TONY’S TAKE – A PREVIEW OF BROWNS-TEXANS

by Tony Fiorello

HOUSTON, TEXAS - DECEMBER 24: Head coach Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns and head Coach DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texans speak to each other prior to the game at NRG Stadium on December 24, 2023 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

Welcome to the 2023 NFL season’s Wild Card Weekend. Here at Buffalo Sports Page we will attempt to inform and educate our readers about the upcoming playoff games and what each team might do to emerge victorious.

One of the AFC’s wild card games will take place at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas as the Cleveland Browns will face the Houston Texans. Here’s what you should know:

CLEVELAND, OHIO - DECEMBER 17: Joe Flacco #15 of the Cleveland Browns reads the defense during the first half against the Chicago Bears at Cleveland Browns Stadium on December 17, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)

BROWNS’ OFFENSE A BANGED-UP BUT TALENTED UNIT

Having recycled through multiple coaches and quarterbacks since their rebirth in 1999, the Cleveland Browns’ prospects are finally looking up. The hiring of Kevin Stefanski from the Minnesota Vikings as head coach in 2020 helped Cleveland clear two major hurdles three years ago – reaching the postseason for the first time since 2002 and winning their first playoff game since 1994. This year, Stefanski became the first coach to lead the Browns to the playoffs twice during his tenure since Marty Schottenheimer back in the ‘80s.

Stefanski’s offensive system is derived from his former Vikings colleague Gary Kubiak – a former head coach with the Houston Texans and Denver Broncos (and offensive coordinator for Mike Shanahan in Denver). Like Kubiak and Shanahan, Stefanski relies on an offense that is West Coast-based in its passing game and is very creative in its ability to attack matchups. It also utilizes a lot of play-action passes, bootlegs and rollouts designed around the threat of outside-zone runs.

Unlike their coach, Cleveland’s quarterback issue is still a bit up in the air. A year ago, Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry pulled the plug on former first overall pick Baker Mayfield and replacing him with former Houston Texan Deshaun Watson after multiple sexual misconduct lawsuits and a feud with Texans management forced him to miss the entire 2021 season.

Watson, a three-time Pro Bowler, has a good, strong arm and his mobility, anticipation and accuracy are all among the NFL’s best. He’s especially adept at executing those traits out of “empty” formations, yet he hasn’t displayed those talents on a consistent basis in years. After serving an 11-game suspension related to the lawsuits a year ago, Watson’s play has been uneven. He’s also out for the season after sustaining a shoulder injury, leading to backups P.J. Walker, Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Jeff Driskell all getting playing time. None were capable or healthy enough to hold down the fort, so Stefanski turned to 16-year veteran Joe Flacco.

Flacco, who knew Stefanski’s system well having played for Kubiak in Baltimore at one point, has been a godsend. He’s still a capable quarterback with size and strength, mobility and can still make most NFL throws – the former Super Bowl MVP became the first quarterback ever to throw for more than 250 yards and multiple touchdowns in each of his first five games with one team.

The Browns’ rushing philosophy relies on a mobile offensive line that pushes defenders from sideline to sideline while encouraging its tailbacks to find holes on the opposite side of the play’s direction and cut back against the grain. Executing these blocks are guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller, center Ethan Pocic and tackles Jedrick Wills and Jack Conklin (who are both out for the season with knee injuries).

While the outside/wide zone is the team’s foundational run, Stefanski will also use power plays, traps, sweeps, counters, inside zone, “duo” and pin and pulls as changeup tactics and will throw in some misdirection concepts like end-arounds and reverses as well. This system has made many a star out of running backs for decades and the veteran duo of Nick Chubb (also out for the year with a leg ailment) and Kareem Hunt at running back is an impressive combination of speed and power. Jerome Ford has played well in Chubb’s absence.

Like his ex-coworker, Stefanski will have his skill players line up in unusual places in the formation to determine if defenses are playing man or zone coverage and will have his wide receivers stay inside the numbers to give them extra room to run routes and to serve as additional blockers. His scheme makes excellent use of shifts and motions to create false reads and favorable angles in the running game and the receivers’ pass patterns work well off one another with many intersecting routes at all three levels.

The Browns’ offense makes liberal use of multiple tight end sets, and David Njoku and Harrison Bryant have benefited from it. At wide receiver, five-time Pro Bowler Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore give Cleveland’s quarterbacks weapons to work with.

Cleveland ended 2023 16th in total yards, 19th in passing, 12th in rushing and 10th in scoring.

CLEVELAND, OH - DECEMBER 28: Myles Garrett #95 of the Cleveland Browns rushes the passer during an NFL football game against the New York Jets at Cleveland Browns Stadium on December 28, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

CLEVELAND’S DEFENSE HAS REBOUNDED

Jim Schwartz has returned to the team he started his NFL career with and he’s turned the Browns’ defense from a mediocre one into one of pro football’s best. His system – traditionally one that is built around one-gap principles up front, zone coverage and two deep safeties – has become one that has relied more on single-high coverages (Cover One, Three etc.), and they marry their defensive fronts and blitzes with coverage very well.

Five-time All-Pro Myles Garrett has had six straight double-digit sack campaigns and is one of the best pass rushers in the league. The big, quick defensive end from Texas A&M is bookended by ex-Packer and Viking Za’Darius Smith, and defensive tackles Dalvin Tomlinson and Jordan Elliott have also done well.

The Browns have some nice chess pieces in their secondary to execute Schwartz’s schemes. They employ one of pro football’s best cornerbacks in Denzel Ward – who specializes in matching up with smaller, quicker wideouts – and Greg Newsome II starts opposite him. At safety is Juan Thornhill, Grant Delpit (out with a groin problem), and D’Anthony Bell, and Duron Harmon plays in the team’s subpackages. At linebacker the Browns employ a playmaker in Sione Takitaki, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Tony Fields II.

Cleveland led the NFL in total and passing yards allowed, 11th against the run and tied for 12th in points surrendered. They were also sixth in the league in sacks and takeaways.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JANUARY 06: C.J. Stroud #7 of the Houston Texans drops back to pass during an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium on January 6, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

TEXANS’ OFFENSE YOUTHFUL

The Houston Texans are a much different squad now compared to the last time they reached the playoffs in 2019. Since Bill O’Brien was fired following 2020, they’ve gone through three head coaches, and after the disappointing tenures of David Culley and Lovie Smith it seems as if general manager Nick Caserio has finally gotten it right with ex-San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator (and former Texans linebacker) DeMeco Ryans.

Ryans has led the Texans to a surprising AFC South division title, the seventh in franchise history. He and offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik have brought an offensive system to Houston that worked for them by the Bay, and what also worked for them years ago under Gary Kubiak – the Shanahan-style of the West Coast offense. Slowik has used a playbook that emphasizes a running game built around zone-blocking (especially to the outside on “stretch” plays) and passes that are created off the threat of run-action. The system can create a lot of big plays down the field from craftily designed routes that work off one another, and the skill position players often line up in reduced splits to the line of scrimmage to become both extra blockers on runs and to have more room to run routes on the field.

No position has seen as much change in Houston than quarterback. Once led by one of the NFL’s best signal callers in Deshaun Watson, Watson was traded to the Cleveland Browns in 2022 following several legal problems and his successor has proven to be rookie C.J. Stroud. The former first-round pick from Ohio State has shown a good sense of timing, accuracy and patience in the pocket with solid mechanics and is a quick processor of coverages. He’s also athletic enough to make second-reaction plays and is cool under pressure.

The Texans have a solid one-two punch at running back in former Bill Devin Singletary and Dameon Pierce. Singletary in particular is underrated. A short, sturdy back who has good balance and vision, he can take a pounding between the tackles and is also capable of making plays in the passing game from time to time.

Executing blocks on the offensive line are former first-round pick Tytus Howard (out for the season with a knee injury) Shaq Mason, Michael Deiter, Juice Scruggs and Laremy Tunsil. Tunsil is athletic and – aside from perhaps the 49ers’ Trent Williams – might be the league’s best offensive tackle in getting out to the perimeter to block for screens.

Stroud’s targets in the passing game are Nico Collins, who enjoyed a breakout year in his third NFL season, veteran Robert Woods (who still offers some value as a possession receiver and is a good blocker) and rookie Tank Dell (Dell is on the shelf with a broken leg). Houston’s tight end is ex-Dallas Cowboy Dalton Schultz.

Houston was 12th in total offense, seventh in passing, 23rd in rushing and 14th in points in 2023.

HOUSTON, TX - DECEMBER 03: Jonathan Greenard #52 of the Houston Texans rushes the passer during an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos at NRG Stadium on December 3, 2023 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

HOUSTON’S DEFENSE ALSO UNDERGOING CHANGES

Like their counterparts on offense, the Texans’ defense is also missing numerous players and coaches who have helped the team in years past. Among others, J.J. Watt, Whitney Mercilus and Jadeveon Clowney and Romeo Crennel are no longer there, and Ryans’ preference for the Cover Three scheme that he coached in San Francisco (with deep zone coverage from the outside cornerbacks, one safety patrolling centerfield and another near the line of scrimmage) has taken over in H-Town.

Ryans and defensive coordinator Matt Burke’s pass rush is spearheaded by breakout end Jonathan Greenard, who paced the team in sacks with 12.5. He, along with rookie Will Anderson Jr., Jerry Hughes, Derek Barnett, Maliek Collins and Sheldon Rankins make up the main contributors on the Texans’ defensive line.

At linebacker Houston employs the well-traveled Denzel Perryman along with Blake Cashman and Christian Harris. On the back end, Derek Stingley Jr. is showing why he was a high first round draft pick while veterans Steven Nelson and Desmond King II are the other cornerbacks. DeAndre Houston-Carson, Jalen Pitre, Kareem Jackson and Adrian Amos are Houston’s safeties.

The Texans ended 2023 14th in total yards, 23rd against the pass, sixth versus the run and 11th in points allowed. They were also 15th in sacks and tied for 16th in takeaways.