@flugel said:I hear ya but I don't think it was intended to be read and react at all. It looks like our personnel improved in all the right places to enable "sic em." We even saw some variations of the 46 D on occasion and some formations BB once used on the Buffalo Bills in the Superbowl back when he was the Giants' DC. I tried to tell alot of people about 1st step instinct when many people were confusing Jackson's tackle volumes for parallels to Mike Johnson. IMO, the difference in the 2 guys is 1st step instinct, which dictates where the LBer puts an end to a play. While D'Qwell has an admirable quality of never giving up on a play and hustling all out - he's more of a similarity to Wali Rainer in where most of his tackles take place. Wali didn't have an oft-doubleteamed Shaun Rogers keeping him as unblocked as Jackson though. The millisecond Bowens changed positions to ILBer (when Jackson got injured) - he was impacting plays right at the line of scrimmage or behind it consistently. I thought the upgrade was significant if I'm being honest. Hence, our defense was getting off the field after 3 downs far more frequently. Even better? This didn't change at all when Rogers got injured. Stats can be misleading when your seeing a MLBer looking like he's playing Safety vrs the run. This is pertinent here so I hope it makes sense. I remembered a LBer on my team (our captain) proud of how about tackles he made in 1 game. Thinking our head coach was going to acknowledge his heroics - the coach read the stat sheet the Monday after the game to us and addressed this LBer: "28 tackles? Big freakin deal! We weren't getting off the field because we didn't play with an ounce of instinct. You're a MLBer - not a Safety so I want you making plays at the line of scrimmage. That's a 53 on your belly not a 23. Opponents are supposed to be intimidated by a MLBer instead of excited about a fresh set of downs." Theme there? A credible football mind didn't give the first rat if his MLBer made 100 tackles - he just wanted his defense off the field with his MLBer having more of an impact at the line of scrimmage. 1st step instinct gets a defense off the field in 3 downs while recovery/hustle hopes to prevent TDs and fill stat sheets. It's the difference between memorable and forgettable. Marcus Benard was doing things in his first few appearances that I waited 3 years to see in Jackson (and still haven't). That's get to the QB. Memorable! I think there's so much more to the position than grabbing ankles in a pile. I look at our LBers all of a sudden and we went from doughnut hole to cavity drilled and filled virutally overnight and very quietly. Here's our current LBer rotation personnel that IMPROVED our performance on Wimbley, Roth, Trusnik, Bowens, Maiava, Benard. Seemed like the blitz had a lot of giddyup both inside and outside that coincided with the time frame we lost Jackson. FWIW, I had mega-high expectations for Jackson on draft day so I never changed the criteria to being happy with ankle grabbing, staying on the field, and resembling Wali Rainer making tackles in the secondary. Maybe I just got spoiled looking at REAL LBers when we had guys like Mike Johnson, Pepper Johnson, Clay Matthews (could play inside or outside), Carl Banks, Chip Banks and Dick Ambrose. Opponents FEARED these guys or paid dearly when they didn't. 1st step instinct and that's why you NEED a good talent evaluator bringing a 3-4 scheme some 3-4 backers. I think we're seeing Phil Savage didn't have an eye for the types of LBers needed in the 3-4 with the exception of Wimbley. I know we have some Jackson loyalists and enthusiasts but I think he's better suited for a 4-3 scheme as an OLBer at this level. I'll bet he has decent exchange value while we've quietly deepened our LBer position. - Tom F. I agree 100%. While it is useful to have a "clean-up" player on your defense, that player should not be an ILB. Your clean-up, touchdown saving player should, at the the very most, be a member of the secondary. As for our defense- I am actually legitimately excited to see them suit up next season. For most of my life, the Browns have been a joke defensively (outside of 93-94). I think Rob Ryan has done a great job so far in fielding a defense that has the "want-to". To me, that's the biggest part of playing defense. Ryan lit a fire under their butts, and it's been a long time coming. I agree that our defense was seemingly a "read-and-react" defense, no matter what the players or coaches said. And, at times, read-and-react is a good quality in a defense. But the key to fielding a successful D is creating fear and doubt in the minds of the other team, and that's something we haven't done in a long time. I think, with the addition of some key secondary players, our defense can be pretty damn good for years to come.