CLEVELAND — The Browns' defense has been a major area for concern this season, with fundamental mistakes repeating week in and week out. But on Halloween night, the work the unit had been putting in to improve on the field — work that had started to show promise the week before against the Ravens — came to life in a big way.
On the Friday before the Browns left for Baltimore, the locker room felt different. The energy had shifted, a weight felt lifted off after what had felt like a heavy few weeks with losses piled up. The conversations were intentional, and players across the defense felt connected. That Sunday the Browns' defense played their best game to date, containing Lamar Jackson, keeping Mark Andrews without a catch, getting a long-desired takeaway.
Still, the Browns lost. Their locker room in Baltimore was loud after the loss. Yelling could be heard through the walls. Players were fired up and angry about the loss—and about the three losses that strung into that one. It was passion, and while it may have appeared that was a sign of dysfunction and a locker room about to become unhinged, it was quite the opposite.
The Browns headed into their primetime matchup Monday night against the Bengals inside FirstEnergy Stadium on a mission. Win. It was a shared mindset led by quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who vowed that fans would see "a focused group, a group that's going to lay it all out on the line" and added, "Our mindset is just to empty the tank this week and play smart football."
Under the spooky primetime lights, the Browns did just that. Aside from a tough fumble in the second quarter and a trick play that led to Amari Cooper throwing a bad interception, the offense looked sharp. They found their groove, and Brissett used his connection with Amari Cooper and the skillset of Donovan Peoples-Jones to move the ball downfield and open up the run game for Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, which, as expected, proved to be the lifeblood of the offense.
But the story of the night was the defense.
The unit that had worked so hard to correct mistakes and showed that they were budding into their expectations fully bloomed Monday night. Defensive end Myles Garrett, who arrived dressed as the "Stranger Things" villain Vecna with his eyes set on controlling quarterback Joe Burrow, notched 1.5 sacks, splitting one with defensive tackle Taven Bryan. Defensive end Isaiah Thomas notched a sack of his own.
And then the linebackers, even down Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah who was out with a knee injury, stepped up in a big way. Defensive coordinator Joe Woods was aggressive with his linebackers, sending in the blitz and swallowing up Burrow behind his weak offensive line. Sione Takitaki, who spent time at middle linebacker, recorded 13 tackles and a sack. New linebacker Deion Jones made his first splash with Cleveland and sacked Burrow as well.
The defense did what they've been looking to do all season and didn't lose the turnover battle. Cornerback AJ Green III picked Burrow on a ball tipped by Garrett. Takitaki's QB takedown was a strip sack, recovered by defensive tackle Tommy Togiai.
Most importantly, the defense executed the fundamentals. Open-field tackling was superb, with guys wrapping up their man and not letting them slip away. Solid coverage prevented any catastrophic meltdowns. The defense put it all together and held the Bengals to just 13 points.
It was an all-around effort and a much-needed win. It took more games than most had hoped for, but the Browns seemed to really take lessons and build upon their losses in order to get the win against the Bengals and keep their streak against Cincinnati alive, having won every matchup against them since Dec. 29, 2019.
The Browns move to 3-5 on the season with a 2-1 divisional record heading into their bye week. It's a good place to be for the Browns, and for the fans, who can breathe a little easier over the next week off knowing that the season is still alive for Cleveland—and that the team seems to finally be starting to blossom.
Camryn Justice is a reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Twitter @camijustice.
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