The Defense is Not Bad

“What,” you say, “Are you crazy?” No, I’m not crazy … I’m simply being objective. While I admit, the Browns defense still needs some big improvements, anyone who knows me reads “not bad” as pretty high praise.

Let me explain … for the 2011 season, the Cleveland Browns defense is ranked No. 10!!! Yes, you read that correctly … the Browns have a Top 10 defense.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. In passing defense, the Browns are No. 2. That’s right, only the Steelers have a better pass defense than the Browns.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out if the pass defense is No. 2 and the overall defense is No. 10, then the run defense must be the weak spot of this unit. In fact, the Browns run defense is a dismal No. 30.

That’s a pretty big discrepancy, so obviously when I say the defense is not bad I’m clearly not referring to the run defense – the run defense is pretty bad.

Yes, a solid run defense is important, especially when you play in the AFC North. The good news is, not a lot needs to be done to fix this unit as a whole.

What’s missing? No offense to Scott Fujita or Chris Gocong, but D’Qwell Jackson could use some more help at linebacker. Fujita offers excellent veteran leadership, but you can tell he’s coming to the end of his career. I hope he stays here until he’s ready to retire, but we need more speed.

Up front, we’ve got some solid guys with Phil Taylor, Jabaal Sheard and Ahtyba Rubin. Guess what, though – Taylor and Sheard are rookies! They’re only going to get better. I believe that. Dick Jauron has done an outstanding job of building this defense and I’m confident he’ll continue that course of action … given the chance.

I didn’t mention the secondary because, obviously, with Joe Haden and TJ Ward, we’re good. Really good … these two are solid and will continue to intimidate opposing wide receivers and quarterbacks for years to come (hopefully while wearing brown and orange).

As an interesting aside, Pittsburgh has the No. 1 ranked defense, Baltimore is No. 3 and Cincinnati is No. 6 … it’s no wonder the Browns offense has struggled this year.

Go Browns!

Rocco the Blawg Pound Mascot says:

"I'm a big fan of Joe Haden ... he really seems to love Cleveland!"