Newsletter: Noteworthy Coverage Data, and Diabate's Best Linebacker Trait

The shift in Browns coverage usage since Week 8 and how to tell a linebacker is really getting it.

(Photo - Cleveland Browns)

Saturday morning is here, and man do I love a good Saturday morning when there is a good college football game to be played. I don’t know about you, but I will be VERY locked into Indiana’s visit to Columbus for the Top-5 matchup with the Buckeyes. Still mind-blowing that we get this as a marquee matchup but that’s the credit that Curt Cignetti deserves for getting this Hoosier program to this point. We will hit on this in deeper detail in today’s Saturday Prospect Spotlight.

For this Cleveland Browns morning we are still riding that high from Thursday night’s upset over the Steelers. I have consumed just about all the film I can from the epic weather battle and I plan to cover it with you guys over the weekend and into next week.

The weather transition of that game from the first half into the second half was quite simply hilarious. The Browns had a possession in the 3rd quarter where they ended up punting and then came back out late in the quarter and it was a blizzard. Look at this thing.

As I watched the film yesterday I found myself happy with most of it but still befuddled by how the Browns coverage is failing to get the job done. It nearly cost them in this game. We’ve been trying to map out how the defense has come crashing back down to earth after last year’s dominance and the data behind the coverage is the place I am most concerned.

The great Cody Alexander (Match Quarters) listed the EPA data based on coverage scheme and the Browns struggles in man coverage are shown here. The list is sorted top to bottom by best to worst in EPA when using man concepts.

The Browns play the 4th-highest percentage of man coverage so obviously this is concerning but their biggest breakdowns over the last three games have come in zone coverage. Let’s look at the examples from Thursday.