BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns had a major challenge last Sunday with the Ravens coming to town with perennial Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry leading the way.
The Ravens had the No. 5 offense in the NFL in both scoring and yards gained. The Ravens were averaging 29.2 points a game and 394.2 yards a game.
In the rushing game, the Ravens were No. 3 in the NFL, averaging 164.4 yards a game on the ground.
Henry came into the game with 476 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.
Henry started the game with a bang as he picked up 17- and 11-yard runs on the first offensive series of the game as the Ravens jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead. Henry had 41 yards at halftime.
The Ravens had 163 yards of offense at halftime with a 10-0 lead.
But then something changed.
The Browns put the clamps on Henry and the Ravens offense, overall. The rest of the game, Henry had just 17 yards and finished with 58 on 17 carries. He also lost a fumble that was stripped away by linebacker Carson Schwesinger. It was the only turnover of the game and the Browns scored their only touchdown of the game on the short field.
The Ravens had just 72 yards of offense, overall the rest of the game and finished with 235 yards, 159 yards less than their average.
After the game, Monken pointed to stopping Henry as being the key for the defense.
“That’s pretty cool, man, to hold that guy to that. I mean, that’s where it starts, right?” He said. “Stop their O-line and the engine, and Derrick Henry is their engine. He is the guy that makes it go. He was when I was there and he is now. And for us to do that and to hold them where they were at, man, it’s so cool.”
On Monday, The OBR asked Monken how big that was in the win, considering the Browns were missing Mason Graham, Grant Delpit, Mike Hall, among others.
“I think you hit it on the head after whatever it was I said last night,” Monken said. “(Henry had) 17- and 11-yard runs. And then after that I think he had 58 yards on 17 carries.
“I thought our guys did a great job of being physical at the point of attack, swarming, not really allowing, when Derrick gets downhill, it’s hard to stop his momentum,” he said. “We did a good job of making him run sideways and stuttering his feet. And that’s the key to it. Like you said, if you can’t comfortably turn around and hand the ball off, or you’re not efficient on first downs, it makes it hard on a starting quarterback, a starting-level quarterback in the NFL.”
The defense entered the game ranked No. 20 in the NFL in yards allowed, giving up 334.0 yards a game. They were also 18th in the NFL in rushing defense, giving up 117.4 yards a game. The Browns were 13th in the NFL in passing defense, giving up 216.6 yards a game.
After holding the Ravens to 235 yards (87 rushing, 148 passing), the Browns have moved up to the No. 13 overall, defense in the NFL (No. 15 rushing, No. 9 passing).
Monken was asked what is helping the defense play so well right now.
“What I do know is that our guys play with physicality,” Monken said. “They play with elite effort. They’re connected and they enjoy playing together. And that’s part of the connection piece. But they swarm to the football, and I think if you get that, it allows you to maximize your players’ measurable skill sets.
“And I think you see that collectively, each week,” he said. “You see that from our guys. They also do a great job of understanding, as I think our team does, the idea that: the ups and downs of an NFL game, the ebb and flow of it, that the other team’s going to make plays.
“So, what, now what?” he said. “Let’s go to the next play. Each play is six seconds. Each play is independent of itself, the game within the game. And shoot, defensively, we’ve given up scoring drives on the first drive of each of the last three games. And then they’ve settled in and played outstanding and have gone stretches where they’ve gotten stops, just like nine straight the other day. So, I’m really pleased with where we’re at, and I think the guys are embracing, it’s the same scheme, but it’s a different coordinator. We’re calling it different. There are different things that we’re doing on the back end, which I think has really added something to where we’re at now.”
EXTRA POINTS
Monken ‘Hopeful’ of Getting some Players Back:The OBR also asked Monken about some of the players that missed Sunday’s game, as well as players injured in the game, whether he expected to get some of them back this week.
DT Mason Graham (knee, ankle), DT Mike Hall (ankle), RB Quinshon Judkins (ankle), RB Dylan Sampson (knee) all missed Sunday’s game with injuries. S Grant Delpit (concussion) and LB Justin Jeferson (ribs) were injured during the game and did not return.
“I think it’s too early to tell, but I’m hopeful that we’ll get a number of guys back, and we’ll see what the guys that got dinged up yesterday, where we’re at,” Monken sad. “It’s too early to really say.”