A lot of people want to point to all this attention to analytics the club is giving and say, “Oh, it’s just the Browns once again trying to prove they’re smarter than everybody else.”

That’s way too simplistic thinking. It’s so 2010.

As we said the other day, the expansion-era Browns have tried it the conventional way time and time and time again to get the right talent evaluator and the right head coach so as to get the right results. And they have failed miserably every time.

I, for one, like the fact they’re taking a different approach, one that attempts to position themselves ahead of the curve as opposed to being behind it, as has been the case since the team returned to the field in 1999.

In former head coach Mike Pettine, the Browns had someone who never seemed to have an original thought. He never got the memo that offense and passing, not defense, is how how the NFL is played today.

 And in former General Manager Ray Farmer, the Browns had someone who was also stuck in some silly warp. He never got the memo that this is not 1982 anymore and no one is drafting Smurf-like wide receivers.

I’ve had it up to here with those antiquated philosophies, and you probably have, too.

I’m on record as saying that I don’t think Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, who was interviewed by the Browns today for the head coaching opening, is the man for the job. Nonetheless, I like the way he thinks, and I am convinced that pursuing candidates with his approach is the right way to go. I would just rather they were offensive-minded.

Lions players praised Austin in interesting ways in a story in today’s edition of the Detroit Free Press.

 “A lot of places I’ve been, I’ve had D-coordinators who were playing checkers when everybody else was playing chess,” ninth-year cornerback Josh Wilson said. “This guy understands the chess game and how it works, and he knows how to talk to people.”

 Imagine that, the Browns having a guy who is smart, can actually coach and can communicate with his players. Will wonders never cease?

“He’s unlike any defensive coordinator I’ve had, the way he thinks out of the box,” said safety Don Carey, who was taken by the Browns in the sixth round of the 2009 NFL Draft but never played for them after he was lost in a transaction blunder by then head coach Eric Mangini.

“He thinks differently. He is extremely personable. He sets an atmosphere that guys respond to.”

 Safety Glover Quinn seconded that last comment, saying, “He connected well with the players. He called some great games. He’s consistent. That’s part of his personality. He’s the same guy all the time. He comes in and does his job. He relates well with the players. I think that’s one of the biggest things. He can communicate to his players and listen to them as well.”

No one is saying any of that about Pettine and his hand-picked defensive coordinator, Jim O’Neil, whose group was atrocious last year – not as bad as the Cleveland offense, certainly, but still historically bad.

 Let’s hope that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam keeps talking to candidates for both head coach and “talent evaluator” who think out of the box. If so, then maybe the Browns will hire the right guys and they will get the club out of the box of losing it has been in for the past 17 seasons.