MVN - Most Valuable Network

Browns Defense Shows Some Bite, Beat Jets

With only three games remaining the Browns put themselves in great position for the second wild card spot with a win against the New York Jets.

After last week’s meltdown this was a pleasant game to watch as a Browns fan.  The Browns put together a good game plan and executed pretty well on both sides of the ball for most of the game.

The offense continued their slow starts to games but they didn’t shoot themselves in the foot with countless penalties and turnovers as they have in previous road games.

Jamal Lewis’ tremendous play paced the Browns well and ultimately won the game.  I had flashbacks, from games he had against the Browns a couple years ago while with the Ravens, after that long run near the end of the fourth quarter that gave the Browns a comfortable 24-15 lead.

Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow continued to add to their pro bowl seasons in this game.  Edwards had 3 catches for 63 yards and 1 touchdown and Winslow had 4 catches for 34 yards.

The Browns defense played pretty well for the third straight game allowing only 18 points but they did permit 387 total yards a lot of those yards coming at the end of the game.  Yes I said third straight game, even after last week’s loss because I put that one on the offense; they made too many mistakes that put the defense in bad situations.

One concern has to be the prevent defense that the Browns play, or don’t play, at the end of halves and games.  This is an area that has been consistently bad all season and needs to be addressed. I am not a coach so I won’t even begin to tell you what they need to do, because I don’t know.

Derek Anderson bounced back this week with a better performance passing for 185 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. Anderson, like the rest of the Browns, shows an uncanny resiliency after tough losses and produces some of his better performances.

Again, this win puts the Browns in great position for the second wild card spot after Tennessee choked away their game against the Chargers.

I think the defense is coming along just in time for the playoff push as they have made great strides in the past month.  They are finally getting consistent pressure on the quarterback and getting sacks with greater frequency.  The Jets played like the 3-9 Jets for most of the game and that’s what impressed me the most.  We have seen the leagues worst teams (Miami and St. Louis) come in and play like they are the Patriots, but now we are seeing a lot more consistency in the secondary and it’s starting to show throughout the defense.

The Browns offense has shown it can bite since game two of the season while the defense has done little more than bark, but with Sunday’s win against the Jets this defense showed that they may also have some bite in them.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 9th, 2007 at 9:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.