In game adjustments and thoughts

[Jax Dawg]

I remember back in the Kosar years Bernie saying he loved when teams brought the blitz because he loved making them pay. The Houston Oilers who were in our division at the time had an agressive defense that loved blitzing and Bernie would just casually walk up to the line and audible to a quick slant across the middle a draw play or something else that would work time after time. Bernie was so good at it that teams stopped showing him when they would blitz. The point of this story is whay doesn't the current Browns team make teams pay for blitzing them? Do we have quick slant audibles to go to or something else but the QB just fails to audible? This was something Colt did very little of in the loss to the Jags so was this because he was limited by the coaches on what he could change the play to or was he failing to make changes at the line?

Another thought I had was after reading about 10 posts of posters complaining we don't use Evan Moore enough and counter points he is slow and what not I got to thinking about how other teams use tall wideouts and tightends to their advantage. These other teams have red zone packages specifically to exploit mismatches based on height differential. Doesn't it seem like Antonio Gates out jumps somebody every week for a touchdown? Why don't we have packages for Evan Moore in red zone packages? They could throw jump balls all day in the corner of the end zone and Moore would win that battle almost every time. It seems like he was made for it but yet the coaches never put him in those situations and don't scheme, it seems, to exploit what few mismatches we may have.

I'm just a little frustrated after the tough loss and this is just two points I had about the current staff and I'm sure there are many others. The coaches need to get better as well as the talent for this team to be successful. If heads roll at season's end I'm sure Holmgren points to this week's loss as one of the reasons why.

[Enigmatic Evil]

I think you've made a good point here Jax. I don't know if it all falls on Daboll or not but our offense does seem limited out there, especially in the Jaguars game. Here's something to note though. I think in the five games Colt started, he showed a better knack for reading D's and making appropriate adjustments than Seneca Wallace did in his starts, and I think Jake would most likely be more inclined to make those adjustments to and that's just simply due to the fact that he has more experience as a starter.

I also agree we should be utilizing Evan Moore to his strengths. We don't need to put him out there as a wideout, we would learn his weaknesses true enough after one game if he were to play WR for us. I like him as a TE threat for us, another option for the QB to exploit. The Coaches have failed this team almost as much as they've helped it Jax, and I think Moore is a perfect example.

This is just how it goes when you have a team dominated by defensive minded coaches. With Holmgren in charge perhaps some of his offensive ingenuity will rub off on the coach and his staff... maybe not? It will all remain to be seen. Good post.

[Bandaid]

Brian Sipe also seemed to enjoy beating the blitz and was quite good at it. We don't seem to see quarterbacks doing the same things today to take advantage of blitz situations....not sure if it's the quarterbacking or the defenses that has changed the approach to beating the blitz. You just don't see too many times where a quarterback just stands straight up or takes a two step drop and hits a quick slant. Everything is based around the five or seven step drop and the shotgun!!!

I think part of the problem today is that the quarterbacks today don't have the freedom to make their own calls at the line of srimmage. Everything is based on the play called in the huddle which comes from the OC. The options available to the quarterback to audible to are limited, based on the play selected in the huddle. In the good old days of the past quarterbacks called many of their own plays giving them more options in audible situations.

Maybe it's just me...but the league seems to have become blitz happy and blitz successful after the play calling was taken out of the quarterbacks hands and put into the hands of the OC.

[nickers]

its because we have coaches that just seem to get stupid at odd times and were scared to create a mismatch in the "vaunted" J'ville defense.

[Greythan]

McCoy's accuracy and poise would lead you to believe that QB confidence is not the reason we've struggled with blitzes in recent weeks. I'm of the opinion that our WR's simply don't present enough of a threat to run other routes when the quick slant call is the logical play. So, the opposing defense doesn't have to respect getting beat on a 2 move route deep. Hence, they play real tight when blitzing and our guys just aren't open.

Doesn't matter how big a target you are (Moore) if the CB is blanketing you. Throw the slant into good coverage and at best its batted down while at worst the DB jumps the route for a pick.

That's my two cents.

[Sez.EJ]

I think our WR's handcuff us.. I recall Momass running a wrong route on a blitz vs jax and Colt threw the ball short and Momass was running down the field instead of cutting of his route when the blitz came.. It looked ugly.. Wr's running wrong routes often cause interceptions.. especially if they do not recognize a blitz.

[Jax Dawg]

Originally Posted by Sez.EJ

I think our WR's handcuff us.. I recall Momass running a wrong route on a blitz vs jax and Colt threw the ball short and Momass was running down the field instead of cutting of his route when the blitz came.. It looked ugly.. Wr's running wrong routes often cause interceptions.. especially if they do not recognize a blitz.

Just another indication of how bad our WR's really are. Momass has really disappointed me this year with his lack of effort at times to do everything he can to make the catch. Mental gaffs like that would get you benched on a team with better talent but do the Browns ever practice changing routes due to the blitz? I'm sure they do but it doesn't seem like it by watching the games.