The Cleveland Browns graciously made their assistant coaches available on Wednesday before the bye week. This is the first in a series of short posts highlighting the issues they addressed:

BEREA, Ohio -- Barkevious Mingo has been on the field for 101 defensive snaps this season and has no tackles for a loss and no sacks.

But that does not concern the Browns, assistant linebackers coach Brian Fleury said.

Fleury, in fact, said he’s pleased with Mingo.

“We’re asking him to do some different things than what he did last year," Fleury said. “When you guys watch the film, he’s in coverage a lot more than he is going after the quarterback. I know there’ve been some questions as to why the sack numbers aren’t there, and I think it’s just simply a reflection of the amount of reps he’s had rushing the quarterback relative to everybody else. We’re happy with where he is and the production he’s given us.”

Fleury added that on many plays Mingo isn’t being asked to get a sack or get into the backfield. Coach Mike Pettine constantly discusses mismatches, and clearly the Browns are trying to create one by using Mingo different from a year ago.

In the opener, it appeared the Browns wanted Mingo to rush the passer. He rushed often and came close to sacking Ben Roethlisberger on a touchdown pass, but Roethlisberger avoided the sack.

Against Baltimore, it appeared Mingo was dropped into coverage more.

“He’s a remarkably talented athlete,” Fleury said. “He can run like the wind and cover a lot of the guys that maybe some of the other guys can’t cover. So we’re doing everything we can to take advantage of that.

“He creates a unique mismatch because you don’t know whether to identify him as a coverage linebacker or a rush end. We’ve just been using him a little bit more in the coverage phase so far.”

Pettine admitted Mingo is "battling the shoulder," referring to an injury that kept Mingo out of the win over New Orleans. Pettine added that although there's always room for improvement, Mingo is "doing his job" when he's on the field.

"I don’t get caught up in the statistical part of it," Pettine said. "I’ve seen too many guys over the years, especially defensively, get criticized. Like, 'Hey, why isn’t this guy playing well?' Just because it’s not on the stat sheet doesn’t mean they’re not doing their job. We’re more concerned with a plus on the grade sheet based on our standards than anything that would show up in a game book post game."