Cribbs at Safety
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@inspecta said:
Gee I remember a certain coach by the name of Belichick taking one of his better WR (Troy Browns) and flipping his ass over to cornerback without a thought and he seemed to have some success.....it can be done, whether or not it's wise for us to do so is yet to be determined.Oh I know it can be done. I just don't think it's worth it with Cribbs.
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@inspecta said:
Gee I remember a certain coach by the name of Belichick taking one of his better WR (Troy Browns) and flipping his ass over to cornerback without a thought and he seemed to have some success.....it can be done, whether or not it's wise for us to do so is yet to be determined.And Mangini was the DB coach then, I think.
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Being a top kick returner does not exclude a player from being top defensive player as well. There have been plenty of every down DB's that were also really good kick returners. His move to defense would have no bearing on his duties as a kick returner.
C'mon, this is not rocket science we are talking about here. When it comes to the WR position, I don't think it's his inability to learn it as much as it was the last staff's decision not to use him due to the possibility that they simply didn't think he was the best #3 on the team.
I've heard rumors that Cribbs struggles with the playbook and I don't believe it's that serious. If he does struggle understanding a playbook to the point that he isn't effective, then what better thing to do than move him to defense?
He's such a god tackler that having him play every down on defense would be a big plus and I'm sure he'd learn it fairly easily.
Okay, so a guy struggles to learn the playbook at WR, and you think he'd then be able to learn a defensive playbook, at saftey? Playing saftey and learning the d playbook at that position in a 3-4 is an even bigger learning curve.
Masters said:
Okay, so a guy struggles to learn the playbook at WR, and you think he'd then be able to learn a defensive playbook, at saftey? Playing saftey and learning the d playbook at that position in a 3-4 is an even bigger learning curve.Why?
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The kid was a QB . If he can read defenses he can learn any position . I am not saying I agree with the decision because I don't . But as far as a learning curve I'd say Josh can learn any of it . jmho
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@inspecta said:
Dude, I have every single hour of the Browns seasons on my DVR, I have seen Cribbs make more tackles on special teams than our starting linebackers had in games. The kid is a heat seeking missle, every play on kicks and punts you ALWAYS see 16 either on the tackle or very near it.Just the type of plays you need a safety to be able to make. How long has it been since we saw a Safety in Cleveland that attacks a ball carrier like Cribbs will?
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They need to find a position where Cribbs is the MOST effective and just let him be. If they put him at safety and he becomes a Bob Sanders type player then leave him there. I don't like the idea of having him return kicks or for that matter do anything on special teams on top of being a safety. Having him on the field as a safety would allow us to utilize his talents MORE during the course of the game rather than just a few plays on special teams. I would only be up for him playing ST and SS if he didn't pan out at SS and they used him in situational but if he becomes a full time safety then he's done on ST.
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Why does ANYONE think he can transition to safety and succeed? I can't believe 19 people are in the yes camp. All of this is scary. Are you guys for real? You have to be for real and the notion really calls in to question the football knowledge of this message board. If you do put him at safety it's going to be a while before he's productive. The last i checked the need for a WR is just as great for the Stains as a safety. Cribbs was a running QB that transitioned very well to a return man and potentially a solid WR. Why would you put his intangibles on defense? Can the dude even tackle? All of this is Retarded.
EDIT: Apparently of all the browns games I've flipped back and forth too I missed his "tackling" even if the guy can tackle is he worth more to the team on defense than he is on offense? Who knows. I guess it's worth a shot but why not just draft a true safety and keep cribbs in his more natural position. It's not like he's failed as a WR.
Why does ANYONE think he can transition to safety and succeed? I can't believe 19 people are in the yes camp. All of this is scary. Are you guys for real? You have to be for real and the notion really calls in to question the football knowledge of this message board. If you do put him at safety it's going to be a while before he's productive. The last i checked the need for a WR is just as great for the Stains as a safety. Cribbs was a running QB that transitioned very well to a return man and potentially a solid WR. Why would you put his intangibles on defense? Can the dude even tackle? All of this is Retarded.
EDIT: Apparently of all the browns games I've flipped back and forth too I missed his "tackling" even if the guy can tackle is he worth more to the team on defense than he is on offense? Who knows. I guess it's worth a shot but why not just draft a true safety and keep cribbs in his more natural position. It's not like he's failed as a WR.
First you question the knowledge of the fans here...You say the notions are scary and ask if we are for real.......You say it's Retarded.....Then you admit you "Missed" his tackling and also admit that you "Dont know".
Since you don't know, wouldn't be wise to hold off on all the adjectives until you do know?
Brilliant!
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I have been saying for 3 years that Cribbs would make a heck of a safety.
He would be at a pro-bowl level this year had we done this 2-3 years ago.
Better late than never.
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@inspecta said:
Dude, I have every single hour of the Browns seasons on my DVR, I have seen Cribbs make more tackles on special teams than our starting linebackers had in games. The kid is a heat seeking missle, every play on kicks and punts you ALWAYS see 16 either on the tackle or very near it.A move to saftey isn't THAT far fetched, or out of the realm of possibilty of working. He would still contribute in the same way as before, just in a different capacity.
Agreed.
99.9% of the KO's are covered by Cribbs. If he doesn't make the tackle, he blows up the primary blocker & the tackle is immediately made after that. You know who is immediately behind #16 on those coverages? #64. Does anybody here think Pontbriand is the 2nd fastest person on the field? Didn't think so. He & Cribbs have the smarts to read the formations, & Cribbs has the disturbing athletic ability to make the play.
If he can pick up the position (I believe he can, just maybe not in 1 offseason), I think he's got the ability to bring the kind of fear & presence in our secondary that Sean Taylor did in Washington. Without the attitude & piss poor decision making after the play.
#16 Can lay wood.
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ideally i would use Cribbs in all three phases of the game, but only on a limited basis.
on offense i'd have him line up next to the QB as a RB hybrid, especially in 3rd dn situations. he'd offer pass-protection and blitz pick-ups, he can block for others or run the ball himself, catch the ball as a wide-out, or even pass it himself. most importantly he'd function as a supplemental safety-valve for our young quarterbacks as a last resort dump off target. i'd have him around the ball in an opportunistic way, but not expending energy unless necessary.
on D i'd ease him into the secondary in dime situations giving him gradually more as he shows he can take it. i'd try to hold off until the second half of the game for the bulk of his play where it would quickly become a common theme in CLE to unleash a fresh predator on tired D's adding much needed disruptive mayhem late in the game.
using him this way will continue to allow him to contribute to special teams doing the very thing he loves best--tackling returners as the gunner. someone else can return them. too much risk having him on the return team IMO.
and Ytown don't think i'm biting your ideas, you can search my posts and see i said this months ago.
glad we can actually agree on something, playing the devil's advocate has gone over both our heads in previous threads.
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Yea he covers exceptionally well. He can lay the wood. I wouldn't mind seeing what he could do on D. I'd do it in like nickle and dime situations like an above poster said. I"m just worried about him coming up in run support and tryin to knock a RB out cold and hurting himself as well. I saw a couple times he went in for big hits on kick-offs and such and it looked like he may have knocked himself out... but if it'll better our team... I'm all for it
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Masters said:
Okay, so a guy struggles to learn the playbook at WR, and you think he'd then be able to learn a defensive playbook, at saftey? Playing saftey and learning the d playbook at that position in a 3-4 is an even bigger learning curve.Why?
Why?
Why is it a bigger learning curve? Because the saftey has to fully understand the defensive play call, where every other defensive player is on the field for that play, and be able to read the entire offense. If it is true that Cribbs struggled with learning the playbook and reads at WR (which is less reads and learning), then there is zero reason to believe he can learn even more than he was asked at WR and grasp it all.
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The kid was a QB . If he can read defenses he can learn any position . I am not saying I agree with the decision because I don't . But as far as a learning curve I'd say Josh can learn any of it . jmho
The kid was a QB . If he can read defenses he can learn any position . I am not saying I agree with the decision because I don't . But as far as a learning curve I'd say Josh can learn any of it . jmho
Who says he can read a D? There is a reason he had to move to another positon coming out of college. He also played in a spread running QB offense at college. I am pretty sure reading a D as a QB was never one of Cribbs's better skills.
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@inspecta said:
Well you have to look at it this way.He can still return punts and kicks, clearly his most valuble contribution to the team, he's a game changer at the return position.
He never settled in as a WR, I'll never know why, his hands aren't that great, but still....
Dude, I have every single hour of the Browns seasons on my DVR, I have seen Cribbs make more tackles on special teams than our starting linebackers had in games. The kid is a heat seeking missle, every play on kicks and punts you ALWAYS see 16 either on the tackle or very near it.
A move to saftey isn't THAT far fetched, or out of the realm of possibilty of working. He would still contribute in the same way as before, just in a different capacity.
The WildDawg formation is a fad that won't last in the NFL, defensive coordinators will really start hemming that in next season.
A gunner on ST and playing Saftey are night and day. A gunner isn't sifting through his own players and linemen to get to the ball carrier.
Plus, you move Cribbs to saftey, he won't be on special teams anymore. So who replaces all his ST tackles that usually result in no return? Who replaces Cribbs returning KO and PR, which generally gives CLE a shorter field?
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@inspecta said:
He might not be a gunner, but he can still return kicksHe couldn't. We need to keep in mind Cribbs has bad asthma. Guy needs to suck oxygen after every return or gunning. He moves to saftey he won't return kicks. It would be just like with Ed Reed. Dude was a great PR, but you don't see him out there anymore.
It would be great to have it all ways w/ Cribbs, but the day he becomes more than a #3 WR or moves to DB, his days on ST are completely done.
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@inspecta said:
He might not be a gunner, but he can still return kicksHe couldn't. We need to keep in mind Cribbs has bad asthma. Guy needs to suck oxygen after every return or gunning. He moves to saftey he won't return kicks. It would be just like with Ed Reed. Dude was a great PR, but you don't see him out there anymore.
It would be great to have it all ways w/ Cribbs, but the day he becomes more than a #3 WR or moves to DB, his days on ST are completely done.
Masters said:
It would be great to have it all ways w/ Cribbs, but the day he becomes more than a #3 WR or moves to DB, his days on ST are completely done.As it should be.....good players aren't stuck on ST their whole career.
I could see him remaining on kick returns some, since he would then leave the field to rest.
He doesn't need to covering kicks to then remain on the field to play a defensive position.
If he ends up on offense, reverse the thinking.
But....he won't be on O....he is a defensive player at heart.
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Masters said:
It would be great to have it all ways w/ Cribbs, but the day he becomes more than a #3 WR or moves to DB, his days on ST are completely done.As it should be.....good players aren't stuck on ST their whole career.
I could see him remaining on kick returns some, since he would then leave the field to rest.
He doesn't need to covering kicks to then remain on the field to play a defensive position.
If he ends up on offense, reverse the thinking.
But....he won't be on O....he is a defensive player at heart.
As it should be.....good players aren't stuck on ST their whole career.
I could see him remaining on kick returns some, since he would then leave the field to rest.
He doesn't need to covering kicks to then remain on the field to play a defensive position.
If he ends up on offense, reverse the thinking.
But....he won't be on O....he is a defensive player at heart.
I think Cribbs is just a football player at heart.
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Like I said before, I also think Cribbs should play RB(but only in the shotgun formation) and return kicks, all while playing SS on first down. Thats manageable, Shotgun RB, Kick Returner, and First Down Strong Safety
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As it should be.....good players aren't stuck on ST their whole career.
I could see him remaining on kick returns some, since he would then leave the field to rest.
He doesn't need to covering kicks to then remain on the field to play a defensive position.
If he ends up on offense, reverse the thinking.
But....he won't be on O....he is a defensive player at heart.
I think Cribbs is just a football player at heart.
Masters said:
I think Cribbs is just a football player at heart.I agree.....and most of those guys play D
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Look up my reply on the Sean Jones thread just before his free agency. Most everyone here said we had to sign the guy. i said that he was soft and we need to let him go (only a couple of guys agreed). i also said that i hope the staff gives Cribbs a look at a position somewhere in the DB. (BTW, i also said that he is tough and we know he can tackle, but i have no idea whether he can cover. That is is still true.)
Here is also what i said:
Despite the fact that our D is awful, Crabtree is the only selection at #5 that makes sense. Crabtree and BE make a tandem that is hard to beat in the entire NFL. If we trade BE, then i will back off that selection as i'll have no idea where we're going.
Jamal Lewis will be on our roster. The guy is a tough football player (like Cribbs and unlike Jones). We'll see.
BQ will be the starter. i have repeated that our fans are not mature enough for a true competition at QB. The fans from the current era have cheered Couch when he went down to injury and cheered DA when the same thing happened. Assholes. While i hope the current staff has the balls to be indiffererent, i really don't think that will happen.
roach (i've never booed my QB- even Paul McDonald)
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