BEREA — It was five-plus months ago that Jacques Cesaire was coaching a Houston Texans defensive line that was creating all kinds of havoc for the Cleveland Browns in an AFC wild card game.

In that game, the defensive line recorded three of the Texans' four sacks of Browns quarterback Joe Flacco. They also had six of the seven quarterback hits Houston recorded in a 45-14 win over Cleveland.

The Browns defensive line, meanwhile, mounted one — yes, just one — combined quarterback hit or sack in the game. That was a hit by defensive end Za'Darius Smith on the Texans' second offensive play of the game.

Five-plus months later, Cesaire finds himself on the other side of that equation. Not that the new Browns defensive line coach thinks that playoff performance is indicative of that group's ceiling.

In fact, Cesaire has very strong opinions of what he thinks if the Browns post another playoff performance — or any performance — like that one in Houston.

"Plain and simple, if we're not rushing, we're stealing," Cesaire said after Wednesday's OTA session. "We're stealing from our kids, our family, the fans, everybody, this organization. So I want guys that want to get after the quarterback. That's what we're trying to figure out right here, right now.

"I want guys that want to rush, rush violently, come after their man, attack the pocket, assault the pocket, crush the pocket as much as they can, no finesse stuff. We want dogs that are just coming at the quarterback at all times. We want to suffocate the pocket."

That's why Cesaire now finds himself in Cleveland and not in Houston. The Texans defensive line was excellent at establishing pressure last year, and only added to the group with multiple offseason moves.

However, there was something that pulled the 43-year-old toward the challenge with the Browns — the talented collection of players he saw on their defensive line, even if they didn't show that talent in the playoff defeat.

"We got a lot of guys with a lot of experience in rushing the passer, right?" Cesaire said. "Got a guy (Smith) with 60 sacks in his career. We got the Defensive Player of the Year (Myles Garrett). So, we have guys that can rush the passer. My job is to make sure that they know the fine details of their pass rush plan, their pass rush games, and they go out and execute at the end of the day. Everybody in this defensive line can rush."

Garrett, specifically, is a draw for anyone. The 2017 No. 1 overall pick saw his on-field efforts last season recognized with his first Defensive Player of the Year award after posting 14 sacks, but just one over the final seven games — including the playoff loss — in which he played.

It's not just Garrett, as Cesaire said. It's Smith, who has 41.5 combined sacks in the last four full seasons in which he's played dating back to 2019, as well as defensive tackles Dalvin Tomlinson, Maurice Hurst Jr., Shelby Harris and Quinton Jefferson.

It's also the person at the front of the defensive meeting room. The thought of joining second-year Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz was as big a draw as any for Cesaire.

"I mean, you're talking about a guy that has just wealth of knowledge," Cesaire said. "He's been incredible at the attack front. He's won championships. He's produced $100 million defensive tackles, $100 million defensive ends.

"So just the opportunity just to work with a guy that understands the front, understands attacking, understands pressuring, and just knows how to call it on game day, you have to get excited about that."

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

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jacques Cesaire sets high bar for Browns defensive lineman