Clincher! Clippers and Huff Put 8-0 Smack Down on Toledo, Punch Ticket to Postseason
September 3, 2010Breaking News: Browns’ Hardesty Out For Season
September 3, 2010Through four preseason games, the Cleveland Browns amassed four quarterback sacks. Tied for dead last in the NFL, they were exactly 11 sacks behind their division rival Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens, each with 15.
Though it was only preseason, there were four players who had at least four quarterback sacks, including former Browns linebacker Kamerion Wimbley. Even more disconcerting is the fact that the Browns achieved three of their four quarterback sacks against the Chicago Bears reserves in the fourth preseason game of the year.
Following Thursday night’s 13-10 preseason win over the Chicago Bears, head coach Eric Mangini was forced to address the weakness that has become more of a pattern than an exception.
“I think that my main focus is for us to keep building on what we have defensively and to make sure the things that we run are as tight as possible,” said Mangini. “Because the pass rush will come based on coordinated defense and that’s the philosophy.”
Trading the abovementioned Wimbley in the offseason, the Browns have taken on a theme of team defense, where the scheme dictates which players are asked to rush the passer. Rather than having the same outside linebackers (or the occasional defensive end) rush the outside, Rob Ryan’s defense throws a variety of sets at the opposing offense with a number of blitzing players coming from different locations.
Regardless, the team spent much of the first three games – most notably the first game against Green Bay – blitzing more often than not, often becoming unsuccessful. Cornerback Joe Haden blitzed from the outside, resulting in a touchdown pass over safety TJ Ward who was asked to drop back in coverage. In said game, the Browns managed to reach a quarterback one time before he released the football.
But in the same way that Browns fans have not seen much of the oft-discussed “Cyclone” package, perhaps the schemes on the defensive end are vanilla as well.
“It’s not the pass rushers, it’s the scheme and the way that the players execute this game and I think there has been some really good examples of that,” said Mangini. “I think there’s been some examples where we had some great opportunities and didn’t hit the way that we should of and when we do good things happen. We either hit the quarterback or disrupt his throw or we get the sack. That’s more my emphasis as opposed to one pass rusher, another pass rusher.”
There is a longstanding rule that defensive backs are only asked to keep with receivers for a handful of seconds. Couple this with the fact that the Browns defensive backfield will feature two rookies during many passing downs and a lack of quarterback hurries could have a considerable impact towards the downside.
The pending return of Shaun Rogers can only help the pass-rush as it was only two seasons ago when the Pro Bowl defensive lineman was atop the team leaderboard in the sack department. The mid-season addition of Matt Roth appeared to help the linebacking unit in this regard and the ascent of players like Marcus Benard continue to add hope.
If there is any consolation, the New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles – teams with defensive units considered to be among the best in the NFL – were also not successful in sacking the quarterback this preseason. All the Browns can do at this point is hope that the switch is flipped come next Sunday when they head to Tampa Bay.
—
(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
12 Comments
It’s preseason -> Vanilla packages that don’t lead to a pass rush … at least I hope!
1. we have to hope Ryan has the blitz packages that he doesn’t want to show
2. we have to hope never having our real starting DL was part of the reason and that the real starting DL will cause pains
3. we have to hope that Roth can return to form (what has been wrong with him this preseason?)
4. we have to move Fujita back to ILB (he kills our pass rush at OLB because teams know he’s not the one pass-rushing, he is just not good at it)
5. 2 words: More Benard.
@2
I think there’s every reason to believe your first point is true since we haven’t seen any of the schemes that the Browns frequently ran in their last 4 games last year.
The coaches have to bemasking these plays in the preseason or they’re easing the new players into the system. Either way, we know those packages exist in the Browns’ playbook.
I’ll have The defense will be just fine. Oh, and give me a couple more kegs of that orange Kool-Aid. Nothing is going to spoil my preseason optimism.
Vanilla defensive schemes don’t account for the fact if you have a superior DL he should be able to just overpower an OL or spin through occassionally and get a hit on the QB. You don’t sack a QB with blitzes and schemes everytime, sometimes you just have great indivisual plays. Browns haven’t had that this preseason, so it is a bit of a concern to me.
The Browns are just saving up for the Pittsburgh game in Week 6 when Ben returns, now that his suspension has been cut to four games.
As for Matt Roth, we may be seeing why the Dolphins released him last year. The guy had a couple of good games at the end of the season and we bought into him being a player, which may not be the case. I hope not, obviously.
I agree that we should be scared about our defense based on what we have seen (poor LB play to start with). lots of high scoring games this year seem likely.
but, a 3-4 DOES rely on blitzing as otherwise you are only sending 3 guys. and the DE’s in a 3-4 tend not to be the best pass rushers. the scheme is built on LBs and possibly a Seymour/Rogers type DL getting to the QB.
It’s so dam hard to remain optimistic about this team… Not to mention the news about hardesty.
Roth is in a contract year. I think he’ll pick it up during the season. I don’t put a whole lot of stock in preseason play. I’ll be more concerned if the D can’t put some pressure on a TB team that was 3-13 last year.
Is there any update on Rogers’ situation?
Anybody consider that we haven’t had a good pass rush becuase most of the defense is slow? Other than Bernard, it looks like the DL and LBs are playing in slow motion. I’m glad this team values “character” and “scheme” over actual talent. It’s why we rank in the high 20’s league wide in most defensive categories from year to year. Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs. James Harrison and Lamar Woodley. Chris Gocong and Scott Fujita??? I know we can’t be a “winning” team this year but in comparison how do we even “compete” with that? Not to mention we’ve had Eric Barton start some pre season games. And then there’s Abe Elam starting at safety who can’t prevent anything from happening.
The lack of talent and speed on this team is appauling given the fact that we’ve had a total of 7 picks within the first two rounds of the draft over the last 2 years.
^^co-sign @11 above. now for a rant. and this is a full-on, boxed wine, regret in the morning, rant.
it seems we get sold a bill of goods by the browns every year. and no media members covering the team call foul.. they just report what they’re told. donte stallworth, corey williams, kevin shaeffer, shaun smith, antwan peek, daven holly, terry cousin –> you know all these guys got over a million dollars to play for the browns?
sure some of those were on savage. the point is that get fed a bill of goods every year. i want to believe heckert knows what he’s doing as much as you. but i’ve seen the same SLOW-ASS linebackers in the g.d. 3-4 defense that requires fast linebackers for four years now.* name a decent 3-4 defense without a pro-bowl LB. meanwhile we draft two WRs in the second round last year and this year give up three picks to take an RB with two knee surgeries this year.. and let’s not start on veikune.
so again.. why wasnt the question of ‘why 3-4′ asked? and maybe worse, when questions that are critical of the organization posted here.. why are the met by some with COLT MCCOY SHOULD BE CUT BECAUSE HES STINKY /?
my issue at this point is less with the browns’ incompetence. mistakes happen.** here’s hoping it’s getting better. (hardesty fiasco suggests it’s not. hey, you wanted a feature back? cj spiller was there. but we opted for a nickel D cb?) it’s more with the lack of critical evaluation from the cleveland media. we all want to believe. but somebody should be calling the browns on these major eff-ups.
i want to believe in browns as much as all of you. but i want some explanations. i want to know:
* why is a 3-4 with slow LBs better than a 4-3 with decent D-linemen?
* – corollary: if a qb has five seconds to find a receiver, then could hanneford/dixon plus ronnie lott and mel blount do better?
* why did they feel an RB with two knee surgeries would be better than the league rushing leader in the games he started?
* if they felt they needed a feature back, why take a CB at #6 when they’d just signed a starting CB from the eagles?
* after striking out on two free agent RTs (shaeffer/leclair), why should we believe that pashos will be better?
all that said, i think we’re going in the right direction. i think 10 wins are within reach and the difference between four wins and ten is 100% on jake delhomme. thus far.. i think he can do it. thus far.. i think he can be the best QB in our division.
forgive my bitch. i want to be liked. but there are turds in our punch bowl. the biggest one is in our linebacking corps. and it’s been there for four years. if gocong-fujita-roth-williams turn into porter-dansby-suggs-willet i will welcome being ragged upon.
—-
* i saw ahytba rubin bullrush pressure a qb in 2008 (rookie year). no stunts.. he just pushed his man back four yards. it was notable because it was the only one i saw that year. i remember shouting ‘yeah! ahaytooalgh!’ he sat the rest of the year. i saw ONE PLAY and he was on my radar. i live in NH and he was on my radar. i never played high school football and he was on my radar. smith, rogers, rubin, williams/wimbley is/was a good front four. meanwhile the LBs were a collection of mcginest, andra davis, peek, griffin, orr, bell, maiava, barton… you see where i’m going. why the EFF cant they play a defense that reflects their talent?
** but i am missing my ACL. i’m slower. this info should be available to our draft team.