BEREA — Football can be a crazy game.

Nose tackle Shaun Rogers joined inside linebacker D’Qwell Jackson on injured reserve Dec. 1, leaving the Browns without their two best defenders.

The defense finished the Steelers game Dec. 10 with only two of the opening-day front seven healthy — linebackers Kamerion Wimbley and David Bowens.

Yet the collection of backups, castoffs and projects held the Chargers (91 yards) and Steelers (75) under 100 yards rushing in consecutive games. This from a run defense that ranks tied for 28th, allowing 148.1 yards a game.

Coach Eric Mangini doesn’t think the improvement happened by chance.

“It’s pretty consistent with what happened in ’06 in New York,” he said Thursday, referencing his first year with the Jets. “You install the defense and there’s a way to play it. Even though you’re playing it and it looks like it’s supposed to look, it’s not really operating like it’s supposed to operate.

“As you build up reps, as you build up a better understanding of how it all fits together, usually you make some significant jumps. We improved significantly in New York after the bye, because it started to hit for a lot of guys. When you do that, when you can play the scheme with all 11 parts sitting in the right spots, it gets better.”

Coordinator Rob Ryan’s defense has crawled out of the cellar and ranks 31st overall, allowing 386.1 yards a game. The Browns allowed 170.5 rushing yards a game through eight games before the bye, and have trimmed that to 112.2 in five games since the bye.

“If you eliminate mistakes, this is what the defense is supposed to look like,” Ryan said.

The improvement has come despite Rogers, Jackson, inside linebacker and captain Eric Barton and safety Brodney Pool being on IR. Other less severe injuries have forced Ryan to juggle the lineup on a weekly basis.

Bowens has been a stabilizing presence calling the plays at inside linebacker, linebackers Jason Trusnik and Matt Roth stepped in quickly after being acquired during the season and Ahtyba Rubin has filled in admirably for Rogers, a Pro Bowler last season.

“He’s played really well,” Mangini said of Rubin. “His feel for what’s coming and anticipating the blocks has gotten a lot better.”

Rubin’s 330 pounds in a 6-foot-2 frame make him tough to move at nose tackle, and he’s adapted to the Browns’ two-gap system that forces linemen to take on blocks rather than attack.

“I’m getting more comfortable with it, so I’m having a good time,” Rubin said. “That’s something I’ve got a strong point at, my ability to hold the point.”

Rogers’ quickness for his size (6-4, 350 pounds) makes him an athletic freak. While the Browns would prefer to have him healthy, his individual talent can get the scheme out of whack.

“His reactions were so quick that he would sometimes get to the point of attack before the rest of the defense had gotten there,” Mangini said. “Even though he was reading the play the correct way, it was at different tempos, so a crease would open up that wouldn’t typically be there.”

The Browns hadn’t held back-to-back opponents under 100 yards rushing since 2006. But the excitement should be tempered by San Diego’s 31st ranking against the run and Pittsburgh’s questionable decision to spread the field with multiple receivers and throw the ball. The Steelers, who rank 16th rushing, ran only 22 times despite the game being close throughout.

“Usually it means that you’re doing a good job in base if they shift to a different personnel group,” Mangini said. “We were holding up well. It shifted the other way.”

The Browns play the Chiefs on Sunday, and second-year running back Jamaal Charles will pose a threat to the new-and-improved defense.

He rushed for a career-high 143 yards versus Buffalo last week and has 16 runs of 10 yards or more this season. He’s carried 116 times for 605 yards, a 5.2 average and four touchdowns.

The Browns will try to make it three in a row by holding the Chiefs under the century mark. They won’t be able to do it without contributions from everyone, including linemen Corey Williams and Brian Schaefering and linebackers Kaluka Maiava and Marcus Benard, all of whom were thrust into the rotation by injuries.

“We’re hard working, man,” Williams said. “We’re playing together and guys want to win. We’re doing what it takes to win and playing within the scheme.”

“Guys get injured, guys step up,” Ryan said. “Everybody on our defense has toughness.

“When we’re put against a physical team like Pittsburgh, we match up. I know guys get tired of hearing me bragging about our players, but they deserve a lot of credit.”

Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.

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