Browns Defense Not Living Up to Expectations so Far This Season

Through four games, the Cleveland Browns are an impressive 2-2 and are coming off of the team's first road win in over a year. However, it's not all going well, particularly on defense.

When the Browns brought in head coach Mike Pettine and defensive coordinator Jim O'Neil, it was expected that the team would be defense-first, particularly this year. Pettine and O'Neil came in from the Buffalo Bills, who ranked 10th in yards allowed in 2013 and ranked second in sacks, with 57.

Currently, however, the Browns defense ranks 31st in average yards per game allowed, at 421.8. It is allowing 269.2 passing yards per game, ranking 28th, and 30th against the run, giving up 152.5 rushing yards per game on average. Unsurprisingly, that has resulted in Cleveland's defense allowing an average of 26.2 points per game.

Stat	Value	Rank
Yds/Game Allowed	421.8	31
Pass Yds/Game Allowed	269.2	28
Rush Yds/Game Allowed	152.5	30
Points/Game Allowed	26.2	24
1st Half Points Allowed/Game	18.8	1
2nd Half Points Allowed/Game	7.5	31

What is most baffling about these problems on defense is that they seem primarily confined to the first half of games. The Browns are currently giving up the most points to opponents in the first half, an average of 18.8. However, they are allowing the second-fewest second-half points this season, at 7.5. 

That disparity, naturally, is also found in the yards the Browns have allowed: 1,032 total to opponents in the first half, 642 in the second half. 

While it's admirable that the Browns are able to go into halftime and make profound and successful adjustments on defense to keep them in games, the first-half defensive collapses are happening on an every-game basis. It's also a direct cause of the Browns having their first four games decided by three or fewer points—the fourth time that has happened since 1940.

This is not a sustainable strategy. A "tale-of-two-halves" defensive system puts undue stress on both the defense and the offense. And while the offense has taken on the challenge well, and the Browns have a .500 record, this defensive slump needs to stop.

It's just difficult to figure out why the Browns have been so poor on defense in the first half and much better in the second. It does seem to coincide with the offense improving at the half. The Browns have scored a total of 36 points in the first half this season, but have ended with a total of 103 points scored and haven't put up fewer than 21 points in a game.

This second-half offensive flurry has thus forced the Browns defense off the field, something that can be reflected in the team's 150 total first-half tackles versus 128 in the second half.

Game	1st Half Yds. Allowed	2nd Half Yds. Allowed	Total Yds. Allowed
@ PIT	364	126	440
vs. NO	208	189	397
vs. BAL	176	201	377
@ TEN	284	126	410
Total	1,032	642	1,674

Still, the by-half defensive numbers, taken raw, aren't very different: three sacks in the first half, five in the second (with four in the fourth quarter), five tackles for a loss in each half, seven passes defensed in the first and five in the second, two interceptions in the first half, one in the second.

One key might be missed tackles, of which the Browns collectively have 39 on the season, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Linebackers Karlos Dansby and Paul Kruger are the biggest culprits, with 13 missed tackles between them.

While the data isn't out there detailing missed tackles by half or quarter, based on the Browns' second-half performances this season, it is fair to assume that the majority of them have occurred in the first half of games. Especially when time-of-possession is added into the equation.

Against the Titans on Sunday, the Browns offense possessed the football for just 12:58 in the first half but ended the game controlling the ball for 29:17. With the Browns defense on the field less in the second half, the opportunities for missed tackles decreased. And when missed tackles can extend drives or lead directly to a touchdown, any decrease in them clearly helps the Browns' bottom line.

Cornerback Joe Haden said to Kevin Jones of ClevelandBrowns.com last week that Pettine and the team's defensive coaching staff met to look at which defensive play calls and schemes worked well and which didn't and that they took away certain ones that had given up large chunks of yardage. As Haden said, "[E]veryone feels there's been two, three, four plays that if we made, our defense would look so much better."

But still, the same problems reared their ugly heads in the first half against the Titans, with four touchdowns given up to two different quarterbacks, including one from Charlie Whitehurst to Justin Hunter that went 75 yards.

It's going to be a long season if the Browns defense continues to regularly give up 20 or more points in a half, forcing the offense to clean up the mess in the second half. That the offense is capable of doing so—and that the defense is either able to improve in the second half or stay off the field where they cannot cause any more trouble—is good.

But it's an uneasy sort of good. The Browns haven't yet shown they can play a full four quarters of football. The Browns defense doesn't just need to make more high-impact plays in the first half, but also be fundamentally sound.

This "Kardiac Kids" routine is exciting to watch, but it does indicate that Cleveland's defense is more of a work in progress than had been anticipated.