As the Cowboys prepare to kick off their season, the biggest challenge facing them in Cleveland is, unquestionably, the threat of this Browns defense. A year ago, the Browns made the playoffs despite losing Nick Chubb for the year and seeing five different quarterbacks start for them. How did they do it? Simply put: the defense played at an elite level.
This came as a shock, as the defense had been a liability for the Browns just the year prior, causing head coach Kevin Stefanski to fire defensive coordinator Joe Woods and ultimately replace him with longtime veteran Jim Schwartz. The name will be familiar to many Cowboys fans, as Schwartz spent five years coordinating the Eagles defense under Doug Pederson, winning the lone Super Bowl for the franchise.
Schwartz has been around for a while, but he came into his own as a coach with the Titans. He coached linebackers for two years in Tennessee at the turn of the century before being promoted to defensive coordinator, a role he’d hold for the next eight years. As the top defensive mind for Jeff Fisher, Schwartz drew praise from around the league for consistently producing elite defenses in Tennessee.
It led to Schwartz being hired as the Lions head coach following their historically awful 0-16 season. Undertaking a serious rebuild, Schwartz took the Lions to the postseason in his third year, posting a 10-6 record. However, it proved to be his only winning season in Detroit, and Schwartz was fired with a 29-51 record over five years.
Since then, he’s had successful stints as a coordinator in both Buffalo and Philadelphia, and spent two years as the senior defensive assistant for the Titans before moving to Cleveland last year. And his impact was immediately felt.
The Browns finished the season first in yards allowed, first in yards allowed per play, first in EPA/play, first in success rate allowed, second in defensive DVOA, fifth in takeaways, and sixth in sacks. Myles Garrett also won his first Defensive Player of the Year award, beating out Micah Parsons for the recognition.
It all stemmed from the way Schwartz runs his defense. Philosophically, Schwartz is a disciple of Jeff Fisher and, by extent, Gregg Williams. From a scheme standpoint, this defense is a traditional 4-3 look that emphasizes simplicity and cohesion over exotic blitz and coverage packages.
That doesn’t mean Schwartz won’t blitz, because he will; in fact, Cleveland blitzed on 27.7% of dropbacks last year, just a tick below the Cowboys and above the league average. Schwartz had six non-defensive linemen register sacks last year as a result.
He also uses a deep rotation on the defensive line, often moving his pass rushers around with consistency. Aside from star Garrett, there were seven defensive linemen who landed between 25% and 60% of defensive snaps played on the year. Keeping this group fresh and deploying them strategically alongside the All-Pro talent of Garrett proved to yield results.
Behind that, Schwartz also took full advantage of his talent in the secondary, playing man coverage at the fifth-highest rate in the NFL. Cornerback Denzel Ward was named to his third Pro Bowl as a result, while a total of seven defensive backs recorded at least one interception throughout the year. The trio of starting corners – Ward, Greg Newsome II, and Martin Emerson – all reached double digit pass breakups too.
Schwartz is very deliberate with his scheme, but it’s not an overly complex one. He has change-ups and curverballs in his repertoire, but he thrives on his fastball, which is swarming pass rush and suffocating man coverage. It’s the kind of scheme that requires elite talent, but Schwartz has exactly that in Cleveland.
As it relates to the Cowboys and how they match up against this defense, that’s where concerns start to pop up for Dallas. The Cowboys will be starting two rookies along the offensive line – Tyler Guyton at left tackle and Cooper Beebe at center – and both of them are playing different positions from what they played in college.
Guyton will be making his NFL debut against the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, which is hardly ideal, while Beebe will be facing off against veterans like run stuffer Dalvin Tomlinson and speed rusher Shelby Harris. Schwartz will certainly have a few tricks up his sleeve to thwart this young offensive line.
He’ll need them to work, though, as Dak Prescott has the football IQ and weapons to win against this secondary despite their talent. CeeDee Lamb is a man coverage assassin out of the slot, while Jake Ferguson and Brandin Cooks have proven effective against man as well. Mike McCarthy’s Texas Coast offense is also, by design, a major stressor for defenses that rely heavily on man coverage. The question, though, is whether or not Prescott will have time to find the open man.
That turns the attention to this running game, which will primarily feature Rico Dowdle and the second stint in Dallas for Ezekiel Elliott. Dowdle played little, and Elliott didn’t play at all in the preseason, and they’re expected to split carries as the top two backs. Still, it’s tough to project their effectiveness right now. Elliott is 29 years old, has 2,065 career carries to his name, and hasn’t hit 1,000 rushing yards in a season since 2021, when he broke the barrier by just two yards. Meanwhile, Dowdle has just 96 carries in his career, with 89 of those coming last year.
The Cowboys shouldn’t – and likely won’t – plan on using the run to beat this Browns defense, but they might need to pivot that way if this offensive line struggles against Schwartz’s elite pass rush schemes. If that’s the case, then it will be an early test of how effective the Cowboys were in reconstructing this running back room in the offseason. One way or another, though, moving the ball against this defense will likely be very difficult to do.
