Browns vs. Chargers: What's the Game Plan for Cleveland?

Cleveland hasn’t won a road game in San Diego since Week 8 of the 1991 season. Raise your hand if you can even remember 1991.

Browns rookie nose tackle Danny Shelton, and several other young players, hadn’t even been born.

The ’91 Browns belonged to a different era of football in Cleveland. It was an era that, while not rich with championships, was not bereft of hope, either. The Browns were competitive and had multiple playoff runs during the ‘80s to show for it.

Fast-forward a couple decades, and the current Browns organization is a shell of its former self. Winning has been replaced by rhetoric and “three-year plans” that never bear fruit, either by poor design or executive impatience.

Winning this Week 4 matchup in San Diego isn’t just about avoiding a fall to 1-3. That would be a devastating encore after last season’s 7-9 finish shed some rays of hope on the organization. No, winning this game and avoiding the all-too-familiar descent into the basement of the AFC North is vital in preserving the team’s current regime long enough to give it a chance to run its course.

They can find success. They can do it if given enough time to install their philosophy and win games to change the team’s culture.

They can do it this week by following this winning game plan.

Offensive Game Plan

There isn’t anything magical that John DeFilippo’s offense needs to do in San Diego. The Chargers defense isn’t going to dictate the game to them, it’s up to Josh McCown to make the throws and running backs Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson to hit the holes; there’s a better chance they’re going to be there this week against the Chargers’ 29th-ranked rush defense.

One thing DeFilippo needs to do, though, is ditch his reliance on players like Jim Dray and Malcolm Johnson as pass-blockers. Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack abused both Dray and Johnson last week.

Here are two shots of Mack blowing by Dray and making a tackle for loss:

Source: NFL Game Pass

Source: NFL Game Pass

The next shot is Mack sidestepping Johnson and sacking McCown. Mack gets a free release from Dray, and the only blocker between him and McCown is the rookie fullback.

Source: NFL Game Pass

He appeared to effortlessly throw Johnson to the side to record the sack.

The game plan this week shouldn't include either of those players ending up responsible for San Diego’s pass-rushers. If it does, it needs to be burned and the remnants then buried in the Pacific Ocean.

Defensive Game Plan

Getting the ball out quickly has been a staple for Philip Rivers throughout his career. His quick and quirky release has helped him avoid pressure and become one of the better passers of the last decade. Only Tom Brady’s 2.1-second average time to release is faster than Rivers’ 2.18 mark through three weeks. His 84.4 percent accuracy when pressured also tops the league.

So what do the Browns do against yet another quarterback—like Derek Carr last week, and Ryan Fitzpatrick in Week 1—who gets the ball out quickly and still has pinpoint accuracy when blitzed and pressured?

They need to be creative with their blitzes, something that’s hard to accomplish against a veteran like Rivers, who can pick up on subtleties that may compromise those efforts. Here’s a look, though, at an aggressive blitz by the Minnesota Vikings last week on third down.

Source: NFL Game Pass

Notice safety Harrison Smith, the eighth defender in the box, is bailing out as Rivers prepares to snap the ball. The Vikes are sending seven pass-rushers, but the Chargers only have six protectors for Rivers.

Rivers is pressured immediately and is unable to connect with Keenan Allen for a first down, forcing a punt. Had he had another second or two, Allen may have been able to find space against the safe zone being deployed by Minnesota.

The Vikings gave Rivers multiple looks out of that blitz package, sometimes dropping linebackers into coverage in the middle or on the edges. But once San Diego’s offensive linemen started falling, they didn’t need to take as many risks and were pressuring the quarterback with their base defense.

The Chargers are hoping to have two of their five starters active. Orlando Franklin has been ruled out, King Dunlap and Chris Watt are doubtful, and D.J. Fluker is questionable to play, per Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Fluker was limited Friday, and tackle Joe Barksdale was the only starter to practice.

Gehlken anticipates the Chargers’ line to be, left to right, Chris Hairston, Kenny Wiggins, Trevor Robinson, Fluker and Barksdale.

If Rivers’ makeshift offensive line is able to push around the Browns this week and keep its quarterback upright, there’s a serious problem.

Key Players and Matchups

The two most important players in this matchup are Allen and Browns defensive back Joe Haden, the guy lining up across from him. Both are playing on completely different levels right now, too. Allen is third in the league with 29 catches and sixth with 315 yards. Haden has been banged up and has looked like one of the worst corners in the league as a result.

His 71.4-completion percentage when targeted, 220 yards allowed and minus-7.0 overall Pro Football Focus grade have him ranked third-worst in the league through three weeks, according to their metrics.

Pierre Desir is a Browns defender who played well last week in relief duty. Starting slot corner K’Waun Williams is out again this week, meaning Desir will fill in where he’s needed, either on the outside or the slot.

Given his 6’1” size, he’ll probably kick outside to cover 6’5” Malcom Floyd. That could be a big matchup if Haden rebounds and Tramon Williams is able to cool off Steve Johnson. Williams has been playing arguably the best football of a Browns defender through three weeks as his positive PFF coverage grade supports.

Sophomore linebacker Christian Kirksey has made some big plays but hasn’t shown enough consistency for the Browns to feel comfortable playing without Craig Robertson this week. He has out-snapped the veteran 92-to-77, but the two were in a pretty firm rotation before Robertson’s injury. Kirksey will likely have the job of tracking running backs leaking out of the backfield.

Danny Woodhead has mastered the “disappear in the chaos” method of finding open space in a defense. It doesn’t hurt that he’s just 5’8” and pretty shifty.

Mitchell Schwartz has been a mainstay for the Browns at right tackle for the last three seasons, but he has had his ups and downs despite the team’s trust in him. This week he’ll draw outside linebacker Jerry Attaochu for a good portion of the game.  Of his 15 pass play snaps from last week, Attaochu dropped in coverage just twice. Expect Schwartz to bounce back after allowing one sack and two hurries last week.

Prediction

Even with a depleted offensive line, Rivers and the Chargers offense have had a full week of practice to prepare backups and game-plan around their new weak spots. Rivers will get the ball out quickly, and they’ll lean heavily on Melvin Gordon and Woodhead for success on the ground as every team has done so far against Cleveland.

But the Chargers defense isn’t going to stop McCown and the Browns this week. After missing Week 2, McCown showed noticeable rust and wasn’t quite in sync with his receivers in during the first half of last week’s up-and-down showing.

Other than Rivers, this matchup belongs to the Browns. They should have superior play along both lines of scrimmage, and being able to run the football will take pressure off McCown to allow him to make plays when he needs to. Having the 36-year-old slinging the ball for four quarters will not win the Browns many games in 2015.

If he throws 49 times again as he did in Week 3, the odds of a Browns win—and this prediction coming true—will significantly drop. But that won't and shouldn’t be the game plan.

Prediction: Browns 26, Chargers 23

Unless otherwise noted, advanced statistics courtesy of Pro Football Focus.

Mike Hoag (@MikeHoagJr) covers the Cleveland Browns for Bleacher Report and is the managing editor of Browns Beat.