Cleveland Browns Need to Get Their Pass Rush in Order

Defense was supposed to be a strength for the Cleveland Browns this year, but instead, it's been the team's most glaring weakness. Not only is Cleveland's long-vaunted secondary slipping while its run defense remains as bad as ever, but there is barely any pass rush to speak of, whether from the front seven or the use of creative blitzes.

The Browns have a collective 16 sacks through 10 games and are on pace to have far fewer than the 31 they had in 2014, when they finished 27th in sacks in the league. Presently, Cleveland ranks 28th in getting to opposing quarterbacks, and barring any wildly successful bye-week adjustments, it doesn't seem like it's going to improve any time soon. 

Not only do the Browns have only 16 sacks, they also have just 24 quarterback hits and 88 hurries according to Pro Football Focus. Of those 88, 24 belong to linebacker Paul Kruger (who also has 1.5 sacks after tallying 11 last year) and 10 belong to defensive end Randy Starks. Those are the only double-digit quarterback pressure figures any Browns players have earned this year.

Player	Sacks
A. Bryant	3.5
D. Bryant	3.0
Kirksey	2.0
Kruger	1.5
Hughes	1.5
K. Williams	1.0
Starks	1.0
Meder	1.0
Cooper	1.0
Whitner	0.5

With the secondary struggling in coverage and the pass rush nearly nonexistent, it's no wonder that the Browns are giving up the seventh-most passing yardage per game. The secondary is struggling in coverage, and it is getting practically no help from the front seven.

While it's a promising sign that Armonty Bryant has 3.5 sacks, given that he's been moved to a hybrid defensive end-linebacker role in the style of Terrell Suggs, it's still not enough.

Rookie Nate Orchard, drafted for his pass-rushing prowess, has zero sacks so far this season, even though he's playing ahead of Barkevious Mingo. And only two members of Cleveland's secondary have earned sack credits this year—one for cornerback K'Waun Williams and 0.5 for safety Donte Whitner.

It's yet another sign that Jim O'Neil's defense isn't quite working how the Browns intended—and another sign that O'Neil is a candidate for firing once the season wraps. For O'Neil and head coach Mike Pettine to be brought aboard for their aggressive approach to scheming defenses and only achieve these results does not bode well for either man's career in Cleveland.

So what's the problem? Outside linebackers coach Brian Fleury said last week that the behavior of offenses is one culprit: 

"

Sometimes sack numbers are up and down and there are a lot of factors. Then, the offenses deserve a lot of credit that we've been going against. The quarterbacks are getting the ball out. You'll see an increase number of run-pass option plays where the statistics show that they're passing the football but the front is showing more of a run-blocking scheme. That creates issues for edge-rushers. They're not able to just pin their ears back and go forward and get after the quarterback.

"

But while that explains some of what has been ailing the Browns pass rush this season, it doesn't provide clear insight as to why the Browns have so few sacks at this point in the year while the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals each have 28 while facing a very similar schedule. 

It's not that the Browns don't have players capable of getting to the quarterback. Kruger did a good job of it last year. Orchard had 18.5 sacks in his senior season at Utah. But the scheme is not allowing the players to make plays against quarterbacks.

It's clear that three- and four-man rushes aren't getting home, and it's also clear, based on who has created pressure this season, that blitzes—at least from cornerbacks and safeties—aren't part of Cleveland's repertoire. 

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Fleury's comments are telling in that it's not surprising that opposing offenses are incorporating more run-pass option plays when facing Cleveland's defense.

Though the Browns are struggling to defend the pass, they also remain the league's worst run defense, and offenses are running against the Browns more often than any other team but the Miami Dolphins. So it's not surprising that the Browns would anticipate a glut of running plays, put their run defense personnel on the field and leave themselves open to opposing offenses switching to pass plays.

But that also belies a lack of players who can both rush the passer and stop the run—or at least the Browns' belief that they don't have the kind of every-down defenders who can do such a thing.

If this is the case, then the Browns don't just have a scheme problem, they have a scouting problem. And that doesn't mean a problem scouting would-be Browns to take in the draft, but also scouting the talents of their own players already under contract and what they can and cannot do.

Thus, Cleveland's problems rushing the passer are multifaceted, so much so that a notable turnaround over the next six games doesn't seem likely. Scheme and personnel are not lining up in such a way that pressuring quarterbacks is consistently possible. The Browns will have to go back to the drawing board in 2016 if they want to field the aggressive defense they've been envisioning.