Instant Analysis Of The Browns Shutout Win Against The Arizona Cardinals
Brendan Gulick and Anthony Moeglin give their intital reaction to the Browns first shutout win since 2007.
Transcript
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00:07 Well, hi everybody and welcome to Cleveland Brown Stadium for
00:11 our instant analysis after Cleveland's shutout victory over the Arizona Cardinals
00:16 27 to nothing.
00:18 Brendan Gulick and Anthony Meglin with you part of our Browns Digest coverage
00:22 in the Fan Nation Network on the SI Media Group.
00:25 And Anthony, I gotta give you a lot of credit.
00:29 You definitely hit it on the head with the 27 points in terms of your prediction
00:33 pregame to what reality was defensively than I was.
00:39 I think the number one most important takeaway from this game
00:44 is that after the first three plays of the game that Arizona ran offensively,
00:49 they accumulated 35 yards in their next 45 plays.
00:54 That is unbelievable.
00:57 And it is partially because the Browns played terrific defense.
01:01 I also thought if we're being honest about it, Arizona offensively is inept.
01:06 And it was a really tough day to his NFL rookie debut,
01:11 not great but an awesome day for the Browns defense.
01:15 >> Yeah, it was gonna be an uphill battle for Arizona regardless if it was
01:19 Kyler Murray playing quarterback or Clayton Thune.
01:22 One of the things that I continue to take away from this week in preparation was
01:27 the fact that the defense felt like they hadn't been playing well.
01:31 And frankly, they hadn't over the past couple weeks.
01:33 They started the season on that historic pace, and
01:35 then they kind of fell off just a little bit.
01:37 And found some stuff that they wanted to correct.
01:39 So it was like all week for them, it was like, hey, it felt like to me every time
01:43 we heard one of them talk to the media, or just even got some look into the team.
01:47 It was like, hey, they're locked in and ready to go.
01:50 And then add a rookie quarterback getting his first start.
01:53 And to think, in comparison, he was picked one pick before Dorian Thompson Robinson.
01:58 So that's kind of the level that he was seen at in terms of his potential.
02:05 And we saw what Dorian was like against a great defense a couple weeks ago.
02:08 So it was gonna be a tough day for him regardless of everything.
02:12 That Browns defense was locked in, ready to go.
02:14 And they proved that they're one of the better groups in all of the league.
02:19 >> And look, even beyond Clayton, I mean,
02:21 I just thought Arizona's offensive line had a really tough day.
02:26 It did not matter which Browns defensive lineman was matched up with which
02:31 Arizona offensive lineman, it was a one-sided show.
02:37 Miles Garrett obviously played well, but Shelby Harris played terrific.
02:40 Delvin Tomlinson finished with two and a half sacks.
02:43 I thought he was terrific.
02:46 Zedarius Smith, I thought, played well.
02:47 Jordan Elliott continued- >> Yes.
02:49 >> To look good.
02:50 His defensive line can keep playing like this.
02:52 I mean, we're gonna be talking about this team being right in the thick of things
02:56 deep into the year if they keep controlling the line of scrimmage.
02:59 >> That was one of my big takeaways from the afternoon was the interior guys,
03:03 Delvin Tomlinson, Shelby Harris, Jordan Elliott.
03:05 They just were getting after the quarterback.
03:07 And we've seen that now, think back to last week.
03:10 Shelby Harris had a huge game against Seattle.
03:13 And this group was the missing piece that this team needed over the past year or
03:19 so.
03:20 And not only has it improved, but it's one of the bright spots on the entire defense
03:24 that's filled with playmakers all over the field from Miles to Denzel to JLK and
03:29 Anthony Walker.
03:30 I thought the defensive line, the interior, in my opinion,
03:33 had one of the better days out of that entire defensive group.
03:36 >> We'll dive in a little bit deeper on some other topics in additional videos,
03:42 including on Deshaun Watson.
03:44 We'll give some injury updates more in depth and
03:46 certainly talk a bit more about the defense.
03:49 These are more overarching big takeaways.
03:51 And I suppose in that breath, one of the takeaways in this game,
03:57 from order on especially, I remembered thinking myself,
04:01 find a way to get out of this thing as healthy as possible.
04:05 Because there are already a couple of injuries, especially on the offensive line.
04:10 And if you paid attention to what Baltimore did to Seattle today,
04:14 that was a thumping.
04:17 And so, Cleveland's gotta stay as healthy as they can this week because they
04:21 are gonna play maybe the best team in the AFC.
04:27 Baltimore might even be better than Kansas City.
04:30 They're really good.
04:31 >> They're certainly playing that way.
04:32 And it was unfortunate to watch during that second, it was second and
04:37 third quarter when it felt like every couple of plays, the one went down and
04:40 then Jed went down.
04:41 And then the one went down again, and then finally Jed had that horrific injury.
04:45 Obviously, awful to see for him in such a big year for him and
04:50 awful just in general.
04:51 I mean, it's just always horrible when you see something like that happen.
04:54 We've seen now three of those this year, which is just really sad.
04:57 But unfortunately, well, I guess that's just the nature of the beast,
05:01 is it's next man up.
05:02 James Hudson came in, he played a couple plays on the left side,
05:05 played a couple on the right side, and
05:06 he's gonna see himself back on the left side again.
05:08 And I think he's been a really good piece over the last couple years for
05:12 this Browns team, kind of in that swing tackle role.
05:14 So horrible to see Jed go down, but it's next man up.
05:19 And if anyone's gonna get it right, it's Phil Callahan and
05:22 Kevin Stefanski up front.
05:23 >> On the defensive side, about as good as you could have drawn it up.
05:28 Second time this season that the Browns have held a team to under 100 yards
05:34 of total offense, that's bananas to me.
05:37 18 passing yards in this game, 58 total yards.
05:40 They were one for 12 on third down.
05:43 They were sacked seven times and
05:45 turned it over three times, including a fumble and two interceptions.
05:48 The Browns, they didn't necessarily threaten the team record of 11 sacks,
05:56 but seven is impressive.
05:59 There was very little that this defense could have done better today.
06:02 These are the kinds of games you walk away from going, man, okay, as a fan,
06:08 you're fired up as a defense bot, and you say like, okay,
06:11 this is what we're capable of.
06:14 Find a way to be consistent, because if you can play defense like this at this
06:18 higher level sustainably, this team's gonna go a long way.
06:22 >> Yeah, and think about what Schwartz said earlier in the week.
06:26 He wanted to get away from that feast and famine defense, where one series you go
06:30 out and you strip the ball and you make a huge play.
06:32 And then the next series you come back and you give up a huge gain or
06:35 a touchdown or this or that.
06:36 I think that this was a really good, yeah,
06:38 like the moral of the story is we played a team that's offenses is really,
06:42 it's not great and a rookie quarterback.
06:44 But it was building that consistency, I think is a huge thing for them.
06:48 Cuz now they can go out and believe that next week when things go good,
06:52 they can come out and say, hey, it has to get better next drive.
06:55 Or when Lamar and the Ravens make a play, all right, shut the water off and
06:59 now let's go up and go make a play and build that consistency.
07:02 Not only play by play, but now week by week.
07:05 I thought that was a really good step in the right direction and
07:07 exactly what they had been preaching all week long.
07:09 >> Two other unsung heroes in this game.
07:14 I thought there was a different, and
07:19 some definite life from the punt return unit with Prochet returning punts.
07:24 He's elevated to the active roster today.
07:25 I thought he made a nice impact in that regard.
07:28 And Corey Bohorka's seven punts that averaged almost 60 yards.
07:32 It was at 58.6 yards, and that included a 44 yard punt,
07:37 which took the average below 60.
07:40 I know he had one that was 70 plus, but
07:43 Bohorka's has been a ridiculous weapon for this team this year.
07:47 And when you have a defense playing the way it is, you are much more comfortable
07:52 in situations that ordinarily you might feel like you need to go for it.
07:56 >> Yeah, no question, and you think back to that 73 yarder.
08:00 The momentum of the entire stadium goes and increases.
08:05 We lost Brendan here.
08:06 He'll be popping back in here in a second.
08:07 But the momentum in the entire stadium gets up when something like that happens.
08:13 You pin and beep, that defense comes out, the crowd gets into it and
08:18 really turns it up there.
08:20 And that was just one of those things that is just such an impressive portion
08:25 of this team when you're playing that complimentary football.
08:28 I thought it was fantastic.
08:30 So it looks like we lost Brendan there, which is no big deal.
08:34 But we'll close this down,
08:37 the instant analysis piece of this afternoon's game.
08:41 And who lost me here too?
08:42 We'll close down the instant analysis piece of this afternoon's game as
08:48 the Browns welcome Arizona into town and close the door, shut it down.
08:53 27 to 0, the final in Cleveland.
08:56 Catch us on Browns Digest for more coverage of the Cleveland Browns.
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