Quote:
Originally Posted by htismaqe
On the first 2 series, Speaks stopped the Browns running game almost single-handedly. |
Speaks made a nice play on that inside trap looking play where he flowed down the line, no doubt (though if my memory serves, Chubb still gained a handful of yards there because poor push in the middle). He also did a good job of staying in front of Johnson later in the game on that 4th down and waiting for help to finish the play.
But Mayfield dropped back 42 times yesterday with the worst pair of tackles in the league protecting him and Speaks was getting stood up head to head damn near every time.
Speaks, like the rest of the box defenders, was reactive most of the day. They made the job a hell of a lot harder on the secondary than needed and the secondary stood tall for the most part. He didn't 'shut down' the run on those drives; they still gained okay yardage in between incomplete passes from Mayfield. Moreover, Bailey had his only real standout play of the game early on as well when he tagged Chubb (IIRC) at the line of scrimmage and even Hitchens did an okay job early on so even on those drives, Speaks didn't do anything 'single-handedly'.
Nobody loses every time, but Speaks was completely ineffective as a pass rusher, got absolutely abused in coverage a time or two and was...fine...as a run defender. He did not play well yesterday and he damn sure didn't play better than Nelson.