The 2014 season for the Cleveland Browns has come crashing down over the last month. The team lost to the Carolina Panthers 17-13 on Sunday and in doing so extended their losing streak to four games. The offense has completely collapsed late in the season, forcing the defense to try and be nearly perfect, which they have not been. In this week’s game versus Carolina, the defense gave up a ton of yards, especially on the ground, but was able to hold the Panthers to just 17 points. The Browns’ defense allowed 404 yards of offense to Carolina, including 209 yards rushing in the game. The defense has suffered so many injuries that it has become a mishmash of players. Even with the injuries, the defense played tough, but was unable to keep the lead for the Browns. So this week, I will go over the good, bad, and the ugly of the loss to the Carolina Panthers.

Come take a seat and look through this week’s defensive film room. After you have read through my thoughts on this week’s game, let me know what you saw from the Browns’ defense this week. Roll the tape!

The Good

The defensive secondary was a makeshift unit with starting cornerback Joe Haden, starting safety Tashaun Gipson, and slot corner K’Waun Williams out for the game. Even with these players out, the Browns secondary played pretty well versus Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers. In the game, the Browns held Newton to 18 of 31 for 201 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. It was a solid performance from the short-handed secondary. Here is an example of the good coverage.

This play is a 1st-and 10 play on the Cleveland 39-yard line midway through the third quarter. The incompletion by Cam Newton was forced in the following way.

The play is a designed play action pass with a receiver out wide on both sides of the field, a tight lined up on the end of the right side of the line and a single running back in the backfield. The Browns are in a Cover One with man coverage on all four of the pass catchers in this play. Linebacker Karlos Dansby is in zone coverage watching the backfield for anybody slipping out to the right side of the field.

The main sequence here is the rub that the tight end Greg Olsen does on corner Pierre Desir covering receiver Kelvin Benjamin. As Olsen sits down in the middle of the field, the tight end contacts Desir, causing Desir to fall behind Benjamin a little bit.

With the help of the pass rush getting pressure on Newton, Desir shows off his athletic ability by closing very quickly to the ball. He makes a great play on the pass and knocks it away from Benjamin for an incompletion. The rookie had a very good day for the Browns, grading out the highest of all the Browns’ defenders in pass coverage. He has definitely showed the promise that the team was expecting when they drafted him.

The Bad

The Browns’ pass rush was pretty absent in the loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Cam Newton was able to scramble on many instances because of the inability for the pass rush to get to him while the secondary was in solid coverage. Cam Newton rushed for 63 yards in the game. The lack of pass rush really hurt the Browns’ secondary because it forced them to cover the Panthers’ receivers for a lot longer then usual. Here is an example of the lack of pass rush.

This was one of the biggest plays of the game. It was a 2nd-and-9 play midway through the fourth quarter on the Cleveland nine-yard line. Here is how the Panthers scored their game-winning touchdown.

The Panthers are lined up in a single back set with a wingback on the right side of the backfield, two receivers out wide to the right, and a tight end of the left end of the line. The Browns are rushing four guys on the play and the secondary is in zone coverage.

This shot shows the coverage at the first point of contact by the Browns’ pass rush. This first point of contact was just a little over four seconds after the snap. On average for Cam Newton in 2014, he has 2.92 seconds to throw according to ProFootballFocus. These four seconds were just the time it took Newton to first be contacted in the play. The coverage is tight on all the pass catchers for the first four seconds, but loses running back Jonathan Stewart after he cuts back in a scrambling situation.

Newton was able to get away from defensive lineman Desmond Bryant and threw the ball just over six seconds after the snap. This is too long of time to allow Newton to find the open receiver for the touchdown. Stewart was able to get away from coverage because of the time the Panthers’ offensive line gave Newton to throw. The pass rush was not very good in this game and allowed Newton too much time to find a receiver or running room.

The Ugly

The Browns’ continued their inability to defend against the run. The Browns allowed 209 yards of rushing to the Panthers. The run defense has been a problem for the Browns’ defense for much of the year and this game was not exception. It looked like they had improved in this area midway through the season, but the lack of run defense sprouted up again last week. Here is an example of the bad run defense versus the Panthers.

This was a play that could have given the Browns a chance to get the ball back late in the fourth quarter. It was 3rd-and-5 play on the Cleveland 40-yard line with just 1:47 left in the game. Here is how the 30-yard gain by running back Jonathan Stewart transpired.

The Panthers design a run toward the left end out of the single back formation. The Browns have three defensive linemen down and an outside linebacker rushing on both sides of the line. There is also a linebacker in the box to defend the run.

The run defense initially starts off well for the Browns. Outside linebacker Paul Kruger seals the edge and keeps contain making Stewart have to run inside. But this play shows off the horrible play of the interior defensive linemen of the Browns.

The defensive line has been pretty bad all year due to lack of talent and all the injuries. As you can see here, the interior defensive linemen are completely out of the play after getting blocked and tripped by linebacker Karlos Dansby who got shoved inside. The defensive line has struggled getting penetration and standing strong against the run all year. The rest of the run can be blamed on bad angles by some of the defensive players like Sione Fua. Some of them overran the play and got out of position after Stewart cut back inside. This run play was a microcosm of the bad run defense the team has displayed for much of the season.

Defensive Highlight

The defensive highlight of the game was outside linebacker Scott Solomon. Solomon was activated off the practice squad last week and was very impressive in his debut with the Browns. According to ProFootballFocus, he graded out as having the best game of all the Browns’ defenders (5.9). In his limited playing time, he had four tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, and one forced fumble. It was a great performance from the unknown player.

Defensive Lowlight

The defensive lowlight of the game was defensive lineman Desmond Bryant. Bryant has been up and down all year for the Browns. He is probably the Browns best defensive lineman, but has been unable to play consistently. According to ProFootballFocus, he graded out with the worst grade of the all the Browns’ defenders in the game (-3.8). He posted only two tackles in the game, too.