Donte’ Stallworth’s Workout Partners
June 18, 2009A Look Back At What Could Have Been
June 18, 2009A lot of the scrutiny for the upcoming football season will be placed on the offense that has question marks across the board – save for Joe Thomas. This is understandable given the lack of scoring that the team endured over the second half of the season and the fact that the team still claims to have made no decision on the starting quarterback.
But to be fair, there is still a lot of work that has to be done on the defensive side of things. At least the offense was good two years ago; the D has been brutal more often than not. Given this, newly crowned defensive coordinator Rob Ryan sat down with the media yesterday to discuss a few things. One of which was the 46 defense.
“You’ll see that on Sundays. Really, the 46 was designed as a nickel defense. It wasn’t really the base of my father either. It just started stopping everything so it became a base. We definitely run some 46 defense. Eric is a huge fan of the 46. That’s something he has always said, ‘Hey, let’s get this in, let’s go’ In fact, in New England, we worked together a lot and he was so smart. You would be tired after working two-a-days and you are ready to go to bed, and he would be like, ‘No, put those tapes on for an hour and let’s watch it.’ He is the one who eventually got it into New England and we had so much success with it there. It’s something that is definitely going to be a part of this package.”
As mentioned, Rob’s father (Buddy) is the man that is usually credited with creating the 46. Essentially, the formation starts out as a 4-3 defense, but frequently places the strong safety (#46 was former Bears safety Doug Plank) as a fourth linebacker. It features a lot of shifting, and players in different locations – perhaps why Eric Mangini and company are stressing the importance of having multiple players being able to play multiple positions.
From the offensive side of the ball, the 46 is supposed to make blocking assignments more difficult as players whom you were not responsible for could wind up lined up directly on top of you. While having eight in the box seems like it is a run-stopping defense on the outside, it in fact makes pass protection that much more difficult given the potential for blocking gaffes.
Something that fans may actually enjoy as well is the fact that this formation frequently finds both outside linebackers – in this case, Kamerion Wimbley and David Bowens – on the same side of the formation. When it is all said and done, fans should find at least five players (as many as eight) blitzing the passer and shooting the lanes every play.
The big issue is obviously placed on the personnel. D’Qwell Jackson, Wimbley and company are not exactly Mike Singletary, Dan Hampton and Richard Dent. The Browns do have potential to have a very disruptive defensive line assuming that all involved are fully healthy. Getting the linebackers on the same page appears to be the biggest hurdle at this point.
Ryan gave glowing reviews for both Jackson and Wimbley, continuing to make fans long for the potential that we saw during the OLB’s rookie campaign. He also feels that our cornerbacks are strong enough to play man-on-man when called upon; the addition of Rod Hood definitely does not hurt them in this situation.
The only way we’ll find out if this new defensive scheme will work or not will be when the games are decided on the field. Given the repetitive failures we have seen over the last few years (or even just last year with Denver, Baltimore, etc) the realization that things needed to be changed to fit the personnel is a plus. Now, if the new schemes still don’t fit the personnel, we may be in some trouble.
19 Comments
I think putting pressure by bringing more guys that the O line can handle is a recipe for success…it never made sense to rush 3 guys who are blocked by 6 guys, only to let their WR’s run wild thru the secondary…put pressure on the QB, force the offense to bend to your will…you dont have to be a dominant pass rusher, just the guy who isnt blocked…
I think this would take advantage more often than it would hurt you…if there are more times that you get pressure, the more chances the CB’s have to pick something off, or to deflect a pass…not to mention when the QB doesnt have time, he wouldnt be as likely to be as accurate…
I think it would help if the Browns would play 46 guys on defense.
People will chalk this up to old Cleveland foolishness and misplaced optimism, but let’s try anyway… (plus, I need my 50-yard line UD seats to go up in value!)
For all the critiques of Mangini’s people skills, he seems to be a really bright head coach with some good ideas and approaches. At what point in the Crennel era did we ever have a team that actually seemed to use its brains and schemes? It was a “we have some talent, let’s try to just do stuff”, which worked against some bad teams for a short period. One need look no further than the Dallas game to start last season to see how foolish the Browns looked against any reasonably prepared team.
Add in that Mangini can probably do things like make in-game adjustments, manage a clock (!), and the like, and a team like the Browns may actually win a few more games than people think this season.
The biggest problems coaches like Mangini have are either when they’re forced to use players who simply don’t fit (cough FAVRE cough) with a brainier, safer approach or if they outsmart themselves and forget to use the talents that their team has, too. The former shouldn’t be an issue here (Randy Lerner doesn’t care enough anyway), and the latter seems to be something that they’re approaching the right way – for now.
I think we may be looking at a surprisingly competitive Browns team this year.
Aside – what do you think the Browns will get from the Vikings when they don’t land Favre and realize that they have a legit shot at a playoff run with a strong-armed QB who can come close to wide-open guys downfield? What are the odds that Quinn hasn’t sealed the job and that Mangini is just playing this game to keep Anderson’s value bloated? 5%?
any change from the horrible D that was supposed to be Crennel’s specialty (how’d that work out when he was here?) is a welcomed change…
I think we can go with the Pats type D where you put the best 10-11 defenders on the field…even if theyre “tweeners”…which is why I think they drafted veikune and the kid from USC whos name escapes me at the moment…
Kaluka Maiava – the Boar Hunter!
Yeah, anything different than that same old passive 3-4 defense we’ve been trying for the past 5 years is cool with me. Well, anything other than the UFO defense, that is. Don’t need to see that again.
I didn’t mind the UFO until I realized that the guys still roam around even after the snap…
I didn’t mind it until I realized opponents could get about 13 yards per carry against it. 🙂
What Scott said, which led to what RK said. 😛
The 46 is like the UFO, but with a plan.
I didn’t think the UFO defense was nearly as bad as their MIA offense.
you mean the UFO D was actually considered a defense? I thought that was their code for going to the snack bar for nachos and beer…
“yo, its time to run the UFO”
*scatter*
Quinn has the job. This is going to be a possession offense. All we need is a QB that can run the team smartly and throw for first downs. Anderson has the physical tools but not the mental make-up. We got that QB from the Jets for a reason.
save for joe thomas?
joe thomas as awful last year. the fact that he got into the pro bowl shows what a joke pro bowl voting is.
nobody watched the browns last year, but everyone assumed he was good because of an awesome 2007 year.
he got ripped up by several defensive ends. mario williams treated him like a practice squad LT in the houston game.
On another Browns note: Stallworth has been suspended indefinitely by Goodell: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4270311
I didn’t see many games last year but I think D-Train has it right. Thomas got beat regularly.
New players, coaches. Why not new formation. They can say all they want and do all they want. I won’t scrutinize until the season starts.
D-Train, he’s the only non question mark. As in the only sure-fire starting position we know. He and Lewis, I guess, but even JL is injured.
While the Browns’ 2008 defense didn’t remind anyone of the ’85 Bears, I think it’s laughable how people try and say it was the weak link of our team. Before Anderson and Quinn got hurt and any remnants of a season dissolved, the Browns’ D only cost the team two games: Baltimore (which we still more than enough of a chance to win despite the D – Anderson’s INT on a screen pass to Wright sealed the deal) and Denver (three 4th quarter TDs).
Cleveland’s defense gave up a ton of yards but at the end of the day was 16th in ppg allowed; in a league of 32 teams, it doesn’t get any more middle of the road than that.
The part that gets me excited is that we should be better this year.
I don’t understand why a shifting, crazy, anyone could be coming defense is hard for an o-line to block? In high school they always told us to block a zone or a path. If the guy you were aiming at before the snap goes the other way, keep moving because someone else is coming to fill that gap. It worked in high school, why not pros?
I think players get sucked into “this is my position, this is where I’m going, that’s the guy I’m going to hit” when they play in college.