Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz (10.16.25)
Jim (Schwartz), you guys have faced, the last two-or-three weeks, quarterbacks who have really gotten rid of the ball quick to neutralize your pass rush. You guys are seeing another one in Tua (Tagovailoa), what’s the give and take to try to respond to what they’re doing?
“Yeah, well, I mean, you see that a lot. I mean, you go way back in the day, Eli Manning got rid of the ball so fast, there was a reason that he would hardly ever get sacked and stayed healthy for all those years. So, offensively, I don’t want to speak for offensive guys, but you have got to balance how quick the ball comes out versus your ability to make plays down the field. And I’ll just speak on Pittsburgh, the way that game was going, other than a couple plays outside, which we can play better. The ball was coming out fast, but we were getting drives stopped and we were keeping the game managed. It took a lot of their play action, sort of deeper shot stuff away to be able to go. So, you know, there’s a lot of different ways – you want to hold the ball longer to try to push ball down the field, now the rush becomes more of an impact, different things like that. There’s different things, coverage wise, that can go, because if you’re aggressive to take quick answers away, which we were in that game, it makes you a little bit more susceptible to some of those outside shots that we got with DK (Metcalf). So, it’s all just a give and take of where you are, what you’re doing, where the game score is. You know, if an offense is in control or they’re keeping the game, they’re in control of the game, then there’s no reason for them to hold the ball long enough to take those hits or put the ball in danger way. If the game’s a little bit different, they’re trying to catch up – it’s hard to win with that strategy. So, Joe Burrow got rid of the ball super-fast too. We’ve seen a lot of those guys, Tua. Nobody got rid of him faster than Aaron Rodgers though – just stat wise, over the course of the year. And really, until that really crappy drive we had right after we got the penalty, we had come out at half, got a good three and out, and then we got the penalty, and then we just really went to pieces. You know, the thing I warn against a lot of times, we started trying to make plays instead of just trying to keep playing our stuff and ended up giving a touchdown there. And I really thought that’s where that game changed. We keep that 9-3 right there, force a punt, get the ball back, then, it’s just like I kept telling the guys on the sideline, ‘man, this is just like Green Bay, we’re hanging in there. We’re hanging in there. We’re going to make a play and win the game’. But that was disappointing.”
Jim, how do you feel about Myles (Garrett) coming out after the game and expressing frustration with how you guys are continuing to lose every single week?
“Yeah, I mean, Myles is one of our key players, and he certainly has a voice and certainly has his opinion. And I think anybody that wants to stand behind their statements and speak up, I don’t see any issue with that.”
I think it’s been three games that Myles hasn’t had a sack. He said last week, even if he wasn’t blocked, it would have been hard for him to get Rodgers. Did you see anything that he could have done differently to affect Rodgers more or affect that game?
“There was only really one play, and that was when they sprinted away from him. And he has the back, and he’s trying to chase the quarterback down, he went inside the back and then the ball came all the way back across. You know, that was really sort of the only time. In that game, we had some really good rushes. But it was, ball was just coming fast. And like I said, there’s two sides to that. It takes away a lot of big strike ability of the offense to be able to do that, so that’s just sort of where it was. But if you look across that game, not just Myles, but our front four had some really good pass rushes. But that’s quarterback play- get rid of the ball. And if we can make one of those plays in there, like right before the third down stop, right before the roughing the punter, Denzel (Ward), really good job getting his hands on that inside breaker, and that ball pops up and here comes Carson (Schwesinger) coming, and he’s maybe a yard or two away from making an interception right there. But those short passes, contact, PBU’s, tipped balls, things like that, you got to be able to capitalize on those. We’re really close there, but close doesn’t count. But you look at that play, and man we’re one step away from ‘if that ball just hangs in the air a little bit longer or just one step better, that’s like pick-six right there’, and we got to make our share of those plays.”
Hey, Jim, you guys are third in the league defensively, yet last in red zone defense. Do you have an explanation for that?
“No, I mean, we’re working really hard, and it’s come from different places. I think the double move was just outside of the red zone. Generally, the best run teams play good red zone defense, and we’ve allowed some rushing touchdowns in there close, like Minnesota (Vikings), just shoved it right up in the A gap. And then early in the year, I thought there were sometimes where, it’s hard to stop them in the red zone, but we took the field after some turnovers or things like that, and we played like three really good plays, they go for it on fourth down and make it. We just got to keep grinding it, we got to play physical down there, we got to take the run away and get back on the right side of that, because having a chance to hold them the field goals or force long field goals is paramount to keeping the score down, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Jim, it looked like (Tyson) Campbell had pretty good coverage a lot of the day on Metcalf. How do you get a guy to turn his head?
“Yeah, that is something that we coach a little bit different here, and a lot of guys coach people to play blind to the ball and play the blur of the ball. It’s a tough situation to be in – a lot of colleges coach it that way, and he was only here, boots on the ground for not very long. But he had some really good, tough, competitive plays. I thought he was battling. You know, they obviously were testing the new guy, and you’re talking about one of the premier receivers in the NFL doing it. But we’ll get him up on that, because I think on two of those plays, if we get our head around, there’s chances for interceptions there. It was tough, like the very first play of the game, Tyson…they’re up there, they’re running play action, he loses his eyes, and he’s the deep-third player on that – he’s got to be able to see that. think we can get a little more experience, time on task. Tough position to put him in there, but I thought he was battling. He had his fair share of good plays, but then also had a couple that I’m sure he’d like to have back. I did like the way he was playing physical – he made some really good, physical tackles in there.”
Jim, Myles (Garrett), after the game mentioned the fact that you guys haven’t had a chance to play with many leads this year? So, I guess how, if at all, has that impacted?
“Well, I mean, you know, we’re not pointing any fingers or anything else because there’s plenty of things that we can do to turn the ball over to score on defense, if we can change that. But it’s a little bit like Tony (Grossi) had talked about a couple weeks ago. I mean, it’s just, it’s real life. Like, if you don’t have the lead, quarterback, doesn’t have to hold the ball very long, if they don’t feel the need to put the ball in dangerous places to try to make a play, then your opportunity to get interceptions is now down. If they’re saying, ‘like, look, we cannot take a sack strip’ – we’re seeing a lot more wrong on these like third down and threes and fours than we ever had in the past. Because again, a lot of times they’re playing with a lead and it’s like, ‘okay, how can we mess this game up?’ We mess it up with a sack strip or an interception. And if you really go, I mean, that’s really what happened at Green Bay. I think teams saw that, like, you know, that game’s right in there, and they have a third and fairly short. They tried to throw it, we intercepted it, and that changed the whole game right there. I mean there’s a lot of things that we need to worry about. We need to take care of our own selves, we need to play better on third down, we need to play better in the red zone. But, yeah, that is a dynamic that exists. That’s not pointing the finger at anybody. That’s just the way it is.”
Jim, you talked about different teams teaching different methods to get their head around or whatnot. Were you saying that, for here, you want them to get their head around or play the ball or play their hands?
“Yeah, we teach guys to look and lean, and to get their head around to play the ball. That’s just the way we’ve done things here. It’s hard to play blind. You can make plays playing blind, but you can also get a lot of PIs and things like that or have great coverage and then the ball just goes, and there’s a potential on Sunday that the wind is going to be blowing pretty good and the ball’s going to move around a lot. And our ability to find the ball down the field is a big part of what we do.”
Jim, when you look at Miami’s roster, their running back, De’Von (Achane)… From a speed standpoint, how do you guys combat his speed and defuse that run game?
“Yeah, you know, a lot of times it’s almost like there’s a punt returner back there. You know, Achane is super, super fast. He can get the perimeter a lot of different ways. They run the wide zone and, you know, they’re really attacking the outside numbers in the field. They get the ball on, like bubble screens and tall sweeps, and even the checkdowns are wide. So, we got to defend all 53 and the third of the field. And also, you got to find a way to get it cut off. Like a lot of times, in the punt return, you got to cut the field off, force guys to cut back. There’s a lot of people that you want to string it to the sideline. You know, there’s others that you want to get it cut off. Their a speed team. He’s got great speed, not just carrying the ball, but, you know, getting his pass receiver. So he’s their leading rusher, I think he’s probably even their leading receiver, you know, and they use him a lot of different ways. Our ability to combat his speed in the perimeter and have good leverage tackles and things like that is going to be very important in this game.”
When it comes to teaching players who have been talking to play coverage blind and how do they make that adjustment?
“Yeah, I mean, it’s just coaching technique. I mean, I don’t think it’s any different than the way some people coach a double team on the offensive line or some people coach away to take on a block or things like that. Everybody has techniques that they believe in, and that’s what individual periods for. That’s what all that stuff’s for. And, you know, I mean, there’s a lot of different ways to do things, but in order to be able to play the ball, you got to see the ball.”
We talked about Mason (Graham) a few weeks ago when you’re looking for an improved pass rush and he had it for a game. Have you seen him keep that consistency level or…?
“Yeah, you know, I wouldn’t judge it on this last game because there were a lot of wins. Him and Maliek (Collins), I thought were rushing really well in there, and you just got to keep on coming. And, you know, eventually, it’s the old adage of whatever hammer strike finally breaks the rock. You know, you can’t get discouraged by having a good rush and ball coming out, not getting the sack, you just keep on coming, and if you do that, you’ll be rewarded.”
# # #
***Visit the Browns Media Center for materials provided by the Browns communications department, including media schedules, press releases, quotes, photos, media guides, rosters, depth charts and more.***