The Cleveland Browns haven't allowed a team to run for 100 yards this season and lead the NFL in rush defense at 57.3 yards per game.
The Cleveland Browns have shut down two of the NFL's best rushing attacks the past two weeks. Detroit Lions offensive coordinator John Morton wants to see if they can do it again.
"I don’t think they’ve seen a run game like ours yet," Morton said in his weekly news conference Thursday, Sept. 25. "And we have patience. We stick with it. I think that’s the biggest thing."
The Lions rank fourth in the NFL in rushing at 149 yards per game and have one of the best backfield tandems in the league in Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. On Monday, they set season highs in rushing attempts (38), yards (224) and touchdowns (four) in a 38-30 win over the Baltimore Ravens.
The Browns lead the league in rush defense (57.3 yards per game) and have held all three of their opponents below 90 yards on the ground.
That includes the Cincinnati Bengals (46 yards rushing in a Week 1 loss), the Ravens (45 yards in a Week 2 loss) and the Green Bay Pakers (81 yards in last week's win).
Told of Morton's comments at his news conference Thursday, Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz – who coached the Lions for five seasons (2009-13) – shrugged.
"Um, I mean, we faced some good running offenses," Schwartz said. "Green Bay was running the ball really well, so was Baltimore. Cincinnati is more of a passing offense. So, yeah, it’s one of the major things we have to do is stop the run. Two different running backs, you got to protect your edges, you got to defend all 53⅓ (yards), particularly with Gibbs. And then there’s a lot of passes that are just extension of the run game."
The Lions (2-1) are in their fourth year as one of the NFL's highest-scoring offenses and rely heavily on the run for much of their success. Gibbs ran for 1,412 yards last year, Montgomery had 1,015 yards rushing in 2023 and Jared Goff is one of the best play-action quarterbacks in the NFL.
Morton spoke highly of the Browns defense – Cleveland leads the NFL in total defense and sack rate (14.3%) – and the job Schwartz has done as coordinator, saying, "When you got a front like that, you can pretty much do anything you want."
And he said it's important the Lions avoid third-and-longs and don't let Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, who's tied for second in the NFL in sacks (four), ruin their gameplan.
"The most important thing is us taking care of what we need to do technique-wise, the details," Morton said. "When we do that, we play pretty good, as you saw last week. So we take care of ourself and stop 95 (Garrett), or at least control him, can’t let him wreck this game. Cannot."
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions OC John Morton not worried about Browns run defense
Category: Football
