Browns’ defensive snap counts, stats, and notes: Week 7 – Myles Garrett’s insane PFF grade

Cleveland’s defense was feast or famine against the Colts.

Below, we analyze the snap counts and stats on defense for the Cleveland Browns’ Week 7 game against the Indianapolis Colts.

• DL: What can you say about Myles Garrett? He had two sacks, both of which led to forced fumbles. The first one came with Cleveland losing 14-7, right after Deshaun Watson’s interception. That allowed the offense to take over 36 yards away from the end zone, and they used the ground game to tie things up. Seven points. On the Colts’ next drive, Garrett blocked a 60-yard field goal attempt, which Cleveland converted into a field goal. Ten points. Then, with the Browns trailing 21-17 with under two minutes to go, Garrett forced a fumble in the end zone that was recovered by Tony Fields for a touchdown. Seventeen points.

On the negative side, two of Gardner Minshew’s big pass plays came on plays that Garrett jumped offsides, and then stopped. Hopefully, that is one lessen that he takes away from this game: we don’t mind him taking some chances and getting penalized. But, it’s rare that defensive players are able to get back onsides, so next time, if he jumps, just keep going after the quarterback so that the officials are forced to blow the play dead. Garrett’s dominant day led to him having PFF’s highest grade by a Browns defender with a 94.2. Dalvin Tomlinson was the next highest with a 78.7.

• LB: With Sione Takitaki out, the rep counts were interesting: Anthony Walker played the entire game, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah didn’t see as much action, and Tony Fields was given the role of the team’s third linebacker. Walker and Fields each recovered one of the fumbles that Garrett forced.
• CB: This was certainly a mixed back for the secondary, as there were miscommunications that led to big plays, and some bad tackling. Greg Newsome and M.J. Emerson both missed tackles on Michael Pittman’s 75-yard touchdown catch. Denzel Ward had an interception — his first of the season — but was involved in some of the miscommunications. Ward was still the highest-graded member of the Browns’ secondary by PFF, grading out to a 66.1.
• S: It sucks when Gardnew Minshew scores touchdowns twice, and Grant Delpit and Juan Thornhill were fooled by him in one-on-one scenarios both times. To be fair, it’s not easy to make the right play as a defender in those cases; it just sucks to have gone 0-for-2 in taking him down.