Who will play the lead roles this Sunday on 'As The Tackles Turn'? (Cleveland Browns)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
LANDOVER, MD
Four downs on Browns (1-3) v. Washington Commanders (3-1)
First down: Analytically speaking.
Sporting the largest analytics staff in the NFL, the Browns can appreciate the gravity of their situation. At the unofficial quarter pole of the long NFL season, they will have to defy historical odds to reach their goal of post-season play. Since 1966, 403 teams have started a season 1-3. Only 25 of them made the playoffs – 6.2%. Starting at 1-4 would reduce those odds to 4.5% -- 12 teams out of 263. One of the 1-3 teams to reach the playoffs was the 2018 Houston Texans quarterbacked by Deshaun Watson. They were losing by 3 points in overtime to the Colts and staring at 0-4 before driving for two field goals to win. That was the first of nine consecutive wins en route to an 11-5 season and an AFC South division title. But when given the opportunity this week, not even Watson would draw on that experience to drum up manufactured optimism about the task ahead. “Every year is different, every team is different,” Watson said. “The games are there, the opportunities are there, we got to capitalize on them. We got to take it one week at a time and focus on this game and try to get on that win chart so we can build off that momentum.”
Second down: The Commander in Chief.
Jayden Daniels’ sensational start to his rookie season is well-documented. In short, he tops all quarterbacks with a phenomenal 82% completion mark, is third with a 107.4 passer rating, and leads the second-highest scoring team in the NFL. Daniels also is second among QBs with 214 rushing yards (to Lamar Jackson’s 308) and has scored 4 TDs (to Jackson’s 2). Daniels would be the Browns’ leading rusher and leading scorer. Commanders coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has tailored his Air Raid offense to Daniels. They lead the league, by far, in running plays in hurry-up tempo. (This sounds like what the Browns one time intended to do.) “He really understands the RPO zone read world,” said defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. “It’s something he’s done. Played a lot of college football in a very similar situation. We got to play tight coverage, we got to be in our gaps and we have to tackle well on the perimeter and they’ll challenge all of those things.”
Third down: Speaking of tackling, or lack thereof.
Schwartz said his defense gave up 67 yards after making first contact in the Raiders game. That’s horrendous. “That’s not playing physical football,” he fumed. How do they correct sloppy tackling? Myles Garrett said after the game guys have to wrap up instead of leading with a shoulder on first contact. Schwartz said it’s more a matter of using the legs to get in position to tackle. “When you play good team defense and you run to the ball and you play with great effort, a lot of those missed tackles disappear,” he said. “You still have them, but the second guy goes and cleans it up and that’s what we really need to put the emphasis on. If you’re flying around and the next guy’s coming in, nobody notices that a guy missed a tackle because the next guy’s there cleaning up for one yard.”
Fourth down: As The Tackles Turn.
In this week’s episode of “As The Tackles Turn,” Dawand Jones received encouragement from his quarterback for crappy play, Michael Dunn was designated to return to practice and activated to the roster, and Jedrick Wills and Jack Conklin were listed as “questionable” after practicing all week only on a limited basis. So who will line up, and where, against the Commanders? Tune in Sunday.
The pick: Commanders 24, Browns 18.
My record: 2-2.