From: mocnik@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: Browns News - Packer preview
Date: 16 Oct 92 17:49:05 GMT

Browns News - Oct 16th
----------------------

The Browns play the Green Bay Packers at Cleveland Stadium this Sunday.
The Browns beat the Steelers last week and the Packers had a bye.

The Packers are 2-3 under Mike Holmgren. Their 2 victories have been at
home against the Bengals and the Steelers. Mike is the former 49ers
offensive coordinator, in case you didn't know. 

Don Majkowski is hurt and the backup Brent Farve is starting. He has not had
very impressive numbers, but has led his team to both victories.
The Packers, from what I have seen, are trying to duplicate the 49ers 
offensive scheme. Very short passes to wide receivers and backs, that will
hopefully lead to larger gains. Their main receiver is Sterling Sharpe, who
is very good. 

Browns Injury report:
- Randy Baldwin, RB, (hamstring)
  Shawn Collins, WR, (ribs), 
  Rico Smith, WR (hamstring) are all listed as questionable.
- Frank Minnifield, CB, (hamstring)
  Frank Stamms, LB, (groin) are listed as probable.

  Minnifield, Stamms, and Collins all are practicing.

Browns Roster moves:
- Browns cut Alvin Wright and re-signed defensive back Odie Harris.
- Lawyer Tillman has not been actived yet, but it is expected he will be.
  One roster player will have to go.

Packer Roster moves:
- Active Darrell Thompson from IR. He is the best RB on the roster. He will
  take some of the load off Vince Workman, who by the way has rushed the
  ball 89 times and caught 31 passes (both are team highs). That's 120 plays 
  of the teams 330, or 36 percent.
- waive Buford McGee, a starting fullback in the last 3 games. Buford is
  a 9-year vet who was acquired by the Packers as a free agent. He became
  expendable when Darrell was activated. Buford had averaged 2.4 yards on
  8 carries this season.
- sign Corey Harris, former Oiler wide receiver. He was a third round draft 
  choice this year out of Vanderbilt. He was a third-string receiver but the
  top Oiler kick returner. He averaged 20.6 yards on 10 kick returns and
  2.8 yards on 6 punt returns.

Keys to the game.
-----------------
- the defense is going to be tested in this game. They must come up with 
  another good game. The Browns will be in their deep zone and the Packers
  will be throwing short passes. Thus the linebackers MUST stop these
  short gains before they turn into long ones. 
  
- The defense must put a lot of pressure on Favre, so as to force him to
  throw the ball early, or to force the ball into coverage. 

- Turnovers and field position should decide the winner of this game.

- The running game must start moving the ball. The weather is not going to
  be good this Sunday. Belichick wants a strong running attack for the
  bad days of December, well the weather should be December-like and the
  running game needs to get going.

Prediction-
----------
The weather for the game is supposed to be Cloudy with chance of showers
and a temperature in the 40's.
This game scares me.  The Browns usually have a let down after playing the
Steelers. Plus the Packers had an additional week to prepare for the Browns.
The Packers short pass routes along with the wet turf,  will allow them to 
move down the field with ease. Unlike the past few weeks, the Packers will 
score TD's instead of FG's. This will put pressure on Tomczak to pass. The 
Packers, know Mike's tendencies and thus should get a couple of interceptions.
Score could be 24-10 with the Packers winning.


And finally I read a good article in the Lake-County News Herald by 
Jeff Schudel. It is an article about Clay Matthews. First I would like to
ask a trivia question. (the answer is at the end of this article.)

Clay Matthews first start was against the NY Jets on Dec, 10, 1978.
The Browns won 37-34 in overtime. 
Can you name the other defensive starters in this game?

-------------------------------------------------------------------
T H E   D A Y S   O F   C L A Y
Browns' Matthews analyzes 15 years of defense
by Jeff Schudel (Oct-14-92)

Clay Matthews has been playing linebacker so long that the only head coach
still around is Don Shula at Miami. He has seen a lot of defense come and
go - some good, like the 1987 team that allowed only 239 points and some 
bad, like the 1990 team that allowed 462 points. The 1992 Browns are on a 
pace to give up 250 points. They haven't given up a touchdown in nine 
quarters. Matthews has also seen many defensive philosophies in his 15 years.
He called the one Coach Bill Belichick is using successfully "conservative"
and compared it to the plan Marty Schottenheimer used in the 1980's. 
Schottenheimer was Rutigliano's defensive coordinator before being name
head coach Oct. 22, 1984.
  "Marty's plan was a real conservative style of defense," the Browns sage
said. "Teams might know what we were doing and we'd have a few things to 
offset that, but basically our theory was that we'd be fundamentally sound.
If teams were to beat us they'd have to drive the length of the field to
beat us play in and play out. We weren't going to give up the big play.
  "Consequently, we are not going to have a lot of big defensive plays
because we weren't creating situations of higher risk." Matthews drew an
analogy of someone playing the stock market to explain the philosophy of
Bud Carson, who followed Schottenheimer. "Bud's philosophy is probably
high risk, high reward," Matthews said. "He's going to go after you and
challenge you. he might factor in the offense will get a couple big plays,
but he figures he'll get enough to offset it. We've probably gone back to
being more conservative. We don take chances, but we try to pick our spots.
The offense might know what we're in. They might be able to do a few things
to get a few yards, but in the long run they're going to have to beat us
consistently at things we work at all the time and do it in 10, 12 plays
to get all the way down the field and score. We figure because we practice
these things so much that sooner or later they'll make a mistake."
  All right. There you have it. Different ideas to accomplish the same goal.
Next question: Which philosophy is better?
  "If we win a bunch of games, get into the Super Bowl and win it all, we
could finish 28th in the league in yards given up and it wouldn't matter," 
Matthews said. "Which is better probably depends on the type of people you
have. If you have players who are more skilled at getting after people, you'd
probably be better to be in that. If you don't have that many skilled people,
then you better be disciplined and fundamentally sound.
  Matthews said youth on the defense, particularly on the line, dictates
that the Browns play the disciplined style. Fifth-year tackle Michael Dean
Perry is the veteran on the line. Ends Rob Burnett and Anthony Pleasant are in
their third year and tackle James Jones is a sophomore in the NFL. David Brandon
is in his second season as a starting linebacker and safety Eric Turner is
in his second season. The secondary as a group was hindered so badly by
injuries last season that it never learned to play together until the end of
the year. The secondary has been healthier this year.
  "Everybody plays off everybody else," Matthews said. "You can have a team
with very good defensive backs, then the linebackers or defensive lineman
in front of them get hurt, retire, or age and all of a sudden they say the
cornerback can't play anymore. Then he goes to another team and can play
again. Or lineman get a ton of sacks because they have great coverage. Then all
of a sudden they don't get the coverage. They're still rushing, but
they're not getting the sacks."
 "You need to be good in all areas to look good in one."
 The Browns are starting to take more chances. Interceptions (five) are on an
even pace with last year. Sacks (17) are up. Points allowed are almost 
identical - 78 after five games and 79 after five games last year.

End of article.
-------------------------------------------------------------------


Answer to the question:

The other defensive starters when Clay had his first NFL start:

LE - Mike St. Clair, LT- Earl Edwards, RT- Jerry Sherk, RE- Mack Mitchell
LLB- Charlie Hall, MLB- Dick Ambrose, RLB - Clay
RCB- Oliver Davis, LCB- Ron Bolton,
S- Tony Peters and Tom Darden

Later,

Don Mocnik
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro