Browns Film Room: Defense suffers breakdowns, overmatched vs. Bengals

The Browns lost their seventh straight game in a row, falling to the Cincinnati Bengals by a score of 37-3. The game was never really close, with the Browns falling behind early and unable to stay with the AFC North leaders. The defense was horrendous, staying with the trend of most of the season. The Bengals put up 377 yards of total offense versus a battered Browns defense that had damaging defensive breakdowns. Along with being out of position, there were many instances in which Browns defenders were just overmatched by the more talented Bengals.

So in this week’s film room, we take a look at what happened with the Browns defense versus the Bengals offense.

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Breakdowns

The Browns defense suffered many breakdowns in coverage where players were in no position to make a play on the ball. Here are two examples of such breakdowns.

The Browns were doomed on this third down play by their pure confusion. The Bengals have a big pre-snap shift, motioning receivers out wide and spreading the defense. The movement completely confuses the defense. As you can see, the players are pointing at each other, trying to figure out where they are supposed to be. Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton sees this and deals with it perfectly. Dalton hurries up to the line to snap the ball after seeing the unbalanced defense. There is only one player on the left side of the line, leaving a huge hole for Dalton to stroll through for a touchdown.

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This is another play where individual players were confused and didn’t know what play they were in. On this one, the Browns are in Cover One, with safety Tashaun Gipson in deep coverage duty in center field. Corner Tramon Williams, however, thinks it is Cover Two and that Gipson is helping behind him on the left side of the field. Williams lets Bengals receiver A.J. Green get downfield, covering him underneath like he has help over the top. But he does not. This gives Green an easy touchdown and the Browns another breakdown. Williams was at fault for this because the Browns were clearly in Cover One. He also uses bad technique, letting Green go outside of him without much of a fight at the line of scrimmage.

Outmatched

Even when they knew what they were doing, the Browns were just overmatched on defense by the much more talented Bengals offense. Here are two instances.

This is just an outstanding play by quarterback Andy Dalton and receiver A.J. Green. Dalton throws a back shoulder pass where only Green can catch it. Corner Tramon Williams has pretty good coverage on Green, staying tight to the receiver’s side, but it doesn’t matter. Green makes an acrobatic catch on the sideline, going up high and landing both feet inbounds. It was just a better play by the more talented receiver and quarterback.

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The Bengals’ final touchdown of the game was another example of a Browns player being outclassed. On this play, Browns rookie cornerback Charles Gaines is matched up against Bengals wideout Marvin Jones, who runs a straight go route. Jones beats Gaines on the streak and Dalton delivers a perfect pass. Gaines was simply beaten by the more experienced duo of Jones and Dalton.

Highlight of the Game

Brian Hartline is the highlight of the Bengals game. Hartline has played well over the last couple weeks and continued that trend Sunday. Against the Bengals, he caught eight passes for 83 yards, leading the team in both receptions and receiving yards. Hartline was the safety net option for quarterback Austin Davis on Sunday and one of a few bright spots in a clunker of a game.

Lowlight of the Game

The lowlight was the Browns offensive line. The Browns were completely destroyed by the Bengals defensive pass rush. Austin Davis was battered all day, including getting sacked three times and getting hit eleven times. The Browns found no success in the run game either, mustering only 68 yards rushing in the loss. It was just not a good day for the Browns offensive line.