Newsletter: Back Again to Investigate Browns Play Call Communication

What on earth does Load Left Mixer mean and why does Myles Garrett have it on a wristband?

(Photo - Getty)

Welcome to your Tuesday Newsletter where I am once again hitting on one of my favorite topics: play-call communication and semantics. We did this discussion on offense last week after Hard Knocks caught the Browns quarterback room prepping their opening script and going through a very specific play-call.

With some help of the BFB staff we hit this topic again this week because we’ve been noticing Myles Garrett wearing this play sheet wristband on his belt the last few weeks and it begs the question of what those calls might be and why is he wearing it.

Obviously the Browns have a linebacker or safety who will wear the “green dot” for communication from the coach’s headset. But there are clearly blitz packages Jim Schwartz wants Myles Garrett to be able to communicate to his teammates at the position quickly. So, instead of a longer call, the scheme can be relayed with a number and then passed along from Garrett to the rest of the defensive line or linebackers.

From what we have been able to decipher of the play call wristband, it would appear those numbers are for the Browns more exotic looks — ones that involve twisting or exchanging or could provide a blitz that is either a replace blitz dropping out defensive tackles or fire zones where the edge (Garrett most often) to drop into a quick pass coverage lane.

Just so you have a feel of what types of blitzes I’m referencing, here’s an example.

In Week 13 here the Browns defense brought a left side overload blitz that certainly had a specific scheme call paired with it to tell the players who was blitzing from the second level and their gap assignment.

Let’s dig into the calls we found.