The Cleveland Browns and New Orleans Saints go for their first win of the season Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland. Both teams lost on the final play of their season-opening games -- New Orleans to Atlanta in overtime, the Browns to Pittsburgh.
The similarities end there, though. The Browns start 2014 with six consecutive 10-loss seasons. New Orleans has a future Hall of Famer in quarterback Drew Brees and has won 10 games in four of the last five seasons, including 11 in 2013.
On paper, this should be a mismatch, but the Saints allowed 8.2 yards per play to Atlanta and Matt Ryan threw for 448 yards. Those are impressive numbers against a defense coached by Rob Ryan.
ESPN.com Saints reporter Mike Triplett and Browns reporter Pat McManamon discuss a few key elements of Sunday’s game.
McManamon: Mike, the Falcons' Matt Ryan threw for 448 yards and the Atlanta offense had 568 yards in total offense. Both are records. What gives with Sean Payton's defense? Is it that bad?
Triplett: No. As a matter of fact, this defense was supposed to be a huge strength, maybe the best in the Payton-Brees era. Last year, the Saints ranked second in the NFL in pass defense and fourth in total defense. Then they went out and added safety Jairus Byrd as a marquee free agent. So expectations remain high. They have some bona fide rising stars such as pass-rushers Cameron Jordan (not the Browns tight end) and Junior Galette and defensive backs Keenan Lewis and Kenny Vaccaro. The problems that plagued the Saints most in Week 1 were a ridiculous number of missed tackles and a surprising lack of pass rush. But I think the Saints got too caught up in sitting back and not letting Julio Jones and Roddy White burn them deep, and they did a poor job containing everything else. If Cleveland posts 500-plus yards, then they’ve got a real problem.
On the Browns’ end, did Brian Hoyer do enough last week to ensure that Saints fans won’t get to see “Johnny Football” on Sunday?
McManamon: I’d be surprised if they do see him, Mike. Even when the Browns were struggling badly in the first half in Pittsburgh, Mike Pettine never thought of giving Johnny Manziel a shot. All the talk about a package of plays and going by feel now seems more like a little gamesmanship to keep the Steelers thinking. Pettine said he didn’t want Hoyer looking over his shoulder and wanted him confident. He stuck with him, and Hoyer rewarded the faith with a strong second half. Hoyer’s play came with him knowing that Manziel is on the bench ready to take over at any time. He shrugged that off and guided the Browns to 24 points in a row in the first 19 minutes of the second half. That the Browns lost the game does not diminish the reality that Hoyer deserves to be the starter and is better prepared to be the starter. It would be a large surprise to see Manziel get anything more than a few plays here or there, purely dependent on down-and-distance or field position. Hoyer is the Browns' quarterback.
We haven't seen Brees around Cleveland in a while. You see him all the time. Excuse the oversimplification of this question, but what makes him effective, and what do teams that contain him do well?
Triplett: Umm, how much space do we have on the Internet? Brees’ greatest strength is probably the way he sees and dissects the field so well, quickly finding mismatches he can exploit (and this offense has plenty of those). He steps up into the pocket maybe more than any other quarterback in the league. And he’s very hard to rattle. Most teams decide it’s not worth it to blitz him. Oddly enough, one of the few teams that flummoxed Brees was the Browns when they last met four years ago (and their creative defensive coordinator was Rob Ryan). But there’s no tried and true formula for beating Brees. He is more human on the road than at home, but he’s still better than most in any conditions. When he gets into trouble, it’s usually when he tries to do too much. So the Browns’ best bet is to jump to an early lead and try to frustrate him before he gets comfortable. But that’s much easier said than done.
The Saints’ offense looks as deep and diverse as ever with the addition of dynamic rookie Brandin Cooks to go with guys like Jimmy Graham and Marques Colston. I know about Joe Haden, but do the Browns have enough in the secondary to keep up with the Saints’ offensive depth?
McManamon: Probably not. The Browns have two corners they trust, and then they have guys they hope they can trust. That’s not a good situation with Brees flinging it on the other side of the line. Haden and Buster Skrine are a solid pair, but after that, the Saints no doubt are seeing some matchups they like. First-round draft pick Justin Gilbert struggled badly against Pittsburgh, and that comes off preseason games when he struggled. After Gilbert are players such as undrafted rookies Robert Nelson and K'Waun Williams, who is trying to re-establish himself. The Browns will have to be creative with their secondary to counter Brees, but more importantly they will have to be creative with their pass rush to disrupt him. The personnel in the back end isn’t good enough otherwise.
The Browns want to run the ball, and they did it well against Pittsburgh, averaging 6.1 yards per carry. New Orleans gave up 123 yards rushing, 4.9 per carry, in what appears to be a defensive collapse. I'm shocked to even be asking this about the Browns, but can the Saints stop the Cleveland running game?
Triplett: That will be a big test for the Saints, no doubt, especially after they missed so many tackles last week. I expect vast improvement in that area, but man, it got ugly on a handful of big plays Sunday. In general, the Saints’ run game has been solid under Rob Ryan. And they weren’t actually too bad on most run plays last week, with middle linebacker Curtis Lofton playing particularly well. But now they will have to adjust to a team that plays a totally different style than the Falcons did. Cleveland’s zone-blocking scheme could cause problems.
How is pass-rusher Barkevious Mingo doing in Year 2? Folks around here know him well since he played up the road at LSU.
McManamon: Mingo had an excellent preseason and training camp, but in the opener he had a couple opportunities for big plays and let Ben Roethlisberger go. On one, Mingo missed the Steelers quarterback, which let him escape the pocket and throw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown. The new coaching staff has a lot of faith and hope in Mingo. It gave him a lot of playing time. But he has to be productive. Paul Kruger had fewer plays than Mingo but had one sack. Mingo had zero sacks. If he’s going to become a player worthy of the sixth overall pick in the draft, Mingo needs to produce like that player.