After dominating the NFL's best offense the Cleveland Browns are showing everyone why the are the NFL's best defense
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 What a performance by the Cleveland Browns
00:11 this afternoon, 19-17, the win over the San Francisco 49ers.
00:16 Anthony, we're talking defense because the Browns came in
00:19 with the number one defense in the league.
00:21 They obviously had a week off last week,
00:23 and all of the storylines were around Deshaun Watson.
00:27 And I don't think enough people nationally
00:29 gave credit to what this defense has shown they're able to do.
00:32 But that's going to change now because they completely
00:36 dominated San Francisco.
00:39 Let's be real about it.
00:39 They won the game today.
00:40 I mean, holy cow, they just-- the best offense in the NFL
00:44 walked into the Cleveland Browns stadium today and looked lost.
00:48 I mean, Brock Purdy has been playing the best football.
00:50 You could argue the best football
00:52 out of any quarterback in the National Football League
00:54 over the past calendar year.
00:56 And just he was--
00:58 I think I texted you this.
00:59 They had him in a torture chamber all day.
01:01 From a secondary perspective, the Browns,
01:03 secondary with Denzel Ward, MJ Emerson, and Greg Doosom,
01:07 it's just white on rice, man.
01:08 They are locked on their guys all afternoon.
01:11 And then, hey, guess what?
01:12 Because you can't throw the ball on time and on target,
01:15 you have one of the best defensive lines coming
01:18 after you.
01:18 And there wasn't many--
01:20 like, Miles Garrett didn't have many sacks today,
01:23 but the pocket was condensed.
01:25 And you know who was the player of the game, in my opinion,
01:27 is Telvin Tomlinson.
01:29 They couldn't run.
01:30 They could not run the football.
01:32 Think back to last year when we just would get gouged.
01:35 The Browns would get gouged running the football, right
01:37 up the middle, right at the middle.
01:38 And then you look, you watch today,
01:40 Christian McCaffrey couldn't get going because he'd
01:42 get the handoff and big number 94 was in his lap.
01:45 Like, hey, figure it out, bud, because I'm here.
01:47 Just everything at all levels of the defense.
01:50 Jeremiah Ushakuram is a star.
01:53 He's a star in this league.
01:54 And I just was so impressed by what they did this afternoon.
01:57 Glad you brought up Tomlinson's name so quickly, because to me,
02:00 I thought he was the player of the game.
02:02 Nobody ever wants to give the player of the game
02:04 to a defensive tackle, but he single-handedly
02:06 changed everything.
02:08 That first series, San Francisco had Cleveland's number.
02:11 And as a Browns fan, you sit there and watch the game
02:14 and go, oh boy, here we go again.
02:17 That was an ugly opening drive of the game, defensively.
02:21 And it was the only time all game that things really
02:24 looked like that.
02:26 San Francisco basically only moved the ball
02:29 three times all game.
02:30 And twice, they missed field goals.
02:34 They got a field goal out of some favorable field position
02:38 once.
02:39 And Cleveland's defense stiffened up.
02:42 But to your point, JOK was all over the place.
02:46 I thought Denzel Ward and Greg Newsom both
02:48 had terrific games.
02:50 Thornhill played really, really well.
02:52 Miles Garrett, he makes such an impact
02:56 on so many different games.
02:58 You almost-- you come to expect that he's
03:01 going to have a three sack performance on any given day.
03:04 And the reality is he went up against a guy who I think
03:07 is going to be a future Hall of Fame left tackle.
03:10 Trent Williams wasn't 100% today.
03:12 He got hurt, came back in.
03:14 Obviously, Debo Samuel left the game with a shoulder injury.
03:18 And Christian McCaffery left the game with an oblique injury.
03:22 And I don't want to negate the fact
03:24 that those guys weren't at 100% or weren't available
03:27 for parts of the game because that played into it.
03:30 But you're not going to hear a single Browns fan or anybody
03:32 on that sideline feel sorry for San Francisco for being down
03:36 a couple of key players because the Browns came in at this game
03:39 with what felt like at least one hand time behind its back.
03:42 I mean, and think about it too.
03:44 Like there were stories this week
03:45 that the Browns were just going to punt this game away.
03:47 I even talked about it too.
03:49 Like should they just say, hey, this game doesn't really
03:52 mean anything in the AFC.
03:53 Should we just make sure Myles Garrett gets through healthy,
03:55 make sure Juan Thornhill gets through healthy,
03:57 JOK, and all those guys.
03:58 Like should we just make sure that they get through healthy?
04:01 And instead, they came out and just dominated a football game
04:04 just like the defense we know that they should do.
04:08 It was just so impressive from that group.
04:11 Couple of overarching numbers to try to highlight some of this.
04:16 San Francisco in the first half, they moved the ball OK.
04:20 The second half was unbelievable how this Browns defense just
04:26 swallowed anything San Francisco wanted to do.
04:29 Here were their second half drives.
04:31 Three and out, no yards gained, punt.
04:34 You know what, actually, the first one
04:41 was because of an interception.
04:43 So let me take that back.
04:44 Then it was three and out, negative 12 yards, punt.
04:50 Three plays, 15 yards lost on penalties, punt.
04:55 Three plays, no yards, punt.
04:58 They got the interception from the Browns,
05:00 took it, and scored a touchdown on the first play.
05:02 It was an eight-yard gain.
05:04 The next drive, three plays, they lost 11 yards on penalties
05:08 after having gained 10 yards.
05:10 It was a negative one-yard drive, punt.
05:13 And then the final drive that ultimately
05:17 resulted in a missed field goal.
05:19 They basically couldn't move the ball in the second half.
05:21 They threw a pick, three punts, scored a touchdown on one play
05:25 when they were handed the ball on the eight-yard line,
05:28 punted, and missed a field goal.
05:29 I mean, for the Browns defense to do that to an offense
05:32 that everybody says is the best offense in the NFL
05:35 should be one heck of a statement
05:37 to the rest of the league that look out.
05:38 I know Cleveland's 2 and 2, and I
05:40 know their quarterback's banged up, and there's no Nick Chubb,
05:42 and there's no Jack Cochran, and David Njoku's
05:46 playing with a pretty severe burn injury.
05:49 I mean, right on down the line with all this adversity,
05:51 and it did not matter today.
05:53 It didn't matter at all.
05:54 And that stat line would be impressive against the worst
05:57 offense in the NFL.
05:59 The fact that they did it against the 49ers
06:01 is spectacular.
06:03 And there's just-- we could do an hour show
06:05 on the good things to say about the defense's performance
06:08 today, and it still wouldn't be enough.
06:10 Just super impressed by what they did, what they had to do.
06:14 And hey, guess what?
06:15 Browns, believe it or not, their backs were against the wall.
06:18 Like Cincinnati won today, and Baltimore won today.
06:21 You lose this game, you're last in the division.
06:23 You're in last place in the division.
06:26 So this was a huge game, huge Sunday for the Browns.
06:28 And the defense came out and said,
06:30 we're not going to let this Sunday get away from us.
06:33 We'll end on this.
06:35 San Francisco, 55 plays.
06:37 They averaged 3.9 yards per play, 215 yards of total
06:42 offense.
06:43 The Niners were just 3 of 12 on third down.
06:47 In a game that certainly had a bunch of flags,
06:49 there were 25 total penalties basically split right
06:51 down the middle.
06:53 But ultimately, San Francisco could not put the Browns away
06:56 when they had chances to do it because the Browns defense got
06:59 it done.
07:00 Christian McCaffrey finished the game with 11 carries
07:02 for 43 yards.
07:04 Brock Purdy finally loses a regular season game
07:06 that he starts.
07:07 He went 12 of 27 for a buck 25, a touchdown,
07:11 and an interception.
07:12 For Anthony Meglin, I'm Brendan Gulick.
07:14 All the latest news and info on the Browns
07:15 from today's big game is over on BrownsDigest.com.
07:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]