Mike Pettine

Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine knows he had to tweak his staff if he stays. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

(Associated Press)

BEREA, Ohio -- Browns coach Mike Pettine indicated he'll make changes on his coaching staff -- most likely defensively -- if he survives Black Monday.

He might even have to do so just to keep his job.

"Those discussions will remain between Jimmy (Haslam) and I,'' he said. "Will there likely be some changes? If I were to stay here, it would be hard to justify keeping the staff completely together, and there likely would have to be some changes made, but I won't get into specifics."

Pettine acknowledged that the defensive woes have been one of the biggest disappointments of the season. With Pettine focusing more on offense this season, the defense tumbled to 26th overall, 32nd against the run and 29th with 26.9 points allowed per game.

"It's been a source of frustration,'' he said. "It's tough for me, too, when that's my area of expertise and it's an area where we've fallen short, especially this year where I felt like we've overachieved offensively. If you look at the roster, the investment, we've underachieved [on defense].

"We're not going to make excuses. It is a source of frustration, disappointment and something that myself and the defensive staff show up here every day to work and get corrected. Some areas we've gotten better and others we haven't."

While lamenting the defense, Pettine noted that the "offense is in good hands" -- which would seem to indicate that he's leaning toward keeping offensive coordinator John DeFilippo if he's spared.

"When you look back on the year, the quarterback game in and game out has not been the issue,'' said Pettine. "We're on the brink of throwing for 4,000 yards. Late in the year, we kind of found our niche from a run game standpoint. We feel the offense is in good hands.

"Defensively, we know what lies ahead of us. We're looking forward to getting (DB) Joe Haden back 100 percent and make some improvements there. I know the results are what they are and we're still bottom line, but we've made strides, and the fact that the guys are playing as hard as they are and it's as important to them is very encouraging."

Defensive coordinator Jim O'Neil -- who was forced to coach most of the season without cornerback Joe Haden, and whose 2014 No. 8 overall pick Justin Gilbert had another lost season in part because of injuries -- is proud of the job he's done with the hand he was dealt.

"If they want me here, I'll be here,'' he said. "I'll give it everything I have. If they don't, I'll go somewhere else, be successful and give it everything I have. That's just who I am. I don't think about it all that much though. I would say 95 percent of my energy goes toward developing a gameplan and trying to put guys in position to make plays. The other 5 percent of whatever I have left goes to my family, and I usually get yelled at by my wife when some of that 5 percent ends up being football.''



O'Neil believes he's helped build a strong foundation over the past two years, despite the 3-12 mark this year. The Browns have some good young players on defense, including rookies Danny Shelton, Nate Orchard, Xavier Cooper and Charles Gaines, so the future looks bright.



"I think we've done a good job developing young players,'' he said. "We talked about, when we first got here, about building a consistent winner. That doesn't happen overnight. You're going to have setbacks. As a staff, we've done a damn good job with that. I'm proud of some of the situations we've had to deal with as a coaching staff, especially defensively this year, and some of the adversity that we've battled through. I thought we've put together great gameplans every week. I'm not happy with where we are from a win-loss record, but I'm proud of the job we've done.''

O'Neil, who like Pettine admitted that some defensive changes are necessary next season to keep up with the proliferation of spread offenses, said the poor stats don't tell the story.

"When offensive coordinators call you on Monday after a game and people who you respect in league call you and compliment you on what you're doing defensively and they make it a point to grab you pregame and pay you compliments, that's not B.S, so we're on the right track,'' said O'Neil. "We're doing good things. We're building a good foundation. Whether it continues or not, that's not up to me. I'm not going to worry about that because it's not going to help things.''

He said he hasn't asked Pettine if his job is safe in the event Pettine survives the Pittsburgh Purge -- the last four head coaches were fired after a Steelers finale.

"We haven't talked about any of that,'' said O'Neil. "Right now, all of our focus is on the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is as big as it gets for the Cleveland Browns. We're playing the Pittsburgh Steelers at home, the last game of the year. Our guys are all in. The coaching staff's all in. Again, I love doing what I do. I love coming to work, putting together a game plan, spending time with the players, seeing them go out and execute a game plan and try to go get a win on Sunday.''

O'Neil added that beating Pittsburgh -- and eliminating the Steelers from the playoffs -- would "be a hell of a way to end this season. It's been a frustrating season. It's been tough at times, but you want to talk about making lot of things right? Let's go win this Sunday. Let's go finish this thing the right way and gain some momentum into the offseason.''

Like O'Neil, DeFilippo said his fate is out of his hands.

"That's not my decision,'' he said. "I'm going to coach, and I wake up every day knowing that I am going to arrive early, stay late, do my job. My job right now is to get our offense to play as well as they can against Pittsburgh. I will let the chips fall as they will after Monday."

O'Neil, who's been with Pettine for the last seven years since they were with the Jets, cast his vote for Pettine to stay.

"He's done an unbelievable job, and I've worked for some great coaches in my years in this profession,'' he said. "If you asked me my two cents, stability is the answer. It's not cleaning the slate every couple years. Cleveland's been down that path. In my opinion, that's not the way to go. Whether I'm here or not, or the offensive coordinator's here or not, or whatever coach is here or not, Mike Pettine's the right guy for this organization and Mike Pettine's the right guy for this city.''