http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2015/10/should_struggling_cleveland_br.html#incart_most-commented_osu_article

We came into the season with high expectations with our defense and I wonder if at least some of the problems are who we let leave this team?

@bbedward said:

I honestly thought last year that we had some sweet personnel to run a Hybrid cause of Kruger and Mingo......sigh

@clevfan4life said:

I know what they are, but they both gave the same narrative when people expressed concern of switching to a 3-4/running the 3-4. Basically that they're "hybrid" guys.

@bbedward said:

really? that's weird given the 3-4 is all any of em have ever run their whole careers which was my understanding. Hell Pettine stood up Mario Williams in Buffalo who had been a "strict" 4-3 DE his whole career.

@clevfan4life said:

"Well it isn't really right to identify as 3-4 or 4-3 because we run a mixed scheme and will fit it to the talent we have it will always be different"

blah, blah

The incompetence is truly hard to grasp, it's no coincidence Sheard's productivity went down when we changed to a 3-4 under Horton, but both Horton and Pettine/O'Neil said they're "not 3-4 guys"

@nickers said:

I heard that...and like everyone was so sure Rubin was done. It just boggles my mind. Sheard I understood at the time letting walk cause he's a 4-3 guy and it just seemed like we had too many strong side LB'ers. I haven't been paying much attention to his stats in NE but they run a 4-3 now right? So he goes back to putting his hands down and now his career is picking up, FFS. Why couldn't our staff look at the talent we had and just ran a 4-3? We could have both Bryants and Kruger/Sheard rotating at ends. I'll have to check but I'll bet NE put those lb's back on Sheard during the offseason and that's why he's resurgent.

@clevfan4life said:

Getting rid of Taylor and letting guys like Sheared walk was dumb , too!.. Athyba Rhubin aint doing to bad right now.

@bbedward said:

Jim, if the defense doesn't improve soon- you're going to get executed the end of the year.

It was pointed out elsewhere- what's killing this defense is an occasional lapse that's resulted in huge plays. Like having Whitner try and cover Amari Cooper.

@bbedward said:

I 100% agree. Maybe they thought they could do some of the same things they did in Buffalo but woefully over estimated the talent here.

@clevfan4life said:

To a degree he's right, but what I've been saying is that they don't have the talent to execute this scheme. Why the staff doesn't understand that I have no idea. They don't have the personnel to run the things they want to, so you don't run what you were doing in Buffalo because there you had some legit all world athletes. I think we may have a better secondary then them, but on the front 7 they have minimum 3 guys that not only do we not have, it's debateable whether we've ever had that kind of talent in team history.

An NFL coach should be able to recognize this and modify scheme based on the personnel he has. Everybody should play where they're most effective.

We don't have that now, which is why O'Neil is under fire. His unwillingness to change things that aren't working or change player assignments is cause for concern.

Jim O'Neil blames execution, not scheme for the worst defense in the NFL.

Sorry Jim, but you have a decent defense and made them worse than they've been for a pretty long time.

@unsympathetic said:

I have him on my fantasy and it's been pretty depressing.

You have to be a total idiot of a coach if you can't figure out how to utilize Graham's size, athletic ability.

In NO in 2014, Graham lined up as a in-line TE only 30% of the time. In Seattle, it's near 80%.

Jimmy Graham doesn't suck.. he's just not a blocking TE.

Kruger is not a cover LB. Mingo does not set the edge. etc.

@clevfan4life said:

Well you could say if Pettine was in charge of play calling and player rotations/position then maybe things would be different. I think our problems are (almost) entirely correctable but they seem to just keep getting worse.

@bbedward said:

but if it's Pettine's D what'll be the diff?

@clevfan4life said:

Well, if the defense situation doesn't turn around quick I would say it's a pretty safe bet O'Neil will be shown the door at years end. Pettine's safe though.

"Know Your Players" is your #1 job as a coach. You must put your players in a position to succeed.

IF all of these things are true, the defensive coaching staff [and possibly Pettine as well because he had to have signed off on all of this] needs to be fired yesterday.

@unsympathetic said:

I was screaming about this here in preseason when we first saw it. When Solomon was still playing he would be the 4th guy on the line with his hands down and Kruger would be standing but still up on the line...basically running a 5-2. It's one of the stupidest personnel moves I've ever seen in football. Whats ultimately the most troublesome is that this wasn't something they tried out of necessity, they probably had Kruger drop more weight (and likely strength as the result) in the offseason in preparation for having basically act like a 4-3 OLB'er. He's finished as a viable pass rushing entity in the NFL. He should have gone to a 4-3 team after leaving Blt and stayed in the 280's, which is where he was when he was actually beating tackles 1v1 around the edge.

@calfoxwc said:

Same reason the Vikings would take AP off the field on 3rd down......... Coaches over thinking a simple game.