His base defense could be a 4-3, but it's something we barely saw in 2016. The players he had in Los Angeles, and his philosophy of having
fast defenders all over the field, have led him to use most of the time a 4-2-5
defense. No doubt this will be what we see most in Cleveland. But not the only
thing. "We’ll play 4-3 and 3-4 in the same game. 3-3, 3-2, 4-1, 4-2, bear, big on five down, big on six down, big on more linebackers, little on more DB’s. I have 42 packages of defense. Now everywhere I go, I don’t do them all. What it is, coaches sit in a room and we waste so much time wondering what the word is. I have the words already. I’ve been doing it for so long. So boom, this 11 guys, boom this 11 guys trot out there. Then, what you all will see is, how much we play those types of schemes or packages is based on the AFC North. It’s based on what the offenses are pulling out there and we have to play defense on. I’m also not afraid to make sure all of the other people are going to have to work on things that I’m never going to call. They’ve got to practice all week long on 4-3, 3-4, 2-2, all of that kind of stuff, and I’m not even going to do it next week. So that’s ok too".
That was Williams in a press conference a few days after taking the defensive coordinator job for his
new team.
Gregg Williams has the mission to grow the Browns franchise starting from their
defense. He has to generate pressure and be much more stout in the running
game, since this was one of their big problems in the past season. In a division
where they have to face the Steelers, Ravens and Bengals, a good run defense is basic to get good results.
To explain Williams' defense, in this article, we will go
from the front end to the back end. We will start by seeing the different
possibilities he has in the roster to fit his defensive line and how he can
move the talent to shut down the opponent´s running and passing game.
MYLES GARRETT, THE PLAYMAKER THEY WANTED
It was pretty obvious that the Browns were not going to
miss the player who showed more talent, both physical and technical, from those
who submitted to this draft. Myles Garrett has the perfect combination of skills and athletic traits. The power and speed in his actions is what
most resembles the style of the exterior rushers that has always sought his new
defensive coordinator. Garrett can turn the edge at lighting speed or put the tackle in skates by pure force. Williams can place the rookie in
5/6/7-technique or align him more open as wide 9 to take advantage of this
explosiveness and speed. In addition, Garrett is very dangerous against the
running game because his get-off to the
snap is very instinctive, closing his gap before he is engaged by the offensive
line.
Next to Garrett they have second-year player Emmanuel Ogbah.
The former Oklahoma State star had very good flashes in his first season with the
Browns. He showed a good reaction to the snap and a very powerful upper body to play the bull rush. His hands technique was in clear progress as the season
advanced and he is going to see much benefit of the change of front, since he
will be much more comfortable in a line with four defenders than in the 3-4 of Ray Horton, where we saw him play as OLB. Cleveland's exterior pressure is going to be
greatly improved with these two young defenders.
Carl Nassib is another young player I like. He can be very
versatile in the scheme of Williams. In his rookie year, he could not play
everything he wanted because of injury, but, like Ogbah, he also left good feelings
when he was on the field. He is not a rusher as fast as Ogbah or Garrett, but Nassib may have importance in the 3 defensive linemen packs that Williams
plays from Ruby formations (3DL, 2LB and 6DB).
The interior of this defensive line has two names that call
my attention very much. One is Desmond Bryant, a veteran player who lost
all of last year due to injury, but who, if he stays healthy, should be the leader of
that line. Bryant is the disruptor in the ground game, the man that forces runs to bounce outside and who creates pressure from the inside. In addition,
his experience should be invaluable for two rookies chosen in
the last draft. Larry Ogunjobi and Caleb Brantley are two talented players inside who
can have a very interesting progression. Brantley could play snaps from the
start of the season, although Ogunjobi's physical strength and aggressiveness
could give him more consistency.
The other player who impressed me, watching the Browns’ tape,
was Jamie Meder. This DT is very good playing against the run. He eats double blocks easily, keeps his head up reading the backfield and has good
strength in his arms to dominate the opponent guards. Danny Shelton should start off as the starter NT, but I see him being more important in the packs of three DLs (playing in
two gaps) than in Williams' base defense 4-3 or 4-2. Watch out for Meder because
he can be a very pleasant surprise in 2017.
The variety of fronts in Williams scheme is his brand. I especially
like the 4-2 or 3-3, which makes sense seeing the Browns' roster. In Ruby
Pressure or Fire Zones they have the possibility to rush with 5 and fall into
cover with six. In addition, with this type of fronts, the offense will have
problems adjusting the assignments in their blocks. In the next video, we can
see how the two DEs line up in both A gaps and it's the DTs who play the rush
on the outside. Both Ogletree and Barron, who threaten the blitz on the
outside, fall to the seam (Barron) and hook area (Ogletree). The player who
plays the blitz in the middle is the safety and the other seam zone is occupied
by nickel. This is a clear example of how Gregg Williams moves his pieces to
confuse the offense.
KIRKSEY AND COLLINS, THE LUXURY OF THIS DEFENSE
I am a big fan of Jamie Collins. Since joining the
league I have seen him as a different player, with the physical, technical and
tactical abilities to dominate from the position of middle linebacker, although
his position could change depending on what the team demands. He is able to play
the rush from the outside, to blitz up the middle, is very good at tackling and
falls with great reads in coverage. He is one of the most complete linebackers
in the league and a wild card for Gregg Williams´ defense. Basically,
Collins can do everything Ogletree did for the Rams, but much better, and can
even be used as an edge rusher in some nickel packages as it can be in a 4-3 Under. In
the video below we can see one of the roles that Ogletree had that Collins can
execute to perfection. Blitzing from the A-gap will be one of the
constant threats Williams will attempt to play with him.
Christian Kirksey was the most positive note of the Browns'
defense in 2016 and with Gregg Williams he can not do anything but keep
improving. He’s listed as weakside linebacker and I think it is the best position for him in this scheme. Kirksey is excellent at tackling. His toughness playing the hit&shed allows him to get rid of the blocker very fast to go
for the ball carrier. He uses his hands very well to not to get caught up in blocks in the second level and manages to reach with good angles to do the
tackle. Like Collins, he keeps his eyes on the ball very well and makes great
reads from the backfield. All this makes him an excellent weapon against the
run as a cutback defender (as we can see in the video below). Falling in coverage he shows very fluid hips and a great backpedal, being able to cover enough
field.
In addition, his explosiveness to play the blitz makes him a
perfect fit for the 4-2-5 Wlliams defense. Along with Collins, they can
threaten the blitz pre-snap to fall into coverage after the snap, or they can play the
green dog technique, something that is very common in the blitz package of their new defensive coordinator. The green dog technique consists of blitzing if your assignment in man-to-man defense is staying to block instead of going in a route to receive the ball. In the video below, we see how the MLB plays the
blitz because the running back is staying in the backfield.
Here, in my opinion,
enters the third most important linebacker of the roster: Joe Schobert.
Schobert is a player who has a great timing to attack the blitz. He reads very
well the moment to start the rush towards the quarterback, as he demonstrated
in his years at the University of Wisconsin. Last year, as an OLB in Horton's 3-4 defense,
Schobert could not play up to the top of his abilities. The move to the inside he will probably take with
Williams should put him in better position to help his team.
WILLIAMS' HYBRID DEFENDER
Williams needs a hybrid defender to confuse offense’s
reads. From here, and with his different formations, he begins to win the mental
battle with the quarterback. With the Rams this hybrid defender was Mark
Barron. This "joker player" allowed him to use a lot his DIME defense (6 defensive backs) or
create a lot of pressure from the Ruby packages (3DL, 2LB and 6DB). It is
difficult to find this hybrid of safety / linebacker in the current Browns
roster (Kirksey will be responsible for doing the job of Barron almost
certainly), so I'm inclined to think that Williams will look for it from the
nickel spot. Here enters of the most talk about players from the past draft: Jabrill Peppers.
I don't think Peppers can play SS / LB in the box on DIME
defenses like Barron did, but he can help the team in situations of heavy blitz
that Williams uses so much. The speed and explosiveness of Peppers is a virtue
highly appreciated by Williams and Peppers can fit the scheme playing the blitz from the slot or from the strong safety position. To show an
example of a possible use of Peppers in Williams scheme, I will show you a
video with Ruby Pressure. In this situation, we can see how the threat of
the blitz seems to come from the two players close to the LOS, but after the snap, they both fall into coverage to the seams and the slot defenders are the men who play the pressure to the quarterback.
"We’ll get as many good players in packages as needed. If it means playing only one linebacker, I’ll play one linebacker. Wherever I’ve been, we’ve played with lots of DBs because the league has become a one-back throwing league. Wherever I’ve been people don’t really want to get lined up in two-back offenses and try to run it against us because we’ll load up and outnumber you that way. You got to get bigger if they’re bigger, you got to get littler if they’re littler, and you still gotta be fast. They’ll be playing similar things, but there’s nothing clear-cut yet". When
Williams made these statements, they had just signed Calvin Pryor, a player who
came into the league with great expectations from college, but that has not lived up to the hype in the pros.
The arrival of Calvin Pryor also makes sense in the Ruby formations. With Collins playing on the defensive line and with Kirksey
swarming the underneath area alongside Peppers and Pryor, the Browns can search
for pressure from many positions, constantly moving the defense to create
confusion on offensive line assignments and fooling the quarterback.
In these three images we can see some of the possibilities Gregg Williams manages to confuse the quarterback and offensive line. Ogletree
moves throughout the line of scrimmage, being able to attack the blitz, fall
into zone coverage or stay man-toman with the running back or
tight end. Kirksey and Collins can do the same job. We can also see Barron and
Alexander (both safeties) threatening the blitz from the underneath zone or
from the line of scrimmage. The role of Peppers or Pryor could fit this
perfectly. I still think Peppers must improve in many areas of his game, but his physical attributes in the hands of Williams will make him grow as a
player.
SECONDARY, THEIR ACHILLES HEEL
The back end in Gregg Williams´ defenses are of great importance. All the pressure that he seeks to create up front, has to be taken advantage
of by the secondary. His cornerbacks have to play very physical against receivers to break the timing between them and the quarterback. Use the hands, be
physical and not to let the rival breathe, those are the premises. Joe Haden
has long since ceased to be that benchmark player the Browns had hoped for, but he may
be benefited by the good defensive front play. However, this unit is the weakest I
see on the team. The arrival of Jason McCourty gives them something, but it is
not enough. Jamar Taylor was a pleasant surprise and left moments that make me optimistic with him, although he should continue to improve to be what Williams
looks for in his cornerbacks. Finally, rookie Howard Wilson can help as the
season progresses.
Williams moves his coverages a lot. The rotation of the
safeties just before the snap is one of the signs of identity in his schemes.
In 2016 we saw a lot of Cover 1, but it is also common to see two deep safeties or
zone defenses. In addition, Cover 0 is also used, so the defensive backs
must be very aggressive and be able to play individual situations knowing that at certain times they have no one in the back to help.
The aggressiveness is not negotiated in the Gregg Williams
system. Although the Achilles' heel of this defense is his secondary, there is
one player who has impressed me for good. The defensive coordinator of the
Browns needs a safety that knows how to play throughout the deep zone and can also fall to the box in his Cover 1. Ed Reynolds can do the latter thing very
well, but I have doubts that he is able to cover much deep zone in passing situations. He has good instincts, but he may lack range. He is tough on
the tackle and plays well the blitz. It will be interesting to see his growth
under the orders of this exceptional defensive coach.
Last year, Ray Horton was not able to create a defense
that pressured the rival, and the running defense was non existent. Although the
arrival of Jamie Collins in the middle of season gave the D another layer, the team
suffered much every time the defensive unit jumped onto the field. Hue Jackson was
looking for someone who could reverse this situation and the signing of Gregg
Williams was very well received by the fans. Collins's resigning,
Kirksey's contract extension, and Garrett's and Peppers' first-round picks were a
further boost to believe that the Browns will have a much improved defense in 2017. No one
expects a top-5 defense in the first year in the system, but there is no doubt that
Williams knows how to build fearsome defenses from scratch and this will be another good example.
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