Cleveland Browns: Defense overworked, exhausted

The Cleveland Browns defense warranted criticism for their performance against the Los Angeles Chargers, but maybe they were just exhausted from being run into the ground for five weeks.

The defense for the Cleveland Browns lacked energy, looked confused and, by the end of their Week 6 game versus the Los Angeles Chargers, had people questioning if they quit. More than likely, they were just exhausted from the first five weeks of the season including three overtime periods that all went the whole way.

Add in the fact that defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has worked the defensive line to death and it shouldn’t be a surprise to see a game like Sunday and it doesn’t bode well for the rest of the season.

The Browns are now six games into the season. Denzel Ward has played the most snaps of anyone on the defense at 449. That’s 99.3 percent of the possible snaps. And since corners and linebackers really don’t come off the field, that’s not a huge surprise. It’s still a ton of snaps. Not for a rookie, but for anyone.

Three overtime games will do that. The Browns have played an extra almost 30 minutes of football and it adds up quickly.

The problem doesn’t just get worse on the defensive line, it’s downright reckless. Myles Garrett has played 420 snaps. Larry Ogunjobi has played 400 snaps. Let’s put this in perspective and look at some of the other notable defensive linemen in the league that have played six games so far this season:

Edge players

Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns – 420 (92.9 percent)
Chandler Jones, Arizona Cardinals – 404 (87.8 percent)
T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh Steelers – 376 (87.6 percent)
J.J. Watt, Houston Texans – 370 (90.2 percent)
Danielle Hunter, Minnesota Vikings – 341 (89.2 percent)
Carlos Dunlap, Cincinnati Bengals – 326 (73.9 percent)
Melvin Ingram, Los Angeles Chargers – 324 (84.8 percent)
Jadeveon Clowney, Houston Texans – 312 (75.9 percent)
Von Miller, Denver Broncos – 300 (73.5 percent)
Cameron Jordan, New Orleans Saints – 290 (90.9 percent) *5 games but notable percentage
DeMarcus Lawrence, Dallas Cowboys – 288 (72.5 percent)
Yannick Ngakoue, Jacksonville Jaguars – 273 (69.4 percent)

Interior Players

Larry Ogunjobi, Cleveland Browns- 400 (88.5 percent)
Cameron Heyward, Pittsburgh Steelers (78.3 percent)
Leonard Williams, New York Jets – 331 (76.9 percent)
Aaron Donald, Los Angeles Rams – 329 (89.6 percent)
Stephon Tuitt, Pittsburgh Steelers – 329 (76.9 percent)
Fletcher Cox, Philadelphia Eagles – 321 (83.3 percent)
Ndamukong Suh, Los Angeles Rams – 315 (85.8 percent)
Geno Atkins, Cincinnati Bengals – 312 (70.7 percent)
Jurrell Casey, Tennessee Titans – 310 (76.7 percent)
Calais Campbell, Jacksonville Jaguars – 290 (73.7 percent)
Linval Joseph, Minnesota Vikings – 289 (75.6 percent)
Sheldon Richardson, Minnesota Vikings – 278 (72.7 percent)
Malik Jackson, Jacksonville Jaguars – 277 (70.4 percent)

Garrett and Ogunjobi top the list in terms of total snaps. There are three overtime games to thank for that. The problem is that Garrett plays the highest percentage of snaps in the league at his position and Ogunjobi is second in the league at his, so even if the Browns finished all their games in regulation, they’d still be close to the top of these lists due to their pace.

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Six games into the season, those two have played what amounts to be an extra two games compared to some of their compatriots. A 16-game season is an incredible grind already, so imagine playing extra games without actually playing extra games. That’s going to take a toll and it may well have explained what happened against the Chargers.

The physical toll added to the emotion the Browns appeared to invest in the previous week against the Baltimore Ravens at home proved too much to overcome. They tried to bring it against the Chargers and it just wasn’t there and when things started going downhill in the third quarter, it snowballed and they were dragging, physically and emotionally drained.

Garrett and Ogunjobi are studs, but the way Gregg Williams is riding them into the ground is nothing short of negligent. They have other defensive linemen and they choose not to use them. So while the player deserve their rightful share of criticism, in some ways this felt like a scheduled loss due to the decisions made by coaches. They ran out of gas.

Carl Davis, Anthony Zettel and Chad Thomas have been here for all six games of the regular season. Combined, they’ve played just 69 snaps this year on defense; just 11.5 per game between them. Brian Price was recently added and has played 28 snaps in the past two games, so maybe they’ll utilize him more, but the first six weeks have been completely mismanaged.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Browns bounce back in a big way on defense against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after their lightest day of work of the season, only facing 58 offensive snaps and more guys getting rest due to the game being out of hand. But if Williams doesn’t change how he runs this defense, this type of game will happen again at some point and it’s anyone’s guess when. More than half the season remains.

The greater fear is that these guys will play themselves into exhaustion and while gassed and still on the field, they end up being in a position to be injured. A ton of injuries occur simply because a guy is tired, isn’t going full speed and protecting himself and ends up getting rolled up on or whatever, sustaining a major injury. Short term or long term, it’s just smart to be careful with their reps.

Imagine the Browns miraculously find themselves in the playoffs this year. And the defense has another letdown where they physically break down during the game and lose all because they have played so much more football than their opponent. Forget the rookie wall. There’s a much less forgiving Gregg wall saying “come get some”.

It’s great the Cleveland Browns have players that can put in this kind of effort and play at a high level, but circumstances have put them in a situation where adjustments must be made. They must significantly reduce the amount of reps these guys are playing over the next several games to save them for the end of the season. If they don’t, they could have more games like this and ultimately lose the battle of attrition before the team completely falls apart. That won’t be on the players. It will be on the coaches. Take care of these guys so they can take care of you.