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Yes! The other teams who run our defensive scheme have their money invested up front, on the DL ... we have mostly invested in our secondary which is great ... but if the system was predicated on having a strong front with depth, then it could be as you said, trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Also because it is not new to the League at this juncture ... the other teams have installed some new defensive coverages like the cover 7 ... we have not evolved where I can tell, making us an easier game plan, but naturally they must still properly execute it.

Unfortunately for us ... they have done just that of late.

Good post. If this is true and it sounds plausible, then we have some problems on D that have to be addressed immediately.

Thanks for the read. I liked Pocic when he was at LSU. He is a great addition to our line. He does a nice job I passpro and run blocking. I like the fact that many times you see #55 well downfield looking to throw another block for the backs. He also seems to be decisive and correct with his line calls.

Darn right we need to extend him. I hope Berry and company aren't looking for Harris to step back in to the starting role. Pocic has pro bowl ability and a guy we can ride with for at least the next 4 years, if not a little longer.

Sign him and and worry about other positions.

Not surprising. He is possibly the best end in the game and we offer little else on our pathetic D line to concern other teams.

I assume that 36-37% is on all snaps. If not, I am shocked it is so low if just on passing plays.

No doubt that somebody totally F'ed up when they put together our defensive line. It's a joke. It's hard for me to get all worked up over Joe Woods when given the collection of scrubs we have along the defensive line unless Woods is the guy who pounded the table to draft and keep some of these guys.

The sorry part is it will be guys like Kiffin who will pay for other peoples incompetence. Good players can overcome poor coaching. Good coaching can't do a thing about players who suck. Good coaching can hide a weaker player to some degree if other players around him are good, but not when all of them just don't have what it takes.

I'd bet the ranch that in private conversations Kiffin isn't very high on the group in his room.

Hospital Ward is a frail punk who now isn't even playing all that well when he isn't sidelined.

Maybe he doesn't like how Joe Wood is playing him and this is how he is showing it. He probably wants to play man coverage !!!

After reading all this wild speculation..............Do we have a new DC this year? I ask, because overall, the D played well last year and got better as the season went along.

I'll add this for some to contemplate. The 4-2-5 utilizes a lot of smaller, faster, more agile players than most other defenses. The idea is that they can cover more ground and provide better coverage in leagues that are pass happy, including the NFL and many college conferences. However, these defenses have big, strong, block-eating DTs to compensate for the lighter players that comprise the rest of the defense. The DTs are not exactly asked to make a ton of tackles and they aren't usually penetrators. But they eat blocks, clog the middle of the field, and allow the faster, lighter players to run free. It is my contention that the FO has done a good job of finding the faster, more athletic players, but have failed miserably at acquiring strong, space-eating DTs. I haven't made a final determination of whether or not I like the 4-2-5. No team that I was ever associated used that defense and it wasn't as popular as it is now when I was coaching.

I will also add this. After the first two games of the year, it was the secondary that had everyone concerned. The blown coverages late in games was the main issue. Adjustments were indeed made and the play of the secondary has improved significantly. Of course, the run D has been terrible the last 3 weeks or so. One thing that I have noticed that isn't getting mentioned in all the blame-gaming of the coaching staff is that guys are often in position and are simply missing tackles. JOK is weak. Guys run through his tackles all the time. Other guys are in position and whiff. Guys like Phillips can't shed a block to save their life. We have also been exploited when Myles and Clowney are not on the field. And we do not have one effective DT on the roster. They all blow!

My take won't be popular because it does not include trying to fit a square peg into a round hole or the players don't like the coach or there is dark issue permeating the locker room or that we don't practice things enough, etc, etc. That's fine because I do know that there are folks out there who are often quiet, but like reading my takes on football matters.

I have no problem with your take. You are right.

The backfield problem hasn't been all that frequent, but they have been big when it has happened..

The DT's are a big problem. Not one of them requires a double team, which is a big problem. If those guys can't ho;d their ground, we are sunk, which we are. Unless we bring in a few big guys, which it looks like we might be trying to do, we are going to continue to see this D give up endless 1st downs. Bryan looks to be the only one who is somewhat good at that, and even then he is more of a decent back-up at the position.

Agreed.

One thing I did not mention is that I read probably 10-12 articles on the 4-2-5 and watched multiple videos and it was emphasized over and over again how you needed big DTs to offset all the smaller players. Some of the college teams even put a huge guy at Nose, even though they had a 4-man front.

Along those lines, and this was observation, but I don't know how to look up exact numbers to see if this observation is correct or not.
It seems like at the start of last season we hardly blitzed at all. Then after about 1/3 of the season we blitzed a lot more and we were very successful at that.
Safety here, lb there, occasional CB and appeared pretty successful most of the time.

Haven't watched a lot of the games this year, but I don't remember seeing any blitzes at all.
Are we not blitzing much or have we been unsuccessful at it?
Or have a I must missed the blitzing?

Funny you say that. It has crossed my mind that we might be better off with a 5 man front. It seems to me that we might have at least a few of those somewhat faster D lineman that we could drop one in to some sort of zone now and again.

I know we blitzed more last year than in Woods' first year here. I looked that up at one point last year. Not sure about when we started blitizing more? I am also unsure about this year's numbers, but it doesn't seem like we blitz much. I will try and look it up later. I'm glad we didn't blitz Herbert much. He's really good and would have destroyed the blitz. Really good qb like him, Mahomes, and others punish you for blitzing.

I think a crucial point gets missed. I want pressure, and I want that challenge on receivers and QB's, as opposed to some of the dumb cushions we show regularly. The point is how well you blitz, how effectively. We have a great pass rusher, so we put him in coverage. Like a pair of great running backs so you pass in crush time. Even when we blitz, we seem fairly poor at it, guys slow to go, quit part way through, freeze and lean. Other teams seem more disruptive to me and more ambitious. Getting home has an element of want to. Are we as devastating as we can possibly be when we blitz? I don't think so.

More info on the blitz percentage. First of all, I was wrong about blitzing more last year than the year before. I must have looked that up earlier in the year and we reverted back to what we did the previous year. Here some numbers:

2022:
--We blitz 22.2% of the time. That is 23rd most in the NFL.
--NYG most @ 43.3%. Arizona second at 41.7%. Detroit 3rd @ 35.9%.
--Buffalo last @ 13.5%. Chicago is 31st @13.9%. NO is 30th @ 15.1%.

2021:
--We blitzed 22.1% of the time.

2020:
--We blitzed 21.3% of the time.

Draw your own conclusions.

One thing I'll add is that most defensive coaches would love to never blitz and just rush 4. That puts more guys in coverage and helps negate long runs where the back gets to the second level. It's just really hard to find a front four that can put a ton of heat on the passer and still play the run. Those DLs are very rare.

Another thing to think about is that a lot of the good defenses do not blitz a lot. Buffalo has an excellent D, even though they are banged up at the moment. Teams like Chicago and NO typically have good defenses. Detroit and AZ have poor defenses. The Giants are an outlier in my opinion. Their DC is Wink Martindale, who is notorious for blitzing a ton. He was the guy who was w/Baltimore last year and had the before and after the game w/Joe Burrow. Here is a link to that story:

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/game...ale-comments-fueled-historic-performance

In regards to when we blitz: it seems like it’s always so slow developing. Like it takes FOREVER to have the LB/DB finally get into the backfield lol. It’s always ugly

It seems as though you agree that in the past two seasons the D has been poor the first 5 or 6 games of the year. At least we know that's true this year.... so far. we have no idea how long that will persist this season however. Why would you have an established system in its third season that still continues to struggle in such a manner?

I certainly have said and agree that the DT position to a large degree and the LB position to a somewhat lesser degree have been ignored on the priority list. The question that looms heavy in that is whether it's Woods telling the FO he is fine with the personnel he has at those positions or whether it's the FO hesitating to invest at those positions.

No, we didn't hire a new DC. But people don't live and succeed on what they did do. They live and succeed by what they're doing.

I started reading about a new D scheme DC are using the cover 7. Don't know much about it except 4 D players cover the strong side while 3 cover the weak side and play man to man. I guess we haven't done it yet.

j/c

Agree with all that.
As a commentary on that:

1, I don't think we get enough pressure on Qb's with just our front 4
2, We can also run blitz to try to slow the opponents run game

When I watch Garrett press conferences and read his quotes, I’m always a little perplexed lol. He is a very atypical interviewee.

Garrett is a fraud like Stefanski. No killer instinct. Doesn't care if we win or lose. He spent the entire San Diego game doing the exact same thing over and over without recognizing it was exactly what they wanted him to do and he never changed it up. They were inviting him to rush upfield where Herbert simply took two steps forward every single time. Or they just threw/rushed to his vacated area. They did it repeatedly. He never changed. And when we needed a play it was Clowney making it. Ten times the heart of Garrett.

I'm so sick of Cleveland having loser coaches and loser players.

Some of our players act like they are unhappy and don't want to be here. JMO

I don't want them to be here either.

Right! Clowney misses more practices than he participates in. He misses way more games than Myles. Myles is the one that faces more double teams than any player in the league. And I'm guessing more triple teams, as well. But yeah. Clowner has more heart. LMAO

Joe Thomas missed a lot of practices too. But he was always money on game day.

I'm shocked you haven't said anything about his comments to the press. You know, blaming the fans for booing a poor performance from the D. There have been others.

Okay so I'm not really shocked by it. I fully understand that's a pick and choose situation for some people.

I'll add one other thing to this as well ...

It would have been nice if Stefanski supported JJ3 in public even if he ripped him in private. Why doesn't Stefanski take up for his team. It's obvious they don't play for him. And to have Stefanski come out and say "we can't do that" I guarantee rubbed JJ3 and other players the wrong way. Show some emotion Kev. Yell at the refs Kev. Support your players Kev. They are letting you down consistently. They don't get up to play for you.

Looking at Browns numbers are always eye-popping. What a start to that 1958 season. And 1527 yards in a 12 game season?? Wowza.

Look at poor Washington... shut him down the second game, after getting smoked the first... and still lost.

Just wondering if you want to reconsider your take on the hearts of Myles and Clowney after watching yesterday's game?

Did something happen that should cause me to change my mind?

Nevermind.

No...but you already knew that.

j/c...



Only thing I could find on either guy....

https://www.linkedin.com/in/austingrosel

https://www.thefouscholarship.com/about-us.html

HOORAY - WE ARE SAVED !!

LMAO

"We need more analysts... there's a glitch in the analytics and we'll never get to the bottom of it without more analyzin' goin' on!"

Good, we need more analytics

Anyone heard an update on Myles?

Myles Garrett fine after aggravating shoulder injury, expects to play in Week 7

Garrett exited the Browns’ loss against the Patriots in the fourth quarter after aggravating a shoulder injury
Oct 17, 2022 at 09:23 AM

Anthony Poisal
Staff Writer

Myles Garrett exited the Browns' 38-15 loss to the Patriots in the fourth quarter Sunday after aggravating the shoulder injury he suffered in a car accident on Sept. 26, but the three-time Pro Bowl DE doesn't expect to miss any time.

"It could be better," Garrett said. "I've been dealing with it since the accident and trying to manage it and be in the best position to play come Sunday. Certain falls and tackles are going to aggravate it and make it worse.

"At the end of the day, I want to win. This whole team wants to win, and I'm always going to put them first. I'm always going to go out there and try my very best, no matter what is ailing me or how bad I'm hurting or aching. I'm going to put my guys first, and we're going to go out there and play our best ball."

Garrett was in visible pain and walked off the field with trainers after he sacked Patriots QB Bailey Zappe with five minutes left. He didn't return to the game, but the result was already out of favor for the Browns, who stopped the Patriots on that drive but muffed the ensuing punt and lost possession. New England scored a touchdown on the next play to increase their lead to 31-15.

Garrett affirmed he'll still be ready to play next week against the Ravens.

"I played today, and I will be playing next week," he said.

https://www.clevelandbrowns.com/new...houlder-injury-expects-to-play-in-week-7

Gratzi....

Of course I didn't look at THAT site for news.