The new face of the Browns includes two new coordinators eager to get to work
and justify the faith Romeo Crennel is showing in them.
Offensive coordinator Maurice Carthon and defensive coordinator
Todd Grantham on Friday were introduced to reporters covering the Browns. They
did not say a lot about their strategy, but each made it clear he is eager for
training camp to see players live and in action. Each has spent the last couple
weeks watching film to evaluate exactly what the Browns have as a team.
"All I can look at is where I've been in my past," said Carthon,
a 12-year coaching veteran. "I can go back two years to when we were in Dallas.
I felt like we needed a quarterback and a running back. We needed some offensive
linemen. We needed a tight end. The next thing you know, we put what we thought
were the best players on the field and we won 10 games and we were in the
playoffs."
The perception is the Browns are trying to change the offense
into one that will run to set up the pass - a smash-mouth offense that will wear
people down in Cleveland in November and late December. This will not be a
one-dimensional team, Carthon said.
"That's what we've done in the past, but we're going to do
whatever it takes to win," Carthon said. "There's more than one way to skin a
cat.
"I don't want to get into the scheme of what we're going to be
doing because I don't want to give our opponents any advantage. People don't
know if I'm going to be New England or Dallas. Heck, I could run the run and
shoot."
This will be Carthon's fourth year as offensive coordinator, but
it will be his first year calling plays. He had the O.C. job in Detroit in 2002
and in Dallas in 2003 and '04. Bill Parcells called the plays, but Parcells
leaned on Carthon for advice," Carthon said. Now Carthon, a former running back
in the USFL and selfless blocking back in the NFL will lean on Crennel for
advice."
"If Romeo says to me, 'Mo, I want to be aggressive this week,'
I'll be aggressive," Carthon said. "If he says he wants to be conservative the
next week, we'll be conservative.
"I have a good defensive head coach who can help me know what to
expect from certain defensive fronts, coverages and blitzes. Romeo has been
there and coached defensive lines and linebackers. Having that crutch to lean on
as a play-caller is important because he knows what teams are going to try to do
to us defensively."
Coach Crennel and Carthon go back almost 20 years to when Crennel
was a defensive line coach for the Giants and Carthon was a blocking fullback
for the Giants from 1986-91. Together they won two Super Bowls in New York.
Crennel and Grantham have never coached together, but Crennel
relied on coaching friends and people he respects when seeking opinions of
Grantham, who for the last three years was the defensive line coach for the
Houston Texans. The Texans played a defense using three defensive linemen and
four linebackers. Crennel wants the Browns to switch from a four linemen, three
linebacker defense, and that is one reason he tabbed Grantham.
"The 3-4 is tougher for the offense to prepare for because you have two
outside linebackers that could rush," he said. "One could rush and one could
drop. You could bring three, four, or five guys. It's something we want to get
to.
"We're in an evaluation on the players we have now. It's a work in
progress."
Grantham did say he would like to find a place for Courtney Brown, whether it is on the line or as an outside linebacker. He also said
Orpheus Roye and Alvin McKinley are good candidates to play the nose tackle.