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Those defensive numbers are incredible

Our top 5 D??? No way!!!!!

Aren't our starting DTs ranked dead last in PFF grades? Umm, maybe want to start by addressing that?

Highest graded Browns in Week 5 vs Chargers:

🥇 Joel Bitonio - 93.1
🥈 David Njoku - 86.3
🥉 Wyatt Teller - 84.1
4️⃣ Myles Garrett - 80.9
5️⃣ Greg Newsome II - 79.2

I can't believe Chubb was in this list.

I think our DTs are ranked dead last in like the history of the NFL haha. Maybe not quite, but it’s alarming.

It was the two we started against Atlanta. One of our starting DTs was out that game.

PFF GRADES THROUGH 5-weeks

TOTAL OFFENSIVE GRADES:
___________________________________1 player currently performing at Elite Level 90-100
Chubb - RB - 90.2 - 1st of 63
___________________________________1 player currently performing at Pro Bowl Level 89-85
Teller - G - 85.7 - 2nd of 74
___________________________________7 players performing at Starter Level 84-70
Bitonio - G - 84.7 - 3rd of 74
Njoku - TE - 79.4 - 3rd of 68
Brissett - QB - 78.0 - 7th of 36
Froholdt - C - 75.6 - NR
Pocic - C - 74.1 - 4th of 39
Cooper - WR - 74.1 - 28th of 113
Conklin - OT - 71.2 - 23rd of 72
___________________________________6 players currently performing at Backup Level 69-60
Hudson - OT - 67.4 - 36th of 72
Hunt - RB - 67.3 - 27th of 63
DPJ - WR - 66.0 - 61st of 113
Wills - OT - 65.9 - 42nd of 72
Johnson - RB - 60.0 - NR
Haeg - OT - 60.0 - NR
___________________________________9 players currently performing at Replaceable Level 59-0
Forristall - TE - 59.7 - NR
Schwartz - WR - 59.6 - NR
Brown - TE - 59.0 - 37th of 68
Bell - WR - 57.2 - 90th of 113
Felton - WR - 56.1 - NR
Bryant - TE - 54.9 - 48th of 68
York - K - 51.8 - 36th of 39
Dunn - OT - 51.1 - NR
James - TE - 42.2 - NR


TOTAL DEFENSIVE GRADE
___________________________________1 player currently performing at Elite Level 90-100
Garrett - Edge - 91.5 - 1st of 112
___________________________________1 player currently performing at Pro Bowl Level 89-85
Clowney - Edge - 88.8 - 7th of 112
___________________________________5 players currently performing at Starter Level 84-70
Walker - LB - 82.7 - 4th of 78 (Injured, out for season)
Bojorquez - P - 81.4 - 3rd of 32
Fields -- LB - 79.9 - NR
Emerson - CB - 72.7 - 16th of 104
Takitaki - LB - 70.0 - 17th of 78
___________________________________4 players currently performing at Backup Level 69-60
Newsome - CB - 66.5 - 40th of 104
Bell - S - 64.4 - NR
JOK - LB - 63.2 - 37th of 78
Kunaszyk - LB - 61.8 - NR
___________________________________14 players currently performing Replaceable Level 59-0
Rochell - Edge - 59.4 - 83rd of 112
Harrison - S - 56.6 - NR
Delpit - S - 53.4 - 63rd of 86
Bryan - DT - 51.9 - 86th of 121
Thomas - Edge - 51.8 - NR
Johnson - S - 50.3 - 73rd of 86
Winfrey - DT - 47.9 - 98th of 121
Wright - Edge - 42.5 - 108th of 112
Winovich - Edge - 42.4 - NR
Ward - CB - 39.8 - 97th of 104
Phillips - LB - 36.0 - 75th of 78
Elliott - DT - 30.2 - 119th of 121
Green - CB - 29.0 - NR
Togiai - DT - 28.9 - 121st of 121

NR = Not Ranked due to not having snap minimum

SCALE:
100 - 90 = Elite level of play
85-89 = Pro Bowl level of play
84-70 = Starter level of play
69-60 = Backup level of play
59-0 = Replaceable level of play

🤮🤮
Someone posted about Ward being a top player for us in a recent post. I said I didn't think he was possibly top 5 .... based on the PFF grades he is 21st. That's so nauseous. I'm also ultra disappointed in JOK - I was expecting him to be a stud this year. I can't help feel it's scheme and coaching as much as anything. Ugh.

I agree.

We have talent on the D, but it's not working. There is something more than simply "bad play" happening. Be it scheme, be it cohesiveness, be it communication, something is just not right with the D.

I wish we could peel back the layers and understand this, it certainly doesn't seem to be anywhere near as complicated for other teams. The "green dot" moves as fast as the bouncing ball over the lyrics in cartoons in the '70's. I think it definitely goes beyond communication and into interpretation. I think JJ tried to interpret too much and it was confusing... not to mention flat out wrong many times. Now there's going to be dissent because a player is instructed to do something that causes him to give up a chunk play... naturally he'll be hesitant to follow instructions the next time.

1. Too much interpretation
2. Too much personality conflict
3. Poor tackling
4. Poor attitude
5. No NASTY

Don't we have the same coaches on D as last year? Our D was very good last year. I think we ranked 5th overall despite the poor play of last year's offense. We had games where the opponent scored 6, 7, 14, 14, 15, 16, 10, 16, 16, 16.

Now, take a look at this tweet. Yards over what is expected means that guys were in position to make the tackle, but were unable to do so. That's not on the coach. That's on the players. To be clear, I am not a fan of Woods, but there is more to the story than just saying the coach sucks.

Thats what I said after watching last week.. Woods has his flaws no doubt, but once they are on the field you have to trust the calls and scheme to put players in a position to make the play, it did that, our horrible personnel couldn't make the plays right in front of them. Most of them were missed tackles by the LBs

I don't know what the root cause is. I don't know how equally or otherwise "blame" or accountability needs to go around. I do think that for good coaches/organizations it should not be that hard to figure out. Bottom line - is the collective playing up to, above or below expectations ?? Easy Answer - they are a long way below expectations. So:

How much is lack of player talent - and why are those players on the team?
How much is lack of coaching - technique, communication, understanding role/responsibility/positioning, scheme and in game adjustments.
How much is execution - which can fall into a lack of talent classification if the player can't improve -- or it can be coaching: technique, priorities, accountability, player development and finally one I think we might be struggling in the most for numerous reasons: Lack of motivation.

Feel free to add other influences or factors to add to the bucket.

Yes, there is; the players have sucked too. Even so, it's very hard to overlook a color-by-numbers defense that is somehow still to complicated for players to execute. One that never seems to make adjustments. One that never seems to do anything out of the ordinary to make a QB uncomfortable. 🤮

j/c...

Pretty much coincides w/what a lot of us are seeing. I have been thinking about it a lot and I have come up w/a theory that is multi-faceted rather than just one broad generalization. I'm waiting for a time when it might be discussed rationally and things are not so emotional.

A lot has been made about Stefanski not owning the defense or holding them accountable. I suppose folks will interpret the way they want to, but I'll post this for your consideration.

That is very damning toward Stefanski. Ouch. It's worse than I thought.

How exactly is that damning? Shouldn't he hold players accountable for their actions?

I'm happy to read that, and I hope that is true. His demeanor on the sideline didn't indicate that something like that was about to come out of his mouth.

Last year, Clowney rips someone's shoe off and throws it -- basically costing us the game -- and Stefanski pats him on the chest on the sideline, almost as if he is apologizing to him, I almost puked.

Why is that damning? I thought you wanted him to take some ownership of the defense and hold guys accountable?

Dwayne Rudd 2.0

I didn't think JJ deserved the flag, but it is what it is. Stefanski got on his ass about it. We need to play smarter. I did see several Browns call for a flag to be thrown. I couldn't tell exactly, but it looked like Ekeler threw that block w/out our guy really seeing him and after he had already let up on the play. But again, I guess they got him for taking his helmut off. Refs aren't real consistent w/that call. I see some guys get away w/it. Some don't.

j/c...

Good, we need any possible solution at DT. He may stink, but we have to try anything

Why does it feel like we're picking over the Return items at Dollar General to try to solve the problem?

I’m just glad they see the need to do something. It’s obvious to the fans what the needs are. If the FO wasn’t doing anything at all I’d be far more concerned than them shopping the scratch and dent section.

The concern for me is the fact that the vast majority of the fan base knew it needed addressed long before the FO addressed it. That's not a positive sign.

So, Atlanta who was 29th in defense last year, is sending us 2 players from that group. Davison, who was released by the Falcons in March and not signed by anyone, had a 2021 PFF grade of 46.8 in 11 starts. Deion Jones had a 2021 PFF grade of 34.6 in 16 starts. As poor as the Browns defense is performing, I guess any help is trying to do something but considering neither player has played a snap yet in 2022, are these acquisitions really an upgrade to what we are fielding already?

LB's PFF Grades
Walker 82.7
Fields 79.9
Takitaki 70.0
JOK 63.2
Kunaszyk 61.8
Phillips 36.0
Jones 34.6 (2021)

Interior Line PFF Grades
Bryan 51.9
Winfrey 47.9
Davison 46.8 (2021)
Elliott 30.2
Togiai 28.9

why don't we go after ndamukong Suh?

When you put it like that it reminds me of the Soccer team I support. 2 years ago they signed 2 defenders from Southampton who were the worst defensive unit in the Premier division that year.... guess what, Leicester City's defense has been a shambles ever since. Some of that was thru injury, some of it was because we had to play other players because it turns out the 2 defenders (a left back and central defender) were not good. DUH. How could anyone have guessed!

Did not address the issue(s) in the off-season and now behind the eight ball.

Because we fell asleep on Prime Day (free agency) and slept right through Black Friday (draft)... so now the bargain bin is all we have. Strangely, even the most casual of fans knew this would be a problem.

^The tamed down, non-smart-assed version.^ What he said!

I actually misread the last line. I thought he was taking a shot at Stefanski.

Doesn't change my feelings about the job that Stefanski is doing.

Haha

scraping the bottom of the barrel here, this guy has been a non impact guy for his whole career.. averages 10 tackles a season.. gmab.. you have a 1-2 year stop gap guy in Suh that can help you and doesn't cost you anything but cap. Richardson is another one sitting out there and already familiar. Both of these are worth 10 of this guy.

It kind of shines a light on what a lot of us are already thinking, "What the hell is Berry/Stefanski doing?" The Browns have the worse DT's in the NFL for the second season running and the FO is bottom feeding hoping for some kind of improvement. The next 6-games are brutal and these 2 guys from the Falcons are the best we can come up with to help right the ship? There's something going on with this team that we are not aware of yet but these moves are head scratchers. I mean Jones has had some good moments in his career but he's coming to the Browns after posting a PFF Grade for all of 2021 that's actually lower than what Phillips is posting right now. NEWSFLASH - LOWER THAN PHILLIPS! Like you stated, Davison has a career of averaging 10 tackles a season. Damn man, we have teams rushing for over 200 yds per game against us. Like I said, something is going on we don't know about yet. If I was Haslam looking at what has been invested in some of these players, I'd be asking some serious questions about what the hell is going on with the team!

because that would solve the problem