BEREA — One of the great unknowns heading into the season is how the Browns defense will fare under first-time coordinator Mike Rutenberg. He replaced Super Bowl winner Jim Schwartz, who turned the defense into one of the NFL’s best over his three seasons, and has never called plays in a regular-season game.
Linebacker Quincy Williams knows Rutenberg as well as anyone in the organization after five years together with the Jaguars and Jets. In Rudy he trusts.
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“I’m very confident and what makes me confident is the preparation that he takes and also coming up with the game plan and then just the confidence that he has coaching it and making sure that we’re all on the same page,” Williams said Thursday. “So I’m confident that he’s ready.”
The Browns open the season Sunday in Jacksonville. With questions about the offense — Deshaun Watson at quarterback, a completely remade line — the team can’t afford much slippage from a defense that ranked fourth overall in the NFL last season.
NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett was traded to the Rams and replaced by Jared Verse at defensive end. The rest of the unit is largely intact, which puts pressure on Rutenberg to maintain the excellence.
“It’s one thing to be a linebacker coach, it’s another to be the coordinator, and there’s going to be ups and downs,” new coach Todd Monken said of his message to Rutenberg. “Just stay the course, don’t overreact to anything that happens. Stay the course, stay positive and let it rip. Don’t look back. There is no perfect play call.”
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Rutenberg said he called plays during practice and the preseason in the past, then again for Cleveland’s three exhibition games.
“Todd’s been awesome in terms of helping me prepare, calling some different practices,” he said. “I feel really comfortable with our process, and the beauty of it is that we’ve got great players. We’re going to make it work and can’t wait to help them get into great position.”
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Williams raved about how Rutenberg gets the players ready.
“Rudy is the person that watches the most film that I’ve ever met,” Williams said. “I’m talking about offense, defense, from any game, any season. He always pays attention to tells. When we get the notes, it has the plays on it, but then it also has tells on it, too. So I like that part of it because now you’re basically in his head on the field, so you know what to expect, you know what the next call is going to be, you know the reason why he’s calling it. And you also have a tell on the offense of like, all right, this is what I’m looking at.”
Rutenberg downplayed the praise.
“First of all, I can’t imagine that I watch more film than anyone,” he said. “There are amazing coaches in this league, in college football and high school who are all dedicated to watching film and helping their players. I was just raised on hard work, and not being super talented athletically, I try to outwork (people) as much as I can.”
Rutenberg was light on specifics in his answers, focusing on philosophy and his trademark energy.
“It’s a players’ game. It’s going to be our players’ defense, they’re going to make it come to life,” he said. “And hopefully we’re doing everything we can as a coaching staff, with the collaboration of the players, schematically to get them in the best position to play and let their talents take over.”
His message came through loud and clear when players were asked what to expect from the defense.
“Speed, violence, execution,” Williams said. “Going to be a whole lot of celebrations out there, too.”
“We’re fast and relentless,” Verse said. “It’s a dominant defense and that’s what you’re going to see.”
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Linebacker Carson Schwesinger will be the one getting the calls from Rutenberg and relaying them to the rest of the defense.
“Learning about Rudy has been great,” he said. “We spent a lot of time together just getting to know each other, how each other thinks. And so that’s been really helpful just for when we get into the game, we’re going to be on the same page.”
Schwesinger said Rutenberg knows to tone down the energy when giving him the play through the headset. He learned from mentor and Falcons coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
“One of the things he used to talk to me about all the time, when he was a player, was just the calmness,” Rutenberg said. “Mama’s voice in your ear. Mama’s voice, auntie’s voice, grandma’s voice, dad’s voice, whoever’s comforting voice is. Calmly communicating into their ears, giving them enough of what they need and then letting them play.”
The defense under Rutenberg isn’t just a mystery to Browns fans. The Jaguars coaching staff and players aren’t sure what to expect.
“I have no idea what Rudy’s going to play defensively. I really don’t have a clue,” coach Liam Coen said. “I don’t have tape from last season of his defense. I’ve got an idea, we’ve got some thoughts, we’ve got some cut-ups and all that, but in Game 1 specifically, I think you have to really be ready to adjust.
“You don’t want to have too much volume, but you also need to have answers for maybe what they could throw at you, what kind of game it becomes. We’re kind of going in a little bit more blind than maybe they are.”
