BEREA — Jared Verse wasn’t himself through two games.
So he quit trying to be somebody he’s not.
The defensive end put his head down, went back to basics, had the best game in his brief tenure with the Browns and helped them to a 21-18 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Verse said he and linebacker Quincy Williams — the two marquee offseason additions to the defense — had been trying to do too much.
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“Since we came here, we had to be the superhero, Superman and everything like that. And that’s not who I am,” Verse said Tuesday as the Browns prepared to face the Steelers on Thursday night at Huntington Bank Field. “The Hulk don’t wear a cape. I just run through people. I’m just aggressive.
“We all just got to do a one of 11 instead of trying to do everyone else’s job.”
Verse was a critical piece of the trade that sent two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett to the Rams. Verse repeatedly said he wasn’t trying to fill Garrett’s 23-sack shoes but he experimented with a variety of pass rush moves that didn’t land.
He’s still looking for his first sack with the Browns but was a disruptive force vs. the Panthers with three tackles and a quarterback hit. His patented bull rush repeatedly collapsed the pocket, creating sack opportunities for others.
“That’s just my play style,” said Verse, who has eight tackles, two for loss, two quarterback hits and five hurries in three games. “I think the measure of a great player is how you can elevate those around you. And even if I’m not getting the stats that I want, every player wants, as long as my teammates are and as long as we get the W, that’s all that matters. That’s what I get paid for.”
He attended the Sack Summit this summer that brings together the NFL’s best pass rushers. He talked to Maxx Crosby and Von Miller about expanding his repertoire after 4.5 and 7.5 sacks in his two years with the Rams, in which he was NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and a two-time Pro Bowler.
“I think I listened to too much of other people,” Verse said. “Everybody’s talking about, oh, you need this move, you need that move. And I forgot where it got me to the point I’m at, which was genuinely just running through your face.
“If you’re not stronger than me — I don’t care how these guys are 320, 330 (pounds) — it doesn’t matter. I’ll still run through. You’re going backwards while I’m going forwards at full speed, I’m just going to run through you. So I forgot that’s my superpower. So I said let me make that big statement, a big testament this week, and from there on work everything else off that. But it was working too good to switch from it. So I just kept doing it all game.”
The power generated by the 6-foot-4, 260-poud Verse can be staggering. His highlight reel is filled with clips of him knocking much bigger men onto their rear ends or marching them back into the quarterback. The Panthers game was no exception.
What was different was how new coordinator Mike Rutenberg used him. In addition to his normal spot at right end, he lined up at left end and off the ball in the middle of the line. He didn’t do the imaginary crossover dribble Garrett did in that spot but, nonetheless, created difficulties for Carolina’s protection.
“When you put speed up in the middle, it throws off the guys on the interior,” Verse said. “When you got power rushers on the edge, it throws everybody off. So when they get something that they’re not used to, I mean, the interior guys don’t really do a lot of scout reports on me because I don’t rush over them a lot. So when I am over them, it gets them in a stressful situation and I think that’s what we took advantage of.”
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Coach Todd Monken saw a difference in Verse vs. the Panthers and quarterback Bryce Young.
“Jared is a heck of a football player and he wants to be elite,” Monken said. “He’s a self-made guy, in my opinion, how hard he works, very prideful, and he wants to have success. He wants to get to the quarterback, he wants to disrupt the game, and I think he’s right in terms of just, like, ‘all right, what can I do, what is it that I do well, and don’t try to be anybody else but yourself and be the best version you can of yourself.’
“And I think he’s bought into that and really affected the quarterback. All of our guys took to heart pushing the pocket and limiting the space that their quarterback had to move around. They won’t get credit for defended passes or batted balls, but there were a number of throwaways or misfires because of the pocket being pushed, getting in his lap.”
The defense has played well during the two-game winning streak after a troublesome outing in the 34-10 opening loss to the Jaguars. It allowed a single touchdown to the Buccaneers and the Panthers,
“I think it’s just us becoming who we are,” Verse said. “I think that first week was a bad show of character. I think we needed that to really knock us in the mouth. Now, we’re not where we want to be yet. We still giving up too many points these last two weeks, but we’re getting there every week.”
Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward credited Rutenberg with helping the unit settle in.
“Coach Rudy, he’s done a great job, just getting us all on the same page,” Ward said. “He got a great scheme and we all bought into it. We’ve showed in these past couple games and how we’ve been able to hold these offenses and we got to keep building and stacking on top of it. “
