6 takeaways from Cleveland’s coordinators about the 49ers

The Cleveland Browns will be looking to pick up their third home win of the season on Sunday when they host the San Francisco 49ers.

All the pregame hype will focus on quarterback Shedeur Sanders making his first home start, but the Browns will need more than just “juice and vibes” to beat the 49ers, who are deep into the playoff hunt in the top-heavy NFC West Division.

While the offense will look to take advantage of a weakened defense for the second consecutive week, Cleveland’s defense, which is coming off a 10-sack game, will work to make life miserable for the 49ers when they have the ball.

On Friday, Cleveland’s coordinators held their weekly meeting with the media, and here are the key takeaways from what they had to say about the upcoming game against the 49ers.

In three previous meetings, a Schwartz-led defense has limited Kyle Shanahan’s offense to 15.7 points, 290 yards, and 4.6 yards per play. But the outcome of Sunday’s game will still come down to the players on the field, according to Schwartz:

“When it’s all said and done, it’s not Jim Schwartz against Kyle Shanahan, it’s players versus players. And our job is to try to put players in good positions and let them go out, execute, play with fundamentals, and win the game. This is always one of my hardest weeks of preparation because, I mean, Kyle’s one of the best in the business and has been for a long time. (He) makes you defend every part of the field. He uses his personnel really well.

“I think we can probably make a little too much of people behind the scenes, structure and schemes, and calling plays and things like that. This is a player’s game. Our job is to put them in a good position. Kyle’s one of the best in the business of doing that for his players, so we’ll have to do the same.”

One area where the Browns will need to be particularly sharp will be in tackling to limit yards after the catch:

“(The) field might be sloppy, so it just puts more of an emphasis on technique, but also pursuit and knowing what your help is and getting 11 guys to the ball. I hate to keep referencing it, but (San Francisco’s offense is) very similar to what we saw when we had to go against Miami. A lot of perimeter screens, a lot of quick passes, and it really put an emphasis on tackling. And one of the big things we did in that game was we tackled really well, and that helped set us up for the defensive performance that we had.

“So, when it’s all said and done, defenses are judged by their ability to tackle. If you tackle well, you’re generally going to play good defense. If you don’t tackle well, it’s hard to overcome.”

Cleveland utilized running back Quinshon Judkins in a Wildcat formation to score two touchdowns against the Raiders, bringing his total to four on the season out of the Wildcat. While they may not use it every week, Rees said it is nice to have it in the toolbox:

“Obviously, we’ve had a lot of success here in two small sample sizes of games, but we’ve scored four touchdowns and had some productive runs in the package. You know, our fullback was unavailable there throughout the game. So, that takes you out of certain personnel groupings. So that’s kind of the Wildcat is another one you can use in those run-heavy situations.

“We don’t use it every week, but it’s something we work on and have in our arsenal and have a lot of confidence in that group of guys, you know, making those plays work, and you can kind of define the looks that you’re trying to attack.”

The Browns are coming off a win in quarterback Shedeur Sanders’ first start, and this week the focus was on building off what worked, according to Rees:

“There’s a lot of plays he would like to have back. There’s a lot of great learning opportunities out there and then there’s a lot of plays that he made that helped our offense and helped us score enough points to win the game, but, again, we’re really doubling down on how can we be process oriented, not get too caught up in a result of a win or a loss and just focus on every time you come in on a Monday, there’s going to be a bunch of plays that you want to correct.

“It’s just usually easier to correct when you win than when you lose, so our focus is there on continuing to improve. I think Shedeur’s done a really nice job this week of continuing to prep and really starting to hone in on the things we’re asking of him, and excited for another opportunity.”

Sunday’s game is going to be cold, windy, and possibly raining, which means the players have to find a way to deal with the conditions, according to Ventrone:

“I mean, playing in the elements as a player, it’s fun. Last year we had the game against Pittsburgh, and I’ve had games in my career as a player, where you remember those types of games because it’s uncomfortable, and you just find a way to grind through it and get the win and figure it out any way you can. And obviously we play outside in Cleveland right now, and it’s going to, probably, be one of those types of games where you just got to figure it out, and grind through it and find a way.”

After his early-season struggles, kicker Andre Szmyt has settled down, which Ventrone credits to Szmyt sticking to a successful process:

“I think it ultimately starts with the process, right? The practice repetitions, being able to consistently hit the ball in practice. And then, obviously, when we get to the game, it’s being able to connect and have a start it out with, again, your warmup, figuring out what the wind’s doing, figuring out the elements.

“We’ve played a decent amount of those this year with wind and rain and things like that. So, I think that having done that, I think that will help him moving forward. But his process has been very good, he’s been very consistent in both practice and in games.”

The Browns and the 49ers kick off on Sunday at 1 p.m. from Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland. Stay tuned to Dawgs By Nature for coverage throughout the weekend and all day on Sunday.