Dawgs By Nature
The Cleveland Browns welcome the Green Bay Packers to Northeast Ohio on Sunday, and there’s undoubtedly going to be one thing on everybody’s minds. How the heck are the Browns going to handle Micah Parsons and the Packers’ pass rush?
Though Green Bay’s defensive line has been tearing its opponents apart over the first two weeks of the season, Cleveland’s offense is surprisingly set up pretty well for that style of defense. Aside from the normal pocket-moving shenanigans and screen variations that Kevin Stefanski likes to utilize on a weekly basis, there are a couple of things that we’ll most likely see the Browns’ offensive line doing on Sunday.
There’s been a clip of Jack Conklin circulating today (9/18) that shows him “practicing”, and he definitely doesn’t look healthy. He can barely put weight on his down arm, with a rubber sleeve around his elbow.
He’ll more than likely be OUT for week 3, which would mean that the starting offensive tackles would be Dawand Jones and Cornelius Lucas again. Neither of these players has the best footwork right now, so it would be smart for them to jump-set Rashan Gary and Micah Parsons. If Jones and Lucas can jump/attack Green Bay’s pass rushers and close the gap quickly by jump-setting, they should be able to lock on and limit the defender’s two-way go.
Basically, the 6’8” offensive tackles need to force Parsons to run through them instead of around them, which is exactly what Parsons will do if he has the space to do it.
We could see lots of pre-snap communication at the line of scrimmage between the quarterback and the offensive line on Sunday. Aside from making line checks based on the different fronts they’ll see, but similar to how opposing offenses defend Myles Garrett, the same could be the case for Cleveland against Micah Parsons.
Joe Flacco or Ethan Pocic will most likely identify where Parsons is lined up before each snap and slide the protection towards him. This would do two things for the Browns’ offense that’ll help slow down the Packers’ edge rushers.
It limits the amount of time that a running back will be in pass protection on Parsons’ side of the field. The RB will always be responsible for the backside A or B gap. The last thing Cleveland’s offense wants is a running back matched up on Parsons.
When you slide towards a specific pass rusher lined up outside, it more than likely means that two sets of eyes will be on that player at the snap. Depending on where the 3-technique is lined up, Cleveland could technically double-team Parsons on the playside without having to rely on a tight end staying home.
It would be incredibly surprising if the Browns decide to stick with man protection in the passing game in week 3. We’ll naturally also see some instances where David Njoku or Harold Fannin Jr. help block, depending on different down &...
