Is the Cleveland Browns defense simply too complicated?

Oct 4, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers running back Danny Woodhead (39) is tackled by Cleveland Browns cornerback Jordan Poyer (33) as strong safety Donte Whitner (31) and inside linebacker Chris Kirksey (58) assist during the fourth quarter at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Everyone who has watched the Cleveland Browns play defense this year knows the team has issues, especially when it comes to stopping the run.

Five times in six games the defense has allowed more than 150 rushing yards, helping the Browns rank last in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game at 149.6. Cleveland is also 31st in the league in yards per carry at 5.0 per rush.

As if that were not enough, ESPN points out that:

No back who led his team in rushing averaged less than 4.5 yards per carry.
Three average more than 5 per carry (Oakland’s Latavius Murray, Baltimore’s Justin Forsett and Denver’s Ronnie Hillman), one more than 6 (San Diego’s Danny Woodhead). Dexter McCluster averaged 9.8 for Tennessee.
There have been three 100-yard backs in six games, with two others exceeding 90 yards.
Three opposing backs have set personal bests: Murray (139 yards), McCluster (98) and Hillman (111).

There have been several theories and explanations presented as to why, after investing so much money and effort into the defense, that things are still a mess for a defense that is ranked 31st overall.

But could it be as simple as the coaching staff is making things too complicated?

That’s the theory presented by Kevin Jones in an article for The Cauldron at SI.com. Jones writes that:

"Rather than being assigned specific gaps, Cleveland’s defensive linemen play different techniques based on how their offensive counterparts are blocking them. The linebackers, then, are expected to guess what technique their teammates are using, scrape through the resulting mess and make the play. Opposing offenses have identified this flaw on film and are repeatedly, week-after-week, gashing the edge of Cleveland’s defense. It’s a completely chaotic approach to stopping the run, and players have said—off the record—they’re spending way too much time thinking, and not nearly enough time reacting."

"“It’s an entire guessing game,” said one source. “Imagine trying to define mud.”"

"Indeed, the defense may be too complicated for its own good—something the players have largely failed to address head on. Coordinator Jim O’Neil comes from the Pettine-Rex Ryan lineage, whereby part of the defensive philosophy is to cause pre-snap identification problems for quarterbacks and offensive linemen. It’s a scheme that flourished with the Ravens, Jets and Bills but has so far failed to yield reliable results in Cleveland."

"Simply put, the Browns are spending so much time figuring out ways to trick the offense, they’re leaving themselves little to no margin for error. If it means dropping linebacker Paul Kruger in coverage to fool Peyton Manning, despite the latter being a scheme-identifying genius, Cleveland will do it. In other words, the Browns are soworried about you figuring out their cards, they wind up putting certain players in the wrong position."

Normally we would be wary of unnamed sources pointing fingers, but this case is a bit different because, until recently, Jones was a staff writer for clevelandbrowns.com. We have to think that while in that role he built up a level of trust with the players and is presenting a fair assessment of what is going on with the team.

“It is more of a player’s thing. (The coaches) put us in the best situation to make plays, and it is all up to us to make those types of plays.” – Armonty Bryant on the defense

Head coach Mike Pettine was asked on Friday if he believes the coaches are asking too much from the players mentally.

“No, no we’ve been running these calls not just here in Cleveland but other places. A lot of the stuff we’re doing is Day 1 install,” Pettine explained. “I think guys start to press and search for answers, and if that gets into their head, and they feel like they’re thinking too much, we try to declutter, defensively.

“You break it down to win your one-on-one match up. When in doubt, whip the guys’ tail across from you, then we’ll find a way to make it right behind you. We don’t teach defense like a golf swing – put your thumb here, put the ball located here and you want to get the club. That’s not how we coach it.

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“I just know that we haven’t changed the way that we teach it. It’s simpler for some positions than others. We haven’t increased the scheme workload in order to stop the run. We know we have calls to do it, but we need to execute.”

The call to just “execute better” is a common refrain from Pettine and O’Neil, and there is probably some truth to that.

But the bigger truth, as ESPN pointed out, is that over the past four seasons, Pettine’s run defenses have not finished better than 26th in the league.

While no one outside of Berea knows for sure whether or not it is the defensive scheme, the players, or some combination of both that is causing the defense to struggle, it is not to complicated to realize that if the Browns don’t get the situation fixed – and soon – things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better.

Next: Browns vs. Rams: 3 match-ups to watch

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