5 Cleveland Browns whose stock dropped in blowout loss to Chargers

Jamie Collins, LB

The Cleveland Browns failed as a defense. But because I don’t know like singling out an entire unit in these columns I’ll single out Jamie Collins.

I mean, I noticed Collins twice in this game. He got blocked by Phillip Rivers on a run by Melvin Gordon. And then on Gordon’s 7-yard touchdown run, he basically dove, fell and didn’t really look like he was trying all that hard.

Alas, the collapse actually was a team effort and because the Chargers had so much success running the ball, you’ve got to look at the edge defenders responsible for taking away plays to the sideline.

Just look at Melvin Gordon’s final touchdown of the game. The Chargers ran a sweep. Instead of setting the edge, Myles Garret was instantly pushed out of the play.

https://twitter.com/Chargers/status/1051553477996888064

I’m not trying to beat up Garrett here. He had his pressures and hits on Rivers. But he’s got to be better at shutting down the run.

Here’s one to the other side.

The Browns have a weakness, and that’s stopping runs to the outside. Expect adjustments to be made, but you better believe teams are going to try and stick it to the Browns on the outside.

As fans, we love to rave over Myles Garrett and Emmanuel Ogbah as pass rushers, but they’ve also got to set the edge to give the linebackers a chance to cut runners down.

As for the linebackers, I’ve covered Collins. But what about Christian Kirksey. I guess he had a garbage time pick. Throw Joe Schobert in there too, even though he did have a couple nice plays.

If the Browns don’t control the edge, days like today are bound to happen.