THE LINE ON THE O-LINE FROM COACH BOB WYLIE
By STEVE KING
Nobody in football can break down their teams better – cut right to the chase quicker, and better – than offensive line coaches.
That’s the case with the Browns and their second-year offensive line coach, Bob Wylie.
The first question posed to Wylie when he met with the media at training camp on Sunday was for his assessment of the state of left tackle, the all-important position that, with the offseason retirement of future Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Thomas, the Browns really don’t have an answer for – a defined capable replacement for – at this early juncture. But they had better find one – and quickly – or else they, and in particular their offense, will be in a heap of trouble.
Wylie’s answer was priceless – extremely witty, right on point and right to the point.
“The state of the left tackle is the state of the union,” he said.
That is truer than true. It sums up the situation in a nutshell. In many ways, as the line goes, so goes the team, not just the offense.
Wylie went on,” Shon (Coleman) is fighting. He is doing well at the spot. He is. We brought Greg Robinson in, and he gets a concussion. Now, we put Austin (Corbett) back out there to take the spot. We are waiting for Desmond (Harrison). We keep working with Desmond every day with the mental part of the game. You see him back of the huddle taking [mental] reps. You see one of the coaches like (offensive quality control coach) Brian (Braswell) stays with him and goes over assignments with him to make sure he is on page. We are waiting for him to get back on the field.”
As I pointed out recently, this is – again – a real knock on Coleman, who took over after Thomas was lost to a career-ending arm injury last season. No one – not head coach Hue Jackson and now, Wylie – come out in real, unabashed support of the guy.
My guess is that, eventually, it’s going to be Corbett winning the job, despite what Thomas said recently that he “is not a left tackle.”
When asked if one of those four players he mentioned would be able to earn the job, Wylie said, ““Yeah, whoever it is, like I said earlier, whoever that guy is, we will make a decision and we will work with that guy. If we need to do something to help it, with formations, protections, with the backs, all of that stuff, we will do that. We want to try to keep the four together as long as possible.”
Two more things on the line: first, Wylie said starting guard Joel Bitonio won’t be used at left tackle, and then he spoke directly about Coleman having led the NFL in holding penalties in 2017 and how he has improved. His comment is interesting, and educational for football nerds.
“I think what happened is when guys hold a lot, it is because they are afraid to fail,” Wylie said. “They are afraid to get beat. They are afraid to fail. You can’t be afraid to fail and play at the highest level you need to play at, so you have to go play. If you make a mistake, you make it. Play the next play. Do not be afraid to fail.
“What happens is you try to reach out and they try to grab because they do not want to lose the guy, and then we get the holding call. You have to get them out of that mental state of not being afraid to fail, and then the calls will come down.”
