Michael Brantley, Come on Down
October 6, 2008Now Vanderbilt is Talking Trash
October 6, 2008
During their bye week, the news has been slow (some would say, thankfully so). But, with the World Champs coming to town next Monday night, and the Browns languishing at 1-3, one can’t help but wonder (perhaps “pray” is a better word) if perhaps the Browns’ coaches have been cooking up some new things during the bye week.
On Saturday, leading Tony Grossi’s “Hey Tony” column was an interesting question brought up about Josh Cribbs by a reader:
Hey, Tony: Why don’t the Browns use Josh Cribbs like Pittsburgh used Antwaan Randle El? — Ron Stratton, Leavittsburg, Ohio
Hey, Ron: Actually, the better comparison is Kordell Stewart. The Steelers named their special package of plays for Stewart “Slash.” The Browns have named their special package for Cribbs “Flash,” in honor of his days at Kent State. We haven’t seen a lot of that package, but it’s coming.
Sweet. It’s coming. So, with this in mind coupled with the general belief that the Giants will lay waste to the Browns as they are currently functioning, one has to wonder what else that we have not yet seen could be worked into the game plan to aid the Browns. Knowing full-well that I’m just wishing into the wind, following are some of the things I wouldn’t mind seeing:
More of Cribbs on offense
We kept hearing during camp about Cribbs being more involved with the offense. We’re still waiting. After watching the Redskins win with the help of a Randle-El reverse/option pass to the tight end in the red zone, I want to see more of Cribbs on offense as either a backfield decoy, or maybe running reverses to set up option passes himself. Hopefully the bye week has healed him up enough to where he can be a factor with his speed and agility.
Likelihood (out of 10): 7
Some 4-3 Defensive Looks
Rick has touched on this in the past. The strength (and I use that term very loosely) of the defense thus far has been the line, and two of the guys on it (Rogers and Williams) are better at playing DT in a 4-3 alignment. It could be argued that (based on their college careers) Alex Hall and Kamerion Wimbley would be better 4-3 DEs right now than they are 3-4 OLBs. The strength of a good 3-4 scheme is the linebackers, and our linebackers are clearly not leading the charge on any level. The problem with my pining for this right now is that there probably aren’t enough healthy linebackers to even field an effective 4-3. Where would Jackson play? Williams? Would this put guys like Shantee Orr on the field more than they should be?
Likelihood: 1
Mix it up on special teams
The one play we’ve seen so far has been the “line-Dawson-up-for-a-long-FG-attempt-and-direct-snap-it-to-him-for-a-punt” play. Doesn’t exactly get the pulse racing in terms of creativity and excitement. Seeing the Bengals execute a perfect surprise-onside kick (and using a move we’ve seen Dawson quite successfully pull off himself in his career) has made me hungry for some devilry on special teams. Lest we forget, Dave Zastudil was himself a quarterback in high school and college, and could potentially be called on to execute some kind of punt trickery if the situation was appropriate. If the Browns are hanging around with the Giants, they’re going to have to pull out all of the stops. This would be one of them. If the team has plays like this in the archives, I’d love to know what they’re saving them for at this point…?
Likelihood: 4
Line up two “runners” in the backfield.
While it’s no secret that Vickers is a good player–and that I do like him a lot–I think that a backfield of Jamal Lewis and Jerome Harrison at the same time would bring distinct strengths to the offense. Why can’t they both be in the backfield at the same time? Lewis offers the threat of play-action, and Harrison offers the threat of dump/screen passes. For example, I’d love to see a two-back set with Winslow on the left side and both receivers on the right side. Run a play-action fake to Lewis, who then slips through the C/LG gap as Winslow runs an out, while Stallworth and Edwards are on the right side running a post and a go. Harrison can slip out of the backfield to the right for a dump/screen pass with room to run, based on the idea that Lewis freezes the backers with the PA fake (and then can engage at least one as a blocker once he bleeds through the line), Winslow takes a backer and/or safety with him to the other side, and Stallworth and Edwards take the remaining DBs with them as they begin their routes and can then set up blocks. Let me allow MSPaint to better illustrate it:
Just an idea. It works in Madden, anyway. Notice that I must have subconsciously hoped for Tucker to be back when I “drew” this up. And, this ties in with my other paragraph above, because that could just as easily be Cribbs instead of Harrison, and if you ran this formation a few times and actually handed the ball off it would set the PA fake up that much better, and possibly open room for Lewis since the D has to account for Cribbs/Harrison. I’m rambling.
Likelihood: 3
Brady Quinn.
I’m not even going to type this paragraph. I know why. You all know why. Let’s hope the coaches know why as well.
Likelihood: 8
What would you guys like to see that we haven’t seen, other than the obvious of actually fielding a competitive team?
8 Comments
So DP, from the picture you’re actually suggesting is that Cribbs throw the ball to himself? That may be just crazy enough to work…
Not exactly what I meant, but hey… desperate times call for desperate measures!
And, it worked for Nelson in “The Simpsons”…
High five for MS Paint!
I want to see the coaches be aggressive in the play calling on offense and defense. Screw this play it safe garbage.
This is a thoughtful post. Unfortunately, “thoughtful” is not an attribute I would ascribe to our head coach. The bottom line is, if Romeo has a conservative philosophy, that will reverberate throughout the team. He’s way too conservative and so any of the real gutsy stuff is unlikely to happen. I wish Romeo would take a clue from Tressel and actually play aggresively once in a while.
Tressel aggressive. Did you watch the last two BCS championship games. If anything its the opposite. Down by two scores more than halfway through the second half and no indication of any sort of urgency. I appreciate not panicing, but romeo looks like your grandpa does when you wake him up from a nap sometimes.
This is exsactly what I was thinking watching the Bengals/Cowboys game. The Browns need to use agressiveness on both sides of the ball what do we have to lose. Crennel is such a poor game planner and conserivitive coach he would never go for this. But I have said many times about the Browns if they give it everthing they have and still lose, then they did everthing they could to win.