May 19, 2013

NFL Labor Dispute Could Spell Disaster for 2011 Browns

January 24, 2011 by 17 Comments

The Browns will begin next season with new voices leading all three phases of the game. Whoever is selected as OC will implement Pat Shurmur’s offense. Dick Jauron will bring his own set of calls and schemes to the defense, and Brad Seely will have to be replaced as special teams coach.

Sure, the Browns and other teams have swapped out coaching regimes and installed new systems in the offseason before. But this year could be especially challenging.

The elephant in the locker room for these NFL playoffs has been the potential labor strife headed our way.

After the Super Bowl, owners and players must work out a new labor agreement, and both sides have already started to dig their heels in the ground. At stake is how to divide up the billions of dollars the NFL makes every year. Players naturally want a larger portion of the pie, along with extended medical benefits.

Owners are clamoring for a reduction in the percentage share for the players, and want to add additional games to the schedule. Oh, and then there’s the matter of a rookie wage scale to boot.

There is of course a chance that a deal does not get done in time for next year’s regular season. Popular opinion is that the two sides would be crazy to let the dispute carry over into the season and risk jeopardizing the popularity of the most lucrative sport in the country. For whatever popular opinion is worth.

So let’s assume for a minute that the players and owners will eventually come to terms.The problem for the Browns, and several other teams who have switched coaches and coordinators this offseason- is the amount of time they will have to get these new systems integrated before the season begins.

Without an agreement in place, there is no way the players participate in OTAs (organized team activities) during the offseason. These OTAs are very valuable for a team trying to learn a new system, let alone three.

Say a deal doesn’t get done until right before training camp is set to begin, which is not a stretch by any means. That would leave the Browns with just a few weeks to learn a new playbook, and be ready to execute those plays. By the way, they would be the only team in the division trying to accomplish that feat.

In fact, of the seven teams changing head coaches this year, only the Browns, Broncos, Panthers and 49ers are bringing in new coaches that haven’t been part of the organization already. Dallas and Minnesota retained coaches who had an interm tag last season, and Oakland promoted it’s OC. In other words, don’t expect a lot of sympathy from other clubs if there is not much time between the start of camp and the start of the season.

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(Photo:Scott Sargent/WFNY)

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  • Gren

    Disaster*

    Disaster for the Browns ? *shocked*

    It’s almost a foregone conclusion that this will be a complete disaster though. When you can’t get 2nd and 3rd tier OC’s to interview for the job, that say’s it all.

  • Gren

    Not to mention, does anyone think that the Browns record will improve next year while the team undergoes a complete overhaul ? Didn’t think so.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Scott

    Gren – Re: Record, it helps that they’ll play a weaker schedule.

  • MrCleaveland

    I’ve never understood this. Is Jauron’s specific terminology so spectacular that we can’t do without it? Is it the only possible terminology that can succeed?

    Instead of forcing the whole defensive side to learn all new terminology just to satisfy one guy, why not keep the existing terminology and have Jauron adapt to it? It seems to me that the learning curve would be greatly shortened. Cripes, it’s only football.

    Naive, I know.

  • C-Bus Kevin

    I’m with you Mr. Cleveland. In fact, I’ll take it even further.

    These guys have been playing football for nearly two decades by the time they make it to the NFL. If these are the best players in the world, I’m sure they can pick up a defensive scheme in a short amount of time.

    Football is a relatively simple game. The only reason we think it’s complicated is because guys like Ron Jaworski tell us it is after analyzing one play for 15 mins. Can you learn about a team’s tendencies by watching video of their previous games? Sure…but I’m not convinced that the strategy is that complicated, especially on defense. Defensive strategy counts…sure. But a lot of success on defense depends on the players’ ability to react quickly.

    In short, “Cripes, it’s only football” indeed.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/ Rick

    MrCleaveland- way more to it than terminology. Just in coaching at the Jr. High and HS level I can’t believe how many differences there are in defensive philosophies between coaches. Who is responsible for what and when. Even within the same basic scheme (3-4 or 4-3).

  • bobby

    C-Bus- I dont really agree with that. You can see plenty of players saying “we saw the defense do x x and x so we schemed a play and when we saw them doing x we took advantage.” Now, maybe the browns havent been able to do that recently, but there a ton of tiny nuances in a defense and scheme that players have to know and react to in split seconds. They have to learn these and have the become almost like a reflex.

  • MrCleaveland

    @6

    Rick, you support my point. With all new schemes and new responsibilities, guys already have enough new stuff to learn. Why make this even more difficult by introducing unnecessary new terminology? The terminology itself is just a means to an end, it is not in and of itself important. So why insist that everybody learn a new one?

  • Charlie

    @C-Bus Kevin: Playing a sport your entire life doesn’t equal play/scheme comprehension. See: 2010-11 CLE Cavaliers.

  • C-Bus Kevin

    @ Charlie…That is a good point, and thanks for making me chuckle on a Monday. I can’t believe how bad the Cavs are.

    But @ Bobby…I always wonder how much players talk about the intense details of one scheme versus another to make is sound impressive. We’ve all done it…we make our work sound more difficult or important in conversation to make ourselves look better.

    Still, you could be right. I don’t personally know any professional football players, so I have no way to find out first-hand. However, I have a hunch that coaches seem to have a way of over-complicating things with crazy amounts of terminology.

    If Jauron has a new set of terms for concepts that the current Browns players have already learned, count me in the group that thinks it would be easier for one defensive coordinator to learn new terminology rather than 20 defesive players learning a new defensive language.

  • Matt S

    This here is one of the many reasons I thought now was a bad time to fire Mangini and co.

    A lot of people have tried to spin this as “it’s not a rebuild”, or that “the positive things Mangini brought to the org are still here”. But that’s crap.

    When you’re installing a new system, you need new players to run that system. And that’s especially true on the defensive side of the ball, and I honestly think that switching to the 4-3 at this point is going to make the Browns absolutely terrible next year. As in, this team will be in the top 5 of the draft for sure. So I hope that Jauron won’t be changing sytems, but there’s conflicting reports on whether that will happen.

    So, yeah, the Browns are going to be awful next year if there’s a season. And I think you’re going to see some struggles for some of the promising youth of this team, especially Colt McCoy.

  • pepe

    Pro Football is not a simple game in the year 2010. Have you ever seen a playbook?

    Plus, half these guys playing are imbeciles.

    The WCO usually takes two years to implement. Switching to the 4-3 means totally new responsibilities for almost every defender, not to mention totally new dudes to run it.

  • Harv 21

    “Disaster” is a relative term. We’re coming off consecutive 5-11 seasons, it’s not like our superbowl window is closing. We don’t yet even have the personnel, especially the all-important MLB, to direct traffic and be the playmaker in a 4-3 defense. If we have another good draft and Jauron can teach it won’t be so difficult to be patient a little longer.

    These labor-management things have to happen every decade or two, cleans out the bad blood. We’ll just have to go away for a while, they’ll call us when it’s safe to come back. Shouldn’t be long- as soon as the players miss a few paychecks, they start folding.

  • Roosevelt

    Okay, so we’re not pressed for time. But what happens when Holmgren is fnishing his third year here with ANOTHER 5-11 record? He gets fired. And a new guy comes, and decides whether to keep Shurmur or not. And the wheel keeps turning.

  • http://john@inktreeinc.com BomberDawg

    @ MrCleveland:

    A coach coming in and having to adapt to what the players are used to he players is idiotic and ultimatly an example of an overarching problem in many NFL losing franchises. Look at Pittsburgh last night. Did you see that TEAM victory out there? I am a Browns fan through-and-through and will never specifically root for Pittsburgh (and I can’t stand their fans), but Pittsburgh is a powerhouse top-down. From their owner to their coaches to every single player that takes the field in their uniforms…inclusing their multiple team captains on both sides of the ball. I’m not even a fan of theirs, but we’d all be lieing if we didn’t say we could immediately name multiple team leaders of theirs. Granted, I hear what you’re saying about changes and the endless cycle of new coaches, new systems, formations, etc. However, I think what Holmgren is trying to do is to implement a final long-term solution that will not happen overnight but will become a system that will be learned and left for future teams after he has left the game. If you don’t put in place a system you want to implement as the team president and coach simply to accomdate your players then the kids are running the castle and that doesn’t seem to be the status quo with winning franchises.

    I do think the home office is doing the team a disservice though by not brining in the old crew of Browns legends of the late 80′s to teach these young pups what this town will be like for them if they rally around the team and develop a personality around the league for something. The Dog Pound is a damn disgrace these days. Yay….we niss tackles and are the league’s most mediocre opponent. Sorry for the rant….just tired after watching the Steelers kick the snot out of someone again.

  • Shamrock

    If you draft and sign talented players the terminology isn’t as big a factor. Logically I would tend to believe the superior player can more adequately learn a system. If it’s a rookie player they’ll have to learn a new system regardless.

  • bobby

    You know, a lot of these players (vets) have a background in 43. Fujita for one, Gocong had the 43 in Philly and should be on the same page as Jauron. I remember reading how Jauron is a big Rogers fan, and he had a deal to bring him to Buf. when he was the coach (previously DC in Det) but it fell through and Rogers came here. So hopefully those types of players are proactive in mentoring the others/rookies into the new system. Rubin will have a bit of a learning curve but he has such a high motor that hopefully he’ll just keep on making plays.

    I just dont think terminology is as important as the schemes. I would think after a month of minicamp and hearing the same things everyday the wording will just become 2nd nature.