Mike Pettine using flash cards to take larger role in Browns' offense

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Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine has been a defensive guy for his entire coaching career. He got his NFL start as a coaching assistant with the Ravens before moving up to assistant defensive line coach and then outside linebackers coach. Pettine next moved onto the New York Jets, where he was the defensive coordinator. He then held the same role with the Buffalo Bills, his last stop before coming to the Browns.

In his first season in charge of Cleveland, Kyle Shanahan was Pettine's offensive coordinator, but Shanahan left this offseason, so Pettine decided to take on a larger role in the offense this year. How's he doing it?

“I have flash cards to help me learn a lot of the formations,” Pettine said Friday, per theAkron Beacon Journal. “It was like being a rookie. Give me a book, and I'd learn it just like a first-year player would learn it.

“But it's been great. I feel very rejuvenated as a coach.”

Pettine said he's taking a very active role in the planning of the offense with coordinator John DeFilippo. “I'm with [DeFilippo] every step of the way as far as, ‘Here's what we're implementing today. Here's what's going in,'” Pettine said. “I sit in on the install meetings, and I carry a playbook around.”

Pettine has plenty to worry about with the Browns' defense, especially against the run -- though they made great efforts in the draft to alleviate those issues -- but he said he's also going to be involved with the defense on game days. “I still will be involved with the defense. But I want to be a part of the [offense's] game planning as well just to give the defensive perspective of who they're going against,” Pettine said. “I have a good feel for NFL defenses having studied a lot of them or knowing the coaching trees -- and there's different styles and different rules within those -- and I think that's where I can be beneficial to [the offense].”

We'll see how this all works out for Cleveland during the season, but by drafting offensive lineman Cameron Erving and running back Duke Johnson, the Browns did manage to pick up some help for whoever winds up playing quarterback.

By Jared Dubin | NFL Writer