[Elvis]

[Elvis]

[aeneas1]

By George Thomas
Beacon Journal/Ohio.com, Posted Sep 20, 2019 at 4:45 PM
https://www.indeonline.com/sports/20190 ... nst-rams/1

The Browns’ challenge this weekend comes in the form of three receivers and a Pro Bowl quarterback coming off his first Super Bowl appearance.

When the Los Angeles Rams hit FirstEnergy Stadium, the Browns secondary will find receivers Brandin Cooks, Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods attempting to run roughshod over them on “Sunday Night Football.”

The primary issue for the Browns is a depleted secondary, not an ideal situation with possibly the league’s best corps of receivers arriving with a dangerous quarterback in Jared Goff.

The Browns could be forced to deal with a secondary missing starting cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams, who are listed as questionable on the injury report with hamstring injuries. Safety Damarious Randall remains in the concussion protocol and is out for the game. Safety Morgan Burnett (quadriceps) did not practice this week.

Ward and Williams’ potential absence — they practiced on a limited basis — necessitated the Browns signing cornerback Robert Jackson from the practice squad. They also signed cornerback Donnie Lewis Jr., their seventh-round choice from this year, to the practice squad after waiving running back Elijah McGuire.

“The guys that are there, I expect to show up, play well and to compete every snap,” coach Freddie Kitchens said. “We have a bunch of guys back there with a lot of experience. We have had good depth back there. I expect them to play well. They expect to play well”

Safety Eric Murray will start at his position and play the nickel back, cornerback T.J. Carrie’s normal role, if needed. It’s new to him which he admits has been a challenge but he’s confident he can handle all of his duties Sunday.

“We’ve all been working together since OTAs, I think that’s a lot of things that people don’t see,” Murray said “I worked with Damarious, I worked with Morgan and Jermaine all together, so we built that camaraderie within each other and in our group, so I think it’s going to be a smooth transition because we’ve all worked together before.”

They will have their work cut out for them.

In Brandin Cooks (five receptions), Cooper Kupp (12 receptions), who is returning after ACL surgery shortened his season last year, and Robert Woods (10 receptions), the Rams have a triumvirate that has combined for 27 receptions for 382 yards (14.1 yards per catch) and a touchdown. Each of them have a diverse set of skills, said Carrie, who will likely get significant action Sunday.

Cooks is the speedster. He said Kupp is the shifty, finesse guy and Woods is an all-around receiver who runs precise routes.

Safety Jermain Whitehead agreed with that assessment.

“I do have a lot of respect for those guys. They definitely take the top off the defense. They run good routes,” he said. “To me, [Robert Woods] is the most impressive, but they’ve got guys they utilize and can do a lot with.”

Coach Freddie Kitchens said Rams coach Sean McVay and his offense certainly play to those skills.

“They are very good from the standpoint of they have guys that can win inside with option routes and choice routes,” Kitchens said. “They do a great job schematically of setting rubs and picks for those guys to get them open. They understand that concept of the game. They have speed that can get down the field on you also.”

Rams receivers also run formations where they tend to bunch together more. Carrie called it a challenge.

“It definitely affects us because whenever they’re tight, it limits the amount of coverage we can put on them,” he said. They try to create a lot of meshful situations, so that you can’t really play a lot of man because of potential pick routes, potential crosses and things like that. So that definitely makes it a lot more challenging when you’re facing an offense like that, that likes to get in bunches.”

Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks understands the challenges before his defense, especially the secondary. The unit as a whole hasn’t had an interception yet this season. The Rams will not necessarily make getting one more probable.

“It is a concern. We try to pride ourselves on taking the ball away. No. 1, we just have to be closer in coverage,” he said. “We talked about trying to complement one another with the front as well as the secondary so we have to have a better pass rush to try to force ill-advised throws, but we need to be tighter in coverage so when he does force the ball in there, we are able to get our hands on some.”

[snackdaddy]

Lol, reading their forums the Browns fans are a little cockier than I thought. But that's ok. Not too long ago they woulda been discussing whether or not we hang 40 on them. I still think they're over hyped. Closer to a .500 team than a playoff team. But its a far cry from what they've been for so long. We've seen that ineptitude during the Linny/Spags/Fisher years.

[Zen_Ronin]

[Hacksaw]

They're going to bring the heat to compensate. If our protections are solid, we'll crush 'em.

[Elvis]

[Elvis]

[aeneas1]

at pickwatch.com 84 respondents have picked the rams while 9 have picked the browns (90%/10%) - of the 9 respondents that have picked the browns, 4 were from pff.

that said, pff accounts for 12 of the 93 respondents, 8 for the rams 4 for the browns.

https://nflpickwatch.com/?limit=250&page=1

[RedAlice]

Garrett fined $21k each for two hits, including the late one that took out Siemen for the season.