One stat shows how the Browns revamped their defensive approach in Tampa. Was it one game, or their identity?

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A number that tells you about what went wrong for the Browns in Week 1 — and what changed in Week 2 — can be found buried inside a defensive coverage chart, says cleveland.com columnist Terry Pluto.

Against Jacksonville in the season opener, the Browns played man-to-man defense on just 12.5% of snaps, according to TruMedia Sports.

On Sunday in the win over Tampa Bay, that number jumped to 59.7% — 37 plays.

That kind of swing doesn’t happen by accident. And as cleveland.com columnist Terry Pluto said on the latest Terry’s Talkin’ podcast, what happened in Jacksonville wasn’t just a bad game — it was a coaching misstep with a specific cause.

“Mike Rutenberg, the defensive coordinator, had a brutal, awful game against Jacksonville where he totally abandoned the game plan that they had planned,” Pluto said. “I got this for a fact. I don’t want to hear anybody from the Browns tell me that’s wrong. That is not wrong. He got timid.”

In Jacksonville, Rutenberg retreated to passive, zone-heavy coverage. According to the coverage stats, the Browns ran 30 cover-three plays against the Jaguars, dropping players into deep thirds and giving opposing quarterbacks comfortable windows and time to operate.

As Pluto put it: It ended up looking like “just throw a pass to whoever you want.”

The bigger problem, Pluto said, is that the entire Browns roster is built and paid to excel in man-to-man.

“That’s what you’re paying,” Pluto said. “Denzel Ward’s one of the highest-paid cornerbacks in the NFL, if not the highest. Tyson Campbell has a very lucrative contract. He’s probably in the top 20, and he’s built for man-to-man.”

The 12.5% man-to-man figure from Week 1 would have been a major topic of discussion heading into the game in Tampa, and the Browns knew it needed to change. “The analytics people would say that,” Pluto acknowledged.

Against the Bucs, the Browns took the aggressive approach — and Bucs QB Baker Mayfield never found the rhythm Trevor Lawrence had enjoyed the week before.

Will man-to-man be the Browns’ trademark coverage, or will it come and go week to week?

Sunday’s home opener against a Carolina offense averaging more than 30 points per game will provide some clues.

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