A Response To The Hopeless

(Photo by: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Recently, Offense? Defense? The Browns Need Help Everywhere was published by Marty Gitlin. It is a well written, lyrical article and it does a nice job summing up many of the major concerns Brown's fans have. In commenting on the article, I realized I'd written a book and decided to present it as an article of hopeful reassurance to Browns fans. Many of my points are derived from responses to his article, thus I will take points and quotations from his work.

Here is a link to his article:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/178492-offense-defense-the-browns-need-help-everywhere

"Mangini plans on retaining the 3-4 defense that has been shredded both on the ground and through the air for the past several years."

At first glance, I was terrified. Andra Davis was being swallowed alive by offensive lines and consistently outplayed by three year veteran D'Qwell Jackson. Willie McGinest just had his 80th birthday. Their production was awful. So to say we had three decent linebackers was a stretch, and Mangini wanted us to play the 3-4. That's the one with four linebackers, right?

No Worries. Both the aforementioned players will not be with the team in 2009. The replacements are obvious upgrades. A triplet of players are likely to replace McGinest. Six years younger, Bowens quadrupled Willie's sack count. He started 5 games. The younger OLB's David Veikune and Alex Hall will share the work load as they learn from Bowens. Andra Davis will be succeeded by Eric Barton. While similar in age, Barton had more tackles, sacks and force fumbles. Kaluka Maiava and Beau Bell provide depth and youth at the position.

Lastly, the 3-4 is a good defense for the NFL. The two best defenses in the NFL, including the Super Bowl Champions, run the 3-4. Those Chargers' and Cowboys' defenses aren't too shabby either. The top three pass rushers in 3-4 defenses combined for 52 sacks, the top three pass rushers in 4-3 defenses combined for 42.5 sacks. Mangini is utilizing the 3-4 because it's a good defense. The Browns were shredded because they utilized it poorly.

"The first three selections in the April draft indicate that his major priority this season will be attempting to restore the offense to its explosive 2007 form."

Obviously when a team sets a record for games without an offensive touchdown, offense becomes one of the main priorities the following season. That being said, saying that the draft shows that offense is his exclusive major priority is misleading. In the first two rounds of the draft the Browns picked up three offensive players (Mack, Robiskie and Massaquoi) who will likely see playing time. In those same first two rounds the Browns also picked up three defensive players (Elam, Coleman and Veikune) that also are likely to see playing time. It seems that Mangini has concentrated on both sides of the ball with little bias shown towards either.

As far as the explosive 2007 form, everything appears to say the exact opposite. KWII is gone. Edwards is minimized by 2 WR's drafted in the second round-neither receiver is terribly flashy. The first pick was a center. An educated guess would point towards a non-explosive offense. Instead, he seems to be building one focusing on the run and short to intermediate passes with considerable amounts of YAC.

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