Cleveland Browns: Looking into the defensive issues

The Cleveland Browns lost a disappointing game at home hosting the Oakland Raiders. As blame is doled out on both sides of the ball, the defense again gets a large amount of it because the vast majority of assets since Ray Farmer took his place as General Manager and Mike Pettine was hired as head coach in addition to the fact that Pettine’s history is on that side of the ball. After their third game being gouged on the ground to the tune of 155 yards while also giving up 314 yards passing to Derek Carr, the question become what is the issue and what are the Browns doing to improve it.

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The first two weeks of the season, the Browns were woeful and setting the edge, getting killed on outside runs where opponents were able to get outside and seal defenders away from the ball carrier, giving them lanes between the hashes to the sideline. The opponent would then be able to catch the Browns trying to overcorrect and attack them up the middle to keep them honest.

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Against the Raiders, the Browns were solid setting the edge and taking away those outside runs. Armonty Bryant in particular showed marked improvement and the Browns came out really attacking the run up front effectively. In the first quarter, the Raiders ran the ball 7 times for 1 yard.

Run fits were good, players were attacking their proper games and the Browns were getting penetration before the back was able to get any yardage. The pass rush came out somewhat flat and gave up passing yards but the Raiders were only able to come up with a field goal in the first quarter.

The Raiders were more effective in how they ran the ball in the second quarter but most of the yardage was coming in long yardage situations where the yardage would not hurt â€“ that is until the last of the Raiders€™ drives for the half. Down 10 to 3 after giving up a field goal, the Raiders got the ball with less than two minutes to go in the half. The Raiders opened with a run and a defense that had been operating as a collective unit suddenly was victimized by two missed assignments.

First, seemingly assuming it was a pass play, Randy Starks immediately turned his shoulders, making himself skinny trying to squeeze between two blockers rather than staying square to take on blocks to keep his teammates free to make a tackle. Getting too far up field, Latavius Murray was presented a running lane where Starks was supposed to be but was not. The Browns still had a player responsible for that gap that could have come up and make the tackle in safety Donte Whitner.

Unfortunately, Whitner completely ran past the gap and took himself right out of the play, opening up a running lane that enabled Murray to gain 20 yards, putting the Raiders at midfield and instead of perhaps running out the clock, they were looking to score points. They finished that drive with a touchdown, giving them a 17-3 lead going into the half, which would be too much for the Browns to overcome.

When the Browns operated as a unit with each player doing their job, taking their responsibility, the defense worked as it was intended against the run. When guys either did their own thing or simply could not execute, they gave up big plays that made what could have been a decent outing by the run defense look like another horrible day and continuing an ugly trend.

On the day, the Browns gave up a total of 155 yards on 30 carries, which works out to just over 5.1 yards per carry. That is awful. Latavius Murray had that run for 20 yards and another that came in part at the expense of Donte Whtiner that went for 54 yards. That accounts for 74 yards of the Raiders ground game â€“ almost half. Those two huge plays, not surprisingly, led to 10 of the Raiders 27 points on the day. The other 28 carries, the Browns defense surrendered just 81 yards at an average of just under 2.9 yards per carry. That is a number that any team can live with for an average.

This is a good news, bad news situation for the Browns. The good news is that the younger players the Browns need to be able to count on now and down the road appear to be learning and improving. Armonty Bryant was far better this week than he was against the Jets and Titans. They are getting production from players like Chris Kirksey in this area of the game.

The bad news is that some of the veterans, the guys who are supposed to be leaders in the locker room, supposed to be the ones that play the right way, are the ones making the mistakes that are killing the defense.Â Donte Whitner, the former Ohio State Buckeye and homecoming player from last year, was the worst player on the field for the Browns against the Raiders and it was not even close.

From missed assignments filling in gaps to just missing tackles as he throws shoulder bombs at opponent without wrapping up to appearing to get out of the way to avoid being in position to make a big hit, Whitner has been great as a talker and terrible as a player this season. And while he probably had no business being caught in some of the coverage situations he was put into, he was victimized there too. Especially in the run fits, he did not look unable to do the job, but the one cannot help but wonder if maybe he has lost his nerve.

Whitner was abysmal, but he was not the only one. Joe Haden struggled against the Jets and Brandon Marshall and had an extremely difficult time dealing with Amari Cooper. Some of that was due to the fact that the pass rush was simply ineffective and Carr had time to pick the Browns apart at times, which often happened to be Haden.

Some of the decisions facing Pettine and his staff are complicated. Deciding what they are going to do with some of these veterans, who seem either incapable or simply unwilling to do the job they are tasked. The Browns have to make the decision to either figure out how to get them to do their job or if they are simply going to move on to some of these younger guys more and more.

For the defensive line, that could mean more John Hughes and Xavier Cooper. In the secondary, that could mean a combination of Ibraheim Campbell on running downs and Jordan Poyer on passing downs when they have enough healthy bodies to play the slot.

Sep 20, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns defensive end John Hughes (93) sacks Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) during the second quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Meanwhile, Browns rookie and first pick of this past draft has gone from preseason stud to regular season dud in the early going. Danny Shelton has been inconsistent, which is not terribly surprising as he learns the NFL, but he has had a difficult first month of the season. Most of the time, Shelton’€™s struggles with anchoring and holding his ground against double teams but against the Raiders, he had a difficult time dealing with single blocks.

Given that he is a rookie and he is playing such an important decision, the Browns will try to keep teaching him and keeping his confidence up so they can get him to be the player they envision, but it does make the early part of this season that much more difficult when he struggles and there really is not another guy to put in there for any meaningful relief in that position.

Those are the major challenges facing the Browns right now. The simpler part of the defensive woes that face the Browns are simply reinforcing technique, potentially getting back to the fundamentals. Nothing will infuriate a coach more than missed tackles and the Browns often refused to wrap up ball carriers, making the right play as opposed to trying to blow up the opponent with a big hit.

Sep 13, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Danny Shelton (71) reacts to a play against the New York Jets during the first half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports

There were multiple examples where Raiders ball carriers got second efforts that were successfully as Browns defenders simply threw their bodies at the opponent rather than making the form tackle, which can be just as big of a hit as reckless shoulder bombs. The best, biggest hitting tacklers understand that their power as tacklers comes from running their legs while fitting up the ball carrier and wrapping them up to make the hit.

Pettine did not mince words in his press conference, making his disappointment quite clear. The Browns showed improvement from play to play on run defense but the big plays undid and made the strides gained looked almost meaningless at least for this week.

The hope for the Browns is they can keep up that consistent pressure against the run without the letdowns and the pressure mounts on the defensive staff to make sure that happens. The Browns at 1-2, are now tasked with going on the road to play the San Diego Chargers – another team that can bring a balanced attack that could create problems for a defense trying to get itself on track.

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