Philadelphia Eagles: 5 takeaways from loss to Cleveland Browns in preseason

2. Defense stepped up when needed

As bad as a performance at Thursday’s game was for Philadelphia, at least the defense managed to keep Cleveland out of the end zone while limiting them to scoring just three points since the safety technically wasn’t their fault. Throughout the game, there were a few different occasions in which the Browns seemed like they were about to find a way into the end zone, only to see the Eagles’ defense find a way to step it up.

Whether it was four impressive plays in a row with Cleveland on the one-yard line to prevent a touchdown or picking off Baker Mayfield when the offense was deep in Eagles’ territory, the defense deserves some credit for the type of outing they put together. Even if it was against a team in the Browns that failed to win a single game all of last season, it’s never easy to keep any opponent out of their end zone, no matter what their record is.

Since the offense is dealing with all sorts of issues at the moment, Philadelphia’s defense may end up carrying most of the workload come September when looking at all of the questions still in need of answering. Cornerback play may still be an issue at times, but hopefully Jim Schwartz will use these final two weeks to make sure his players are ready for when it matters the most.