Browns defense has to get much better, too
By STEVE KING
The Browns kept saying that it “was just one game,” intimating all last week that Sunday’s 38-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers was simply a blip on the radar, a temporary setback that will be compensated for by steps forward in the remaining weeks of the regular season.
OK, then, here we are a week later, and the Browns (4-2) get a chance to begin proving that — or eat their words — as they take on the Cincinnati Bengals (1-4-1) on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.
Will they indeed right themselves and beat — for the second time this year, following a 35-30 win in Week 2 — a team they should beat in the struggling Bengals? Or will, as the Browns said they could not allow to happen, the loss in Pittsburgh carry over and spark more defeats?
To make sure that the former and not the latter happens, the Browns certainly must play better offensively. That’s been discussed at nauseum since immediately following last Sunday’s game.
But what has not been discussed — but definitely needs to be — is that the Browns must also play better — a whole lot better, in fact — on defense.
While the offense has mostly performed pretty well this year, save for the loss to Pittsburgh and the one to the Baltimore Ravens (38-6 in the opener), the defense has mostly performed pretty poorly. So while that is to be expected to some extent since, with all the rule changes for years favoring that side of the ball, the NFL has become such an offensive league. But teams like Pittsburgh are proving that you can still have a good defense, one that, at times, like it was against the Browns, can be dominating and smothering.
The Cleveland defense has been far, far from that all year.
That has to change, however — the defense has to take some major strides forward — if the Browns are to get to where they eventually want to go. They are getting some injured players back in the secondary, including safety Ronnie Harrison, which should help.
The problems in the losses to Baltimore and Pittsburgh go a lot deeper than the inabilities of quarterback Baker Mayfield and the offense. Those are easy targets, but now it’s time to put that same laser-focus on the defense and make those guys hold up their end of the bargain as well.
