Few can judge the Browns' offense as accurately as the men on defense who frequently come face-to-face with the unit in practice.
One credible member of the Browns' defense, Karlos Dansby, spoke with "The SiriusXM Blitz" on SiriusXM NFL Radio about the new offense under offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, among other topics.
You can listen to the audio from Dansby's interview with hosts Alex Marvez and Gil Brandt here, but the highlights are contained below.
While the Browns' defense is loaded with talent, few pundits speak as highly of the team's offense. However, from talking to Dansby, you wouldn't think this is the case.
Marvez begins by asking Dansby about the offense's progression, particularly in regards to the newcomers. Dansby's response was interesting:
"Amazing. Explosive offense. They're doing a lot of moving around. They're trying to get us outleveraged and making plays. Josh [McCown] is getting down the field and is accurate on a lot of throws. He's putting it into tight windows. They're making a lot of plays on the other side of the ball. We had a lot of great competition, so we were competing everyday. We look forward to it every day."
Hopefully Dansby meant "explosive" in a positive sense. Browns fans have seen how veteran quarterbacks have helped to cultivate an "explosive," or should I say, "implosive," offensive attack in years past.
The conversation then turned to Johnny Manziel and Justin Gilbert, two players who have failed to live up to the hype early on in their NFL careers. All is not lost with these two, but time isn't on their side.
Dansby doesn't seem concerned about the two former first round picks.
"They look good. Both of them are competing at a high level. Johnny is going through his reads, he's trying to make the second and third reads. He's just developing. Justin Gilbert is doing the same, he's playing with great technique right now, he's trusting his technique. He's making plays: he had a couple of interceptions, a couple of batted down passes. He's just getting his confidence, growing into a professional athlete. It takes time. You have the rare ones who come in and 'Boom,' it's their moment. But with some guys, it takes time."
Marvez then asked a followup question about Manziel, inquiring if the quarterback formerly known as "Johnny Football" has changed off-the-field. Dansby danced around the question.
"In the locker room, he's Johnny. He's one of the guys. He's going to joke, chill out with the fellas, laugh, have a good time. That's just what Johnny does as he leaves the locker room. We were so focused and we were under a time crunch so we really didn't have time to hang out like that on a daily basis because we were so focused on trying to get better."
The hosts switched gears in the last third of the interview, asking for Dansby's thoughts on "Deflategate." Not long ago, Dansby had harsh words for Tom Brady and the Patriots, calling for a one year suspension for the star quarterback. Dansby didn't back away from his stance when questioned.
"If you're going to try to attack the integrity of the game, you have to be punished. For the guys who attacked the integrity of the game down in New Orleans, they all got a year, just about. Some of those guys had to fight just to get back in. That's just part of the process. That's how I view it. The coach got a whole year: nobody went to his defense. Everybody viewed him as attacking the integrity of the game, right? That's on the same level. It's neither here nor there for me, I don't care: this isn't my team, it's not my [teammate]. It is what it is."