Red Right 88

What do the Browns have in Pat Shurmur?

Now the the exhaustive search is over, the press conference is finished and the deed is done, Browns fans are left wondering just what the team has in new head coach Pat Shurmur.

We watched the press conference and listened to what Shurmur, team president Mike Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert had to say. We’ve read the stories and blogs and we’re still not sure what the Browns have. After everything, we’re left with a feeling of … extreme neutrality … a preponderance of beige, perhaps.

Part of the problem is that once the Browns decided to fire Eric Mangini and move in another direction, it was easier to focus on who we didn’t want coaching the Browns, rather than who we did:

• Jon Gruden: overrated
• John Fox: mediocre coach
• Bill Cowher: never going to happen
• Jim Harbaugh: college coaches fail miserably at the NFL level

And with no “hot” coordinator on the market, we were left feeling lukewarm about the potential candidates. Unfortunately, being on the fan side of the equation means we don’t know what Shurmur or the other two candidates the Browns interviewed – Mike Mularkey and Perry Fewell – were like during the interview process. We don’t have an opportunity to be sold on a potential coach the way a team does.

The same thing happened in Pittsburgh when Mike Tomlin was hired. Tomlin wasn’t a big name – in his one year as defensive coordinator in Minnesota the Vikings were last in pass defense – but he was impressive in the interview and got the job.

Have the Browns finally found their Mike Tomlin? Only time will tell. Of course, would Mike Tomlin still be coaching in Pittsburgh if he didn’t have Dick LeBeau as his defensive coordinator?

That hits at the heart of the Browns on-going problem with constant turnover in the coach’s office: the Steelers are successful because they have talented players, certainly, but also because they have a system in place and they select players that fit the system. They don’t switch philosophies every few years, necessitating continued turnover of the roster.

This is where Shurmur needs to make his mark.

Right or wrong, real or perceived, Holmgren made the decision that his philosophy could not mesh with Mangini’s. There’s something to be said for having everyone 100 percent on the same page if the Browns are going to finally be a team that can compete on an annual basis.

If Holmgren knows the type of players that fit the West Coast offense, and Heckert knows how to find those players, and Shurmur knows how to coach them, then the Browns are on the right track.

There is no such thing as a universal right or wrong offense or defense to run. The right offense (or defense) for a particular team is the one that maximizes the abilities of the players on a certain team. If the Browns decide they are going to run the West Coast offense, and everyone involved knows how to get the players needed and coach them properly, then that’s the right offense for this team.

For all the talk about how the AFC North is a smash mouth division, the other three teams in the division pass the ball a lot. In Saturday’s playoff game, Pittsburgh threw the ball 32 times while Baltimore threw it 30.

Not exactly three yards and a cloud of dust yesterday at Heinz Field.

The one part of Shurmur’s introductory press conference that we keep going back to was when he talked about how he sees the coach’s role as that of an educator: “We take highly motivated, talented people and then we teach them to do very basic tasks, then we tie it all together. Then we go out and let you folks evaluate it and try to have those tasks point to efficient football and winning. The foundation of what we do is teach. “

That teaching refers to not only coaches to players, but from Holmgren to Shurmur, and not just now in Berea. You can trace the educational path all the way back to Paul Brown, who taught Bill Walsh in Cincinnati; Walsh taught Holmgren in San Francisco, Holmgren taught Andy Reid in Green Bay, and Reid taught Shurmur in Philadelphia.

That’s quite a wealth of accumulated knowledge.

But can Shurmur translate all of that into wins? That’s the big unknown.

We hope Shurmur took time to watch Saturday’s game between the Steelers and Ravens and keeps the game tape handy in his offense. Because that is what the Browns must face four times a year.

And if they can’t get past the Steelers and Ravens, then all the talk of being on the same page and meshing of philosophies will just be a lot of hot air.

"We’re trying to win football games"

Well, at least we know one thing about new Browns coach Pat Shurmur: he wants to win football games.*

The Browns introduced Shurmur on Friday as their latest head coach.

“As you talk about our team and the goals for this team, it’s very simple; we’re trying to win football games,” Shurmur said during the press conference. “Our goal is to win the AFC North, to compete in the playoffs and win Super Bowls. Anything we talk about that doesn’t relate to winning, then, I think we’re getting ourselves distracted. We will make all our decisions based on winning and that process started yesterday.”

While Shurmur, who was joined at the podium by team president Mike Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert, was understandably vague about his plans, he did shed some light on what the Browns will look like under his watch.

“I think the running game is very important,” Shurmur said. “Everything starts up front. You need to have a gritty offensive line to block the run and protect the passer. From that standpoint, the next most important guy is the quarterback, how he plays and how efficient he is. I think it’s very important we run the ball, but in the NFL you have to be able to efficiently and explosively throw the ball. That’s something we have to get done.”

We liked his answer to the question of how he relates to players:

“I would say my relationship with players is very professional,” Shurmur said. “I believe players are different. Coaches are different. I will say we have to do the very best to get our players to be the best they can. Some guys, a couple quiet words will get them to be their best. I think the key is to get to know your players as best as you can and communicate with them in those ways.

“We take highly motivated, talented people and then we teach them to do very basic tasks, then we tie it all together. Then we go out and let you folks evaluate it and try to have those tasks point to efficient football and winning. The foundation of what we do is teach. “

That’s good. Often coaches fail because they try to treat every player the same. One of the keys to being successful, besides having talented players of course, is figuring out which players need a pat on the back and which ones need a kick in the ass. Shurmur seems to get that.

The one statement that gave us pause was when Shurmur said, at least initially, he would handle the play-calling duties.

“Yes, initially I will start out by calling the plays,” he said. “That really is the fun part. In terms of hiring the coordinators, the staff in general is an ongoing process. We’re actively pursuing the guys we want to come to Cleveland.”

That doesn’t sound like a very good idea to us. With so much going on during the game on Sunday, we’d prefer to have our head coach focusing on everything, not just the next play call on offense.

Holmgren, Heckert and Shurmur left little doubt that all three are on the same page when it comes to turning the Browns around.

“I think the relationship that I have with Tom and Coach Holmgren is part of the strength of what we’re going to embark on,” Shurmur said. “I think we have a collective view of what it takes to win in this league and we’ll be able to put that into play.”

“Like Pat said, from the day he walked in the door, we were on the same page,” Heckert said. “Everybody says they want the character and hard work and stuff, but we’ve been through it together and we’ve done it with getting those players. I think we are on the same page when it comes to players and what we are looking for, and we’ve done it together before. That can’t be a negative.”

“We cannot keep changing around here every two or three years,” Holmgren said. “You can’t do that and expect to be successful, you can’t do that. My hope and why this was so important and why I’m very excited, I see these two men working together. I can envision certain things where it’s a pretty good fit and my hope and prayer is that now the changes stop. Now the growing and building begins. I think we took some strides last year. My hope is this is the coach and this will be the coach for a long, long time. That was part of the thinking.”

So now the deed is done. Shurmur is on board as Browns coach, he needs to get busy filling out the coaching staff – reports have the Browns looking at Dick Jauron as defensive coordinator, which would probably mean a transition to a 4-3 defense, and Mike McCoy as offensive coordinator.

There are free agents, both the Browns and others, to look at, the draft to prepare for, plus a long list of other items.

In other words, it’s time for the team to start focusing on winning games, because everything else is just a distraction.

*We still don’t know, however, where Shurmur stands on the great question of field goals vs. touchdowns.

Holmgren grabs his man …

… but will Browns fans regret his decision?

The team made its move on Thursday, hiring St. Louis offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur as the Browns fifth head coach since 1999.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to join an organization with such a rich history and tradition as the Cleveland Browns,” Shurmur said in a press release. “I have the utmost respect for Coach (Mike) Holmgren and Tom Heckert and I am impressed with the direction in which they have this franchise going.”

“I am extremely excited about having Pat Shurmur as the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns,” said team president Mike Holmgren. “Pat is a bright, young man who grew up in football and around the coaching profession. I came away from our interview very impressed with him as a person, his extensive knowledge of the game and his track record of success as an assistant coach in this league. Most importantly, I feel as though he possesses the necessary qualities which make him the right man to lead our football team.”

Hopefully Shurmur will last longer than Chris Palmer (two years), Butch Davis (less than four years), Romeo Crennel (four years) and Eric Mangini (two years).

If he doesn’t, Holmgren will have a lot of explaining to do and the team will be even further away from contending than they stand right now.

So what do we know about Shurmur?

He has never been a head coach at any level. Of course Davis and Mangini came to town with head coaching experience and they both washed out without turning the Browns into winners.

He learned the West Coast offense under Andy Reid in Philadelphia for 10 years, spending seven of those years as the Eagles quarterback coach. Seems reasonable to expect the Browns to embrace that offense more fully next season.

He was QB coach in Philly when Donovan McNabb earned three trips to the Pro Bowl.

He is familiar with general manager Tom Heckert, who held various positions with the Eagles for eight years while Shurmur was there.

With such a strong connection to the Eagles and Andy Reid, Shurmur should have little trouble getting on the same page as Holmgren and Heckert, which is key to the team’s success. If the Browns have a philosophy that all three share and buy into, it will be easier for Holmgren and Heckert to give Shurmur the types of players he needs to succeed.

He has no connection to the Bill Belichick coaching tree or the Baltimore Ravens. The Browns have relied entirely too much on those two avenues (Mangini & Romeo; former general managers Phil Savage and George Kokinis) in recent years. It’s refreshing to see Holmgren break this cycle of dependency.

Under his control, the Rams offense ranked 29th and 26th the past two years.

He’s no stranger to working with young quarterbacks. Shurmur spent the 2010 season mentoring rookie Sam Bradford. Under his direction, Bradford completed 354-of-590 attempts for 3,512 yards and 18 touchdowns. His yardage total was second-most ever by a rookie, as only Peyton Manning threw for more yards in his first season, 3,739 in 1998. Bradford also set a rookie record with 174 consecutive attempts without an interception.

“This is a great opportunity for Coach Shurmur,” Bradford told The St. Louis-Post Dispatch. “I really enjoyed working with him last season and he truly helped my transition from college to the NFL game. I think he will be a really good head coach.”

He’s not a “name” coach, such as John Fox, Jon Gruden or Bill Cowher. But that’s OK, Gruden is a joke, Fox is just an average coach and Cowher is never coming to Cleveland. Throw in the fact that no Super Bowl-winning coach has ever won a Super Bowl with a second team and it’s clear there was no reason for the Browns to go down that road.

So what don’t we know?

How Shurmur will handle running the team. Can he see the big picture? Can he put together a productive practice schedule? Can he manage all the unexpected details that come up on Sundays?

St. Louis running back Stephen Jackson thinks so.

“I knew it would not be long before Coach Shurmur got a head coaching job in this league,” Jackson told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He was a good coordinator for the Rams and on Sundays, he got the most out of his players and always had us in a position to win the game.”

Who will his coordinators be? Brian Daboll is certainly out and it appears that Rob Ryan won’t be back. Who’s running the show on offense and defense?

How much can he get out of an offense that still has no quality at wide receiver, a shaky to bad right side of the offensive line and only one threat in the running game?

Most importantly, where does he stand on the field goals vs. touchdowns debate?

Seriously, though, it’s clearly too early to know if this whole thing is going to work out or not. Shurmur is a first-time head coach and there are going to be growing pains. Hopefully having Holmgren around will shorten the learning curve considerably.

Also, there is no universal right offense or right defense in the NFL. The only correct offense or defense is the one that maximizes the talents of the available players.

If Holmgren knows what type of player is needed for the West Coast offense, and if Heckert can get those players, and if Shurmur knows how to coach that offense, then it is the “right” offense for this team. What’s most important is picking an offense and defense and sticking with it so the team can be built to succeed in the particular schemes.

For now we remain optimistic. The Browns have had a lot of practice hiring coaches since 1999, maybe it is time for all that preparation to finally pay off.

***

Lot’s of opinions on this:

Shurmur not a bad pick: Terry Pluto

Is Shurmur Better than Eric Mangini? Bill Livingston

Shurmur may not catch a break from the hoople heads: Bud Shaw

Hiring Shurmur ultimate test for Mike Holmgren: Marla Ridenour

Our New Nepotistic Golden Age? Cleveland Frowns

Shurmur leaves an angry crowd behind: St. Louis Post-Dispatch