Browns Defensive Pride Or Lack Thereof
Sep 8, 2008
Author: Ryan Lewis

There was no pride for the Browns on Sunday.

There was no “You’re gonna have to work for every inch in our house,” on Sunday.

There was no aggression on Sunday, moxie, attitude.

Cleveland resembled the “new” teams of old, resurrecting the “pathetic” label we so infamously earned while playing without emotion. Dallas walked all over us.

It wasn’t the 28-10 score that did it – it was the penalties, the dropped passes, the dropped interception in the red zone while down by seven, and it was that anything Dallas tried on offense worked to perfection. Owens was open, Witten was always open, we couldn’t stop Marion Barber or Felix Jones, and couldn’t get an ounce of pressure on Romo for nearly the entire game.
It was that the defense didn’t have a sack or an interception until the team was down by three touchdowns with less than a quarter to go.

On the 10 points the Browns scored – there’s really not much more that could have been done. Derek Anderson faced one of the best defenses in the NFL without really his top 3 of 4 wide receivers (J.J., Stallworth, Cribbs). If you give a defensive unit like Dallas only two guys to be covered, consider ourselves lucky we scored twice. And then on top Edwards drops four passes? 10 points was a gift.

Defensive Coordinator Mel Tucker, however, needs to back to the drawing board. Not later, not on Tuesday, not after breakfast – now.

No pass rush that lead to no pass coverage that lead to no run defense. Wimbley’s name was barely mentioned, the only player up front to make any noise was Shaun Rogers, the safeties were out of position constantly…and on and on and on.

The Browns didn’t lose because T.O. made three circus catches and ran over somebody – or because Tony Romo just made some great throws. We lost because even though we stopped blitzing due to us not getting in Romo’s face anyway, everyone still got open and stayed open.

Mel Tucker didn’t know what T.O., Witten or Barber were doing the entire game – he was lost.
Sure – Pool was out (Peek being out is not an excuse as he won’t be back all season). But we never put up a fight. The defense played completely reactive. Felix Jones runs up the middle and the safeties stand one yard in front of the goal line until he gets there and easily gets into the end-zone.

No – you meet him earlier, and you hit him – hard.

And sure – it’s week one. Put throw some punches already.

Here’s the difference between a Pittsburgh or Dallas or Baltimore defense. We’re down 21-7 and in desperate need of a big play, or at the least something to get the crowd into it. Nothing is working – Barber is getting whatever he wants on the ground, Witten is open, T.O. is open… Kamerion Wimbley and Willie McGinest finally get around the corners after not getting any pressure the entire football game, lay a vicious hit on Romo that would have left me on the ground for a month – and get up.

Really? The Browns big bad defense just gets up – there’s no intensity there. There’s no attitude, no getting the crowd back into the game. It’s not like Prime Time Sanders celebrating a touchdown while his team is down by 30 – it’s a defense trying to make some plays, down by 14, and showing zero emotion.

Pittsburgh and Baltimore operate on fear for their defensive units. It’s all a fear factor that gives them an emotional advantage before other offenses even step onto the field.

Cleveland’s only defensive identity is that of getting run over. You see the logo at www.dawgbones.com, That should be the identity of the Brown’s defense. That should be what teams think of, what teams fear.

Cleveland has none. No fear, no real identity. Next week Pittsburgh comes into town. The team that calls us pathetic, the team that claims it’s no longer a rivalry, the team we haven’t beaten in half a decade.

It was made known on Sunday that that’s the game the players want. That’s the game the fans want.
Be careful what you wish for – the Browns had said they wanted the Dallas game to be a measuring stick for the season – feel measured?

The Browns have to enter the mindset of winning defenses. The “losing is not an option, we’re not going to accept this,” mindset. Because when you accept defeat, you lose. We’ve done that for 10 years, the last four against Pittsburgh and taken it like a sixth grader building up his pride.

My defensive goals on Sunday aren’t things like “Win the turnover battle, pressure the QB, make the open-field tackle.”

It’s much simpler – play with attitude, energy, moxie, emotion – play with pride.

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