Dawgs By Nature
The Cleveland Browns will host the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in a game that is not exactly primetime material.
Tennessee enters the game riding a seven-game losing streak, which has them in the running for the No. 1 overall selection in the NFL Draft for a second consecutive year.
Cleveland is right behind them, having lost seven of their past nine games, and is now in the evaluation process for the rest of the season.
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 Titans.
Cleveland’s defensive line has been a strength this season, but it lost defensive tackle Maliek Collins to a season-ending injury against the 49ers. Schwartz said he is looking for a collective effort to help fill in the gap:
“Maliek was playing great football for us, probably the best football of his career. He was an inside presence for us and was the guy who could win one-on-ones. So, it just really falls to everybody. I don’t know that anybody has to do more; they all just have to be themselves, and they’ll get more opportunities. And I think that’s probably the biggest thing, you have to make the most of those opportunities. You know, whether you’re Mason (Graham), whether you’re Shelby (Harris), whether you’re Sam (Kamara), whether you’re Mike (Hall Jr.). Maybe Adin (Huntington), when Adin’s able to come back. It just provides opportunity for those guys, and they have to do something with that opportunity.”
Tennessee quarterback Cam Ward has 12 turnovers this season (six interceptions and six lost fumbles) and has taken a league-high 48 sacks. Pressuring Ward up the middle will be a key to Cleveland’s success on defense, according to Schwartz:
“It’s hard to evaluate them without 100% knowing exactly what their scheme is and things like that, but he has taken a bunch of sacks. And probably one of the biggest things for us is we really got to be disruptive in the middle of the pocket because he’s given up a lot of fumbles this year. And you know, it’s one thing to take sacks, but you turn a sack into a fumble … I mean, sacks are game-changing plays, forced fumbles in the pocket, huge plays. So, we’ll need stuff like that also.”
Even though the offense only put up eight points and was ineffective again on third down against San Francisco, Rees was able to see some good things from quarterback Shedeur Sanders in his second start:
“(He) took care of the football there throughout the game, which is a positive, and something that, with young players, you stress. I thought, operationally, (it) was cleaner, as he gets more comfortable, more reps, more opportunities in and out of the huddle, communicating at the line of scrimmage.
“I felt like we had...
