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Brandon Weeden experienced some of the rush -- with some restrictions, of course -- that Paul Kruger (left) and Jabaal Sheard can generate on the defensive line during the first week of training camp.

(John Kuntz, The Plain Dealer)

BEREA, Ohio -- Joe Thomas was a member of the 2008 Browns team that recorded 17 sacks -- or three fewer than Dallas Cowboys outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware.

Heads of state have been afforded less protection than quarterbacks opposing the Browns since their NFL return in 1999. In that span only the Houston Texans have fewer sacks (347) than the Browns (440), and they didn’t enter the league until 2002.

But Thomas, among the great offensive linemen of his generation, spoke Monday of a dramatic organizational shift. He was asked to compare what he sees in practice to what he’s experienced over the years facing the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I think this defense is going to take more risks,” Thomas said. “I think (Steelers defensive coordinator) Dick Lebeau is less likely to take a risk and give up a big play with a blitz or a pressure than our coordinator Ray Horton. He’s more willing to try to hit the quarterback and force an interception, force a turnover.

“I see our team willing to bring the house.”

The Browns are philosophically, financially and schematically committed to pressuring quarterbacks like never before. From CEO Joe Banner to coach Rob Chudzinski to Horton, the Browns brain trust wants its 3-4 base defense in attack mode. They believe it’s the best way to succeed in a league in which 300-yard passing days have become as routine as stadium flyovers.

Whether it produces the desired outcome or a parade of 50-yard touchdowns against a vulnerable secondary is to be determined. But for a franchise that’s rarely possessed a dominant rush even in good times, the approach marks a sea change. Yes, former defensive coordinator Rob Ryan liked to bring the heat, but management did not allocate as many resources to buttress his plan.

Banner signed outside linebacker Paul Kruger and defensive end Desmond Bryant in free agent and used the sixth pick in the first round on edge rusher Barkevious Mingo. It’s believed the organization also was intent on drafting LSU defensive lineman Bennie Logan, who went to the Philadelphia Eagles one pick before the Browns selected in the third round. Cleveland chose cornerback Leon McFadden instead.

“If you don’t provide the staff with the players who can actually execute it, the scheme is going to fail,” said Banner, who spent $80 million to upgrade the defense. “We are focusing on that. We believe to win and win potentially big at this time in the NFL you have to be able to pressure the quarterback very aggressively and in all different situations.”

Lack of continuity

Cleveland Browns 2013: Training camp is not all work 12 Gallery: Cleveland Browns 2013: Training camp is not all work

When a quarterback sets to throw, former Browns coach Sam Rutigliano says, a defense wants him to see “Times Square on New Year’s Eve.” A wall of humanity, arms and bodies obstructing passing lanes.

The Steelers have supplied such chaotic visions for decades. Banner’s old team, the Eagles, has created plenty of mayhem as well. Not the Browns. The team’s most famous sack – Joe ‘Turkey’ Jones' spike of Terry Bradshaw – is 37 years old.

The Browns have finished among the top-10 in sacks just six times in the last 30 years. They have finished last twice since 1999. Team radio analyst Doug Dieken said the franchise’s most formidable pass rush might have come in the early 1970s in the form of linemen Walter Johnson, Jerry Sherk, Jack Gregory and Jones.

Clay Mathews is the team’s career leader with 76 sacks – or 124 behind NFL standard bearer Bruce Smith. Sherk had a productive career before the stat was officially kept in 1982, while Chip Banks, Jamir Miller and Kamerion Wimbley all enjoyed excellent single seasons. But the pass rush has never been part of the organizational identity. The Browns haven’t had a premier sack master. They haven’t wed themselves to the same system, allowing a team like the Steelers to transition from Kevin Greene to Chad Brown to Jason Gildon to Joey Porter to James Harrison.

“Just look at how many coaches and GMs and player personnel directors we’ve gone through since Dick LeBeau came back to the Steelers (in 2004),” Rutigliano said.

Even during the Browns’ successful run through the 1980s they preferred a more conservative defense employed by Marty Schottenheimer.

“Our philosophy was we’d always be deep as the deepest and wide as the widest,” Rutigliano said.

The club’s best three-year sack total came under Bill Belichick. The Browns finished among the league’s top-10 from 1992-94, only to see its most memorable blindside hit applied by owner Art Modell.

Since 1999, Mingo is just the fourth first- or second-round pick used on a pass rusher. Of course, when you can’t develop a quarterback, you’re forever investing valuable assets and free-agent money to find one. The Steelers and Eagles, who’ve registered the most sacks in the past 14 years, each have had franchise signal callers for a good portion of that span.

“If you asked what the are two most important things to win, I’d say have a great quarterback and be able to pressure the quarterback,” Banner said.

Can the secondary hold up?

NFL teams with most sacks since 1999

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The new CEO has mandated an attacking defense since his introductory news conference in October. He’s assembled a coaching staff and roster he hopes will take the first step toward realizing the vision.

NFL Network analyst Charley Casserly, a former Washington Redskins and Houston Texans general manager, favors the direction of the Browns defense. He’s a big fan of Horton and likes the rotation of edge rushers and that Jabaal Sheard and Mingo give them a viable threat opposite Kruger.

“Sheard is a heck of a player and now you’ve added Mingo,” Casserly said. “You’ve got to be able to pressure from both sides.”

But the secondary is as thin as a runway model after cornerback Joe Haden and strong safety T.J. Ward and skeptics forecast lots of big plays for opponents. Besides two games each against Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco, the Browns also must face Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.

“You have an attitude which we want to become part of the personality of the organization,” Banner said. “It’s an attacking, physical, get-after-you kind of thing. You have a coach who believes in it and has the guts to frankly stick with it when it doesn’t work.

“And when it doesn’t work it can be a conspicuous thing. You have to stick with it anyway and have the strength to do it.”

Horton inherited a unit that collected 38 sacks last season, the same total as the Arizona Cardinals, whose defense he coordinated. But Horton points to other metrics that help measure the value of his multi-front schemes. Arizona had the league’s lowest opposing quarterback rating (71.2 percent), ranked second in third-down efficiency (32.9) and interceptions (22) and finished third in red-zone defense (44.4). Only the Texans blitzed more last season than the Cardinals.

The Browns will align in varied formations and apply pressure from all angles.

“When I first got here the Steelers were the exotic blitz team, but they’re almost vanilla with some of the 3-4 teams you see out there today,” Thomas said. “And, our defense is going to be some of the most exotic that anybody sees.”

Exotic doesn’t guarantee success. But it probably ensures the days of the 17-sack season are history.