Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the category “Pat Kirwan”

15 Sep 2010
2 Comments

Hold on, I’m Adjusting

What do NFL teams do in the locker room at halftime?

In his new book, Take Your Eye off the Ball: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look, Pat Kirwan, a senior analyst on NFL.com and former coach and front office member, offers a glimpse into what goes on while we’re grabbing a beer and restocking the chip bowl:

“… the booth coach typically gets down to the locker room ahead of everyone else. He sets up a quick statistical breakdown on the white board of everything that’s gone on so far.

“The goal is to give coaches enough material to use both in determining what adjustments are necessary and lecturing the players about what’s working and what isn’t. Some coordinators keep it simple – for example, they’ll decide that every play that gained 4 yards in the first half will be run again in the second half.

“Of course, most coaches aren’t going to have emptied the bucket in the first half. There should always be a few plays at various down and distances that a team didn’t show. Those will get unveiled in the second half.

“Then the coordinators write up new play-call sheets, filling new plays into each box. The key is to not rewrite the entire game plan. A coaching staff may be able to identify three new things to roll out; any more than that and they run the risk of confusing too many players.

“The team that had the best game plan going into the game – and the team that makes the best adjustments in the locker room – is usually the one that comes out on top.”

So now that we know what teams are supposed to do, the question becomes: just what are the Browns doing at halftime? Time and again, the Browns struggle in the second half; what worked in the first half rarely seems to work in the second, and the team, especially on offense, more often than not loses its way.

Last season, the Browns were outscored in the second half in nine of their 11 losses – the only exception being the two games against the Bengals. That’s probably not uncommon for a game where you lose, but consider that in their five wins, the Browns only outscored the opposition twice (KC and Oakland).

It happened again Sunday against Tampa – after a strong (for them) first half, the Browns wilted in the second. The question is why?

Maybe this is just another indicator of a team that isn’t very good. Maybe it’s an indictment of coordinators Brian Daboll and Rob Ryan. If the team plays well in the first half that would indicate the scouts did a good job creating a report on the opposition and the coaches prepared the team well during the week.

But it’s up to the coaches to adjust and put the team in a position to win in the second half of the game. And something is clearly wrong, especially on offense where it seems like Daboll is turning into Maurice Carthon. It could be that in all the talk last year about how coach Eric Mangini must go, we’ve missed the real culprit in all of this.

We know what we’ll be doing Sunday during halftime; the question is: what will the Browns be doing?

***

C’mon, Tony, didn’t we just cover this?

If Jake Delhomme is hurt it’s OK for Seneca Wallace to play on Sunday. That’s why you carry more than one quarterback on the team. This isn’t Derek Anderson vs. Brady Quinn all over. This is just the way an NFL team operates.

I wouldn’t expect the hoople heads to be able to tell the difference, but the main beat writer for the city’s biggest paper covering the most over-analyzed team in town should be able to see the difference.

Tell me how having Wallace under center will change the game plan; how will the Chiefs have to adjust; what kind of shenanigans can the Browns throw at Romeo Crennel with Wallace playing instead of Delhomme?

Just don’t give me more of the same.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, hoople heads, Jake Delhomme, Pat Kirwan, second-half adjustments
06 Aug 2010

Can We Get Reception Here?

As the Browns reach the end of the first week of training camp, one of the biggest questions facing the team is the state of the passing game, both at quarterback and, even more importantly, at wide receiver.

Some are calling the Browns receivers the worst in the league. It’s hard to tell, though, just how good the receivers are, or can be, because they were paired last year with Derek Anderson (a big-armed QB who can’t hit the broad side of a barn, according to ESPN) and Brady Quinn (he of the tentative pocket presence and unwillingness to stretch the field, according to ESPN).

And therein lies the rub: were the receivers bad last year because the quarterbacks were horrid, or did the QBs suffer because Mohamed Massaquoi (34 catches), Brian Robiskie (seven catches) and company are just not that good?

We may not find out this season, either, which could prove problematic. If new quarterback Jake Delhomme struggles the way he did at the end of his tenure in Carolina, most fans will say that he’s washed up. But he may only be as good as the people he has to work with and what if what he has to work with is a group of No. 4 wide receivers?

Go back to Derek Anderson for a minute. When he had his big year in 2007, Braylon Edwards, Kellen Winslow and Joe Jurevicius were his primary targets. Those guys were able to grab all those passes that were over their heads, three yards behind them or at their feet, making Anderson look good.

The next year, Jurevicius was out with an injury, Edwards forgot how to catch the ball and Winslow was hurt and only played 10 games. Anderson – and Browns fans – suffered because of it.

I was listening to Sirius NFL’s Tim Ryan and Pat Kirwan when they were at Browns camp on Thursday. Kirwan was talking about how none of the Browns receivers had the extra gear needed to get separation on a defensive back and give the quarterback an opportunity to drop the ball in.

That’s going to be a problem this year, even with the Browns hopefully committing to the run. You have to expect that defenses will be stacking the box to stop the Browns running game, and if they don’t have to worry about anyone stretching the field, things could get dicey.

It’s not all bad though, as Kirwan had some positive things to say about the Browns in his NFL.com column, writing that:

“Delhomme, a free-agent acquisition from Carolina, believes return specialist Josh Cribbs has the ability to be a “Steve Smith-type receiver” and was quick to point out the strong hands Cribbs has to snatch the ball. Cribbs is so explosive after the catch, and he will get a lot more balls thrown his way than last year when he had just 20 receptions.”

“Delhomme said he really likes Brian Robiskie, and could see the second-year wideout having a big season. He also is intrigued by a hybrid player, Evan Moore, who is listed as a tight end but is more of a big wide receiver in the mold of Joe Jurevicius.”

“Credit goes to (Mike) Holmgren, who watched the Browns finish with a flurry of four straight victories, a stretch that convinced Holmgren that (Eric) Mangini had not lost the team and kept the players motivated in an otherwise forgetful season. Benefits of Holmgren’s first big decision is evident around training camp; the construction of a winning attitude, for one, can be seen within the franchise, from the coaches down to the players and all of the support staff.”

“The Browns have put second-round pick T.J. Ward right into the starting lineup. He showed in Thursday’s team scrimmage that he likes getting up in the box and being aggressive against the run. (Scott) Fujita said Ward is special.”

Clearly, while the situation isn’t ideal, things could be worse and there is reason for hope. We’ll find out more a week from today when the Browns open the exhibition season against Green Bay.

***

Sure he is.

***

A great read on what NFL training camps are really like.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Jake Delhomme, Pat Kirwan, wide receivers | Leave a comment

Post Navigation