On Sunday October 13th ,2024, at 1 pm eastern time the Cleveland Browns travel to the city of brotherly love Philadelphia Pennsylvania to play the Philadelphia Eagles. The strength of the Cleveland Browns for the last two years has been their defense. And that began with the arrival of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz in 2023. And this game is a homecoming for Schwartz.

Schwartz did start his NFL career as an intern for the Cleveland Browns in 1991. This was under then future Hall of Fame head coach Bill Belichick. He eventually worked his way up the NFL ladder and became the head coach of the Detroit Lions in 2009-2013. He then took on other consulting and defensive coordinator positions in the NFL, until he landed with the Philadelphia Eagles as their defensive coordinator in 2016.

In Philadelphia as their defensive coordinator, he helped lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl LII Championship. They defeated the Tom Brady led New England Patriots to a 41-33 victory. Schwartz left the Eagles after the firing of head coach Doug Pederson in 2020. Schwartz went to the Tennessee Titans as an advisor until 2022. In January of 2023, Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski hired Schwartz as the team’s new defensive coordinator. In 2023 the Cleveland Browns had the top ranked defense in the NFL. And heading into this game the Browns have a 1-4 record and DC Jim Schwartz gave the quote of the week.

During the assistant coaches press conference, Jim Schwartz said “it’s not all (expletive) and giggles or sunshine and rainbows. When we get through this, we will be battled tested and tougher”. An interesting perspective from a veteran NFL coach. The questions to ask are when will the Cleveland Browns finally get through this? And who will be left standing?