Cleveland’s defense has been bad in 2022 and has cost the team games.
Entering Week Seven, the Browns are No. 30 in points allowed and No. 23 in yards allowed. That’s despite being No. 4 in total yards — with the league’s top rushing attack — and No. 7 in points.
Something has to change for the Browns to stay around .500 before quarterback Deshaun Watson makes his Cleveland debut in December. On Wednesday, veteran safety John Johnson called into question the effort of some of his teammates.
“It’s a commitment thing,” Johnson said, via Keith Britton of 92.3 The Fan. “When practice is over, you can’t just run out of the building and forget about your job. We need everyone in this building to be 100 percent in on the task at hand. Right now, I think we’re at a place where that’s not the case.”
Defensive and special teams lapses cost the Browns what should have been an easy victory over the Jets in Week Two. The defensive unit then allowed 465 yards to the Chargers in Week Five and Patriots third-string quarterback Bailey Zappe to throw for over 300 yards last week.
So how do things change?
“I honestly don’t know,” Johnson said. “You can say we’re a younger team, but that’s no excuse. We’ve got to find ways, however that may be. The leaders on this team [have] got to get together and figure it out, but we’ve got to change something”
The Browns play the Ravens and Bengals before their Week Nine bye. Unless Cleveland finds some fixes when playing those explosive offenses, the club could easily be 2-6 at the time of the week off.
