Thanks to Stephen Gillenwater for this week’s pregame details!
Hi Browns fans welcome to week 5 of the NFL season. Sunday the Browns return home to First Energy Stadium to take on the 2-2 Los Angeles Chargers. Game time is 12:00 CDT and as usual the Chicago Browns Backers will be gathering at Burke’s Public House 5401 N. Broadway to watch all the game action. Burke’s has plenty of free on street parking and a full food and drink menu. The Browns will be playing to maintain their first place lead in the AFC North. Currently the Browns, Bengals and Ravens are tied 2-2 however the Browns lead the division by virtue of their 1-0 division record. Sunday’s game against LA will mark the Browns entering the really tough part of their schedule. According to Pro Football Focus (PFF) the Browns now have the 2nd toughest schedule over the remainder of the season. The Chargers are in second place in the AFC West trailing the 3-1 Chiefs. LA’s 2 wins came against the Las Vegas Raiders (24-19) and Houston Texans (34-24) while they have losses to the KC Chiefs (27-24) and Jacksonville Jaguars (30-10). So come on out to Burke’s Public House and cheer on our Cleveland Browns to victory.
Sunday’s game against the Chargers will feature the best passing offense the Browns have faced so far this season. Lead by QB Justin Herbert the Chargers have the NFL’s top passing offense averaging 307.3 yards per game while scoring 23 points per game. Herbert currently has the 5th highest quarterback rating in the NFL at 102.2 and he’s completing 66.9% of his passes for an NFL leading 1,229 yards. He averages 7.5 yards per pass attempt with 9 TD’s, only 2 interceptions and 4 sacks. If the Browns blow a pass coverage Herbert will find it, the average depth of his passing targets is an excellent 7.2 yards and he’s completed 11 of his 19 passes (58%) of over 20 yards. He’s also completing 55.5% of his passes between 10 and 20 yards and 80% of his passes of less than 10 yards. Herbert is especially deadly when throwing to the left side of the field and between the hash marks. Throwing to his left side of the field he has a completion rate 82.7% for 283 yards and he’s completed 4 of 5 of his passes over 20 yards. Throwing between the hash marks, he’s completed 74.3% of his passes for 671 yards and hit 5 of his 8 passes of over 20 yards. Herbert has elite arm strength and he is especially effective when scrambling outside the pocket where he is capable of throwing the ball 55-60 yards downfield on the run. If the Browns defensive backs get caught looking in the backfield as he scrambles and lose track of Charger receivers Herbert has the ability to throw it accurately over their heads for long completions. Herbert’s 2 favorite wide receivers are Mike Williams who’s caught 18 of the 29 passes thrown his way for 258 yards and 2 TD’s and Josh Palmer who’s caught 14 of 20 targets for 159 yards and 1 TD. Herbert has a passer rating of 113.9 when throwing to Williams and 110.2 when throwing to Palmer. In contrast to the Browns who are second in the league in rushing attempts and yards rushing per game, the Chargers don’t run the ball very often (23.5 rushes per game) and when they do they are last in the NFL, averaging only 2.7 yards per rush. Herbert’s favorite passing target is running back Austin Exeler who has more yards receiving (188) than rushing (140). He’s caught 27 of 29 passes thrown to him with only 1 drop. If the Browns are going to beat the Chargers they are going to need their offense to keep Herbert and the Charger offense off the field and the LA defense offers them this opportunity. The Charger are 30th in the NFL in scoring defense giving up 27 points per game. They are also 31st in rushing defense with opponents averaging 5.4 yards per rush. The Chargers are a bit better at defending the pass, ranking 17th in the league giving up 239.8 yards per game. Opposing QB’s have a 95.1 rating which is 22nd in the league however they also sack the opposing QB on 7% of pass attempts. With All Pro defensive lineman Joey Bosa out LA’s defense is led by All Pro edge rusher Khalil Mack who has an excellent PFF grade of 88.9 with 5 sacks, 8 stops for no gain and 15 QB pressures.
A Tale of 2 Defenses – We’ve all seen the Browns fourth quarter defensive problems but I don’t know how many of us realize how stark the fourth quarter difference is. The Browns have given up 95 total points in their 4 games with 50 of those points coming in the fourth quarter. Yes you read that right, the Browns have given up more points in the fourth quarter (50) than in quarters 1-3 combined (45). The Browns are currently last in the NFL in 4th quarter scoring defense giving up 12.5 points per game. Despite leading the league in time of possession at 35.5 minutes per game and holding the ball for 59.4% of the game time their defense has failed to close out 2 very winnable games. If the Browns are going to improve on this, the play of their linebackers has to get better, especially the play of middle linebacker Jacob Phillips who replaced the injured Anthony Walker. I hate to pick on one player but the drop off from Walker’s performance in the middle to Phillips is eye popping. Before going on injured reserve after 31 plays in game 3 Walker had an excellent PFF grade of 82.7 with an “elite” grade of 90.0 in pass coverage. Overall Walker had the 5th highest grade of the 77 linebackers graded by Pro Football Focus (PFF). In contrast in the 148 defensive plays Phillips has been on the field he has a dismal 28.2 overall defensive grade a drop-off of almost 62 points. Phillips grades out as 76th of the 77 graded linebackers. He has a 41.8 grade in coverage and a 28.1 grade in rushing defense. With LA Charger QB Justin Herbert coming into First Energy Stadium with his favorite target being RB Austin Exeler and Herbert’s 74.3% completion percentage over the middle, Phillips will have to get a whole lot better on Sunday. GO BROWN……. GO Guardians……GO Cavs