The night before each game on the Browns’ schedule, the defense has one final meeting.
It’s usually a chance to tie up loose ends, do some final scouting of the opponent they’ve spent the week preparing for.
But not this Saturday. The format was a bit different.
“That tape yesterday was probably the biggest meeting that we’ve had as a team, as a defense,” linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. said. “We had to get our swagger back.”
Before Cleveland’s 31-27 win over Jacksonville, there was no talking about the Jaguars — no going over last-minute QB preparations, or how the offense might look different without leading receiver Christian Kirk. There was no rah-rah speech needed from coordinator Jim Schwartz.
Actually, there was no talking at all.
Other than the talking the film did for them.
“We had an opportunity to watch all of our defensive plays from the season in our defensive meeting last night,” Za’Darius Smith said. “It set the tone for us, fired us up, and as you can see, it worked out. I told him (Schwartz) we need to do that every week from now on. … Everybody was just fired up in the room. I think that’s what did it for us today.”
It was a bold strategy by Schwartz, but one that clearly paid off.
Cleveland took the ball away four times Sunday (three interceptions and one forced fumble), tying a season high. They sacked Trevor Lawrence four times. Myles Garrett also blew up a two-point conversion attempt by tackling Lawrence on the throw attempt — a play that isn’t a sack on the stat sheet. They recorded 12 total quarterback hits, eight tackles for loss and 10 passes defensed.
After two sub-par weeks from the unit that’s still ranked as the best defense in the league, it was an output on Sunday that looked more like them, as opposed to the previous losses to the Broncos and the Rams. In those games combined, Cleveland had only one sack (and zero from the D-line that’s supposed to be the engine of everything) and one takeaway.
It was a pair of performances that required Schwartz, known for his hard-nosed reputation, to think outside of the box as he finished his prep.
The goal with that final film session wasn’t just to fire up the unit. It was to remind the defense that wants to tote boomboxes and proclaim itself the best in the world of what it’s capable of, and what it’s already accomplished.
“He just showed us, us,” defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo said. “From the first couple of weeks of the season. That’s it. And when he showed us that, it was like anybody can say, ’The ball’s getting off fast,’ and you can make all your excuses why we’re not making plays.
“But the same stuff was happening then. And we were making the plays, so it was like, ‘What’s the excuse?’ So when we saw that, we took it personal. Like yeah, maybe we are leaving some meat on the bone. So we went out there and we tried to turn it up a little bit.
“We definitely felt like everybody’s looking at us (the D-line). And you hate to be that person. Everybody wants to do their part and we felt like we weren’t doing our part. So today we tried to go out there and make sure everybody felt us lead the way.”
As far as the details of the meeting: The Browns didn’t watch every defensive snap, only the highlights — Walker joked that Schwartz has spent enough time in recent months harping on and correcting mistakes in normal film sessions.
What struck players the most during this particular Saturday session though was how many different guys showed up on the unconventional teaching tape.
“You’re feeling the energy in the room,” Walker said. “And Schwartz said it yesterday. That tape, we only watched it for 30 minutes. He said that tape went another hour. And the best part about it was, it was so many different guys making plays, and that’s our identity.
“There’s a lot of guys on this defense that can make plays and execute, and no matter who’s out there when the plays need to be made, we have somebody out there that’s going to make the play.”
They got back to that part of their identity Sunday, too.
Four different players recorded those sacks: Grant Delpit, Maurice Hurst, Smith and Okoronkwo.
Garrett, who is sixth in the league with 13.0 sacks for the season, didn’t have an official one, but the rest of the line managed to be disruptive. Seven players registered at least one quarterback hit.
Martin Emerson Jr. snagged two interceptions, while Greg Newsome II got the third — much-needed plays as top outside corner Denzel Ward was missing his third straight game with a shoulder injury.
“That’s what is needed and required to go the distance,” Okoronkwo said. “This is a marathon. You can’t rely on one guy. We can’t put it all on Myles to make every play that we need to make. He’s a human — barely, but he’s a human. So as long as everybody just keeps on, when their name is called, making those plays, I think the sky’s the limit for this defense.”
They got a reminder of that very fact with their Saturday film session.
