Video: “Dear Cleveland Browns…”
March 27, 2012Indians Spring Training Battles: Left Field
March 27, 2012Despite a failed attempt at trading up for the second-overall spot in the upcoming NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns appear to be hitching their 2012 wagon to third-year quarterback Colt McCoy. In an interview with The Plain Dealer, Browns head coach Pat Shurmur, citing the lack of preparation and all things offseason a year ago, believes that the Texas product can improve and be the team’s quarterback for at least the forseeable future.
“We’re looking forward to [Colt] being our guy and I’m looking forward to seeing him improve,’ said Shurmur. “We believe he has a chance to be a fine player in this league.
“I want to see him have an offseason. It takes awhile to really learn an offense. Now he’s had a chance to look at all of the cut-ups and have a better understanding of it.”
In 13 games through 2011, McCoy threw for 2733 (57.2 percent) yards with 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. His passer rating of 74.6 was essentially in lockstep with his 2010 mark. The Browns are widely anticipated to use the majority of their 13 selections in the upcoming draft to provide McCoy with weapons on the offensive side of the football, staring at wide receiver Justin Blackmon and running back Trent Richardson with the fourth-overall pick.
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35 Comments
Any port in a storm, right?
Thank you.
End of discussion.
sucks
Most overhyped things in Cleveland: The importance of offseason learning and the complexities of running an offense.
Ironically, these are the most basic, rudimentary things to the rest of the league.
Call me when its over.
”We believe he has a chance to be a fine player in this league.”
I’ll bet Colt is blushing after hearing that vote of confidence.
Glad to hear the decision is made and we can progress from here. I sincerely hope they have also decided to try and mold the offense around Colt’s strengths, rather than forcing their “way” upon him, and sinking or swimming with it. If the offense remains as inflexible as it was last year, and halfway through the season we start hearing negative things about Colt, or how he “doesnt have confidence” or “isnt grasping the offense” or whatever, then I’ll be disappointed.
They made their decision. Now is the time to own it, for better or worse. If this is their decision, then I’m all in for Colt McCoy. I hope the organization is too.
not just “an offense” but the WCO in particular.. but when you’re lacking as many playmakers the Browns were last season, it put them even more behind the eightball..
I guess the transcriber was broken….
shouldn’t the full quote read: “now that we have been outbid for Robert Griffin III, lost out on Kevin Kolb due to Manning signing with the Broncos instead of the Cardinals and turned down by Matt Flynn we are moving forward with Colt.’
And yet every single former QB I’ve seen talk on the subject agrees that it takes 2-3 years with a stable unit to really master an offense. Add to that the fact that his coach is at worst a complete idiot, or at best was clearly overwhelmed with attempting to take on OC/HC jobs.
I’m no Colt apologist, I think even with the lack of talent he showed an inability to make several plays that I think starting QBs should be able to make even in his situation.
However to act like being thrown into a situation where a young group, lacking talent at key positions is learning a completely new offense on the fly with an overmatched coach, is “overhyped” is dismissive to the point of being absurd.
Is Derek Anderson available? His arm is, after all, an outer-space cannon laser.
I wouldn’t say its a port, more like running aground on a sandbar close enough to shore so that they can wait the storm out then wade in.
And just for the record this is one of those statements that if they go back on and draft a QB in the first 2 rounds I will cease questioning your questioning of this regime. In fact if they waste a pick on a QB at all I will quit my job learn blacksmithing and begin making pitchforks en masse for the march on Berea.
But his football IQ is probably less then 50 which would mean he’d need another 3-4 years to understand the WCO. He’d probably wonder why the WCO was being run on a midwest team.
I don’t know if they will draft a QB or not in the first two rounds, but its interesting that that kind of bonehead move with make you join the revolution, and not any of the others.
Nevertheless, I’ll welcome you into the fold.
I think you mean a low orbit ion canon, or LOIC.
Also, with Seneca so vocal about his wanting a shot at the starting job I wouldn’t be surprised to see him traded for a late round pick soon.
I’d actually be fine with that. Although then we would HAVE to sign either a FA QB of some sort to backup poor Colt or draft someone at least average in the 3rd or 4th round to have some sort of contingency plan if Colt goes down.
That is where you could see them take Osweiler or Foles.
That’s what gets me. If they want to inspire confidence in Colt McCoy/the fans, instead of saying “We believe he has a chance to be a fine player in this league,” shouldn’t they be saying things like “We think he has good a chance to be the long term solution at quarterback for the Browns.”
It’s a canned response no matter which person is making the quote–Holmgren, Shurmur, Heckert. They always use the words “fine” and “in this league.” Maybe they are doing that on purpose, but if they’re trying to get people to believe what they’re saying, they sure as heck don’t seem to be picking the correct words.
This coming after H & H tried to sell the farm for RGIII? Is Shurmur using the D.E.N.N.I.S. system?
we make these excuses every year, yet every year some other team seems to get it. Dalton and Newton making the Pro-Bowl as rookies are case-in-point enough. I think “needing an offseason to learn the offense” is code for “This guy might hopefully turn some corner and be a legitimate NFL QB, but we dont have anything better at this point so we’re going to roll with it and pray for the best”.
Im just tired of this excuse, thats all. No matter what offense, what regime, its always this excuse. Thats why as much as I dont think Shurmur is all that great, he needs to stay for at least 4 more years. Absurd idea at this point based on his performance to this point, but consistency and stability is so critical to forming this team right now.
If this means we’re not investing a high pick in a QB unlikely to succeed, then great.
You answered your own question. They do not think he’s a franchise QB,
So what if they pursued RG3 and failed? I’m glad they tried, I’m glad they didn’t pay Flynn, who looks a lot like McCoy, 10 mil. So they’re moving on to plan b, keep McCoy and get more weapons for him, hope he improves and if not try again next year. What exactly would you have them do? Half of you were dead set against getting RG3 and now they are doing exactly what you wanted them to do. Is it that you just like to complain about H&H and Shurmur? They are on a schedule, that is imperfect to keep based on what players are available. They built a top 10 defense out of air in 2 years. Give them a couple more for the offense and then see what reasons you can find to whine and mope.
Haha, until Weeden is sitting there at 22..
I completely agree Henry. These guys all said jumping up for RGIII would be a terrible mistake. Now sticking with McCoy is a terrible mistake. I dont know if H&H will take us to the promise land but some stability in the front office has to be better than this carousal of coaches and front office officials that has been going on here in Cleveland for the past 12 years. Right?????
Wasn’t a question, but I agree with your point. Basically what I was trying to say is if they’re trying to get the fans to believe what they’re saying and trying to get the fans to believe they’re doing something, they sure aren’t trying to make it sound like he’s the answer. In other words, if they’re lying to us, they aren’t trying too hard to be believable.
Easy sparky, my sarcasm font is disabled, usually if I mention pitchforks or torches I’m kinda messin with you.
Although the part about thinking Colt not being good enough to be called a “port” was real. I have low expectations as to what he will be able to do even with a full off season of work. To me he’s just like Yoda’s hut on Daegoba (no idea how to spell it) very low ceiling.
I’m not saying don’t be tired/disgusted/fed up, whatever, thats entirely up to you and understandable. What you said in the second paragraph though is why I try to be patient. “No matter what offense, regime…
Colt McCoy has had as many coaches and different offenses in his career as the Bengals have had since the Browns returned. Dalton and Green simply didn’t walk into the same situation that McCoy did. In Cincinnatti there are at least 20 some guys every year who have been there for a few years, to help get free agents/rookies adapted to how things are done. Imagine if the Browns had a stable system in place for 8 years before McCoy got here, and a few (not many) better weapons. Imagine Joe Thomas being able to sit down with him as a rookie and talk about the nuances of the offense, rather than sitting next to him cramming as much new terminolgy in as he could, and then the two of them repeat the process in a shortened training camp this past offseason. I cannot accept anyone who says that difference in these two situations doesn’t play a huge role in the success of rookies. Again, I’m not a huge Colt guy, but when you look at his physical limitations, and then throw in the huge turd sandwhich of two coaches and a new front office he’s dealt with, its a miracle he hasn’t been committed yet.
Personally I plan on living for at least 4 more decades, and I would much rather these guys follow a plan that has a proven track record of longterm success even if it means waiting 3-5 years for it to bear fruit. Our only other choice is the pattern, Clark, Davis, and Savage followed and we’ve seen how that turns out.
I’m not speaking for other people but the reason I wanted RG3 was because he was just a special unique player. Just because they didn’t get him doesn’t change anything. If we don’t make good productive picks that work out we will stink. Heckert just needs to keep doing what he is doing and that’s pick smart. I am just hoping that we build our offensive line to make it the strength of our team. I think we need to be great in the trenches because look at all the top rb’s in the league right now. lesean mccoy(2nd round), ray rice(2nd round), and arian foster(undrafted) are not top picks and you can find skill players later in draft. Get some monsters on the o and d lines and then move forward.
Weeden will be sitting there in 3rd round maybe.
You know, eventually there will only be like one lifeboat left on the good ship Mike Holmgren’s Regime and either you’ll go down with that crew or stay alive for the next, and hopefully, better replacement.
So, how long will this regime have to demonstrate failure for you to finally see things my way?
“We’re moving forward with Colt McCoy”
Using the term “forward” a little loosely aren’t we?
We have far to different views on how to build/run a team and probably on life to really have this discussion. Primarily the difference is -because these are questions of opinion- I don’t need you to be wrong for me to be right.
Whats sad is that I cant even fathom what your hypothetical situation of 8 years with a reasonable amount of stability would look like with the Browns as I havent seen it in this organization since the late 80’s- early 90’s, and back then I was too young to understand such nuances.
I doubt McCoy, but you’re right about what a messed up situation he is in. I’d like to give him a shot with better weapons, etc. Also, I think we agree on the organization just needing a consistent goal/message/strategy over a period of at least 5 years.
Ultimately however, excuses about the offseason, playbook, system, etc are all just excuses. Every team that didnt win it all could point to a hundred of them. The good teams dont. We point to the same 3 every other year.
And his accuracy is defined by keeping his throws to within the first 5 rows of the seats