Interesting Trend About Defense...

[TheBestPlayersPlay]

Originally Posted by OzDawg

our new D kept this from being extemely embarrassing

No doubt Oz, we would have zero wins if not for the defense playing well against really, really, really bad teams. Thank God we were able to get that done.

Look, I'm not saying the defense hasn't improved ....I certainly HOPE it has considering the pieces we have added, all I am saying is I am FAR from convinced that it has considering what I have seen on the field against average offenses.

[Jax Dawg]

This offseason I would like the Browns to get a real long term Free Safety, the platoon of Adams and Young hasn't been that good. CB Brown, DE Mitchell, and OLB Gocong have all been very inconsistent and I wouldn't mind upgrades.

Fujita looks like he has lost two steps and might struggle to beat Joe Thomas in a 40 yard dash at this stage of his career. Resigning DQJ should be high priority since it seems he has thrived in the 4-3. More quality depth in the front 7 would be nice too but now I'm just getting greedy.

[Legendary]

If we have a decent offence we would have even better stats for our defence as they won't be working too hard.

[golfer704u]

Originally Posted by Legendary

If we have a decent offence we would have even better stats for our defence as they won't be working too hard.

I've been waiting for someone to say that. But then how do you explain the SF game? They came out killing us, and then teh defense got BETTER. Same with the Ten game. They picked us apart from the start.

They only place our lack of O really affects the D is in rushing yards becaue teams tend to get up on us early then run the ball more. then again, that's also why our Pass D looks pretty good too.

[TheBestPlayersPlay]

Originally Posted by TheBestPlayersPlay

Sorry but I am not buying that our defense has improved by the leaps & bounds people seem to want to believe. In fact, I am having a hard time believing they have improved at all, being that there is really no evidence stating as much.

Bueller?

[Enigmatic Evil]

What I have the hardest time stomaching is this "Top 4 D in the AFC/NFL/Whatever" argument that keeps creeping up. This is what I've seen on the field, these are (as far as I'm concerned) the facts.

- The Pass D IS improved. The numbers show it, and the play on the field shows it. IMO, this is mostly due to Haden coming into his own (as well as improved play from players like TJ Ward as well.) Haden is playing so well its overshadowing Sheldon Brown's regression

- The Run D is STILL soft. Period. We can't stop the run, we can't even contain it. Texans had TWO hundred yard rushers... we couldn't even muster one rusher with 30 yards running. Half of the points the Texan's scored were produced by their running game.

There are signs of improvement, I think Jauron's running a better D than Ryan was last season, IMO. YES, we have a softer schedule and the stats are reflecting that as well. Our D is better, but trying to use the stats and padding that "Top 4" position really isn't selling with me. I see through the stats and I know our D isn't one of the top 4 in the NFL, it's not even a top 10 D.