Tribe Stayin’ Alive
September 25, 2014The Cleveland Browns’ All-Nickname Team
September 25, 2014The Cleveland Browns had another tough late-game loss on Sunday versus the Baltimore Ravens. The offense could not make the plays to put the game away and the defense gave up big plays to give the Ravens the win, but it has been the defense that has been very underwhelming so far this season. Before the season began, many, including me, believed that the defense would be the unit that would lead the team to victories, but that has not been the case. So what is the problem with the Browns defense?
The unit has several issues that have hurt them so far. The secondary has been shaky, including Pro Bowler Joe Haden. But the biggest problem has been the lack of defense against the run. The front seven has struggled mightily in stopping the run and it was very visible when they let little-known Lorenzo Taliaferro run for 91 yards and a touchdown. Not-so-fun fact: The Browns defense has given up the fifth most rushing yards per game this season, allowing 153.7 yards on the ground per game.
In this week’s film room, I examine what has caused the terrible run defense so far this season, using the Ravens game for my explanation. There is more then one single cause of the bad run defense. I will look at three of the biggest causes: The terrible performances of Phil Taylor and Ahtyba Rubin, the lack of contain especially by the outside linebackers, and the horrible tackling epidemic. So grab a seat and lets get going with this week’s film room of the defense.
Phil Taylor
This big 31-yard gain by Lorenzo Taliaferro is just one example of Phil Taylor’s underwhelming performance so far this season. A big reason for this run happening is because of Phil Taylor’s actions on the line. Let’s take a look.
The play is a designed run to the right by running back Lorenzo Taliaferro. The whole Ravens offensive line flows to the right with Taliaferro running behind them. Phil Taylor completely loses position by going the opposite direction to the left.
This cut to the left by Phil Taylor completely puts him out of the play. The runner is going to the right, but Taylor makes a predetermined cut to the left. Taliaferro is already past him in the first second of the play because of an undisciplined cut to the left by Taylor.
This is what results from Taylor’s move to the left. He leaves a huge hole for Taliaferro to run through for the 31-yard gain. Taylor is blocked to the middle of the line, losing his position on the right side of the line. He vacates the spot where Taliaferro has an open lane to the secondary.
Phil Taylor has done this quite a bit so far this season. He is inclined to cut to either the left or right and in many situations he loses gap responsibility for the run defense. He is more worried about pass rushing and getting to the backfield, then staying strong in the run defense and being gap responsible.
Ahtyba Rubin
Ahtyba Rubin’s biggest issue this season is his inability to get penetration and stand his ground. On both of these plays, he is blocked out of the way for the runner to cutback and gain yards upfield.
As you see here, Rubin is pushed all the way out causing the backside cutback lane to be open. He needs to be stronger at the point of the attack and beat his man to the football. As a defensive tackle and a nose tackle in the 4-3 defense, Rubin must be strong against the run and not be pushed around. His responsibility is to clog the middle of the line and be a guy who needs to be blocked by multiple blockers. In these two plays, one man is able to block him out of the way.
Lack of Contain
This is a microcosm of the lack of contain the Browns defense has shown so far this season. This 21-yard gain by running back Justin Forsett set up a touchdown run on this drive. Here is how it happened.
On this play, running back Justin Forsett receives a pitch to the left from quarterback Joe Flacco. He is helped by a fake from Joe Flacco.
This fake completely fools outside linebacker Jabaal Sheard and inside linebacker Chris Kirksey.
The contain is pretty much lost after both Sheard and Kirksey take a few steps in, allowing the edge to be wide open. These two players must stay at the edge and not crash down on the fake. Their responsibility is to stay strong and defend against a run to the outside of them. Kirksey and Sheard must keep their eye on the ball instead of looking at where the Ravens players are faking toward.
The Browns contain have been susceptible to losing contain because of the edge rushers over-aggressiveness. The defense must learn to be true to their assignment and not try to be too aggressive and subsequently lose position. This is something that can be fixed, but it must be on the players to be true to their respective assignments.
Bad Tackling
This 22-yard run by running back Justin Forsett shows the horrible tackling that we have seen since Week 1 of the season. Following the loss to Pittsburgh, I wrote about the bad tackling and how it needs to be improved. But as you see here, it still pops up as a problem. On the play, the Browns miss three tackles. Here are the three players at fault.
The first miss tackle on the play came from usual sure tackling inside linebacker Karlos Dansby. He tries to bring Forsett down with his arms, but Forsett blows right through.
The second and third tackling attempts come from defensive lineman Desmond Bryant and safety Donte Whitner. The problem with these two attempts is that they both go in for the tackle at the same time. This helps keep Forsett up and causes the two players to lose their grab on the runner. In short, Whitner and Bryant run into each other, causing them both to miss the tackle.
Miss tackles are a huge problem for a defense because it allows for extra yards and a lot of times it extends a drive longer. The Browns must get better at tackling in order to improve their overall defensive performance.
Defensive Standout
The defensive standout of week three is Jabaal Sheard. According to ProFootballFocus, Sheard had three quarterback hurries and three defensive stops (number of solo tackles made which constitute an offensive failure) along with his five tackles versus the Ravens. He has had a very good year so far this season. Sheard and Kruger have been the only real consistent pass rushing threats for the Browns this season.
Defensive Lowlight
The defensive lowlight this week is Joe Haden. Haden has been below average so far this season. According to ProFootballFocus, Haden allowed five receptions for 83 yards on six targets last Sunday. The biggest reason he is the lowlight of the week is because of the huge catch he gave up on the last drive of the game—a 32-yard pass to receiver Steve Smith, which put the Ravens in field goal position for the game-winning kick.
12 Comments
No offense, and I agree that the D-line is a big problem, but this kind of piece is an example of how it’s impossible to grade film without knowing players’ responsibilities. For example, I think 10 out of 10 coaches watching that 31-yard run would say there was an obvious stunt. Taylor shoots the A gap, and Rubin gets manhandled by the center and never gets to B. Sure, that just reinforces the problem with Rubin, but without knowing the call, it’s impossible to lay blame on Taylor. It’s kind of the same on the Forsett pitch; “their responsibility is to stay strong and defend a run to the outside of them.” One of them had contain for sure, but there could have been a blitz call. Hard to assign blame accurately without KNOWING responsibilities.
That said, Rubin’s been horrible. He’s a pure 2-gap DL (though he’s not even doing that well), and in Pettine’s scheme all DL must play some 1-gap. He’s never had that skill set, and the mileage on him has eroded his overall game even more. That makes him even LESS of an option at end (more 1-gap calls in Pettine’s book), which is why Taylor then has to play in a less-natural position for him. If I had to guess, the fix will be more Taylor at NT and more Hughes (he’ll be healthier) at LE after the bye.
Although not specifically mentioned, I think we ALL know which player regularly gets pushed around, consistently blows his assignments and ignores his responsibilities.
Johnny Football’s fault we are bad at defense 😉
I bet JFF could hold the edge better than you-know-who.
Hoyer?
I was surprised he didn’t mention mingo – probably because he is getting less snaps each week.
I have to say, I’m surprised by this because they same linemen played a 3-4 last year. Is the Defense really that different from last year? I can’t really imaging that Rub’s assignments have changed so much that he can’t play nose tackle any more. Really This line was not bad last year – What happened?!?!?
I appreciate the work you’ve put in but there appear to be a few questionable conclusions:
Phil Taylor: How do you know what the D play call was or what Taylor’s responsibility was to determine he was out of position? I agree he ended up out of position for the play the O ran but that doesn’t mean he executed his responsibility incorrectly. I’m just curious how you can know it was a player error and not a DC error?
Also, on the second gif in this series where is Joe Haden going as he sprints to the right of the screen? If there is a receiver out of screen shot that he is responsible for he is terribly out of position. If there isn’t he would have been perfectly positioned to bring the runner down 20 yards sooner than Whitner, as the last line of defense, was able to.
Ahtyba Rubin: He seems to be doing the very thing you critiqued Taylor for not doing. He appears in both plays to be responsible for the gap between the center and right guard and is moving laterally within that gap while holding the center to his right to bring down the RB if he chooses that path. In both of the plays you’ve included he completely shuts down that gap forcing the runner back. He can’t be responsible for both gaps on either side of the center. It seems more likely in these sequences that either Dansby, or much more likely Robertson based on the flow of the play, failed in their gap responsibility.
I’m not saying Taylor and Rubin aren’t having issues but the examples you’ve chosen to exemplify this seem questionable to me. If anything these examples demonstrate how important it is for every player to do their job and when they don’t the whole teams suffers but they don’t demonstrate that it was Taylor and Rubin not doing their jobs.
CUT HIM!
I’d say that, yes, all the D-line’s assignments have changed, and not just year to year but play to play. Traditional 3-4s tend to use 2-gap linemen (think: “eat up blockers”). But Pettine’s system (Rex Ryan does it, too) splits the field, with half the front playing 1-gap (think: penetrate one gap) and the other half playing 2-gap. So on some plays, their assignment is to attack one gap, on others it’s to read for two gaps. Rubin doesn’t come off the ball well enough to be a penetrator, and this season seems to get turned by a blocker right away when he has a two-gap assignment. That lets guards get to ILBs.
Look at Pettine’s D last year, when he had four front-7 guys make the Pro Bowl. Right now, Kruger/Sheard is our poor man’s Mario Williams (pro bowler). Desmond Bryant (mostly 1-gap so far) is our Kyle Williams (pro bowler). Kiko Alonso (pro bowler) last year played mostly on the 2-gap side, which is why he had a million tackles. So far, it seems they can’t decide which ILB among 3 is going to be that guy. That leaves Rubin as our Marcel Dareus (pro bowler), and he’s played nothing like Dareus did last year. Nor does he have the skill set to. He’s a Wilfork type when this scheme calls for a Ngata-type NT
Back to the GIFs above, since there’s a comment below about Rubin — I will go to my grave saying the 31-yard run is a stunt. You can tell by the feet of Taylor and Rubin on first movement; Rubin tries to square to the line, as he should on an A/B stunt, but immediately gets turned by the center. On the other Rubin-critical play above, I’d disagree with the commenter below that Rubin can’t be responsible for two gaps. It’s pretty clear, knowing Pettine’s half-and-half scheme, that he was on the two-gap side. He gets completely blown up, even though 2-gapping is supposed to be the thing he does well. It’s troubling.
And what might be more troubling is the fact that — assuming the one play is a stunt, and the Forsett pitch is a field-side blitz call (it has to be) — the play calls were perfect. One? Lucky. Two? You gotta wonder if they’re tipping their stunts/blitzes. I especially wonder on the Forsett pitch, as they’re in a sub package with the down linemen playing rare-for-this-defense techniques. They really need to self-scout for tendencies this week.
The Ahtyba Rubin clips were just a few examples of his inability to fight off single blockers and make a play on the ball carrier. He has not been able to get off his blocks at all this season. In terms of Phil Taylor, he has done this predetermined cut a lot so far this season. If this was his responsibility, then Rubin would have swept behind him to fill his vacated gap. Rubin stays engaged with his blocker and does not go under Taylor to fill the gap. As a defensive lineman, you cannot leave a gap open unless someone else can fill it. I agree that it is hard to really blame a player unless you know their responsibility, but it just doesn’t look like that was what he was supposed to do. Thanks guys for all the comments and for reading my article!
This was educational. I know more than I did before, especially about Pettine’s scheme. Thanks.