Browns’ defensive woes start with run game

Associated Press

BEREA

Browns veteran linebacker Karlos Dansby doesn’t need anyone to point out the surprising statistics about Cleveland’s defense.

He knows there are holes — too many of them.

The Browns have the worst rushing defense in the league, dead last among 32 teams.

“This is the truth and the truth hurts,” Dansby said. “No excuses.”

Cleveland’s defense is allowing 155.5 rushing yards per game and is on pace to have its worst run defense since 2000, when it gave up 156.6 per game. Back then, the Browns had a built-in excuse: they were in just the second year of their expansion era. But this year’s defense, expected to be the team’s backbone, is letting runners of all shapes and sizes run wild.

Shoddy tackling. Poor technique. Ineffective game plans. A new scheme. Young players. Injuries.

The Browns have been rattling off reasons for their inability to stop the run since the opener, when Pittsburgh’s Le’Veon Bell rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown.

Bell is one of the NFL’s best running backs. However, last week, Jacksonville was winless and had the league’s worst rushing attack before rolling up 185 rushing yards on the Browns and getting their first win. Adding insult to injury, Jaguars running back Denard Robinson, a former Michigan quarterback filling in for injured starter Toby Gerhart, did most of the damage, gashing the Browns for 127 yards.

Browns coach Mike Pettine has spent each week doing his best to defend his team’s porous defense.

“It’s frustrating,” said Pettine, a former defensive coordinator. “It’s something we look at, but we don’t want to panic about it. When it’s a lot of little things, sometimes it takes some time to get that corrected.”

Even six games into the season, the defense is still struggling to learn nuances of Pettine’s 3-4 system, which he brought over from Buffalo and is having Jim O’Neil run for him. Cleveland’s defensive coordinator meets with the media once a week, and every week so far he’s had to address the alarming rushing stats.

“I wish it was one thing and we could just get that one thing corrected,” O’Neil said.