way that we play it. There are a lot of different ways people play,...
