Through five games, the Browns have been playing excellent defense to lead the team to a 3-2 start.
After hiring Jim Schwartz as defensive coordinator during the offseason, Cleveland has allowed just 1,002 total yards. CBS Sports noted on Sunday that is the fewest yards allowed through five games from any team in the last 50 yards. Baltimore was the only team to nearly reach 300 yards against Cleveland this year, racking up 296 yards and 28 points in Week 4.
But even after the Browns held the vaunted 49ers to 215 yards and 17 points over the weekend, head coach Kevin Stefanski said on Monday that there’s more meat on the proverbial bone.
“Yeah, obviously, you look at some of this, you look at some of the stats,” Stefanski said, via transcript from the team. “We’re playing good defense. We’re playing sound defense, but there’s room for improvement. And I think those are some of the things that we talked about this morning.
“There are definitely things that we can continue to do better. I know coach Schwartz and the defensive staff are not concerned at all about statistics. We’re not. That’s just not how we operate. We’re concerned with playing good football, playing sound defense, and we’re not chasing any type of stats.”
Chasing stats or not, the Browns’ defense should keep the team in most games this season. If the offense can find some more fluidity and success despite not having star running back Nick Chubb, Cleveland may end up back in the postseason for the second time in four seasons under Stefanski.