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Hue Jackson defends the Browns’ “No. 5 defense in all of football”

Browns coach Hue Jackson defended his defense today, saying it’s fifth in the NFL. He was right in one narrow sense, but wrong in the assessment that really matters.

“If I’m not mistaken, this is the No. 5 defense in all of football,” Jackson said.

Technically, Jackson is correct that the Browns rank No. 5 in the league in yards per game, which is the statistic that the NFL uses to rank defenses.

But here’s the problem: Yards per game is a terrible statistic to rank defenses.

The 0-5 Browns are Top 5 in yards per game not because their defense is playing well — it isn’t — but because their defense finds itself trailing late in games, when opposing teams are more interested in running out the clock than gaining yards.

Take Sunday’s loss to the Jets. The Browns’ defense allowed just 212 yards in that game, which looks good. Until you remember the way the Jets ran out the clock at the end of the fourth quarter. On the Jets’ final two drives, they gained a grand total of 12 yards. But the first of those drives took 3:52 off the clock while the Jets had a two-possession lead late in the fourth quarter, and the second drive took the final 1:49 off the clock. It’s great to only allow 12 yards in two drives, unless those two drives are the drives that take all the remaining time off the clock. When you’re trailing late in the fourth quarter what you need from your defense is to force turnovers, and the Browns’ defense has just six takeaways through five games.

A better statistic to assess the quality of a defense is passer rating allowed, which is a simple yardstick for how good a job the defense has done of stopping opposing quarterbacks. And in that statistic, the Browns rank dead last with a 112.4 passer rating allowed.

And as bad as that sounds, it’s actually worse, because the Browns have played a bad collection of quarterbacks. Take a look at just how much better the five quarterbacks the Browns have faced this year were when playing against the Browns than they were when playing against other defenses:

Ben Roethlisberger had a 95.0 passer rating against the Browns in Week One. He has a 71.4 passer rating against teams other than the Browns.

Joe Flacco had a 97.3 passer rating against the Browns in Week Two. He has a 62.9 passer rating against teams other than the Browns.

Jacoby Brissett had a 120.0 passer rating against the Browns in Week Three. He has a 73.2 passer rating against teams other than the Browns.

Andy Dalton had a 146.0 passer rating against the Browns in Week Four. He has a 71.7 passer rating against teams other than the Browns.

Josh McCown had a 101.2 passer rating against the Browns in Week Five. He has an 87.8 passer rating against teams other than the Browns.

Jackson is not mistaken that the Browns’ defense ranks fifth in the NFL in yards allowed per game. If he thinks that means his defense is playing well, he’s very mistaken.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/201...ll-of-football/

PFT gets under my skin with their perpetual "lolbrowns" rhetoric.

The Browns have played like a young defense, flashing ability at times while struggling in others. The players aren't yet at a point in which they can consistently keep a quarterback quiet. Missing some of our best players hasn't helped this, and there is plenty of reason for optimism that improvements will continue as the year progresses.

The reason they picked out opposition passer rating is because it is the best statistic against the Browns. Heck, not even all passing statistics against the Browns are impressive. Browns are 19th in passing yards against, 28th in average yards per pass, 12th best in sacks, tied 8th in interceptions, 30th in touchdowns against.

Perfect? No. A massive improvement on last year? Absolutely. This young defense is undoubtedly trending in the right direction.

Funnily enough, the writer wants to talk about teams running out the clock making the numbers look good, but doesn't seem in much hurry to mention that playing from behind is when a passer rating plummets as the defense starts to tee off and doesn't need to worry so much about defending the run.

It's frustrating that even during a bad season, what is going right can't be acknowledged by some. The defense has been a bright spot, and in my opinion, it is only going to get better.

The D has been playing well and will only get better with our injured guys coming back. We now have a foundation and will be able to build on it with next years draft and FA period. If we make the right last few moves this could easily be a top 10 D in a year or 2. Don't forget, our D has been on the field a lot more then it should because our O hasn't been that good; a lot of 3 and outs.

Taylor - 45.1 at #85, Poor.

McCourty - 91.7 at #2, Elite.

Boddy-Calhoun - 85.6 at #11, High Quality.

To your point, I'd rather have Boddy-Calhoun starting ahead of Taylor, but that doesn't mean I'd like Haden in place of him. Taylor has potential upside, Haden is definitely on the decline. JMHO.

In any case, it's an area that will be addressed in the draft relatively early, I'm willing to bet.

I think Haden "took the cut" because he wasn't going to start here AND was likely going to lose the "C" on his jersey. Too much ego for that.

Too bad Howard Wilson was injured in camp. Taylor needs to step it up or he will be next year's Haden.

j/c

but in terms of run defense, I understand the skepticism based on a small sample. I'm curious to know if anyone has stats for the tackles for a loss? I guess I'm thinking that if we have a good % of those, than it kind of starts to mitigate the "teams don't run against us because they don't have to" angle.

TLoss: 25

Sacks: 12

YDSL: 78

FF: 6

TOT: 327

SOLO: 231

% of play for tackles for a loss

SOLO tackles for a loss 10.8%

TOT tackles for a loss 7.6%

Thanks!

I don't know how the 10.8% stacks up, but that seems pretty solid work to me.

anytime brother.

teams run on us an average of 26.6 times per game. I would think would eliminate the "they don't run on us, cuz they don't have too" stuff.

I thought I'd check out how our defense is doing, stats wise - just an idle browse at NFL.com as when you look at our record, you think everything is just dead last.

Rushing -
166 attempts (12th)
3.0 YPA (tied 1st with DEN)
84 YPG (6th)
4 TDs (12th)

Passing
226 YPG (16th - yeah I was surprised)
14 TDs (dead last - there it is)
71% Completion PCT (31st)
29 ATT per game (29th - that surprised me that teams don't throw more..)
75 1st down (24th)

Now there's lots of ways to look at the sun, etc but we have -

1) Become much better at defending the run
2) Teams are still trying to run on us
3) Our pass defense is porous

I think this leads me to - if we somehow shore up the pass defense, teams are already running on us. If we can sort that aspect out, this defense has a chance to become a legitimate top 10 defense IMHO.

Whether that's on GW, the players - I think Schobert, Collins, Kirksey, Shelton, Ogbah are good players and Garrett is showing flashes of a being a true playmaker - I don't know. We also have decent depth on the DL.

It's hard to have hope at 0-6 but I think the defense is not a mirage. A CB (or two in this day and age) and a legit free safety (or Peppers acclimatising), along with Garrett staying healthy. It's a unit to have hope for.

I think Peppers fits the hybrid role that GW favours but to me is forced to occupy a position he is currently unaccustomed to. He may well turn into a good safety so I'm rooting for him.

Wanted to share some optimism - I'm always a glass half full guy

I like the analysis and thought process - and I think the D is not very far away from being legit ... I think I will wait to see those pieces in place and what adjustments teams make before thinking we will have a top ten D. With MG back from injury and seemingly making an impact when he is on the field, I think that will be something that will help.

On the secondary - I think we have a legit starting CB, and Kindred has surpassed any expectation I had and is also playing well. McCourty and Kindred could both start for many teams in the NFL which is a fair standard to judge them by. . . .Peppers has yet to click or find his role. Taylor has been disappointing.

BUT ... the Jets game is a perfect example of how simply being good on D might not count for anything much of the Offense can't score points and turns the ball over giving teams short fields.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-top-five-cornerbacks-in-yards-allowed-per-cover-snap

Wow ... I am surprised. I saw a Cleveland CB was getting some good PR and assumed it was going to be McCourtey .... no sir! BCC.

BCC ... Briean Coddy-Calhoun?

Browns DC Williams: We're turning Myles Garrett loose

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000...s-garrett-loose

He's been featured in plenty of promotional programming and material, but we still haven't gotten the full-blown Myles Garrett Experience in the NFL.

That changes Sunday, according to Gregg Williams.

"He played well (versus Houston) and he played dominant in a lot of phases, and you're going to see him play more this week," the Browns defensive coordinator said Friday. "It was the next step and I was holding my breath it wasn't going to set him back, and it hasn't set him back. He's had a very good week of practice, so we're turning him loose."

Garrett played 36 snaps (32 on defense, four on special teams) in last week's loss to Houston, recording his third sack of the season in the process. Cleveland's defense was again noticeably better with Garrett on the field, pressuring Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson so frequently, his average time to throw in the game was nearly a half-second faster (2.63 seconds) than his season average (3.12 seconds), per Next Gen Stats. Garrett's pressure alone forced Watson to throw an interception, which was returned for a touchdown by Jason McCourty.

Then again, Watson still completed 17 of 29 passes for 225 yards and three touchdowns (with the interception).

The week prior, Garrett played just 19 snaps in a loss to the New York Jets, which served as his professional debut. He recorded two sacks in that game.

In case mental math on the fly isn't your thing (don't worry, you aren't alone), here's a little perspective on the figures we just provided you: Demarcus Lawrence has played 246 snaps, with 221 coming on defense, and has a league-leading 8.5 sacks. On average, Lawrence is recording one sack every 26.47 defensive snaps. Jacksonville's Calais Campbell, who's considered to be having one of the league's best seasons at the position, has 8.0 sacks on 373 plays (309 defensive snaps). He averages one sack every 38.625 defensive snaps.

Garrett, meanwhile -- 55 plays, 51 defensive snaps, 3.0 sacks -- is averaging one sack every 18.33 defensive snaps.

Strap yourself in, because we're rocketing out of realism with this projection just to drive the point home. Garrett's Cleveland counterpart, Emmanuel Ogbah, played 811 defensive snaps last season. With Garrett's current rate of snaps per sack, he projects to record an astounding 44.24 sacks over an identical full season of work.

Now, seeing as the single-season record has stood firm at Michael Strahan's 22.5 (take your debates over the final sack of Brett Favre elsewhere), we know that won't happen. But it further illustrates how dominant Garrett has been in so little time, and also serves as a reason to tune in for a full game of Garrett on Cleveland's defense.

Against a Titans squad that features Marcus Mariota, who's still returning to full speed from a hamstring injury, Garrett stands to make a sizable impact. The intrigue alone is worth your time.

maybe he should put a leash on the secondary, cause he turned them loose and they look like garbage.

"the secondary" doesn't "look like garbage". we have one corner who clearly needs upgraded and peppers is playing a position he is not acclimated to. one of our corners is playing great and kindred is doing well at ss.

Is Kindred doing that well? Why are TEs torching us?

Tight ends are killing us, for the most part, because our linebackers have stunk in coverage. Schobert, according to Pro Football Focus, has been one of the worst linebackers in the league in coverage.



https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-nfl-week-7-preview-titans-at-browns

Whoa. That’s ray Horton defense bad.

Schobert has been disappointing in coverage. I thought after losing all that weight, that would've been a strength.

It turns out the preseason doesn't mean much.

We also don't have enough good secondary players to force the linebackers off the field.

I think Gregg Williams had a great idea - play deep, don't allow deep passes, particularly with a FS/SS combo that is incredibly inexperienced.

However, our linebackers have been exploited in coverage as a result. We can't have that.

I'd rather Gregg Williams bring Peppers/Kindred up more. I'm okay if we get burned, I'm not okay giving quarterbacks high percentage throws to dink and dunk their way up the field.

I'm actually a big fan of tempting quarterbacks to throw deep. The routes take longer to develop, even the best deep passers only hit their receiver around 30/40% of the time and there are few quarterbacks in this league who will consistently capitalize.

Protecting our players from allowing deep passes was not a bad idea, but surely we must see that it hasn't prevented teams from moving the ball and scoring points. Time to try something a little different.

I want to see peppers closer to the line, take snaps from schobert.

I think playing the safeties deep was a great idea in game one. However, I fully expected GW to change things up in week 2. It doesn't take NFL coordinators long to learn how to expose gimmicks.

I think our safeties are both poor in coverage and GW feels the need to play them deep. Additionally, our corners aren't the best in coverage and the slow reads by the safeties make them a liability if they play at a normal depth.

I also think that cfrs had a very valid point about us not having a lot of depth in the secondary and that forces us to use our LBers more than we should be on passing downs.

Playing Peppers and Kindred deep your basically wasting their atheletism
Williams has done a poor job of disguising his defenses as far pressure goes
It's just as important to give the illusion that your bringing pressure when your really not.
Qbs are allowed to get their feet set go through progressions and hit the open target vs this defense
Rarely have I seen a qb forced to release the ball before he wants to vs the Browns defense
Peppers and Kindred should be sitting down in those passing lanes and when that qb release let their atheletism take over with a pick or deflection
But nope qbs are just cherry picking these Lbers who are stiff in the hips and lack the ability to recover

Yeah, I fully expected this to be a week 1 gimmick. Not the base defense. I understand why we are doing it, but it expects way too much from our LB's.

Leadership!



https://twitter.com/RuiterWrongFAN/status/941729431239974915

Lies



https://twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ/status/941726875906461696



https://twitter.com/Bumblyjack/status/941728131647459328

Sounds like the coaches know the writing is on the wall.

I've never seen an organization and coaching staff throw their players under the bus quite like this.

Gregg Williams is a clown.

Then again, maybe it's some of the players who need to be sent packing. The roster sucks.

Some players do need to be sent packing.

No need for him to come out and throw the team under the bus and pass the buck. He's shifting the blame and deflecting accountability.

Or maybe he's stating the obvious. That Sashi didn't get him the players he needed and wanted for his D. That the personnel doesn't match up with what he wants to do.

What purpose does it serve? What is there to be accomplished by stating this?

I hear you, Milk. And I am not getting on your case. You are a good and fair poster. Just discussing.

I think it is becoming pretty damn evident that there was a real disconnect between the coaching staff and Sashi. They get blamed for all the losing while the FO was getting a pass. Having guys like Haden cut after he was being praised by the coaching staff has to be like a dagger through the heart.

I was hoping they could all work together, but like Diam said, it was most likely a toxic environment. And if someone had to go, the Browns are way better off that it was Sashi and not the coaching staff.

I'm not sure that it actually serves a purpose. I can only suspect that it would be in support of Dorsey and a conviction of Sashi. It may also be a way of putting the players on notice. And maybe it's time someone let them know that they will be held accountable.

I'm just not on board with it being nearly as bad as some are making it out to be.

I didn't take it that you were getting on my case. No worries.

As Zac Jackson likes to say, it's December in Berea.

Fair enough.

Yeah, maybe one day we'll be celebrating the season and looking forward to the playoffs instead of discussing firings and the draft.

If our secondary was worth a crap I don't think we'd be discussing the D at all.