New-Look Browns Ready To Put the "D" in Cleveland

Last year may have been the first year that you realized that the Cleveland Browns were back in the league since the old ones moved to Baltimore.

It would be inexcusable to do so, but it would also be hard to blame you. Since 1999, the Browns were, for the most part, the whipping posts of the league. Save one fluke playoff year where they backed in with a 9-7 record (and tons of help from the heavens and beyond), Cleveland was a "W" for most teams when the schedules came out every April. The "Dawg Pound" had lost its bite.

Then 2007 happened.

Sure, the Browns were one of the few teams historically to go 10-6 and still miss the playoffs, but they were now a legit force. After having just one Pro Bowler since their return in '99 (that's right: Just one Pro Bowler over an eight-year stretch), the Browns suddenly found themselves with six.

Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards were now legit superstars and household names. Derek Anderson had found his way into the franchise's record books—a prestigious piece of literature that houses the names of greats such as Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly, and Otto Graham. Joe Thomas made fools out of doubters by becoming a Pro Bowl left tackle, as a rookie.

Meanwhile, Jamal Lewis made the Baltimore Ravens look like fools for letting him go by running roughshod over the league for over 1,300 yards. Left guard Eric Steinbach, a free-agent signing from the division rival Bengals, was a Pro Bowl snub despite winning the fan voting. Fullback Lawrence Vickers was named a second alternate to the Pro Bowl, as well.

Yes, the Browns were back. And considering that most of their core was 25 or younger, they were back to stay.

But one strange thing happened along the way: The Browns became all about offense.

A franchise that had its glory days based on a staunch defense and the "big uglies" in the trenches was now a team that tried to out-gun opponents. Check out the roll call of Cleveland Browns superstars: They are all on the offensive side of the ball. The team ranked eighth in total offense, while Edwards shattered a franchise record by scoring 16 touchdowns.

The defense, meanwhile, was of the "bend but don't break" variety. But Cleveland was ranked 30th in the league in total defense, giving up an average of 359.6 yards per game. In addition to that atrocity, the Browns were an abominable 27th against the run.

During the franchise's breakthrough year of 2007, the defense still floundered around being ranked 29th in passing touchdowns allowed and 26th in sacks.

As bad as that sounds, such defensive "prowess" has been the norm for the Browns since '99. Starting with their one lone playoff year of 2002, the Browns have been ranked 29th, 29th, 30th, 32nd (dead last in '05), 23rd, and 27th against the run. 

In fact, the guy who totes the rock for the Browns out of the backfield right now—Jamal Lewis—set a single-game rushing record against Cleveland in September of 2003 by predicting a career day and then delivering on a jaw-dropping 295 yards on 30 carries with the Ravens.  

What's even more baffling about this is that not only is head coach Romeo Crennel a defensive specialist, who helped the New England Patriots win three Super Bowl rings, but his predecessor, Butch Davis, was on Dallas' defensive staff during the Cowboys' reign in the '90s. Cleveland's defensive atrocities have been under their direct supervision.

But if GM Phil Savage can turn a once-dormant offense into a powerhouse littered with Pro Bowlers and Pro Bowl snubs, he can do it with the defense. In fact, he's well on his way.

While other franchises used the draft this past spring to upgrade their rosters, Savage and Crennel were able to take the day off. And deservedly so. The Browns had let go of their first-round pick this year to bring in Brady Quinn, but you can't blame them for not being able to predict a Pro Bowl year out of Anderson.

Savage moved his second-round pick to Green Bay for lineman Corey Williams, a 6'4", 313-pounder that has played just four years in the league. Savage then moved quickly to trump the division rival Bengals and bring in defensive tackle Shaun Rogers, a 350-pound behemoth, from Detroit, in exchange for a third-round pick and cornerback Leigh Bodden.

In Williams, Savage was able to bring in a guy who has played in all 32 regular-season games for the past two seasons and has collected 14 sacks during that time. Rogers is a two-time Pro Bowler that has had his commitment and reserve questioned, but would you want to go all out for a team that spends four out of five top-10 picks on wide receivers?

The reviews from training camp so far have been promising. Rogers, who intercepted a pass against Denver and took it 66 yards to the house, picked off Quinn in practice by tipping the ball to himself and then steamrolling over fullback Vickers for a few extra yards.

Life's different when you're stuffing the middle for a team that some have predicted to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

"I'd have to say he's got to be one of the best, if not the best, defensive tackle in the NFL," said Browns center Hank Fraley, a nine-year veteran that was acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles in 2006, to the Cleveland Plain Dealer about Rogers. "And I know he's adjusted to the nose [tackle position] well. I don't think it's changed his play at all. But hopefully we're making him better too."

The fallout from Rogers' and Williams' impact is going to come from the linebacker position, where 2006 first-round pick Kamerion Wimbley is chomping at the bit. Wimbley set a Browns' franchise record for rookies with 11 sacks in '06. In '07, teams realized that "Killa Kam" was Cleveland's only threat off the edge, and the former Florida State Seminole was stuffed for just five sacks.

Look for Wimbley to have a Pro Bowl-type year off the edge in '08, if Rogers and Williams punish the inside of this 3-4 scheme.

Cleveland's lack of depth at cornerback may be an issue with many fans, but consider Crennel's track record with corners dating back to his days with the Patriots. For Crennel, cornerbacks may as well grow on trees. He made stars out of guys like Randall Gay and Asante Samuel.

The defenses he supervised in New England never had a true, shutdown corner other than Ty Law, and the defense was still able to thrive, even when Law was forced to miss critical games, like the AFC Divisional Game against the Colts in January of 2005.

Crennel also has second-year player Eric Wright out of UNLV to work with at corner. Wright was supposed to be a sure-fire first rounder in 2007, but character issues and off-field questions dropped him to the second round, where Savage wasted no time scooping him up. Wright was worked into the starting lineup as a rookie and showed the kind of promise that made him such an attractive choice for Savage.

Safety Sean Jones, who will be entering his fifth season, was the only guy to play in 100 percent of the Browns' plays this year, and if the pieces around him fall into place, he's on the verge of becoming one of the best safeties in all of football.

Cleveland isn't too far away from being not just a solid defensive group, but a dominant one.

Hey, they scoffed at the potential of the Browns' offense last year. Don't make the mistake of being too quick to dismiss their defense, too.