The Browns’ defense has played well, but keeps getting caught napping on a couple of series, which their offense can’t recover from.
Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on defense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 3 game against the New York Giants.
- DL: He might be banged up, but Myles Garrett was still the Browns’ top-graded player by PFF, grading out to a 92.6. He had three quarterback hits on the day. 6 tackles is a high mark for a defensive tackle, and that’s what Shelby Harris finished the day with, as well as having a pass defended and a forced fumble. Per PFF, he was the team’s third-highest graded defender, with a grade of 78.7.
- LB: Jordan Hicks was the Browns’ second-highest graded player on defense this week, grading out to an 83.5. I thought Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah played another good game, although he did miss a rare open field tackle in the flat. Credit to the Giants (as most teams should do) by trying to isolate on the outside with passes to make this Cleveland defense keep chasing players.
- CB: Denzel Ward was the Browns’ top-graded defensive back this week, with a grade of 76.1. Cleveland seemed to have him follow Malik Nabers more in the second half, which makes you wonder what would’ve happened had that strategy been taken in the first half. I still have faith in Greg Newsome and Martin Emerson, but it sucks to see Newsome’s hit to the head wipe out an interception this week, and then Emerson also allowed an interception to be taken away from him later on. The play with Newsome in particular was a game- and momentum-changer — if that play stands, we are probably talking about a Browns win today. Newsome received a grade of 51.8 from PFF, while Emerson was at a 37.8.
- S: The safeties had a decent game, and Grant Delpit logged another tackle for a loss on the young season. Cleveland’s defense shut down the Giants in the second half, and that’s really should’ve been what happened in the second half too. If Emerson gets both of those picks, it might have happened.