The Cleveland Browns shut out the Philadelphia Eagles, 5-0, in the third preseason game. A strong defensive effort, punctuated by four takeaways and a safety courtesy of Myles Garrett, blanked the defending Super Bowl champs at FirstEnergy Stadium. Here’s who stood out for the better and worse against the Eagles: Stud: Myles Garrett The No. 1 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft definitely looked the part against the Eagles. Garrett blistered, eviscerated, embarrassed, (insert favorite domination adjective here) the Eagles offensive line, notably left tackle Hal Vaitai. Garrett notched two sacks, one of which was a safety on Nick Foles where the starting QB stumbled and Garrett got there fast enough to touch him down for two points. On another play where the Browns recorded a takeaway, there was Garrett harassing Foles into a mistake. He also drew a holding penalty.<doc-sep>CLEVELAND — There they were. The best team from last season versus the worst, facing off in the third week of the preseason, which is traditionally the dress rehearsal for the regular season. But neither the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, nor the cellar-dweller Cleveland Browns closely resembled their 2017 forms Thursday night at First Energy Stadium. For the Browns, that’s a good thing, but for the Eagles, that’s troubling. You see, for all the optimistic buzz surrounding the Browns this offseason and preseason, there’s equally as much uncertainty overshadowing the Eagles just weeks away from the season opener. Make no mistake, fireworks proved scarce in the Browns’ 5-0 win over the visiting Eagles. (No, that’s not a typo or the score from an Indians-Phillies matchup). And it’s the preseason, where nothing is ever as bad as it seems, and scarcely as good as they appear. But the Browns’ trajectory seemingly continued upward, while the Eagles remained stagnant and coach Doug Pederson left the stadium with more frustrations and questions than anyone would have expected when training camp kicked off nearly a month ago. Pederson and his players have long maintained that they can’t rest on their Lombardi Trophy laurels. It’s a new year, they said from the time that they reported for spring practices, and they maintained that message as training camp began. The Eagles understood that things change far too quickly in this league, and although the New England Patriots make it look easy, it’s far more difficult to remain atop the heap than it is to ascend from the basement. But no one in the organization anticipated the struggles we’ve seen from Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles and the offense. Thursday, instead of taking steps forward, Foles & Co. regressed. No one could explain a first-half performance that featured two Foles interceptions, a fumble, a safety, a turnover on downs, and a fumble by running back Matt Jones. “It’s not fun playing the way I did. I really hurt us tonight,” Foles admitted after the game. And exiting halftime, Pederson vented to Fox reporter Erin Andrews about Foles, saying, “I don't know (what’s wrong with him). It's very disappointing. He was calm before this game, I thought he would settle in. Not the case.” But Pederson had cooled off for his postgame press conference saying, “First of all, I’m disappointed in the offense. I don’t want to single out one player, so don’t put this all on Nick. I’m disappointed in the offense. It’s obviously not what you want in the third preseason week.” MORE NFL: Again, it’s important to remember that it’s the preseason, where teams do little game-planning and studying of an opponent, and play-callers keep their schemes simple. And five would-be starters (quarterback Carson Wentz, running back Jay Ajayi, receivers Alshon Jeffery and Nelson Agholor and left tackle Jason Peters) did not suit up. There was so much shuffling that left guard Isaac Seumalo also wound up lining up at center, left tackle and tight end during the first half. But it’s how the Eagles played — and have played throughout the preseason – that proved concerning and frustrating for Pederson. Tight end Zach Ertz said it best when he said, “everyone is pressing.” That’s not good. Throughout their improbable run to the Super Bowl, the Eagles were as loose a team as the postseason has ever seen. They donned rubber dog masks, embracing their underdog billing. They danced, they rapped and sang, and on the field they flew around on defense and on offense. They generated fireworks, running all kinds of creative plays. But now that they’re pressing, the Eagles are playing into the skepticism that numerous league insiders had about them entering this season. How would this team handle prosperity? Will these players, most of whom had never experienced postseason success, manage to maintain the same kind of hunger post-Super Bowl? Can they maintain the same high level of play under the weight of expectations? Perhaps the Eagles will flip the switch once back to full strength on their Sept. 6 season opener against Atlanta. But much work — as much mental as physical — lies ahead in a short amount of time. Meanwhile, it feels like the Browns have already flipped their switch. This doesn’t feel like the train wreck of a team from the last two years (1-15 in 2016, 0-16 last year). The perception has changed thanks to the credibility new general manager John Dorsey, his staff, and plentiful talent acquisitions now offer. The offense on Thursday lacked the consistency that we’ve seen the first two weeks of the preseason, but quarterbacks Tyrod Taylor and Baker Mayfield, wide receiver Jarvis Landry and running backs Carlos Hyde and Nick Chubb still flashed. One NFC scout attending the game offered his take on the new-look Browns, saying, “There’s a lot of talent across the board here now. They’ll be able to hurt you in a lot of ways.” And to go with all that offensive talent, the Browns have a defense seemingly primed for a sizable leap. Through three games, the defensive starters have yielded no touchdowns and just one field goal. Thursday represented a continuation of the preseason dominance. Second-year pass-rusher Myles Garrett with his two sacks (one for the safety), three tackles and two quarterback pressures is primed for a dominant run, and his teammates, both on the front end and the secondary are playing with a new confidence. Garrett and safety Jabrill Peppers say the attitude and aggression with which their unit is now playing stems from the comfort they have in their second season under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. This year, Williams has been less restrictive of his players. He has given them more freedom in the scheme, and now that they are playing more instinctively, the impact has intensified. But how do we know this apparent ascension is real and not just preseason fool’s gold? “It’s just a different vibe that we’re playing with,” defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi said. “We’re way more confident.” Explained Garrett, “You know it’s real because those guys aren’t playing around. They want to win as much as us, and even though it’s just one half, they’re giving their all, and so are we. I don’t think we’ve ever held anybody to zero, and they didn’t have some of their starters, but it was an impressive showing by the defense to hold them out of the end zone, and not even give up a field goal, whether it’s preseason or regular season, and I know we can improve.” Follow USA TODAY Sports' Mike Jones on Twitter @ByMikeJones. If you love talking football, we have the perfect spot for you. Join our new Facebook Group, The Ruling Off the Field, to engage in friendly debate and conversation with fellow football fans and our NFL insiders.<doc-sep>Look, it’s never good to lose any football game 5-0 to the Cleveland Browns. Even if it’s just a preseason game, a pretend match-up in which only minimal game-planning is involved, it still sucks to get shut out to a team that didn’t win a single football game a year ago. “Bad Nick Foles” was on full display last night. Halapoulivaati Vaitai looked as if he was eaten by sand monsters. The rest of the offensive line couldn’t keep defenders off the quarterbacks all night, and turnovers were rampant. The defense played very well, however, and that’s good. The defensive line created pressure all night, and some young players got some much-needed reps in what is the closest thing these teams can do to replicate real, regular season game action. But in three games, the Eagles have been outscored 73-34 by the Steelers, Patriots and Browns. The Eagles’ Super Bowl odds have dropped from 8/1 to 10/1, per @BovadaOfficial. pic.twitter.com/ZvpMT91hwO — Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) August 24, 2018 A few weeks ago, the Eagles were No. 2. Now, they’re No. 5 and falling. Cancel the sesason. Look, I get that some of you are worried. But don’t be. You haven’t actually seen the Philadelphia Eagles yet. Oh sure, there were lots of players wearing green Eagles jerseys last night, and many of them will play a significant role on this team in 2018, provided they are healthy enough to do so. But for those of you concerned about the performance of the first-team offense, take heart. You haven’t seen the first-team offense. You haven’t seen Carson Wentz, who stands a decent chance to be ready for Week 1, and will almost certainly be there for Week 2. You haven’t seen Alshon Jeffrey, who may also miss Week 1 as he recovers from rotator cuff surgery. You haven’t seen Nelson Agholor, who is dealing with a lower body injury, but should be ready for the opening game against Atlanta. You didn’t see any of the team’s top three running backs, Jay Ajayi, Corey Clement or Darren Sproles. And you didn’t see Jason Peters. What you saw a lot of was Vaitai struggling to keep his head above water, allowing rushers unimpeded access to the backfield. You saw Foles struggle in ways we’ve seen before. You saw Nate Sudfeld, who has promise, but is raw. You saw lots of Wendell Smallwood, Josh Adams and Matt Jones. You saw a ton of DeAndre Carter, Shelton Gibson, and Greg Ward. You get the idea. These are not the players who are likely to lead this team back to the playoffs. These are not the players upon whom defense of the Lombardi Trophy will rely. The defense looked good. Foles is what he is — great at times, downright awful at others — and virtually everything else on offense was second and third-string players trying to make it all work with very little game-planning put in place. Sure, we’d all feel better today if Foles and the gang had performed better against Cleveland, but don’t let what you’ve seen in the preseason, specifically from the offense, make you feel worried about the regular season. You didn’t see the Philadelphia Eagles last night. You only think you did.<doc-sep>
The Cleveland Browns rebounded on Thursday night to post their second victory of the preseason, a 5-0 defeat of the Philadelphia Eagles. The score may indicate otherwise, but it was far from a boring night at FirstEnergy Stadium, although it did leave the club and its fans with some questions just a little more than two weeks away from the season opener. Here are three quick takeaways from the game. The defense is evolving into something special The Browns are starting to see the payoff of a young group of players performing in the same defensive system for the second consecutive year. Defensive end Myles Garrett was unstoppable as he spent almost as much time in the Philadelphia backfield as starting quarterback Nick Foles. Garrett had two sacks and helped contribute to one of the four turnovers the Eagles committed on the night. The defensive front seven remains extremely energetic and are going to be a handful for opposing offenses this fall. The secondary, even though it was missing starting safety Damarious Randall for the entire game and starting cornerback Denzel Ward for most of it (more in him in a moment), also got in on the fun, helping to limit the Eagles to 162 passing yards and picking up an interception from Briean Boddy-Calhoun. The turnovers are something the team has been emphasizing, Boddy-Calhoun told clevelandbrowns.com: “If you want to win in this game, you have got to take the ball away and keep them in check on offense. Every single day in practice we emphasize this. In the secondary, we try to get at least two to three (turnovers) a day, so we know that the key to winning is taking the ball away.” It may have only been a preseason game, but this defense is finally going to be fun to watch this season. The offense was out-of-sync It may have just been one of those nights, or it could be a sign that the situation is not as optimistic as wide receiver Jarvis Landry believes, but the Browns offense just looked off all night long. At first glance the running game looked to be decent as Carlos Hyde and Nick Chubb combined to rush for 91 yards and average 4.3 yards per carry. But 33 of Hyde’s 45 yards came on one carry, as did 21 of Chubb’s 46 yards. Now those obviously count, but take away those two runs and Hyde and Chubb combined to rush for just 37 yards on their other 19 combined carries. The passing game was not much better, as Landry finished with just three receptions on 10 targets, and the quarterback trio of Tyrod Taylor, Baker Mayfield and Drew Stanton combined for just 120 passing yards while taking four sacks. Complicating matters was Taylor injuring his left (non-throwing) wrist when he landed on it awkwardly. He missed two offensive series before returning to the game, but never seemed right. Which calls into question why the Browns put him back in the game, especially sine Taylor on the sidelines gave Mayfield some unplanned playing time with starting offense. Which also leads us to our final takeaway. Injuries stink Ward leaving the game after the opening series with a back injury and Taylor doing something to his wrist are the top-of-mind problems for the Browns right now. But the team dodged a couple of major bullets when right tackle Chris Hubbard missed a few plays after having a player roll up the back of his leg. Likewise, Mayfield could have been seriously hurt when his head bounced off the leg of left tackle Shon Coleman on a sack. Luckily that was not the case, as Hubbard returned and Mayfield is reportedly going to be fine. The team won’t know for sure about Ward and Taylor until further tests are done, but it would not be a complete surprise if one or both of them are out for at least a little while. In Taylor’s case that is a problem as the last two games have shown the offense is nowhere near being one that looks ready for the regular season. And that puts head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator in a bind with next week’s final preseason game. Normally the starters would sit out the game, but since they still need work, especially on offense the temptation will be strong to put them out for a few series against the Detroit Lions.