Cleveland Browns: 3 keys to victory against the Dallas Cowboys

Don’t blitz

Aggression really helps defenses. It’s a great way to stifle competition, get rookies off-balanced, or make mediocre passers expose themselves. Dak Prescott isn’t one to get stifled, he’s no rookie and he’s certainly no mediocre passer. While the Cowboys offensive line isn’t as good as it’s been in past years, it’s the best the Browns have faced all year.

Don’t expect Sheldon Richardson to look great this week, because the Bengals and Washington Football Team had below-NFL-caliber offensive lines. That is not the case for the Cowboys. Myles Garrett will be lucky to have three tackles and a sack against this offense. Pressure is going to be difficult to get even if the Browns linebackers weren’t made up of a kindergartener, a crash test dummy, and a bowling ball.

Luckily for the Browns, Mack Wilson is expected back this week, but it should be emphasized that regardless of Wilson’s playtime for the week that neither he nor B.J. Goodson or Sione Takitaki is good in the blitz. You could try doing a corner blitz or a safety blitz but that’d be ill advised. The Browns should normally always blitz, most great defenses do.

Just not this week.

Not against Prescott, who could so easily carve this team up if eleven guys dropped into coverage, let alone when the Browns only drop back five or six into coverage. Making sure the secondary has as much coverage support as possible is going to be prudent. Let the front four do what they’ve done the first three weeks and try to commit problems for the offensive line. The secondary needs all the help they can get this week. So don’t take that away from them.