Harrison’s Postgame Comments Show Ambivalence, Ignorance
October 18, 20102010-11 NBA Blogger Previews – Southeast Division
October 18, 2010
Seven days ago I wrote that the Browns were scared to play Colt McCoy against the Falcons. I opined that the reason behind this was his horrific preseason play, Eric Mangini’s lack of faith in his third round pick, and Mangini’s affinity for Brett Ratliff, the man cut to keep McCoy. All week from ESPN down to The OBR and WFNY, everyone predicted the worst for the rookie QB. I mean, he was going to make his NFL debut against the #1 defense in the league, the Pittsburgh Steelers, on the road after all.
What a difference a week makes. I am here to eat some crow.
What we all saw yesterday nobody could have imagined. I’m not going to sit here and say McCoy is “the answer” after four quarters and 10 points, but watching the moxie, the poise, and the intangibles that the kid displayed was extremely encouraging.
Even more encouraging – listening to his teammates talk about his presence in the huddle and leadership in the locker room before the game. According to reports, during Saturday night’s team meeting, McCoy stood in front of his team and told them to get on his back, because he was ready and had faith in everyone in the room to help him get it done.
“Most guys sit down when they talk to the team. He stood up and looked everybody in the eyes,” said Evan Moore. Eric Steinbach, who has seen plenty of change at the QB position since he came to Cleveland, couldn’t help but gush over the rookie after the game.
“He was awesome. From Wednesday on, he took leadership and command. He carried that demeanor right into the game. He’s a natural-born leader. If he’s our guy from here on out, we can build off what he did.”
Stenbach said “if he’s our guy from here on out.” It shouldn’t be a matter of if. With the Browns now sitting at 1-5 and no hope of making the playoffs, isn’t it time to take the redshirt jersey off of McCoy for good and give him the job the rest of the way?
Just a week ago, I never would have thought I’d say that, especially not after one game. But he earned my respect yesterday. If ever there was an advertisement for being a four year starter at a top FBS program (I hate that FBS term the NCAA uses now), it was McCoy’s first career start. Not for one second did he seem shaken or overwhelmed, even in the face of the Blitzburgh defense of Dick Lebeau.You can tell the kid has played in a ton of big games in his day at Texas.
Our own Craig said to me in an email: My favorite two plays were McCoy directing (Lawrence) Vickers and (Peyton) Hillis into space on two separate plays. The rookie was telling his relief receivers that they hadn’t gotten into space and he needed them to move. That is far more field vision and awareness than I thought we would see all season from McCoy.
This is where McCoy’s hard work in the film room has paid off. While this was supposed to be his “redshirt” year, he said earlier in this week that he has prepared every week to be the starter.
I said last week that McCoy should have been given his shot over an injured Delhomme last Sunday in a very winnable game. After seeing Colt yesterday, does anyone think that he would have been any worse than Jake? At worst, McCoy could have escaped the pressure the Falcons brought, the way he did against the Steelers. And it wasn’t just him taking off when feeling the pressure, he moved out of the pocket when the time was right. Again, this speaks to his moxie.
Credit must also go to offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and Mangini for putting together a gameplan well suited for the rookie. They played to McCoy’s strengths – his accuracy and escapability. There would have been a heavy dose of Wildcat had Josh Cribbs not been knocked out by Pittsburgh’s James Harrison. Even after losing Cribbs and starting WR Mohammad Massaquoi, McCoy still managed to move the ball through the air.
He ended the day 23-33 for 281 yards, one TD and two interceptions, the first of which was a nicely thrown ball in a tight spot that deflected off of Benjamin Watson’s hands into the arms of Steelers DB Ryan Clark. The numbers, for anyone watching, didn’t tell the story of Colt McCoy’s first career start.
So where do the Browns go from here? Mangini is 1-5 and is going to try to do everything to keep his job. That usually doesn’t constitute going to a rookie QB for the last 10 games. But in reality, he isn’t the one making the call. If Mike Holmgren says to start McCoy, he’ll start McCoy. And he should.
This team is going nowhere. There is still little to no talent at WR (sorry Brian Robiske, you are at best a fourth WR in this league), the linebackers are slow and aging, there is very little pass rush, and the cornerbacks are still a work in progress. But you need to know if Colt McCoy can be the future at the QB position.
Jake Delhomme is not in the future plans for the Browns and is most likely several weeks away from trying to play again. Seneca Wallace is also out with a high ankle sprain and is still your backup QB regardless.
If McCoy was a miserable failure yesterday, an argument would be made for Delhomme’s or Wallace’s return to the starting lineup when healthy. But he wasn’t. He showed us a lot to be excited about. Hand him the reins the rest of the way, and let him go through his maturation process. Get him the reps and game experience under his belt so that at the end of the year, Holmgren and Heckert can decide if Colt is their guy or if they should draft a QB high in the 2011 draft.
What do they have to lose?
photo via John Kuntz / The Plain Dealer
70 Comments
Agreed. Start McCoy. I liked what I saw from him yesterday.
Best he get the mistakes out of his game now, instead of when we’re trying to win the division.
I would certainly hope that after a ton of sacks, we all come away knowing that it is our o-line, and not the QB, who needs work.
That said, I still vote we take the slow-and-steady approach to breaking in this QB.
Kelly Holcomb had a nice start against Pittsburgh in the playoffs and that sure lead to bigger and better things for him and the Browns right? I agree with those who don’t want to get carried away. It was a solid first start and obviously he gets the nod in New Orleans this Sunday. If Wallace and Delhomme can’t go after the bye week run him out there again. If he seizes the opportunity keep him in there. Personally, if it’s not McCoy then I want to see Wallace at QB. I’ve seen all I need to do of Delhomme. He’s not part of the future and Wallace and McCoy can do things Jake can’t.
ESPN Sports Center just initiated a Nation-wide poll: “Which is the best NFL team in the nation, the Jets, the Patriots, The Saints, the Steelers or the Ravens”?
Coincidentally, The Browns share a division with two of the teams, and play each of the others during their next three games 🙂
That being said, the Browns aren’t going to win anytime soon (depending upon your take on the definition of “soon”). So I say why not start Colt? There’s absolutely no pressure for him to win and he gets a chance to continue testing his skills against the best teams in the league. Seneca is perhaps the best backup QB in the league, but that’s the best he’s ever gonna be (can’t throw to the sideline etc.) Please let Colt show us what he’s got so the Browns can know whether or not to draft a QB with their top-3 pick!
Go BROWNS! Go COLT!
I agree, McCoy looked better to me than Wallace or Delhomme. His play was the one thing that made me somewhat pleased after a awful weekend of football for Browns and OSU fans. Let’s see how he holds up in New Orleans.
Before we all mentally kick Delhomme to the curb, I think we all need to remember we have seen more healthy McCoy than healthy Delhomme, and when Jake was healthy he looked pretty good. Let’s not be so quick to throw him away.
I’m hesitant to hand the reigns over to McCoy so quickly. I think limited experience this year is good – play him until Jake or Seneca are 100%, and maybe give him a couple starts at the end of the year. Then give him a training camp to get all his reps.
@29, Mark,
If a rookie salary cap is instituted it will get a lot more attractive for teams to trade up. And since there won’t be an enormous financial burden for a top 5 pick, the compensation received in return for trading down should be better.
@ NickyZ: good stat. As for what’s there to lose? Colt’s confidence in himself as discussed above (ie Tim Couch). Throwing him to the dogs (per your stat of some of the best teams in the NFL) is not exactly how to bring a guy along at a position that requires confidence.
@harv#44 — these longhorn fans really REALLY dig on colt mccoy. remember how broncos fans were really upset at the hillis trade? remember how sox fans kinda giggled at giving up masterson for v-mart? we can learn a lot by the kind of comment kmills made. it’s not the first i’ve seen from longhorn fans who — i have to think — know them some footbaww.
@kmills#38 — if you’re still out there: i’ve seen quite a few loyal colt fans show up on cleveland boards and vouch for him. no one was chatting up vince young like this were they? i mean… it seems like there’s a solid core of longhorn fans who really like colt and really think he’s going to be a winner in the pros. am i mistaken? is there consensus on this point among the austin fandom?
As someone who got to watch all of Colt’s starts at UT, I saw the same guy in the Browns uniform on Sunday.
His preparation and field vision is impeccable, he came in as a Freshman and broke every passing record we had, a great leader and winner.
Cleveland fans should be very happy the Browns drafted him, he’s going to be a good QB for a lot of years.
um, ok, Austin believes in Colt. And no discouraging words from South Bend a few years ago. Also, pretty sure Tebow is half man, half amazing based on Fla fans. Bruce Gradkowski- raised right as rain. These are some amazing young men, no sarcasm. But the NFL qb skill set – now that’s something a little less treacly, what we see on an NFL field is the only reliable indicator.
Why are we talking about draft position? Draft position should have zero bearing on who is the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. Arguing that we need to see what McCoy can do in order to plan our draft is one thing; saying that we should or should not be drafting in the top five is another.
actually, i dont recall domers talking up quinn like horns’ fans are mccoy. gradkowski either. tebow yes and thus far tebow has done more that i expected.. so his supporters were somewhat on target based on the current evidence.
here’s an example, might help explain why i think posts like kmills are important. when the cavs were said to be going after stoudamire, i perused some suns blogs. their fandom felt jj hickson was a useless spare part. i felt compelled to tell them, as one who’s watched him, that hickson shows a lot of promise.
if a longhorn fan winds up here on this blogs and finds indifference toward mccoy and is moved enough to express his opinion based on four years of watching him… it’s good. very good, imo.
Just a few thoughts. McCoy was thrust into this game with a week’s preperation. He had to play the toughest D he could possibly face, on their own home field. His star running back was coming off an injury. The plan to take the pressure off him with the Wildcat died an early and violent death. His two best receivers were knocked out of the game. What did he do? He put up the 8th highest amount of yards passing of any game since Our Return, that’s all.
We have already seen McCoy do things that neither Jake nor Seneca can do. He is infinitely more mobile than Jake. As somebody pointed out, he actually directed Vickers and Hillis to move in order to allow him to complete passes to them. This shows more downfield awareness than Seneca has. He also threw very accurate passes to parts of the field that elude Wallace. I think he really gives the Browns the best chance to win going forward.
@DK: Dude, he’s QB for the Cleveland Browns, how confident is he gonna get!? Ha! I hear ya though, with the injuries to Cribbs and Mo Mass, I’m not really sure if Peyton Manning could start for the Browns and feel good about himself. Colt probably knows in his head what he’s working with and working against, I hope he finds solace in that. I’m thinking of getting Ben Watson for my fantasy team, he’s about to go to work!
No possible way in any of God’s green earths that the Browns are making the playoffs. Hand the kid the keys and lets see what it is..
I so wished this game aired in Texas. I really wanted to see Colt’s NFL debut. I’m so proud of him, just as I was when he was our QB at UT. Congrats, Colt!
Credit to Mangini huh?
What if I told you this: inside the walls of Berea, there’s something going on and Mangini doesn’t want to roll with McCoy any longer than he has to. He wants to go back to Delhomme as soon as he can. That’s what I was told from the inside.
He’s not playing Haden because he doesn’t like him, and doesn’t like the way he conducts himself. He ‘trusts’ Wright, even though Wright admitted himself to Mangini that he is lacking in confidence while he’s on the field.
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