Cleveland Browns Report: The Steelers Exploited a Defense That Has Needs

On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers completely exploited a Browns defense that was ranked 10th in pass defense.

How did this happen?

This occurred because Pittsburgh is no longer a running and grind it out type of football team that they have been for years and decades as a franchise.

Ben Roethlisberger had all day to throw the football, and when he did let it rip, his wide receivers had so much open daylight that it appeared the Browns defense wasn't even playing 11 players on the field.

Everyone knows about the offensive struggles of the Browns, but the defense has big needs too, and the Steelers showed why the defense needs to draft and/or sign many players in many positions in the offseason.

Wimbley is the key to the pass rush

Without linebacker Kamerion Wimbley playing, the Browns had hardly any pass rush. Linebacker David Bowens did step up and get a sack and recover a fumble, but none of the other lineman or linebackers were able to step up in Wimbley's absence.

Linebacker Alex Hall, who has tremendous pass rushing potential, was underutilized with Wimbley out, and rookie linebacker David Veikune was even put into the game, which is crazy because he was a pass rushing specialist in college at defensive end and the Browns should have plugged him in to try to get more pressure on the quarterback.

Rogers needs a better backup

Shaun Rogers was under the weather with the flu, but he was still able to play most of the game despite his illness.

Unfortunately, after Rogers, the Browns do not have an acceptable backup and the Browns need to find a suitable replacement when either Rogers is sick or gets hurt.

Rogers is a Pro Bowl lineman, and a younger impact lineman needs to be brought in to learn from one of the best, in Rogers.

The safeties need help and McDonald is too inconsistent.

The Browns' secondary is bad. With the exception of cornerback Eric Wright, who rarely gets burned and is a solid man-to-man cover corner, the other defensive backs need to look at themselves in the mirror and get it together.

Safeties Brodney Pool and Abe Elam both seem to have trouble with many simple mechanics of playing the position including: tackling, helping with covering opposing tight ends, proper positioning, and keeping receivers in front of them.

Granted, against the Steelers, both Pool and Elam were able to keep receivers in front of them, but that's because both were playing way too deep in the backfield. This was probably not their fault, but more the fault of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan for calling plays with deep coverage.

Regardless, in the first six games of the 2009 season, the safety play has been very spotty and with all the hype that went into the pursuit of acquiring Elam, he has not lived up to the billing yet.

Pool, on the other hand, is a veteran starter and his play should be at a higher level and it appears he has reached his potential.

Finally, the last member of the secondary that needs to be discussed is the consistently horrible play of cornerback Brandon McDonald.

Let's be honest, McDonald probably would be lucky to be a dime back in most other NFL defenses, but the Browns do not have many options behind him.

Rookie cornerback Coye Francies showed flashes of good plays in the preseason against mostly third string offenses, and his aggressive playing in preseason was fun to watch but he needs to stay in control.

His aggressive nature may be too self-destructive against the NFL's premier starting receivers so it's understandable why he might not replace McDonald. Why not get Francies more reps as a dimeback?

Mike Adams started in place of McDonald against the Bills, but he was quickly replaced by McDonald and Adams is a better nickelback and special teams players anyway.

So what to do in the secondary?

Mix it up and bring in receiver Mike Furrey more to help in coverages.

Furry was a defensive back in the Arena League and he also played safety for the Rams and since the addition of receiver Chansi Stuckey, Furrey has not been used the last two weeks.

Why not utilized Furrey to help the defense? Especially since he has not been better used on a struggling offense.

Bottom line, everyone seems to be talking about the bad passes and the drops, but the defense has issues that have been overlooked until now.

(Article originally posted on Dawg Scooper )