5 Changes the Cleveland Browns Must Make After the Bye Week
The bye week is more than just a week off during the regular season. It is meant to be a time when adjustments are made and the team is fine-tuned for the stretch run of the season. For the Cleveland Browns, there are quite a few things that need to be tweaked.
The good news is that it is not as bad as years past. In other years, the Browns had to figure out major issues, like how they were going to start manufacturing points or who would be their starting quarterback. This season the Browns just have some minor tinkering to do, and the rest of the season should be interesting.
This will be a big test for first-year head coach Mike Pettine and his staff. Can they properly identify the issues throughout their roster and game plans? He has already shown a knack for in-game adjustments, so now he needs to show that he can do the same on a larger scale.
I decided to help out the cause and outline a few of the problem areas for the Browns through three weeks. Here are the five changes the Browns need to make over the bye week.
Transition Crowell to the Starting Role
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It won’t happen overnight, and it may be a tougher sell in the locker room than people think, but rookie Isaiah Crowell needs to be the starting running back for this football team. That process should begin over the next 14 days as the Browns prepare to travel to Tennessee.
This team will always have a running back-by-committee type of backfield. The Browns did not spend money on free agent Ben Tate and a second-round draft pick on Terrance West in the offseason to have them rot away on the bench.
The issue is that Tate has injury and ball-security concerns and West has a tendency to dance instead of making quick decisive movements. Crowell, on the other hand, will take whatever yardage is in front of him and is a load to bring down.
As the Browns also saw on Sunday during his 22-yard scamper up the sideline, West has some speed in his game too. Crowell is currently rushing for 5.2 yards per carry and has three touchdowns on the year. He is clearly the most talented back on the roster.
The biggest test for rookie backs is when they can be trusted to be in the game on third down and block in passing situations. Crowell has been in there to pick up blitzes quite a bit. I expect the Browns to continue to increase his touches over the next three or four weeks until he is receiving the bulk of the carries.
More Rushing on Offense
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Despite the Browns having one of the most dominating rushing attacks in the NFL through three games, many, including myself, feel they don’t utilize it quite enough. The Browns are near the top of the NFL in rushing yards per attempt and rushing touchdowns.
The offense has run 191 plays through three games, and just 90 of those have been rushes. Sure, quarterback Brian Hoyer has exceeded expectations thus far and has played at a high level. His quarterback rating is better than some of the bigger names in the league.
"Brian Hoyer's 97.5 QB rating is higher than Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Colin Kaepernick and Andy Dalton.
— Kevin Jones (@Mr_KevinJones) September 22, 2014"
Let’s not try to fool ourselves into thinking Hoyer is going to start winning whole games with his arm though. He is at his best when using play action set up by an effective running game. On Sunday the Browns ran 50 percent pass and 50 percent run through their final two drives.
Those drives resulted in two three-and-out series and took less than one minute off the clock when they had the lead late in the fourth quarter. The Ravens had struggled to stop the run all day. Pound the rock, Kyle Shanahan, pound the rock.
More Focus on Special Teams
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So far this season, the Browns have allowed multiple big returns, had a field goal blocked, botched an extra-point snap, missed a field goal that counted and missed another that was saved by a penalty, had punt returner Travis Benjamin fumble one ball and let another go over his head to kill field position and looked like a complete mess overall.
Special teams coach Chris Tabor will be in the spotlight for the next two weeks, and that will continue until he can get things straightened out. He has survived two coaching changes in Cleveland but may not survive the season if things continue to go like this.
The first thing that needs to happen is Benjamin needs to be replaced as the punt returner. He has already been replaced by Marlon Moore on kick returns and is obviously not the returner he once was. He may be worrying about the knee injury that ended his 2013 season early, and maybe that has limited his effectiveness.
He is averaging just 0.7 yards per punt return this season and has several mishaps already. He let a ball go over his head at a pivotal moment late in the game Sunday, which Baltimore then downed at the Cleveland 7-yard line.
There were many other mistakes, but the missed and clocked field goals Sunday look to be among the worst. Things need to be straightened up.
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Kirksey Moved to Full-Time Starter
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So far this season the Browns have split reps at inside linebacker between rookie Chris Kirksey and Craig Robertson. As you can see in this Week 2 snap breakdown from DawgsByNature.com, Robertson is unitized next to Karlos Dansby in the base defense and Kirksey plays in the nickel and dime formations.
That is exactly the way that most people felt it would go throughout this entire season until Kirksey proved he could play against the run.
The combination of his strong play against the rush and Robertson’s continued struggles against the pass make me feel like a full switch to the rookie is needed. So far Kirksey has 10 tackles and a sack compared to Robertson’s six tackles.
On Sunday, because the Browns were in the base defense a large portion of the time against Baltimore, Robertson played an abundance of snaps and was once again a liability in coverage. He has also been fairly weak against the run. Kirksey should easily be able to duplicate his performance against the run and solidify the coverage at that spot as well.
Sheard Needs to Start over Mingo
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One of the great mysteries of the universe is why Jabaal Sheard is currently listed as a backup and Barkevious Mingo is a starter on defense. Anyone who watches the game can see that Sheard is a disruptive playmaker while Mingo disappears for quarters at a time.
The worry with Mingo coming out of college was that his slender build would allow blockers to remove him from plays easily. So far in his career, those worries were accurate.
Mingo has just eight tackles while Sheard has 14 and a sack. When Mingo missed the game against New Orleans, the pass rush actually improved because Sheard played on 93 percent of the snaps.
Mingo will still be needed to give Sheard and Paul Kruger breathers throughout the game, but he should be nothing more than a change-of-pace pass-rusher right now. He is a liability on defense, and defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil needs to address it during the bye week. I don’t care how much the coaching staff likes Mingo’s raw talent; he is not producing like a starter.
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