BEREA, Ohio -- Though Johnny Manziel dominates the news and the discussion, the Cleveland Browns' defense remains among the league's worst, ranked 30th in total defense and 30th in scoring. Here are four things that Mike Pettine and coordinator Jim O’Neil said about the defense this past week.
Joe Haden remains in the early stages of the NFL’s concussion protocol: Haden was sidelined with his second concussion of the season on Nov. 1. He has not yet passed the early tests of the protocol. "There is a written test and computer test, and that right now is the obstacle," Pettine said. Those tests would put Haden at the baseline he showed in a preseason physical. From there, he would start limited physical activity, and progress. The longer Haden is in the early stage, the more troubling his situation. If it continues, he could become a candidate for injured reserve.
Justin Gilbert had "a good practice" on Thursday: That’s the word from O’Neil, a "Whoo hoo!" evaluation if ever there was one. Gilbert, Pierre Desir, rookie Charles Gaines and converted safety Johnson Bademosi are the cornerbacks in the mix to replace Haden. "Whoever performs the best that week of practice are the guys that are going to go out and play for us," O’Neil said. The very real possibility exists that both of the team’s first-round draft picks from 2014 -- Gilbert and Johnny Manziel -- will be inactive Monday night.
The Browns played more zone against the Steelers than any game this season: That's the word from O’Neil when asked about making guys like Bademosi, Gaines and Desir cover Steelers receivers Antonio Brown or Martavis Bryant man-to-man -- a square peg in a round hole kind of thing. All season, O’Neil has said that the Browns' defensive foundation is in man coverage. Pettine reiterated that after Ben Roethlsiberger tore a Haden-less secondary apart. Friday, O’Neil said: "We didn’t play much man in that game at all. We have adapted as the year has gone on to suit what we have back there. A lot of our zones still have man principles within them. We do play a lot of zone."
O’Neil can give a soliloquy with the best of them: Asked the strength of the defense after studying it during the bye week, he paused for several seconds. Then he said this: "The one thing we learned is there wasn’t one major schematic thing that jumped out on us. It was we were in this defense, we got hit for a long one; we were in this defense, we got hit for a long one; we were in this personnel group, we got hit for a long one. You wish it was you go back and every time we called Under Cover Four, they’re averaging eight yards a play and we gave up 12 explosive plays on it so that’s easy, that’s out. That wasn’t the case. The one thing that we did find was most of our mistakes came when we might have had a breakdown in communication. What we’re really trying to emphasize with our guys is we have to communicate at every level of the defense." Evidently the strength is the scheme has no major flaws.
