Cleveland Browns vs. Detroit Lions Preview & Prediction | PFF

The Browns coming off of a thrilling victory against some people’s number one team in the NFL on the Green Bay Packers last week. And um yeah, I’ll talk about the Browns a little bit more and how impressed I am with them on the defensive side of the ball. Now they’re traveling to Detroit to take on a Lions team that okay, they stumbled against the Packers to start the season, but since then it’s been business as usual all of their games there. So, uh where do you want to start here? You want to talk about the Lions or the Browns? I I mean I I’ll go with the Lions offense against the Browns defense because I know that’s kind of the matchup to highlight here. And you look at the the contrast between what the Lions are earning between the tackles in the run game right now. Last week against the Ravens, I should say a couple days ago against the Ravens. 187 rushing yards between the tackles. They were getting right downhill with those big duo schemes that they’re running. Penny Su had the best run blocking grade of any offensive lineman in a game we’ve ever tracked. Tate Rattlage had a 90 run blocking grade. Taylor Decker had an 84. I mean, it was just a just an absolute mauling that they gave the Ravens front seven. The Lions this year between the tackles are fifth in rushing grade, first in run blocking grade, and third in yards per carry, but the Browns front seven may be the one team that can kind of keep up with them, right? You talk about Miles Garrett, Malik Collins, Mason Graham, Isaiah Magguire, Carson Schwinger, Devin B Devin Bush, all those guys playing great in run defense. When you run between the tackles on the Browns, they have the third best run defense grade right now and they have the fewest yards per carry allowed. So, I think that’s a battle on the inside. Do the Lions just kind of beat their head against the wall and go, “No, we’re better. We’re more physical with our offensive line or do they try to get to the edges or do they try to throw it and let Jared Goff control the game?” Obviously, we saw the Packers struggle. We even saw the Baltimore Ravens struggle with Derrick Henry to run the ball on Cleveland. This Cleveland front seven is a real problem and I just wonder if the Lions are going to try to are they going to try to challenge it. Are we going to get a real war in the trenches in the run game? Are they going to try to dominate him like they did to Baltimore? But this Cleveland front seven is nothing to be messed with, man. They can keep him in any game. Yeah, I know we like to talk about both sides of the ball here, but to be honest, like that that’s that’s kind of really the only side of the ball that matters is how the Browns defend the Detroit Lions because the Browns just don’t really have anything on offense. I I mean uh Tilman has been disappointing. Um Jerry Judy has certainly been disappointing for this team. I mean he has so many targets and so few catches. He has zero contested catches. He has five contested targets to him. It’s just he has been really disappointing. Um Harold Fannon’s been nice, but I mean he’s sort of just been nice. Sort of a change of pace option for them. Obviously Joe Flacco is at quarterback. he’s going to be a fine veteran for them with a decent floor, but the ceiling is so limited. And so ultimately, and unfortunately, it just comes down to how dominant the Browns defense is. And they have been truly dominant uh through the first couple of games through the season. In fact, they’re number one in a lot of categories. They’re number one in team rushing grade. They’re number three in EPA per rush allowed. They have an 85.9 team run defense grade. Both of the wins that the Lions have came with positive EPA per rushes and a team rushing grade above 70 against the Packers. They were not able to run the football well. And I think if you just put the ball in Jared Goff’s hands, who Jared Goff is is playing really good football. I want to be clear like that’s not an intention for me to take a shot at Jared Goff. He has also been playing very very well in this game. But that’s basically the script that you have to follow. You have to make Jared Goff beat you at this point because you can’t just let the Lions lean on the run game. We’ve seen what that has done to some good football teams over the last couple of weeks. So, it’s just um it just comes down to how well the Browns are going to play defense. Is the number one defense in the NFL. Is that enough? Is that truly enough? Because I I just have not seen the consistency, the ceiling, really anything from from the Browns offense. They have one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL right now. Like, I think they’re giving up maybe the highest rate of pressure. I think they maybe have given up the most total pressures. They’re one of the worst pass blocking offensive lines in the NFL. So that used to be a uden of strength for them. Now for the Browns, I’m basically just praying that the rookies take over. I’m praying that Harold Fanny Jr. or Quinn Sean Judkins or Dylan Samson, like I I’m praying that one of those guys is able to give you an X-factor type of game on offense because outside of that, um, for as much as the Browns have been exciting over the first couple of weeks, and I would agree, I think that they should be two and one here. How do you keep up with an offense like the one that we have seen Detroit have, especially over the last couple of weeks and then tying that into what they have been over the last couple of years? I don’t think it’s enough for Cleveland to get it done here. Um, especially with this game being in Detroit, I’ll go Lions 21, Browns 13. Uh, I’ve got I I’ll take the lowscoring outcome still because I think this Browns defense is real. They have the highest graded defense in the NFL and the lowest graded offense in the NFL. It’s just quite a contrast between the two sides of the ball. I’ll take the Lions 17 to 10. I do think that I do think Cleveland’s defense can give the Lions some issues. Obviously, we’ve seen Jared Goff under pressure is not very good. It’s been like that his whole career. But the Lions are going to find enough here and I’m with you. The Browns just not enough answers on offense. And I think their offensive tackle position, especially Dwan Jones now has an injury. He’s going on IR. So, you’re talking about possibly two backup tackles playing against Aiden Hutchinson. And Alcadine Muhammad’s been a revelation on the other side for the Lions so far. Hutchinson is 14th in the league in pass rush grade right now. Mohamd is 15th. So you’ve got a good pair of edge rushers that are really getting the job done. They were both fantastic against Baltimore. I think that’s the difference is just once again the Browns can’t score enough. The defense I I think will keep them in this game. I think they’re fantastic, but I just think eventually the Lions find enough to get it done. 17-10. Yeah, and you know Dwan Jones now out out for the season which is a tough blow for them, but he did not have a great start to the season either. 43.9 pass blocking grade. Cornelius Lucas, who’s taken over for him, he has a 45.2 pass blocking grade. It’s just not the Browns offensive line that it used to be, even with some of the names that are familiar there. And so, uh, it’s been a big issue for this team. Aiden Hudson is really starting to warm up. You mentioned Muhammad, which I’m glad that you did because that’s, I think, an underrated edge rusher duo three weeks into the season. I I think it’s going to be low scoring like you do. I just don’t think that the Bears have it or that the uh the Browns have enough. I I I don’t

PFF’s Dalton Wasserman and Trevor Sikkema preview the matchup between The Cleveland Browns and The Detroit Lions.

Get 25% off your PFF Subscription!:
Code: PFFNFLSHOW25
Link: https://go.pff.com/nflshow25

Dominate your fantasy league: http://fantasy.pff.com/
Download the PFF App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pff-fan…
Join our newsletter: https://forms.gle/maqTaBKcmdPR5Vma6
NFL/NCAA Player Grades: https://www.pff.com/grades

Thank you to our sponsors. If you’re interested in supporting our shows, please reach out to sales@pff.com

25 comments

  2. the idea that goff is bad under pressure is wrong. Goff is bad when the play completely breaks down because of pressure, but who isn't?

    goff is so smart with the ball he'll find his hot receiver with a blitzer right in his face 99% of the time. goff has owned the brian flores defense over the last 3 years.

    it's dishonest to act like every team with a good pass rush is going to actually effect goff, he has consistently shown us for years now he's going to have answers for the pressure. When he's surprised by pressure or his line is just getting beat too quickly sure things can get ugly because goff cannot do anything outside of the structure of the play but at this point that is so rare it's just stupid to say "well the opponent is good at getting pressure so goff might struggle"

    getting pressure and affecting the qb are not always the same thing.

  8. How do you guys get paid to do this and keep saying the lazy "Goff is no good under pressure". Goff is great underpressure in the pocket, he is even "mobile in the pocket" if you know what I mean, he can dodge. Or he can stand firm under pressure if he has an open pass route available and release with pinpoint accuracy a second before he gets hit. He is good at throwing the ball away if needed in broken plays, that is being good under pressure by the way. He can not run and pass, and he doesn't run unless it is wide open and there are no receivers open. Instead of avoiding sacks by full mobility and converting into QB runs he avoids sacks by releasing quickly on lightning fast scans in optimal conditions due to pre-snap adjustments (that he is literally the best in the NFL at calculating adjustments). Everything he does is under pressure really, and he is a great QB. Just say he doesn't avoid sacks with a running back skill-set or throw without a planted back leg. GOFF IS GREAT UNDER PRESSURE. sheesh. You take his hits and then tell me you don't feel pressure. The point is he still gets the play off successfully most of the time under pressure.

  9. Clearly haven't watched any of the Cleveland games with the way they described the WRs and TEs. Flacco has been horrendous and the line has helped aid that atrociousness

  23. What the Browns need is for Flacco to score zero points in the first half, so they have a good reason to replace him with Dillon Gabriel, who is actually good, and who will score a decent number of points, and possibly even win the game for the Browns and then he will likely also carry the Browns to the playoffs. Flacco is holding the team back. He has to go.

Leave a Reply