Cleveland Browns: Players Frustrated with Jim O’Neil

Aug 13, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine and defensive coordinator Jim O

While injuries have been a factor this year, such as with players like Joe Haden, Tashaun Gipson, Scott Solomon and Craig Robertson, the overall defensive product is confused, underwhelming. Whereas last year Paul Kruger had a career high 11 sacks from the Rush position, he has just half a sack through this season.  This year he started at SAM, a position he admitted he was not comfortable playing, put in more of a pure pass rushing role but utilized less and not nearly as effectively.

Last year, the Browns had multiple Pro Bowl caliber players. This year, no one on that side of the ball looks to have a shot to end up going to Hawaii.  The only major change was Pettine handing the reins of the defense over to O’Neil, and despite having more talent, getting far less out of it.

Schematically, the cornerback position is asked to do a ton of heavy lifting. They have invested a substantial amount of time and resources into the position and need their corners to be able to man up the opponent.  Even without Joe Haden, who has been hurt/injured all year long with his play showing it and when they were without K’Waun Williams for a couple weeks due to a concussion, the position group has performed admirably, especially with how nonexistent the pass rush has been this year.

Tramon Williams has played extremely well as a free agent signing from the Green Bay Packers and Pierre Desir, the second year corner from Lindenwood, has looked impressive in relief of Haden.  His punch, combined with his length and athleticism to run with receivers make him an ideal fit for what the Browns want in a sideline corner and is putting himself in excellent position to take over for Tramon when he eventually leaves (Tramon is currently 32). K’Waun Williams is a stud as a slot corner, but they got production out of Jordan Poyer, a valuable role player, in his absence.

In addition to the fact the corner spot is critical for what the Browns want to do on defense, it is also the most confident group on defense because it is clearest on what their responsibilities are in a given play. This comes from them being able to focus on their opponent and how to win a matchup as opposed to think about their job. Nevertheless, there are situations where even the corners are not getting calls on time or at all, putting them in losing positions.

Every other position group is playing slower than they should or simply look discombobulated, because they are not confident in what they should be doing with any consistency. They either try to figure out what the job is and do it slowly or guess and go as hard as they can, hoping to be right.

Rather than being able to focus on how to beat the man across from them or thinking about what they need to do in terms of technique, they are expending far too much energy thinking about their assignment. They are thinking rather than reacting. This also makes development somewhat stilted with certain players and the whole growth process is slower than it should be, especially in the front seven.

Consequently, O’Neil is relying too heavily on the corner position and having to use their safeties to make up for what the front seven has not been able to do. Last year, Tashaun Gipson occasionally would blitz but most often was used as a deep, roaming safety that could take advantage of his instincts and ball skills to cause turnovers. He ended up going to the Pro Bowl despite only playing in 12 games.

Because of the struggles in run defense as well as the impotent pass rush, free safeties like Gipson and Poyer, when Gipson was injured, end up being used up in the box, blitzing or playing man coverage while other players blitz. The corners end up being hung out to dry because they cannot cover forever and smart quarterbacks are taking advantage of matchups to move the ball down the field.

This was most evident against Philip Rivers and the Chargers but has been come up in a number of other games, beating their Cover-0 looks.  Cover-0 can be very effective but it is not a look that is sustainable over long periods of time, because it leaves no room for error in the passing game.

Everything from the locker room to the field says the problem is O’Neil, but unless Pettine acknowledges it and is willing to do something to address it, his fate may be tied to O’Neil. Loyalty is an admirable quality but if Pettine doesn’t act when it comes to O’Neil and perhaps is even willing to lose his job for him, Pettine will have gotten what he deserves.  That becomes more selfish than it does admirable when that also means taking the rest of the coaching staff as well as potentially a number of scheme specific players down with him.

Next: How about the head coach?