The Cleveland Browns defense served notice last season that it would no longer be the NFL’s punching bag.
Gone were the days of teams running the ball at will, or 66-yard touchdown passes moving a sure win into a shocking defeat.
In their place were dominant performances where the defense limited opposing offenses to numbers not seen in a long time, such as 94 yards of total offense, 17 total passing yards, 4-of-18 on third downs, and 77 total passing yards.
Of course, those numbers were against offenses led by quarterbacks Ryan Tannehill of the Tennessee Titans, Clayton Tune of the Arizona Cardinals, Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears, and Kenny Pickett of the Pittsburgh Steelers.