Aside from the quarterback play – or lack thereof, as it were – and the refusal of the Browns to do anything to change what seems to be a journey into nowhere with Josh McCown, perhaps the most disappointing part of the team through three games is the porous – and I’m trying to be kind by referring to it in that manner – run defense.
 
It was gashed again – badly so – in Sunday ‘s 27-20 loss to the Oakland Raiders. Three games player, and three games in which the Browns have been run over, literally and figuratively.
 
Getting more – much more – production, especially down the stretch in the crunch time of games, from the quarterback position is front and center among the things the Browns need to do to get turned around. Nothing else is close to it. But standing way down the line at No. 2 is, clearly, becoming much better in stopping the run.
 
Head coach Mike Pettine’s resume is almost exclusively on the defensive side of the ball, so perhaps asking – or expecting – him to make good decisions at quarterback is perhaps asking – or expecting – him to do more than he is capable of doing. So maybe we should not be surprised that the quarterback position is in such disarray at this point, with seemingly no real plan in place, or at least a pragmatic one.
 
But having said that, with Pettine’s defensive acumen, the fact this run defense is so horrific is nothing short of mind-boggling. He and his-hand picked defensive coordinator, Jim O’Neil, should be able to figure this thing out, but the inability of the players to stay in their lanes to cover up all the gaps and running holes, and the inordinate amount of bad tackling — arm-tackling, shoulder-tackling and tackling too high — is, to be quite honest, stunning. It’s as if the players aren’t being coached, or, worse yet, that they’re turning a deaf ear to the coaching they’re getting.
 
But regardless, it’s a very bad look. It doesn’t look professional. The Browns appear to be high-schoolish in their approach to stopping the run, and that’s an insult to the many fine high school programs in Northeast Ohio.
 
This team is worse – much worse – now against the run than when Pettine took over last season, and that’s almost incomprehensible.
 
If you hire a general contractor to build you a home and his real expertise has been as a carpenter, you might not expect him to quite figure out the right carpeting to put into various rooms, but you’d sure think he could do a pretty good job on the framing. But both the carpeting and the framing are unacceptable.
 
Let’s cut to the chase on this: If Pettine wants to keep his job, and you have to assume that he does, then he has to get the quarterback situation and run defense straightened out. And soon.
 
It’s still early, as the Browns have played just three games, or a little less than 20 percent of their season, so there is time to get it done. But the fact this process in both regards actually started last year when Pettine arrived, and it is still so far off the mark, causes you to wonder if he can fix it, or even has the ability to fix it.
 
I like Pettine and maintain he has chance to be a pretty good head coach, but at the same time, I have to admit that all this has caused me to stand back and think twice about my opinion.