Let's hear it for the defense

All season long, the Browns have longed for the defense to show up. Game after game, that side of the football has tilted the club's chances of winning games in the wrong direction. The offense has come to the rescue way too many times. 

After Sunday's 22-17 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, though, it's time to give the defense its due. To understand the seemingly sudden turn, you need to look at what that defense has done during the three-game homestand that concluded against the Eagles.

(A quick break here to mention the Browns are now 7-3, 5-1 at home, and occupants of second place in the AFC North after the Baltimore Ravens fell to the Tennessee Titans in overtime Sunday. Okay, as you were.)

Granted. nasty weather has been a huge factor in each of those games, but the statistics in this case do not lie. While the offense snoozed in those three games (only 30 points), the defense has permitted the opposition to score only 40 points.

And Sunday, they, too, discovered how to put points on the board while on the field, racking up eight of those 22 points on a 50-yard pick six by linebacker Sione Takitaki early in the second quarter for the only points of the first half and a safety when Olivier Vernon recorded his third sack of the afternoon in the third quarter, this one of Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz in his end zone.

Statement plays were made by the defense throughout an afternoon marred by constant falling rain, teeming at times, It was as though they said we can play this game and make big plays, too. A fumble recovery and interception, each inside the Cleveland 10, are offered as proof.

And then there the pass rush, the one that was supposed to suffer because the incomparable Myles Garrett was felled by COVID-19 for at least this game. A season-high five sacks is not suffering. 

The Browns needed people to step up. Vernon did with his three sacks; so did second-year defensive end Cameron Malveaux, recalled from the practice squad to replace Garrett, arriving just in time to cause a goal-line fumble and Karl Joseph recovery in the opening quarter; Takitaki and his pick six; and a pass rush that delivered 10 quarterback hits and numerous hurries in addition to the sacks.

To push the argument a little further, the touchdown they gave up with 30 seconds left in regulation was a basically a gift. The game was already in hand when defensive coordinator Joe Woods backed off the terrific pressure, which contributed three takeaways.

The tackling was a lot crisper, perhaps the best it has been this season, particularly in the second half when the line blunted the Eagles' ground game (only 10 yards after gaining 96 in the first half). The coverage in the secondary for the most part was tight, causing at least three of Wentz's sacks.

The offense, meanwhile, staggered through three quarters. Heading into the final quarter, that side of the football had produced just three touchdowns and 22 total points in the last 11 quarters. It got worse early in the third quarter when Baker Mayfield was stripped of the ball deep in Cleveland territory, leading to the Eagles' first TD on the next play, Wentz hooking up with Richard Rodgers from 19 yards.

The Cleveland ground game, which flourished last week against Houston, Rip Van Winkled through the first half, picking up only 18 yards. That is not a Cleveland Browns ground game when running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, as well as the offensive line, are healthy.

The improvement came slowly with 33 more infantry yards in the third quarter. Then it awoke with sudden fury early in the final quarter after the Browns had broken a 7-7 tie in the third quarter with the first of two Cody Parkey field goals and the safety. 

Chubb, a breakaway run waiting to happen every time he touches the ball, took a simple handoff on first and 10 at the Cleveland 39 and headed left off tackle, cut back to the right after spotting a small opening and was off.

Fifty-four yards later, after stiff-arming two Eagles to the ground and breaking two more tackles en route toward the end zone, he was finally brought down at the Philadelphia seven-yard line. Chubb, who sat out some plays in the first half after losing a contact lens, watched from the bench as Hunt finished the job, hurdling over free safety Jalen Mills at the goal line and into the end zone from five yards two plays later.

After Parkey's second field goal on the next possession stretched the Cleveland lead to 22-10 with 3:51 left, Wentz threw the ball on 20 of the next 21 plays, Ward's pick short-circuited the first drive three yards from the Cleveland goal line before Wentz connected with Dallas Goedert from four yards out with 30 seconds remaining.

It took 10 games for Woods' crew to gain the attention of the fans from a positive standpoint. To do so without their best player makes it even more astounding. With one or two exceptions, this is not an abundantly talented group of players. But on this Sunday, they overachieved. They played well beyond their talents.

And now as they head out on the road for four of the next five games, they become the cliche of cliches in sports. They now hold their post-season fate in their own hands. There hasn't been talk like that with regard to this forlorn franchise so late in the season since 2007.

Half of the remaining six games are against  teams with a combined record of 4-26. All are on the road, including next Sunday's journey to Jacksonville. The other three teams are 23-7, including division leaders Tennessee and undefeated Pittsburgh, and the Ravens. 

The road to the postseason for the first time since 2002, now that the offense seems to be on the verge of really busting out, very well could lie in the performance of the defense. The Browns needs a variation of Sunday's performance to achieve that goal.