BEREA — Aggression is a central piece of Jim Schwartz's defense. The Browns defensive coordinator has preached "no seatbelt" as a philosophy since he was hired in January.

Aggression, it would seem, is exactly the kind of strength Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson would use against a defense. A defense that's too aggressive would seem to play to Jackson's ability to elude defenders and pick up big gains.

Those two mindsets will come together at Cleveland Browns Stadium on Sunday afternoon when the Browns and the Ravens square off in an early season AFC North showdown. While the argument for the latter is sound to some, it's not to Schwartz, who see a flip side to that line of thinking.

"I mean, I think you can [err] on the other side of Lamar Jackson," Schwartz said Thursday. "If you sit there and shoo the chickens, as we say, you're not going to get them either. So we're going to rely on our team speed. We're going to rely on team defense. We're going to rely on running through with leverage and try to take the fight to him as opposed to sitting back and trying to hem him in."

That kind of thinking has allowed the Browns, through three games, to post some eye-popping defensive numbers. They're No. 1 in the league in eight separate defensive categories, including total defense, points per game, passing yards and third-down conversions, while ranking second in run defense.

The Browns are coming off a game in which they limited the Titans to 94 yards, their lowest total yardage output since they were the Houston Oilers in 1972. They've posted three-and-outs on 61.5% of their 34 non-kneel-down defensive possessions, the best since at least 2000.

Jackson, though, is his own unique challenge. There's no one quite like the Baltimore quarterback, who can glide and move with the grace of a dancer like Baryshnikov, run with the power of a rushing leader and, with a flick of the wrist, find a receiver 40 yards downfield on a line like few passers in the league.

Healthy again after missing the latter part of back-to-back seasons with injuries, Jackson is coming off his second game of 200 yards passing, 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns rushing in an overtime loss Sunday to the Indianapolis Colts. For the record, those are the only two such games in NFL history.

The Browns are well aware of Jackson's strengths. The Ravens quarterback is 6-2 as a starter all-time against Cleveland, averaging 156 passing and 63 rushing yards, with 11 passing touchdowns, four rushing touchdowns, six interceptions and has been sacked 18 times.

"I mean, he's caused a lot of problems," said cornerback Denzel Ward, who is one of six Browns defenders to have intercepted Jackson in his career. "You guys see the type of player that Lamar is, able to make plays with his feet and with his arms, so potentially having to cover guys longer than usual and not letting no guys run free off of second chances. So just staying tight in coverage and getting a good rush on Lamar and being able to get him down."

Thing is, that's exactly what the Browns have done well over the first three games to allow them to rack up the impressive defensive numbers. They've gotten a strong push up front from their defensive line, while in the secondary their cornerbacks have, save for one play, locked down the opposing receivers.

So when Schwartz talks about not altering his philosophy because of Jackson, it makes sense. Most of all, it makes sense to his players.

"Yeah, we play an attack-style defense," linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. said. "For us to play an opponent and say we're going to stop attacking now would go against everything that we believe in. So, like I said, you just got to be smarter, not less aggressive, but rush lanes can't be as risky.

"But, again, just covering up from one another, we always do. Front line going, D-line being the engine that they are, they go attack and we clean it up and make sure that we keep him in the pocket, and if he does get out we get him on the ground."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Lamar Jackson not causing Browns defense to alter aggressive mindset