The Browns are giving opponents a problem they can’t solve on the fly, and Darren Waller said it out loud after Carolina ran into it Sunday.
Cleveland is 2-1 and sharing first place in the AFC North, but the early story is bigger than the record. Under first-time play-caller Mike Rutenberg, the Browns have turned the unfamiliar into a weapon. That was obvious in the 21-18 win over the Panthers, who came in with the second-highest-scoring offense in football and still got pushed around enough to lose three drives on downs and settle for just one touchdown in three red-zone trips.
Waller said the Panthers walked into the game expecting one thing and got something else.
“I naturally think, like, OK, they might want to try to play a little bit more zone than they want to… maybe like their two-high coverage that we would have wanted,” Waller said in the visitor’s locker room after Sunday’s 21-18 loss to Cleveland. “In situations where it’s like, OK, these may be certain play-action shots we’re trying to take… and they pressure with those two-high looks.
So they were playing the chess match, too, showing things that we didn’t see early on from them. They have a new defensive coordinator.
So they were able to catch us off-guard with things like that. Sometimes you’re trying to go to them, they got pressure, they rotated their coverage in a new way that we hadn’t seen on tape before.
So those are the kinds of things that happen early on in the season and you have to give hats off to them defensively.”
That’s been the theme for Cleveland since Week 1. The Browns have looked far less like a team easing into a new defensive setup and more like one using that uncertainty to stay a step ahead. They’ve now held Tampa Bay and Carolina under 20 points in back-to-back games, and the pressure numbers tell the same story.
According to Ben Linsey of SumerSports, Cleveland pressured Trevor Lawrence on 20% of his dropbacks in Week 1. That jumped to 43% against Baker Mayfield and the Bucs in Week 2. On Sunday, Bryce Young was pressured on 63% of his dropbacks, the highest rate by any defense in a game so far this season, per Linsey.
That kind of heat changes everything. It takes away timing, kills play-action shots and leaves a quarterback guessing before the ball is even snapped. Carolina felt all of it.
The matchup also showed that the Browns do not need to be predictable to be effective. With Tyson Campbell out, the Panthers may have expected a heavier zone approach.
Instead, Cleveland leaned into what it does best: pressure up front and man coverage behind it. Denzel Ward took on 25 matchups against Tetairoa McMillan and shut down the reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year.
There was real concern when Jim Schwartz resigned as the Browns’ defensive coordinator after Monken was named head coach. But early on, Rutenberg is making the change look like a strength, not a setback.
Opponents will eventually gather enough film to hunt for patterns. For now, Cleveland is using the unknown to its advantage, and that has been enough to keep offenses off balance.
In Other News...
Browns Just Sent A Clear Message About Their Crowded QB Room
The Browns are taking a clear line on their quarterback depth chart, and for now it does not include shopping either of their young passers. Even with Deshaun Watson still established as the starter, Cleveland is choosing to keep Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel in house, a sign the team still values having multiple options available behind its top quarterback.
In a league where injuries can turn a room upside down in a hurry, that approach makes sense from a roster-building standpoint. The Browns have watched other teams scramble for help at the position, but they are not treating that market as a reason to move either Sanders or Gabriel, preferring to keep both around as depth while the season takes shape. [Read more 🡒]
Denzel Ward Is Finally Being Used Like Browns Fans Always Wanted
Under new defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg, Denzel Ward is being deployed the way Browns fans have long wanted, with more freedom to shadow opponents top wideouts instead of staying locked into a more rigid assignment. It has given Clevelands best corner a chance to lean into the part of his game that has always stood out most, and it showed in the Browns 21-18 win, where he drew a major share of the coverage work against Tetairoa McMillan.
McMillan finished with just one catch for 12 yards, another reminder of how disruptive Ward can be when hes allowed to travel with a No. 1 target. He has often been underrated in past seasons, but his coverage ability and pass breakup production have consistently placed him among the leagues best corners, and this new approach only adds to the sense that Cleveland is finally maximizing a key piece of its defense. [Read more 🡒]
Todd Monken May Already Be Changing Something In Cleveland
The Browns got a win over Carolina in Week 3, but it came with plenty of the usual reminders that this offense still has work to do. The home crowd saw a low-output performance and a handful of penalties, while the individual evaluations from the game painted a mixed picture for both rookies and established starters. Even in a victory, the sense around the building is that the margin for error remains thin.
What has drawn attention is the early coaching imprint Todd Monken appears to be leaving on the group. The article points to a possible shift in how Cleveland is being shaped offensively, even as the team turns quickly to the next challenge in Week 4. For a Browns team trying to stabilize its identity, the bigger question may be whether the changes already showing up can hold up once the schedule tightens. [Read more 🡒]