The Opening Drive 12/22: Tommy Rees Stealing Concepts, and the Defense's Schematic Crisis
We love good eye manipulation and the Browns run defense is nothing if not predictable.
You’ve heard me say many times that the NFL is a copycat league, and as I reviewed the tape Monday morning, the Browns’ first drive of the game provided clear evidence of that. The 49ers are the first team I’ve seen in the modern NFL begin implementing the “tilted” wing look. This is a look traditionally used by Wing-T high school teams as part of heavy run-game packages, but Kyle Shanahan has found it appealing as a deception tool.
The 49ers use the look for a variety of motion styles, including full side-to-side movement and plenty of return motions. The Browns decided to turn to their own variation of the look on Sunday. They’ve broken out a few of these concepts since their Week 13 matchup with the 49ers—an ultimate sign of respect between play-callers.
Here’s a look at the design.
This one called for a motion that sent Harold Fannin Jr. across the formation to presumably lead block to the left side, but only to return underneath the backside EDGE for a nice play-action concept.
Once the Bills SAM linebacker (#8, Terrel Edmunds) commits to the run side, it’s over. Fannin sneaks through cleanly and it’s an easy throw and touchdown.
You love to see the proper stealing of concepts in the NFL. It isn’t done enough. I have been hard on Tommy Rees and the offense at times but he deserves credit here.
Below you’ll find the latest in the BFB catalog for supporters to dig into. Click the link to become a supporter if you haven’t already, and enjoy all the latest from Browns Film Breakdown.
Latest Podcasts:
Latest Film Rooms:
Latest Articles:
GameDay Opening Drive 12/21: The Bills Come Marching To Town
Opening Drive 12/20: A Few Players the Browns Should Monitor for 2026
The run defense was a mess yesterday. We all saw the issues in the first half, when the Browns allowed 133 of the Bills’ 164 total rushing yards in the first half alone. They solved some of it as the game wore on, but many of you asked how it came to be so bad early, so I’ll quickly break it down here before we do the full film room later this week.
First, the Browns played a very high volume of Cover 1 and man-coverage looks, and it crushed them. The way they play man coverage is nearly blind to the run scheme being executed around them. The Bills identified an opportunity to down-block on undersized Adin Huntington, and when the Browns paired that with man coverage, it created major issues.
On the first snap, watch Ronnie Hickman locked solely on his man in coverage, with no fill player for the cutback lane. On the second snap, Devin Bush and Grant Delpit do the same thing. Both are locked onto their assignments in coverage, leaving nobody to properly fill the void. This is what it looks like to get schemed up.
The next is the ease of the pin/pull concepts that get the ball on the perimeter easily. The Browns EDGE defenders get too flat and fail to redirect. Then the defensive line is too vertical to make a play. Linebackers chasing and too many players easily taking themselves out of plays.
The final issue was just tackling. Two quick examples — the first was the 44-yard touchdown run from James Cook where Mohamoud Diabate overruns the play and then Grant Delpit does the same in the back half. Then the second is the goal line touchdown where Alex Wright freezes and fails to make the play in the hole.
The second half was more the Bills going away from primary concepts than the Browns doing a better job overall but they did enough to deter the issues from resurfacing. They get credit but the first half put them in a hole.
I have bigger issues with Jim Schwartz scheme but I will save those for a later date.
Browns Film Breakdown will return soon with some fresh All-22 content.
