Drake Maye has been on a roll since Week 2 of his second NFL season, and now, a defense fitting to match his stats finally comes to Gillette.
Yes, yes, the Cleveland Browns are without a franchise quarterback, and they must rue the day they made their Faustian bargain and moved on from current MVP candidate Baker Mayfield. But as a team, they’re more lopsided than a hippo on a seesaw – because while their offense is pedestrian at best, their defense is very talented.
“Their front four is exceptional, and it’s not just Myles [Garrett],” offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said Thursday. “He’s truly one of the great players in the league, no question about it. He presents all kinds of issues, but their front in general is very disruptive. It’s a penetrating front. They’re going to try to get into the backfield and create negative runs.
This is as good of a pass rush as we’ve seen in total.”
So, yeah, don’t let the Browns’ 2-5 record fool you, lest ye end up like the Packers, who they trapped in a 13-10 victory earlier this season. Myles Garrett is the pass rush sheriff, but his deputy, Maliek Collins, should be equally feared. The Browns can stunt inside, and they’re fast.
“There’s kind of, two kinds of D-linemen,” Garrett Bradbury told WEEI at his locker this week. “Readers and ‘jet up the field’ guys, they certainly jet up the field. They have the personnel to do it. They’re twitchy, they’re quick inside, and they’re taught to rush the passer on the way to the ball carrier. S,o they’re just basically in pass rush mode on first, second, and third down. So, we have to fit some good combinations.”
Right tackle Morgan Moses has his own experience going up against Garrett and the Browns defense, having played in Baltimore before New England.
He highlighted the defensive coordinator’s focus on talented quarterbacks.
“The biggest thing, especially because I’ve been in that division for two years, is you look at the quarterback play they have in that division with Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow – you want to be able to stop their best players. Jim Schwartz has been around for a long time, I played against him when he was at the Eagles. He’s always had great fronts,” Moses said.
The Browns also tend to mix in more man coverage than many of the teams the Patriots have seen recently, and the combinations of Drake Maye and his receivers have had a field day picking apart soft spots in zone coverage – especially deep.
McDaniels had a telling answer regarding whether or not Maye will have to look more towards the screen game, or check downs, against the Browns’ secondary.
“There’s certain plays where, when you call them, you don’t expect the ball to go 40 yards down the field, but the defense gave him an opportunity.
I think you don’t ever want to take that away from the passer, his ability to see the deep part of the field and the coverage, and then it presents an opportunity. Even though maybe you didn’t call it for that reason, and then all of the sudden, you take advantage of it.”
“The biggest thing is, if he starts making mistakes – and I’m not just talking about Drake here – any quarterback,” McDaniels continued. “If they start to make mistakes throwing the ball downfield in coverage, and there’s a bunch of interceptions, and really bad decisions, then you know you’re probably forcing the ball too much. If you’re throwing the ball well down the field, it probably means the passer’s seeing it well and then trying to take advantage of it when it’s presented. And I think that’s what we want him to continue to do, and understand that the rush will dictate, at times, especially this week, we made need a few of those ‘Charlie check downs.’”
At the risk of being a jinx…Maye hasn’t turned the ball over since the Patriots’ awful, five-turnover game against the Steelers. But the combination of the Browns’ pass rush and stingy, sticky secondary could either overwhelm him or vex him into a strip sack or interception. Cleveland is middle-of-the-pack regarding takeaways, but they tallied four against the lowly Dolphins in Week 7.
On the bright side, Maye could also further bolster his case as a Top-5 quarterback in the league if he holds his own against this unit, because nobody can turn their nose up at the Browns defense. But this is the week that test his fortitude.