Thanks a bunch Bracie. Great comprehensive answer. Doesn't sound like there's going to be a quick turnaround. Teams will avoid giving D'Q tackle opportunities if they can.
My league doesn't count assisted tackles so any assists he gets are a zero for me.
It's more than what Bracie is alluding to, DQ has never shed blockers well, it's why he struggled so much in the 3-4 under Mangini. It's the same problem now. 3-4 ILB's need to shed blockers, they don't roam free as much as 4-3 MIKE's. DQ is not good at doing that, so even on the plays he can make he isn't getting there.
Its a lot more than Mac's take.
The entire defense started out against Buffalo playing bad BEFORE QB Brian Hoyer got injured his knee, not afterwards, so placing the blame on any one thing like Weeden deflating them isn't entirely accurate.
D'Qwell was leading the entire NFL in tackles up until the last few games, he can tackle no matter what anyone says.
I mentioned the slot cornerback position for more than just the horrible play of CB Chris Owens.
The slot corner position is one that Cleveland GM Mike Lombardi values greatly.
Here is a snippet of an interview that Mike Lombardi gave in 2011 before he got the Browns GM job where he goes into detail about how valuable the nickel defense, where he mentions the role of the slot corner becoming more valuable than the MIDDLE LINEBACKER POSITION in the NFL.
The Browns nickel (slot corner) is undersized and ineffective CB Chris Owens.
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Mike Lombardi the Bill Simmons podcast
part I of the October 16, 2011 podcast.
ML
: "I think the one other aspect of the NFL this season has been nickel runs. I think nickel runs, if you ask me to talk about the season, it is about nickel runs and how teams are ineffective against defending nickel runs.
For instance, two weeks ago the
Giants played the
Browns, they were in a lot of nickel runs. The browns couldn’t stop them. Cincinnati came thinking they could run the football. They didn’t really try running out of nickel. They ran out of base, Cleveland stopped them.
The fans said, "why didn’t we stop the Giants when they ran the ball?"
Well, they ran the ball out of nickel and often times
if you don’t have a guy who can play in the slot. A slot corner who can tackle, who can read, who is perceptive, got great instincts and who is tough and can tackle. You can't play nickel run. You don’t know how to fit on nickel runs and you don’t know where your force comes for nickel runs force.
So, it becomes a real problem and this league right now, why New England has such an advantage is they get you into some nickel runs situations where you are not equipped to handle it and I think that is the tenue(sic) of the league.
I think that is gonna be where this thing’s going is, how teams prepare for nickel runs and how much time you put preparing for it in your week of practice and training camps."
ML
: "
You are going to have to have a player who is a nickel corner, but he plays like a linebacker, but he can tackle, he can cover. Its almost to me, like if I ever got back in the league, it would be a position that would be more valuable than Middle Linebacker.
…. You know
there are teams that just don’t have that player and if you don’t have him. It becomes problematic for you and then teams force you into some areas and all scouts will always say "Well if he is not fast then we will put him inside.". Well ,that is really gonna help us a lot. He is not fast and he cant tackle so there we go there’s 35 yards running right down the field."
