Clevelands defense

[MarshawnIsDaMan]

Overall dead last #32. They give up 389 yards per game
Run - 28th overall. 1697 yards giving up at 4.6 ypc.
Pass - 30th overall. 3369 yards giving up at 259. 2 yards per game
Points - dead last at 27 points a game giving up.
We should be able to score against them. With our Two Headed monster at RB, we should be able to run consistently against them.
Trent should have another decent day against them.
This game could be a shootout.
I like our chances.

[mchurchfie]

Re: Clevelands defense

I'm sure they are thinking the same thing about our defense.

[billsburgh]

Re: Clevelands defense

I'm sure they are thinking the same thing about our defense.

Winslow and Jamal Lewis worry me. covering the TE has long been a weakness for our D and Winslow is one of the better receiving TE in the league. Lewis may not be the back he used to be but he is still a decent runner.

[LABillsFan]

Re: Clevelands defense

It depends on how Fewell runs the D. Does he go man to man or zone. How does the injury to Wilson effect his game plan? To blitz or not to, I think it may be that bend don't break D because of Andersons success, he didn't really have to worry about it against the Dolphins.

I'm interested in keeping the Browns offense off the field. Long drives and TD's. I don't think the Bills can win a shoot out to be honest.

[The Answer]

Re: Clevelands defense

Overall dead last #32. They give up 389 yards per game
Run - 28th overall. 1697 yards giving up at 4.6 ypc.
Pass - 30th overall. 3369 yards giving up at 259. 2 yards per game
Points - dead last at 27 points a game giving up.
We should be able to score against them. With our Two Headed monster at RB, we should be able to run consistently against them.
Trent should have another decent day against them.
This game could be a shootout.
I like our chances.

Cleveland has been playing close games for the most part all season long with good and bad teams. In fact the only quality win they have all season is over Seattle at home, but you can argue that's not even that big of a deal.

And all of a sudden the least few weeks our once inept offense is suddenly averageing close to 400 yards a game - and defensively we are making big plays when we need to and stuffing the run for the most part.

We are going to win BIG in Cleveland and continue the ownage - The Bills are Back!

~The Answer

[justasportsfan]

Re: Clevelands defense

I'm sure they are thinking the same thing about our defense.

Problem is, they can't say our run D sucks and that they should run and keep our O off the field. We can however do it to them .

[Ed]

Re: Clevelands defense

Cleveland has been playing close games for the most part all season long with good and bad teams. In fact the only quality win they have all season is over Seattle at home, but you can argue that's not even that big of a deal.

And all of a sudden the least few weeks our once inept offense is suddenly averageing close to 400 yards a game - and defensively we are making big plays when we need to and stuffing the run for the most part.

We are going to win BIG in Cleveland and continue the ownage - The Bills are Back!

~The Answer

I was going to say the same thing about Clevelands schedule. They're pretty similar to us in that they really haven't beaten anyone good and a lot of their wins have been close. Should be a good matchup, and there's no reason why we can't win.

[MarshawnIsDaMan]

Re: Clevelands defense

Problem is, they can't say our run D sucks and that they should run and keep or O off the field. We can however do it to them .

I agree.
Samkon Gado 12 carries 52 yards
Clinton Portis 25 carries 50 yards
Maurice Jones Drew 10 carries 10 yards
Fred Taylor 14 carries for 104 yards. Had that one big run, did pretty well for the most part
NE game doesnt count, they threw insanely on us
Jesse Chatman 27 carries 124 yards. Great game
Rudi Johnson 9 carries 11 yards
We have done pretty well in the last few weeks against the run

[Rushmore]

Re: Clevelands defense

Browns fan here - hoping to get a fairly civil discussion of this week's game. Obviously it's huge for both teams. A couple of things of note though about a few of your assumptions:

The Browns are going to run whether you stuff it or not. They're used to gaining very little with Jamal until the D is tired / playing the pass. Jamal has had a bunch of average to poor games for us thrown in with one multi-TD performance and yesterday's game saver. He's good to OK but he's not what the Browns O is built around.

It IS built around exactly what you're saying the Bills D don't like - Edwards is a big, fast, physical wideout who will challenge for under / high throws and can get vertical with anyone. He's been playing lights out this year and is certainly one of the top five wideout threats in the AFC.

Winslow is the leading pass catching TE in the NFL and is catching for a higher average than any other TE as well. He's got sick hands and is a good route runner. He's managed to largely tame his hot head nature. Heiden is our 2nd TE and is a better blocker / worse receiver but he's still solid as a weapon.

Anderson at QB is the cypher - he could come out and throw three picks in the first half if he's off. He could put up three TDs with laser perfect strikes as well. I have no idea which Anderson is going to show up Sunday. But I do know this is a kid who is 5-1 in Cleveland this year with the only loss being a blow out in week 1 to Pittsburgh that he didn't start. Our OL is ridiculously improved over last year and very few teams have been able to consistently pressure Anderson. Blitzing the Browns seems to be a recipe for giving up a big play these days.

Also, our D sucks. Badly. The stats show that clearly. But I'd tell you that since our bye week they have gotten better; lots better and a casual observer of the team doesn't know it. A couple of rookie DBs are playing really, really well for us in Brandon McDonald and Eric Wright. The safeties are vastly improved from the start of the year and can deliver big time hits in both the run and pass game. In the last few games many of the points we've given up have been via Derek Anderson or special team turnovers, not the D. You may be surprised at how aggressive / efficient the Browns D is becoming. Still not good, perhaps not even average - but much better than last in the league.

The big problem with the D is exactly what you can exploit - the DL and the ILBs. We've not been able to prevent solid running attacks from anyone. If Lynch is fully recovered, expect him to have a big big day.

This should be a good game between two improving teams with bright futures. Edwards looks like the kind of guy who just wins more than he loses. So does Anderson for us. We're probably three or four players from being a very solid and perennial playoff contender.

Bottom line is we've not blown anyone out this year and have played very few solid games. We'll probably make mistakes with either dumb penalties or errant throws. But there's not a game we've played - short of New England and the week 1 aberration - that wasn't a tight contest. Whoever wins, I expect it to be close at the end. Keep the digitalis near the TV.

[MarshawnIsDaMan]

Re: Clevelands defense

Browns fan here - hoping to get a fairly civil discussion of this week's game. Obviously it's huge for both teams. A couple of things of note though about a few of your assumptions:

The Browns are going to run whether you stuff it or not. They're used to gaining very little with Jamal until the D is tired / playing the pass. Jamal has had a bunch of average to poor games for us thrown in with one multi-TD performance and yesterday's game saver. He's good to OK but he's not what the Browns O is built around.

It IS built around exactly what you're saying the Bills D don't like - Edwards is a big, fast, physical wideout who will challenge for under / high throws and can get vertical with anyone. He's been playing lights out this year and is certainly one of the top five wideout threats in the AFC.

Winslow is the leading pass catching TE in the NFL and is catching for a higher average than any other TE as well. He's got sick hands and is a good route runner. He's managed to largely tame his hot head nature. Heiden is our 2nd TE and is a better blocker / worse receiver but he's still solid as a weapon.

Anderson at QB is the cypher - he could come out and throw three picks in the first half if he's off. He could put up three TDs with laser perfect strikes as well. I have no idea which Anderson is going to show up Sunday. But I do know this is a kid who is 5-1 in Cleveland this year with the only loss being a blow out in week 1 to Pittsburgh that he didn't start. Our OL is ridiculously improved over last year and very few teams have been able to consistently pressure Anderson. Blitzing the Browns seems to be a recipe for giving up a big play these days.

Also, our D sucks. Badly. The stats show that clearly. But I'd tell you that since our bye week they have gotten better; lots better and a casual observer of the team doesn't know it. A couple of rookie DBs are playing really, really well for us in Brandon McDonald and Eric Wright. The safeties are vastly improved from the start of the year and can deliver big time hits in both the run and pass game. In the last few games many of the points we've given up have been via Derek Anderson or special team turnovers, not the D. You may be surprised at how aggressive / efficient the Browns D is becoming. Still not good, perhaps not even average - but much better than last in the league.

The big problem with the D is exactly what you can exploit - the DL and the ILBs. We've not been able to prevent solid running attacks from anyone. If Lynch is fully recovered, expect him to have a big big day.

This should be a good game between two improving teams with bright futures. Edwards looks like the kind of guy who just wins more than he loses. So does Anderson for us. We're probably three or four players from being a very solid and perennial playoff contender.

Bottom line is we've not blown anyone out this year and have played very few solid games. We'll probably make mistakes with either dumb penalties or errant throws. But there's not a game we've played - short of New England and the week 1 aberration - that wasn't a tight contest. Whoever wins, I expect it to be close at the end. Keep the digitalis near the TV.

Kellen Winslow does scare me because we haven't had the greatest success against good tight ends. Jamal Lewis scares me in the 4th quarter because he is a bruising type running back and we have an undersized defense. We could be wore out by the 4th.
On a positive note for us. Your run defense could give you guys problems because we now have an emergence of another good running back ( Jackson ). We will probably try to use that all day against you guys. Edwards keeps improving and it seems like our OC ( Fairchild ) is opening the playbook up for him. I believe this will be a high scoring game. Both teams in the high 20's maybe low 30's. Both teams need this game bad and I expect to see some big plays on both sides of the ball.

[justasportsfan]

Re: Clevelands defense

Browns fan here - hoping to get a fairly civil discussion of this week's game. Obviously it's huge for both teams. A couple of things of note though about a few of your assumptions:

The Browns are going to run whether you stuff it or not. They're used to gaining very little with Jamal until the D is tired / playing the pass. Jamal has had a bunch of average to poor games for us thrown in with one multi-TD performance and yesterday's game saver. He's good to OK but he's not what the Browns O is built around.

It IS built around exactly what you're saying the Bills D don't like - Edwards is a big, fast, physical wideout who will challenge for under / high throws and can get vertical with anyone. He's been playing lights out this year and is certainly one of the top five wideout threats in the AFC.

Winslow is the leading pass catching TE in the NFL and is catching for a higher average than any other TE as well. He's got sick hands and is a good route runner. He's managed to largely tame his hot head nature. Heiden is our 2nd TE and is a better blocker / worse receiver but he's still solid as a weapon.

Anderson at QB is the cypher - he could come out and throw three picks in the first half if he's off. He could put up three TDs with laser perfect strikes as well. I have no idea which Anderson is going to show up Sunday. But I do know this is a kid who is 5-1 in Cleveland this year with the only loss being a blow out in week 1 to Pittsburgh that he didn't start. Our OL is ridiculously improved over last year and very few teams have been able to consistently pressure Anderson. Blitzing the Browns seems to be a recipe for giving up a big play these days.

Also, our D sucks. Badly. The stats show that clearly. But I'd tell you that since our bye week they have gotten better; lots better and a casual observer of the team doesn't know it. A couple of rookie DBs are playing really, really well for us in Brandon McDonald and Eric Wright. The safeties are vastly improved from the start of the year and can deliver big time hits in both the run and pass game. In the last few games many of the points we've given up have been via Derek Anderson or special team turnovers, not the D. You may be surprised at how aggressive / efficient the Browns D is becoming. Still not good, perhaps not even average - but much better than last in the league.

The big problem with the D is exactly what you can exploit - the DL and the ILBs. We've not been able to prevent solid running attacks from anyone. If Lynch is fully recovered, expect him to have a big big day.

This should be a good game between two improving teams with bright futures. Edwards looks like the kind of guy who just wins more than he loses. So does Anderson for us. We're probably three or four players from being a very solid and perennial playoff contender.

Bottom line is we've not blown anyone out this year and have played very few solid games. We'll probably make mistakes with either dumb penalties or errant throws. But there's not a game we've played - short of New England and the week 1 aberration - that wasn't a tight contest. Whoever wins, I expect it to be close at the end. Keep the digitalis near the TV.

Winslow could be our biggest problem. fewells D has had problems containing TE's. If we can run the ball against the browns like we did yesterday, we should be able to keep your O off the field.

[juice]

Re: Clevelands defense

Bills run success will be key to the Offensive production.

If the DEs can create pressure leading to TOs like against the Phins then the Bills DBs should be able to deal with the Browns WRs and TE not getting open in space for YAC.

[Tatonka]

Re: Clevelands defense

this is going to be a great game.. i think the winner could very well be playoff bound.

if i had to pick a second favorite team, it would be cleveland, probably because the teams and the cities are so similar.

if we are going to get knocked out of the playoff race by someone, i would much rather it be the browns than anyone else really.. that being said..

i hope we smash you guys!

[Rushmore]

Re: Clevelands defense

If the DEs can create pressure leading to TOs like against the Phins then the Bills DBs should be able to deal with the Browns WRs and TE not getting open in space for YAC.

Not gonna happen unless our OL suddenly forgets what they've done against good pass rushing teams all year. Joe Thomas at LT hasn't allowed a sack this year and the right side isn't that much weaker. The OL is the lights-out strength of this team in pass blocking. The TOs will come - if they come - from Anderson making really dumb unpressured decisions and inaccurate throws. It happens when he's 'off'. But the Bills won't force him into it.

[juice]

Re: Clevelands defense

Look for Fewell to throw a few Blitzes in the mix to see how Anderson responds, if he can handle the pressure and your line is that much improved then your run game should be your bread and butter against a So-So Bills run defense.