Analysis: Much work awaits to re-assess and rebuild a deflated Browns franchise
by Tony Grossi
Saturday November 08, 2008, 9:25 PM
The past two games have seen the Browns play worse defense than at any time since their expansion rebirth.
That's not easy to do without players named John Thierry, Darius Holland, Rahim Abdullah, Marquez Pope and Corey Fuller manning starting positions.
But those expansion immortals never rushed the passer so passively, tackled so poorly and covered so badly as the current Browns in the past two games.
The Browns were tied with Baltimore, 13-13, and led Denver, 20-10, at halftime of the past two games, both at home.
In the second half, they let the Ravens pile up 221 yards and 17 points (not counting an interception return). The Broncos rang up 288 yards and 24 points.
In those two halves of play, Baltimore rookie quarterback Joe Flacco -- who's no John Unitas -- and Denver's Jay Cutler -- no John Elway -- combined for 18-of-31 passing for 449 yards and four touchdowns. Their combined passer rating was 142.1.
Cutler threw for 202 yards and three touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone.
It wasn't a good five days for rookie defensive coordinator Mel Tucker, who was turned inside out by two of the NFL's finest offensive play-callers, Cam Cameron of Baltimore and Mike Shanahan of Denver.
Tucker, of course, didn't drop interceptions, lose coverage or whiff on tackles. But these epic breakdowns occurred on his watch and have thrown the remainder of the season into rebuilding mode.
GM Phil Savage said in the 2008 off-season that he expected the Browns to contend for the Super Bowl over the next three seasons. That hope suggested the bulk of his work in building the team was over and just some fine-tuning remained. Far from it.
The collapse of the defense shrieks for a major overhaul. And the change in quarterbacks after a half-season of offensive doldrums means there are changes brewing on that side of the ball, too.
How do the Browns get their train back on track?
Decide on who's calling the shots
Will the Savage-Romeo Crennel partnership survive a fifth season? Will both go or just Crennel?
If Savage stays, who's the next head coach? The instant front-runner would be Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, one of Savage's best friends in the business. Why him? Savage's contract gives him control over the draft and the selection of the 53-player roster. Few experienced NFL coaches would agree to those conditions.
Hiring Ferentz -- who has resisted NFL overtures several times -- would probably mean a new offensive system, too. Considering the state of the defense, that might be biting off more than the Browns can chew in one off-season.
One alternative is to wipe the slate clean and hire Bill Cowher at $8 million a year. If owner Randy Lerner did that, he would reinstitute the coach as football czar -- something he swore off after the Butch Davis debacle.
So, for the purposes of this discussion, let's assume Savage and Crennel stay intact.
Scrap the 3-4 defense
Savage has indicated this will be seriously discussed. The discussion should go something like this: "This isn't even close to working. We're scrapping the 3-4."
So the scouting and free agent season should be conducted with the 4-3 in mind. The team is loaded with 4-3 defensive tackles. It has to find some ends, leaner and quicker than anybody on hand.
Where would Kamerion Wimbley fit in a 4-3 alignment? He was a 4-3 end at Florida State. He might be undersized for right end at the NFL level, but it might save his career, too. Or he could be tried as a 4-3 outside linebacker. At worst, Wimbley would rush the passer in sub schemes.
In the years when the Steelers were the only team playing a 3-4
defense, a 'tweener like Wimbley would fall into the second or third round. Selecting him in the first round obviously was an expensive reach, and it was compounded by the fact that Savage traded down with Baltimore and gift-wrapped stud nose tackle Haloti Ngata for the Ravens. Ouch.
Continued
