Mr. Wright

Someone making a convincing appearance as Eric Wright’s father has been posting in the OBR Watercooler. He reports that the rookie cornerback has a MCL strain that should keep him sidelined for two to three weeks, with the soonest possible return against Arizona on December 2.

He also implies what many viewers suspect: the corners and safeties are being held back by the defensive game plans:

As far as Grantham is concerned , he is calling a passive defensive scheme especially during 3rd downs. I just don’t understand how you can have 100+ defensive plays and only call 4 a game. All the DBs want to play more man and press coverage but it doesn’t happen too often.Grantham has been using alot of blitzing the past couple of games which is encouraging.


In all fairness, on the relatively few occasions that the Browns blitzed in recent years, they were poorly disguised and easily thwarted. The improvements in the past two weeks are due to more blitzing, true, but also a better use of the element of surprise. Two turnovers at Baltimore were the direct result of getting to the quarterback.

It’s clear that the Browns’ young secondary has more confidence in itself than the coaches do. In most circumstances, I am willing to give up the occasional big pass play in exchange for more strips, sacks, false starts, holds, and defensive touchdowns.

More action in passing downs from third safety Mike Adams, rather than the slower linebackers, might produce more ball-hawking and better coverage of tight ends across the middle of the field.

It’s hard to keep an NFL offense from clicking for an entire game, but when you give them too many chances to establish a rhythm, it’s not surprising when even pedestrian quarterbacks and marginal offensive lines can mount comebacks such as we’ve seen the past two weeks.