BEREA — Jason Kelce's a veteran in facing Jim Schwartz defenses. The Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro center saw it for years in practice while Schwartz was serving as his team's defensive coordinator.

Kelce was asked after the Browns concluded two joint practices in Philadelphia last week about what kind of havoc the combination of their defensive line personnel and Schwartz can create for an opposing offensive line.

"When you have guys up front, on top of that that are physical specimens, makes it incredibly difficult for an offensive line," Kelce said after the Aug. 14 joint practice. "You have to have answers and you have to do things to take advantage of that technique. But even then it's hard.

"So they have really, really good players. They have really, really smart players. I think that one of the reasons (Eagles All-Pro) Fletcher Cox flourished with Jim Schwartz is not only because he's a great physical specimen, he's very, very intelligent."

Kelce's words would imply a certain level of complexity to what Schwartz is trying to run, especially when it comes to the defensive front. That, however, would run completely counter to what has always been the way his own players have described the defense.

When various Browns defensive linemen, as well as other former Schwartz linemen, have talked about the scheme, they speak of a welcomed simplicity. It's often boiled down to the mantra of "see quarterback, hit quarterback."

It's not quite like that with the scheme, but it's not far off. However, asked about the balance of complexity and simplicity, defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson said he understood how it could come across one way to them and another way to the offense.

"I guess it comes off as super simple but, just like Kelce had said, it could be very complex at times," Tomlinson said. "We can switch up a lot of different things and Coach Schwartz do a good job of making the simple things complicated for the offense and just the plays we can run and the schemes and the players we have. I feel like you don't get players like this all the time up front and just the different players we can just run and the stunts and stuff like that can be super complex for the offensive line because you can't always pick it up."

The complexity may actually come from the offensive line. What the Browns themselves will do with their defensive linemen isn't actually all that complicated.

However, what the Browns do, regardless of its simplicity, may create issues for an offensive line with its various blocking rules.

"We have a track and we have a point in the backfield that we want to get to," rookie defensive tackle Siaki Ika said. "And when the ball snaps, we just stay on our track and get to that point as fast and as violent as we can, so it doesn’t get too much harder than that.

"I feel like for offensive linemen, where they’re doing all these gap schemes and combo blocks and stuff, where we’re not worrying about the blocks at all. We’re just getting the feel."

The concept of masking simple ideas behind complex appearances isn't a foreign one in football. In fact, it can be the basis of many different schemes on either side of the football.

Offensive coaches talk often about the window dressing they utilize to conceal what is, in reality, a handful of actual plays. However, a formation change here or a couple of motions there can make it look a lot more.

"We want the outside observer or the opponent we're going against to say, 'Man, these guys do so many different things," Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. "And, for us, it's simple because you put things in families and you say, all right, we're going to run it this way. It's exactly how we do this, except we'll move a couple of pieces over. That's where the complexity maybe comes from. But you do want to keep it as simple as we do on defense, that guys can play fast."

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: Jim Schwartz's defensive scheme for Browns complex within simplicity