can someone explain why Soloman is on the field?

dawg2fan

@gumby73 said:
First thing O'Neil must fix. This is not Hockey & line shifts our not necessary to get on & off the Field. You cannot blame just 1 guy or I unit in the mess I witnessed yesterday. This is a D unit Team missing assignments in far to many places. Manning, Oh good God !!

Not to get off topi but don't think you have to worry about Manning, but the Denver D in general. If we can keep those guys "somewhat" in check, we have a shot at winning.

gumby73

Our offense has not played a good D since jets game. Hell yes we can beat the Broncos. But it's got to be the best performance on both sides of the ball we have seen all Season. All Men on deck & we got to get healthy on D this week. Need our best, Come on Robbie, Gippy and Haden find a way.

Tour2ma

Manning may be "diminished", but he's still dangerous.

On Cardner and Solomon... I found their flying to the ball refreshing, even if they did not end up making the play.

@bbedward said:
Also, Mingo has made a few great plays in coverage this year - but why does it seem like we're not sending him on blitz more often? Or are we and I'm just missing it?

One thing that was hard to miss was how thin Mingo looked. In the replays of that stretch he made to tip the goal line pass to the FB he looked borderline skinny.

@bbedward said:
I don't think O'Neil's defense works unless it has stud OLBs and stud safeties (pretty much a mirror of Pettine's scheme - which heavily relies on safety play too). Currently we have neither and O'Neil is hoping that magically changes rather than adapting the scheme to make it work.

I think collectively we have now listed every Defensive position as critical.

bbedward

@tour2ma said:
I think collectively we have now listed every Defensive position as critical.

Honestly I'm not too sure what their problem is, but I know OLB/edge setting has been a huge weakness so far.

I just remember after we hired Pettine one of the big things people talked about was how much his scheme relied on stud safeties and we had all those Jarius Byrd rumors - and so far Gipson has been weak and Whitner has continued to be average since last year.

Unsympathetic

Solomon? He's weak in run defense, but makes up for it by being less flexible than Kruger in pass coverage. Terrible player, but judged great by Pettine so he sees the field!

It's time for some day drinking.

Clevfan4life

Just think, Soloman was so impressive to the staff that letting Sheard go wasn't a big deal. sigh

bbedward

@clevfan4life said:
Just think, Soloman was so impressive to the staff that letting Sheard go wasn't a big deal. sigh

I think Sheard had 2 sacks yesterday. More than our whole team.

Clevfan4life

@bbedward said:
I think Sheard had 2 sacks yesterday. More than our whole team.

must have been tough running down the galloping ginger before he crossed the LOS. lols

MDDawg

Letting Sheard go was a big mistake. Solomon is often injured and makes very little impact when he's on the field. I don't know why Pettine and O Neill thought such a journeyman could replace Sheard.

Ibleedbrown

@mddawg said:
Letting Sheard go was a big mistake. Solomon is often injured and makes very little impact when he's on the field. I don't know why Pettine and O Neill thought such a journeyman could replace Sheard.

Am l the only one sick of seeing the word "journeyman"?

Every time l see it, my brain sees it as "Journey, man".

Which inevitably leads to "Don't Stop Beievin'" running through my head.

You people need to cut that shit out. Find another word to describe players who have bounced around with a few teams.

Tour2ma

Styxmen? Maybe Foreignermen?

wargograw

Was always partial to Stryperman.

Opal312

Read the article on cleveland.com by Tom Reed

Sheard (Patriots), Skrine (Jets) and Ward (Broncos) have become valued members of new teams with a combined 10-1 record. The Browns' tortured draft history since 1999 is well chronicled so when a player the organization has developed leaves and enjoys success elsewhere it's difficult for some to accept. Especially, when the salary cap is not issue.

Unsympathetic

soloman is once again injured for a few weeks.. Has he played 6 consecutive downs for us yet this year?

miktoxic

you think farmer ant the FO just let people go, to let them go?

all these guys wanted more money or didn't fit into the system that this coaching staff was turning to.

shoulda woulda coulda.

quit crying already. what 2 teams are famous for letting 2-3 year players go because of contracts or system failures? yep. patriots and steelers. seems like they've been doing alright now for like 3 decades.

Zombo

@opal312 said:

Read the article on cleveland.com by Tom Reed

Sheard (Patriots), Skrine (Jets) and Ward (Broncos) have become valued members of new teams with a combined 10-1 record. The Browns' tortured draft history since 1999 is well chronicled so when a player the organization has developed leaves and enjoys success elsewhere it's difficult for some to accept. Especially, when the salary cap is not issue.

Ward and Skrine were replaced with competent players ... albeit older players. So now we gotta find younger players, not sure why we didn't want to pay those dudes.

Sheard was allowed to go and Orchard is the replacement.

So sure thing replaced with hopeful young replacement.

We never get better and I think the root of the problem is changing front offices and coaches so often that "Sheard does fit soandsos defense" and "Ward wasn't soandsos guy" ... Yes the Browns developed them, but not THESE Browns.

Now look at New England, Pittsburgh, Baltimore ... teams that have the same coach and same front office every year. The good players get second contracts, and free agents see it as a destination, not a place to get out of it.

If we can get some momentum this year, 8-8 or better, and we keep Farm and Pet around we can start to change this ... But we GOTTA draft better in the early rounds. Shelton may be coming around though, good game this week, I thought.

Zombo

Mudfly

@clevfan4life said:
Like what does he do on an NFL field that justifies his presence there? Not knocking the guys toughness i'm sure he's a beast, but he get swallowed up every trip off the line. Gets washed out of every running play to his side, often by a single TE. Never fights out of a single block, I just don't understand. He's not particularly fast around the edge nor does he set a Golem like edge. What, does, he, do?

This could be a description for Kruger too......Kruger was playing so badly that they gave 40 of his snaps to Solomon....gotta try something when your starter isnt performing....right?

@osiris said:
Supposedly he did the best job setting the edge during preseason. Not seeing it so far.

That was the word in camp.....

@londonbrown said:
Is Kirksey struggling this year?

Yes......and he gave up 40 snaps this week too.....enter Carder....

@clevfan4life said:
Just think, Soloman was so impressive to the staff that letting Sheard go wasn't a big deal. sigh

Arent you the guy who's preaching system vs player????.......and isnt Sheard a pure 4-3 DE?...(he is).....

I always loved Sheard, but it's clear that the guy is not a OLB.....

@bbedward said:
I think Sheard had 2 sacks yesterday. More than our whole team.

Yep.....he's back at the right position, so Im sure he will have more sacks.....closer to his first couple years when we used him correctly too.....

Mudfly

Last week...A. Bryant(1), Solomon, Mingo, Kruger AND Kirksey all combined for exactly ONE tackle.......thats a real stat right there....5 linebackers 1 tackle.....

Orchard(4), Dansby(9) and Carder(3) were the only ones who played apparently.....

or another perspective....

Dansby 9 tackles....

And all the rest( the 7 other linebackers) had 8......

Ibleedbrown

@tour2ma said:
Styxmen? Maybe Foreignermen?

I can handle foreignerman. Somewhat describes a player that is new to a team.

And Jukebox Hero is a good change of pace.

OldBrownsFan

@mudfly said:

Last week...A. Bryant(1), Solomon, Mingo, Kruger AND Kirksey all combined for exactly ONE tackle.......thats a real stat right there....5 linebackers 1 tackle.....

Orchard(4), Dansby(9) and Carder(3) were the only ones who played apparently.....

The sad thing is that this horrible defensive performance happens week after week with no sign it will or can be corrected. How could Pettine and O'Neil have missed it so bad on defense? They both spoke before the season started that they had expectations our defense could even be one of the elites in the league. Huge disappointment. Thankfully our offense has over achieved.