@tour2ma said:

???????

@clevfan4life said:

No kidding. It drives me nuts seeing the horrible tackling technique in the NFL by some players when I was taught in high school how to tackle properly. It's because players don't practice tackling because everyone is so afraid of injuring their own players in practice. If our guys practiced tackling more, our run defense would get better. They ought to increase the practice squad size limit so teams can practice tackling against the practice squad.

@htownbrown said:

Damn it! You didn't give us the payoff photo......of him putting the Marriott to sleep!

"The slender 6-foot-4,265-pounder... now in his third NFL season, Bryant is athletic and tall enough to pass for an NBA small forward."

I wonder how good his hands are...

@mudfly said:

Its (A.Bryant) and Kruger pretty much as designated rushers.....they have combined to rush the passer 97 times in 2 games. Those 97 rushes have produced 4 sacks, 3 hits and 6 hurries.....so getting to QB 14 times out of 97 attempts

While 13 other players(6 linebackers, 3 safeties, 4 CBs) have all combined to rush the passer only 44 times. Those 44 rushes produced 2 sacks, 1 hit and 2 hurries.....getting to QB 6 times out of 44.....(about the same)....

Couple of impressions/ questions I want to check...

1. The ratio of sacks to hits to hurries seem off. Seems like most teams, teams with strong pass rushes, they climb on the order of 1:2:4... Yes?

2. We've faced a total of 61 passes. So we are blitzing over 2/3rds of the time??? Or are the stats counting two blitzers on a single play as two blitzes??? Or are they counting our 4th lineman, Kruger, as a blitzer?

3. The effectiveness of our blitzes seems pretty weak at 6 of 44. And again the ratio seems off...

@mudfly said:

Oh no shit? not surprised though now that I think about it. Just kind of jarring I would imagine to see it on paper that our high priced starter is getting beat out by a guy that was the backup 5 tech last year. So AB rushes the passer better and is more useful in the run game. Why is Kruger starting again?

@clevfan4life said:

No....PFF doesnt do 1/2 sacks(and thats where Im pulling #'s from).......though they do "reassign" sacks.....

so they have AB with 45 rushes for 3 sacks, 1 hit and 1 hurry

........and Kruger with 52 rushes for 1 sack, 2 hits and 5 hurrys

Plus, AB has more overall stops and tackles, yet has played 40 fewer snaps.....

@clevfan4life said:

Looks like the Browns agree with you.....he has played 45 passing downs and rushed the QB 45 times......thats 100%.....

Its him and Kruger pretty much as designated rushers.....they have combined to rush the passer 97 times in 2 games....

Those 97 rushes have produced 4 sacks, 3 hits and 6 hurries.....so getting to QB 14 times out of 97 attempts

While 13 other players(6 linebackers, 3 safeties, 4 CBs) have all combined to rush the passer only 44 times......

Those 44 rushes produced 2 sacks, 1 hit and 2 hurries.....getting to QB 6 times out of 44.....(about the same)....

Just some interesting numbers for those interested how we are using these guys....

And, no doubt, so far AB has been the best outside rusher....

Gotta say....not LB's, but Randy Starks and D Bryant seem to be creating good pressure too(lots of hurries and hits)

http://www.dawgsbynature.com/2015/9/21/9364043/browns-week-2-defensive-snap-counts-vs-titans

@mudfly said:

Me too Mud! I thought last year he played the best football I've seen from him. His first step instinct was way better than I had seen it whether we're talking getting to the right place at the right time in coverage or vrs the point of attack. If I had to pick a most improved Defensive Player on this team in 2014 - it was Craig Robertson. Looks like he's picking up right where he left off in 2014 in our first 2 games. The LBer I thought played his very best football in Jauron's 4-3 was D'Qwell Jackson in terms of where he made most of his tackles vrs the point of attack.

Aside from how good Armonty looked bouncing back from a knee injury, I thought John Hughes played a pretty nice game inside yesterday as well as Randy Starks and Meder (loved his sack). Shelton was a beast. When they were collapsing the pocket into Mariota - that helped run Mariota right into the guys coming from the outside whether it was a DB like K'Wuan Williams blitzing or Armonty off the edge. Fun to watch!

@mudfly said:

Not sure how he got em until I go back and rewatch....

On the 4-3 3-4 thing...if you remember at the end of last season, I tracked that and showed we used a 5-2 dime like package "most" of the time.....and had plenty of 3 man and 4 man line sets....so, Id say there is no "base set"....and if there is, its a 5-2 that looks a lot like a dime to me......

And you remember correctly(better than I did)....Robertson played Will his first season....and then moved inside for '13

Now that you mention it... I remember you doing that...

I was referring to the look with two down in a 3-point and a mix of DBs and LBs standing around... with maybe 3 more up making a 5-2 look. Same thing?

Maybe a dime-nickle hybrid...

... let's call it a "dickle"...

... or not...

On my memory... obviously I had help from, Chris... but what I do distinctly remember is when they played Robertson in and Fort outside, I thought Horton(?) got it exactly backwards.

@mudfly said:

yeah those 5 man fronts are junk though cause they're incorporating mostly 3-4 personnel. I want both Bryants in the game consistently. Des you can move from DL to DE in a 4-3 seamlessly. But like I said we have other guys like Kruger and Solomon that can also play DE in a 4-3. Solomon can also play OLB'er in the 3-4 if we choose to show that. I'm just trying to figure out how we shore up our edges cause right now they're shit. That's why I think base fronts are important. If we can get ahead of teams so they have to throw more, than we can start showing some more exotic looks to free up guys to the QB. But I think we have to start coming out and running base 4-3 with the right personnel. And to me right now, that looks like the Bryants starting the game at DE with Kruger rotating in with them.

@tour2ma said:

Not sure how he got em until I go back and rewatch....

On the 4-3 3-4 thing...if you remember at the end of last season, I tracked that and showed we used a 5-2 dime like package "most" of the time.....and had plenty of 3 man and 4 man line sets....so, Id say there is no "base set"....and if there is, its a 5-2 that looks a lot like a dime to me......

And you remember correctly(better than I did)....Robertson played Will his first season....and then moved inside for '13

That's why I like 4 down beasts that occupy the OL, and also take the shortest edge to the QB. This limits his ability to step up, so if he gets flushed he has to flush up and out.....possibly right into the waiting arms of the 5th rusher in the form of a blitzing LB'er, CB or Safety. What those bigger DE"s on the end also can do is set the edge and push their guy inward so that they can still disrupt the bounce but also are pinching the off guard lanes that have been burning us for awhile. With our current edges, if they guess to the inside they have to completely disengage and dive backwards a little...which a good RB will read and bounce right off that. That's what I thought I saw happen on a couple big running plays yesterday.

No defense is perfect, there's always going to be weaknesses. I just see Krugers most productive year as having been at Blt where they used him strictly as a DE in their 4-3 packages. He's just going nowhere as 3-4 OLB'er. Remember our offensive lineman talking about what a load he was to block? Bet no o line talks like that about him now...if they did Petting wouldn't be standing him and moving him around trying to spring him into the backfield. We put 15 lbs of muscle back on him he starts to explode like a proper DE and probably gets his power edge rush back. If for matchups sake we wanna run the 3-4 for a game than we have the personnel for that too. I just want this bullshit to stop with 4 DL and Kruger standing up as the 5th guy. What in the all fuck is the point of that? That's not his game. Let Mingo do that. Your'e just tiring Kruger out by running him all over the place.

@mudfly said:

PFF gave AB 3 sacks yesterday.....nice start!

And that was out of??? Likely one of the morphilicious 2-4 or 5 looks. Seems like we don't spend enough time in our base D to worry about its label... especially since it doesn't even look like a 3-4 half of the time. Even saw some unbalanced 4-3 looks yesterday... shifted into a couple IIRC.

Cleve, I was so with you in past years, but can't get worked up about it anymore... sorry...

@clevfan4life said:

I see no reason why Robertson and Kirksey are mutually exclusive on this team.

And both were OLBs in past lives. I still do not see why they don't get a shot outside now. Undersized to take on the run? A bit, but their quicks might more than compensate.

@gftchris said:

Maybe I'm misremembering, but 2012 he went from UDFA to full time starter next to DQ in the 4-3. 2013 and the change from OLB to ILB he struggled, then last year he was decent splitting time with Kirksey.

Either way, he's solid now. Something else I've been thinking - Mingo to ILB?

Kinda remembering the same plus Fort came in 2013 and bumped Robertson inside... maybe???

Mingo at ILB? Scares me vs. the run... not seeing the read/reaction outside, so how could he process the middle?