"The Browns' defense gave an extra inch last week. It only felt like the Houston Texans ran for a mile.

With that miserable performance behind them, the Browns' run defense will again be tested Sunday by the St. Louis Rams and tailback Steven Jackson. It's fair to say they won't deploy the same scheme they tried against the Texans.

In order to combat the Texans' unique zone-blocking schemes, Browns defensive coordinator Dick Jauron backed his linemen off the line of scrimmage slightly in order to give them more time to analyze the blocks. It sounded good in theory, but the Texans gashed the Browns for a season-worst 261 rushing yards. While some of the Browns' defensive statistics have looked impressive, Jauron hasn't been happy with the run defense most of the season.

"We're giving up too much in the run game," he said Thursday. "It's never total yards, it's yards per carry. Last week it got out of hand."

The Texans averaged 6.5 yards per carry last week, and the Browns are allowing 4.4 yards per carry this season. Jauron said anything under 3.8 is acceptable. There are only six defenses in the league right now allowing 3.8 yards per carry or less."