Browns’ defense needs to tackle

BEREA (AP) — If Chad Ochocinco really wants to fight a mixed martial arts champion, Browns defensive coordinator Rob Ryan hopes it happens before Cleveland’s game at Cincinnati on Sunday.

One week after Detroit’s Calvin Johnson caught seven passes for 161 yards against the Browns, one of the league’s worst defenses must contend with a rejuvenated Ochocinco. He caught two touchdowns against Cleveland during their first meeting this year and ranks in the top 15 in the league in catches and yards.

After spending the offseason working on his boxing, Ochocinco used his Twitter account earlier this month to challenge UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in a fight for charity.

“He might wake up missing,” Ryan said of Ochocinco. “You don’t call out the toughest guy in the world. Anderson Silva would probably put a knot on his head that a Boy Scout couldn’t untie.”

After last week’s loss to the Lions, Ryan has his own headaches.

The Browns lost on the game’s final play, 38-37, after leading 24-3. Ryan said he felt like crawling under a rock after the game.

“You get 37 points and you better win,” Ryan said. “We didn’t do that. I made sure the players know that. You don’t relocate your whole family and come up here to lose that game. The bottom line is we can’t do that. We didn’t play a lick [of defense] last week.”

It was the first time this season Cleveland scored more than 20 points in a game. The Browns (1-9) are struggling through one of their worst years since returning to the league in 1999, prompting former receiver Braylon Edwards to tell the New York media this week, “I have seen the pits. This is nothing like the pits and you guys know what I refer to. I have seen the baddest of the bad.”

Edwards was traded to the Jets from Cleveland earlier this season, and none of his former teammates wanted to be drawn into a war of words.

“Sorry to hear that,” linebacker David Bowens said. “Braylon’s not here no more. If that’s how he feels, then that’s how he feels. There are far worse places than here.”

Cleveland’s defense has given up more yards than any team. It ranks 26th against the pass, 29th against the run and is 28th in points allowed. Through 10 games, the defense has allowed 45 plays of 20 yards or more, including six in the loss last week to Detroit. It’s concerning again this week, because 11 of Ochocinco’s 50 catches have gone for at least 20 yards.

Ryan blames the bulk of the big plays on a lack of tackling.

“You have to be able to get a guy down,” Ryan said. “You don’t have to knock his mouth guard out, but you need to get him on the ground.”

The Browns claimed linebacker Matt Roth off waivers from Miami bulk up the defense. Roth said he is happy to be out of Miami after what he termed a falling out with the Dolphins.

He totaled 158 tackles and 121‚Ñ2 sacks in five seasons in Miami.