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In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the category “Colt McCoy”

19 May 2011

Browns feeling lockout’s pinch?

How much is the ongoing NFL lockout impacting the Browns?

Well, it’s certainly not helping.

Josh Cribbs told ESPN’s First Take the Browns are hurting because they can’t work with the coaches to install the new offensive and defensive systems.

“It does hurt us because at a time when there’s not a lockout, teams who have new coaches are allowed a certain amount of time to prepare,” Cribbs said. “And because of this lockout, we’re not.”

If this was a normal year, the Browns would be allowed to hold an extra minicamp because they have a new coach in Pat Shurmur.

Now? They have to be content with Camp Colt.

“Colt has been rounding up the troops and planning short minicamps to get the playbook down pat as much as we can, to get the plays down pat,” Cribbs said. “We’re really limited on the amount of things we can do because of the amount of information that we have.

“But at the same time, the minicamps that we’re having are beneficial. We’re getting our throwing down pat and the timing with the quarterback. It’s really beneficial … but we are set back a little bit because of the lockout.”

Speaking of McCoy, can he be the quarterback that helps the Browns close the gap on Pittsburgh and Baltimore?

“It’s horrible; there’s nothing good about [inexperienced quarterbacks] facing the Ravens and Steelers,” said Matt Williamson of Scouts Inc. “They’re not carbon copies of each other, but their philosophy is pretty similar. They’re going to take away your running game, and you’re not going to outwork them in the trenches or move them. Then you’re one-dimensional, and then you’re in trouble.

“I really worry about the guy’s arm strength. I just can’t get around that. When the weather gets bad, he’s not going to be able to complete passes in Cleveland. I think he’s a real good fit in the West Coast offense. I think he has some moxie to him and I like the way he plays. But when it’s December and the Steelers and Ravens are in town, you better be able to complete a deep out.”

It’s getting a little old hearing about McCoy’s alleged lack of arm strength. You know who else had “average arm strength”? Brian Sipe. It’s not always how hard you throw the ball, but when and where you throw it that counts.

“It takes a while, but you make the cold and the wind your asset,” Sipe said in Terry Pluto’s book, Things I’ve Learned from Watching the Browns. “You learn to play in it by practicing in it. Then, when the other teams come to the lakefront, they aren’t ready for it.

“You should embrace the cold. It helps you as a quarterback because it slows the game down. You can see things better. Playing in that weather is part of what made us a tough team mentally.”

McCoy has the skills needed for a West Coast offense, which the Browns are now planning to run. He’ll be fine.

***

In the world of a different kind of football, the Premier League’s 20 clubs collectively lost close to half a billion pounds last year despite making record income, a Guardian analysis of their most recent accounts has revealed.

In the 2009-10 financial year, the clubs currently in the Premier League made total revenues of £2.1 billion (that’s billion with a b), principally from their billion-pound TV deals and the world’s most expensive tickets. Yet 16 of the 20 clubs made losses, totalling a record £484 million, and the same number relied on funding from their wealthy owners.

Aston Villa lost £38 million as the club’s owner, Randy Lerner, struggles to compete with clubs whose commercial income and potential is much greater than Villa’s.

According to the report, “these are sobering figures … signalling why reality bit for Randy Lerner’s ‘good American’ takeover at Villa Park. Lerner has problems to address despite £206 million invested. Their turnover of £91 million at the 42,582-capacity Villa Park is the Premier League’s seventh highest, but is so far behind Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal they risk becoming a seller of players to the top clubs.”

So in addition to the NFL lockout, Lerner has that on his plate to worry about.

***

Lost in all the hoopla about Jake Peavy’s performance against the Tribe on Wednesday night was that Justin Masterson was just as good.

Even though he took the loss, Masterson threw a five-hitter, striking out eight and walking two in his first complete game of the season.

Masterson went 5-0 with a 2.18 ERA in his first five starts of the season. In his last four starts, he’s 0-2 with a 2.78 ERA. In three of those games, he’s allowed two or fewer earned runs.

He keeps that up and we’re sure everything will be just fine.

***

Kyrie Irving plans to only have medical tests at the NBA combine, and will skip the on-court tests and drills.

“I’m just going doing medical here,” said Irving, the presumed No. 1 pick. “There’s no particular reason. I’m still working out around here (privately) but I’m not doing anything at the combine.”

No need to wear yourself out kid. Just focus on getting ready for Byron Scott’s training camp this fall.

***

Finally, check out the latest from Fresh Brewed Tees.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Colt McCoy, Josh Cribbs, Kyrie Irving, NFL lockout, Randy Lerner | Leave a comment
04 Apr 2011

What we know about the Tribe, so far

The Indians gave us a few takeaways from their season-opening series with the White Sox:

  • Travis Hafner hit the ball hard on several occasions. In addition to his first homerun of the season, Hafner hit a broken-bat flyout to the warning track, and had ball hit the bottom of the fence in right-center field. It’s not realistic to expect Hafner to return to the glory days of 2005-06, but if he can settle in at a reliable pace, it will help deepen the lineup.
  • Carlos Santana can hit. Three hits on opening day, another two in Sunday’s win. Having Santana on the big-league roster from Day one can’t be underestimated.
  • The starting pitching will end up being OK. While Justin Masterson’s seven innings and one earned run won’t be the norm, we also don’t expect to see many outings like Fausto Carmona’s in the opener or Carlos Carrasco’s five runs in the first two innings on Saturday.
  • The bullpen, especially Chris Perez, Rafael Perez, Tony Sipp and Vinnie Pestano, make us feel good. We especially liked Pestano’s inning of work on Friday.
  • Matt LaPorta is starting to worry us.
  • Jack Hannahan obviously won’t continue to hit .364, but if he can stay about .275 or so, especially with his glove, it will help as the front office doesn’t want to have to promote Lonny Chisenhall too quickly.
  • The attendance. Oh boy. Early season, cold-weather games are always a tough sell, but 9,853 on Saturday followed by 8,726 on Sunday doesn’t do much for the bottom-line. With summer weather still a couple of months off, the Tribe needs to start playing some competitive baseball real soon.

So, while the Indians are only three games into a long season, there are more positives than the 1-2 record would indicate.

***

As frustrating as the series against the White Sox was, the Red Sox come to town on Tuesday off an even worse weekend.

What The Boston Globe calls The Best Team Ever staggered through one of its worst opening weekends ever, giving up 21 extra-base hits and 11 homers in a three-game sweep at the hands of the defending American League champion Texas Rangers.

“Just a real bad series,’’ Theo Epstein told The Globe. “For this to happen in the first series of the year leaves a bad taste in your mouth. But we’ll be better than this. Maybe we crammed April of 2010 (11-12, six games out of first place) into three days. I hope so.’’

The Tribe might be catching the Red Sox at a good time. If Boston continues to struggle, the Indians have a chance to steady the ship before heading out west.

Plus, since Progressive Field will be over-populated with Red Sox fans the next few days, it would be nice to see the Indians not only beat Boston on the field, but take money from their fans in the process.

***

Remember a few weeks ago when we told you about Fulham chairman Mohamed Al Fayed plans to unveil a life-size, color statue of Michael Jackson outside Fulham’s home ground?

Well, the statue was unveiled over the weekend and it’s just as strange and creepy as we feared.

Check out the video at EPL Talk.

***

Peter King weighs in with some not-so-good comments about Clemson defensive end Da’Quan Bowers’ Pro Day:

I think Clemson pass-rusher Da’Quan Bowers was underwhelming Friday in his campus workout and will slip out of the top 10. In November, he looked all but sure to be a top-five pick if he came out, but after undergoing postseason arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus, he needed a great effort Friday. He was just so-so. And to show how far his star has fallen, only one coach (Ken Whisenhunt) and two general managers (Thomas Dimitroff, Buddy Nix) attended the workout. He ran two 40-yard dashes in the 4.95-second range. To show you how mediocre a time that is, understand that 11 of the 14 tight ends at the Scouting Combine in February ran faster than 4.9.

Not good.

If this is true, it seems doubtful the Browns will take a chance on Bowers with their first pick in the draft.

***

Finally, James Walker at ESPN shares the story about the day Colt McCoy crushed Blaine Gabbert.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Colt McCoy, Da'Quan Bowers, Fulham | Leave a comment
15 Mar 2011

Holmgren to fans: Keep Calm & Carry On

Browns President Mike Holmgren met the media on Monday and delivered a message to Browns fan that can be paraphrased as “keep calm and carry on.”

Holmgen said it’s “business as usual” for the team during the lockout.

“It is our feeling and hope that we will play football games [this season],” Holmgren told The Plain Dealer. “We’ve worked very, very hard to begin to establish a program that will win and we are proceeding along those lines.”

”I realize what I’m asking the Cleveland Browns fans to do because they’ve probably heard somebody say, ‘Hey, hang in there,’ for a little bit of time now. But in trying to be real straight with them, I am very, very encouraged about the direction of the football team,” Holmgren told The Beacon Journal. “This will get done, and we will play again. Stay rooting for your favorite team. It’s OK to get frustrated and ticked off on occasion, but the beauty of it is you’ll be there when the good times come.”

Good times? In Cleveland? Sign us up!

The problem is, no one knows when we will see football again. We’re still confident that, someway, there will be a season this fall, but no one really knows what impact the work stoppage will have on the Browns as they install new offensive and defensive systems.

Wisely, the Browns made sure quarterback Colt McCoy received a copy of the playbook before teams had to cut off contact with the players, which should pay off once teams can start practicing again.

“You can visualize yourself doing it and I think he can,” coach Pat Shurmur told The Plain Dealer. “When he gets more and more schooled in our approach, I think it’ll become more familiar and hopefully he’ll be happier and happier about it.

“I think he has the attributes that will make him a good quarterback in any system, especially our system. First and foremost is decision-making. If you have a guy that’s a bad decision-maker, he’ll always break your heart. But Colt’s a good decision-maker.”

We want to believe it’s just football and, since this is the NFL, the players will be able to pick up the new system somewhat easily. Shurmur sounds like he believes that to be the case.

“I guess I’m looking at it more as the glass as half-full than empty,” Shurmur said. “I feel as though the systems we’re teaching are proven. I’ve seen them be taught in a short amount of time. I’m not anxious about it.”

Well, that makes one of us, although it’s good to know the coaching staff isn’t in a panic.

***

Staying in Berea, Holmgren has some in a tizzy because he’s doing the proper thing by scouting and evaluating available college players – even quarterbacks.

“I think with our due diligence as an organization and a personnel department, it’s our obligation to evaluate the best players coming out of college football,” Holmgren said. “Cam Newton is one of those and so, yes, we are looking hard. It’s fun for me anyway; I’ve told you this before.”

This is a good thing; we’re not sure why some can’t see that.

***

Speaking of doing their due diligence, Texas A&M linebacker Von Miller will reportedly visit the Browns in April.

After his strong combine and pro day, Miller is earning a lot of interest among the teams at the top of the draft and is considered by many the top linebacker in the draft.

***

Finally, happy birthday to Liverpool FC!

The club was founded on this day in 1892 by John Houlding, owner of the Anfield stadium. Houlding needed a team for the grounds following a disagreement with Everton that saw the Toffees move to Goodison Park, so Houlding started Liverpool.

Eighteen league titles and five European Cups later, the club is still going strong.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy, Keep calm, Liverpool, Mike Holmgren, NFL draft | Leave a comment
04 Mar 2011

Browns investing wisely in McCoy’s future

The Browns took another step toward ensuring Colt McCoy’s future when they signed quarterback Seneca Wallace to a three-year deal worth $9 million plus incentives.

While Wallace talked about wanting to be a starter next season, it’s clear that the Browns (i.e. team president Mike Holmgren) convinced Wallace that staying in Cleveland is the best place for the eight-year pro.

The key here is the Browns aren’t looking for Wallace to be a starter, but someone who can accelerate McCoy’s learning curve so the Browns can find out sooner, rather than later, if McCoy has what it takes to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Since Wallace doesn’t have the talent to be a starting quarterback in the league, he’s had to work harder and study more to try and find an edge, and obviously something is working as he’s made it this far. Having him around gives the Browns another voice experienced in the West Coast offense who can work with McCoy every day – and nothing bad can come from that.

While we wouldn’t want Wallace to be the Browns starting quarterback, as we learned last year having a capable backup is a good thing. If McCoy goes down early in a game, or misses a game with an injury, Wallace can hold his own for a game or a half – it’s not like the team has to rely on Todd Philcox or Spurgeon Wynn here.

More than anything else, the Browns have to find out what they have at quarterback with McCoy. And resigning Wallace moves them one step closer to putting the puzzle together.

Oh, the Browns also resigned linebacker D’Qwell Jackson to a one-year deal.

Jackson has missed 26 games over the past two seasons with injuries.

***

Indians pitcher Mitch Talbot doesn’t want to hear about the team being too young or too poor to compete in the American League.

“Same thing we heard in Tampa,” Talbot told The Plain Dealer after making his first start of spring training against the Texas Rangers. “Enough of this. Young? I don’t care. Let’s go win.”

If nothing else, we like the kid’s moxie.

***

While watching the Kent State-Akron game, we saw a commercial for ESPN Film’s upcoming documentary on The Fab 5 from Michigan.

We can’t believe its been 20 years since Chris Webber, Jimmy King, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard and Ray Jackson were college freshmen.

While that makes us feel old, there’s no way we’re missing this one when it airs on March 13.

***

Finally, Brian Phillips at Slate has a great read on Parity vs. Greatness: The Most Important Debate in Sports.

Phillips writes that:

We don’t usually think about sports in these terms, but a league is a design problem—an aesthetic problem, really. A professional sports league has to balance distinct and often contradictory priorities, and how it does so helps to determine, before a player sends a single ball moving through space, the sort of experience it will offer fans.

One reason people like to watch team sports is to witness intensely competitive games—contests between evenly matched opponents in which the outcome hangs in doubt. Another is to watch extraordinarily gifted players play the game at the highest level. If you engineer a league to have an even distribution of talent—tightly regulating player movement, enforcing spending limits, funneling cash and talent to the weakest teams—then you encourage close games. But because the best players are spread out across more teams, you discourage fantastic displays of skill.

Phillips makes some interesting points. And as Cleveland fans, we face that question more now than ever.

When the Indians had an All-Star at every position (or so it seemed) in the mid- to late-’90s, we wanted greatness. But the economics of baseball changed and now the Indians can’t compete.

When the Cavs had LeBron, we wanted greatness; now we long for the team to be relevant again.

As for the Browns, all we really have is enduring hope. There really isn’t anything else.

Greatness or parity?

Which would you choose?

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Colt McCoy, Seneca Wallace | Leave a comment
28 Feb 2011

Jamison’s bad break good for Cavs

The Cavs announced on Monday that leading scorer Antawn Jamison will be out 5-7 weeks with a fractured left little finger that will require surgery on Tuesday.

Jamison hurt his finger during Sunday’s loss to the 76ers. The 5-7 week time frame basically means Jamison and his 18 points per game will join Anderson Varajeo on the sidelines until next season.

While this is bad news for Jamison, it’s actually good news for the Cavs’ long-term future. After losing an NBA-record 26 games in a row, the Cavs appeared to be a lock for the most balls in the draft lottery.

But after going 3-3 over their last six games, the Cavs have let Minnesota creep within 2.5 games of the worst record in the league; with Sacramento just four games back.

That’s no way to go about maximizing your chances of landing the top pick in the NBA Draft.

***

For what it’s worth, NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock expressed faith in Cleveland’s second-year quarterback Colt McCoy at a press conference Sunday at the NFL Scouting Combine.

“That kid did a heckuva job last year,” Mayock told The Beacon Journal. “The kid’s won at every level. What did I say earlier about quarterbacks? How much do they care about the game? Are they the first one in the building? That’s him. He’s a gym rat.

“So I’m betting on him and I think the Cleveland Browns are, too. His arm is above average. It’s not great and it’s not elite. But the league has been (filled) with those kind of kids forever.

“If you understand where and when to throw the football and get it out quickly, you’re going to be fine.”

***

We’re still not sure how Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney can get off with no punishment for elbowing Wigan’s James McCarthy in the head during Saturday’s FA Cup game, but Liverpool’s Ryan Babel was censured and fined £10,000 for Tweeting a mocked-up photo of ref Howard Webb wearing a Manchester United shirt.

If only we could identify the common thread that unites these two incidents, we might be able to make some sense of this.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Colt McCoy, Liverpool, Wayne Rooney | Leave a comment
05 Jan 2011

Grading the Browns Quarterbacks

Now that the Browns’ 2010 season is in the books, we thought we’d jump on the grading bandwagon and hand out grades to selected positions on the team.

Today we’ll start with the quarterbacks. Rather than just assign an arbitrary letter grade to Colt McCoy, Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace, we’re going to try and see how they match up against what was statistically an average NFL quarterback this season.

Thirty-two quarterbacks played enough this year to qualify for the NFL rankings – from Tom Brady at the top to Jimmy Clausen, who narrowly beat out old friend Derek Anderson as the worst quarterback in the league.

For the 2010 season, the average NFL quarterback completed 61.5 percent of his passes (282-for-458) for 3,265 yards, 7.13 yards per attempt, 21 touchdowns and 12.5 interceptions.

If we project McCoy’s statistics over a full season, he would have completed 60.8 of his passes (270-for-444), with 3,152 yards, 7.1 yards per attempt, 12 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.

Those numbers would have put him right in the middle of the pack, although his touchdowns were a bit low and his interceptions a bit high. McCoy’s yardage would have put him ahead of Matt Cassell and Michael Vick, and just right behind Jay Cutler and Mark Sanchez. And his yards per attempt were more than a yard better than highly-touted rookie Sam Bradford.

Not bad for a rookie quarterback who was not expected to play this season. A grade of C+ with promise for next year seems right.

Seneca Wallace showed us what he is this year – a capable backup who can fill in on a short-term basis without really harming the team.

Statistically he’s below average when it comes to yards (1,388) and touchdowns (8), but he doesn’t turn the ball over (a projected 4 interceptions) and completes an above-average percentage of his passes (63.4 percent).

We feel OK with giving Wallace a C and are comfortable having him return next year in a back-up role.

That brings us to Delhomme. Again, he came as advertised, completing an above average percentage of his passes (62.4) but was below average in yards (2,790), touchdowns (6) and interceptions (22).

We’ll give Delhomme some extra credit for the work he did helping McCoy this season which brings his grade to a C.

We’re not sure how valid our “analysis” is as they are just numbers; they don’t take into account any intangibles, the support of the running game, play calling or the talent void at the wide receiver position.

But they do confirm what we saw this year on the field: McCoy has shown enough that we want to see more; Wallace is capable as a back-up who won’t kill the team if he has to play in short stretches; and Delhomme is a veteran who is more valuable on the practice field during the week than on the field on Sundays.

The Browns quarterbacks pretty much were what we thought they would be back in July: certainly not Pro Bowlers by any stretch, but far from being the worse collection of quarterbacks in the league (that would be the Arizona Cardinals in case you were wondering).

***

It has apparently been a good NFL season for Las Vegas.

***

No matter how bad it gets in Brownstown, we can always be thankful we’re not in Cincinnati.

***

And speaking of things to be thankful for, the Browns were never in consideration for Jim Harbaugh.

***

Finally, ex-Indians Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame today.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Colt McCoy, Jake Delhomme, Las Vegas, NFL, Seneca Wallace | Leave a comment
02 Jan 2011

Browns vs. Steelers – Week 17

Sixteen weeks after they lined-up for the season opener in Tampa, the Browns close out the regular season today against Pittsburgh.

The Opposition

Pittsburgh: 11-4
Offensive rank: 15th overall/16th passing/9th rushing
Defensive rank: 2nd overall/14th passing/1st rushing
All-time record: Browns trail 61-56, but lead the series 35-22 at home. The Browns broke an eight-game home losing streak to the Steelers with last year’s 13-6 win.
The line: Browns +5.5

What to Watch For

How Colt McCoy looks in his second chance against the Steelers. In the first game in Week 6, McCoy threw for 281 yards and had a QB rating of 80.5. Now that he knows what to expect from the Pittsburgh defense.

Of course, the Steelers have tape on McCoy as well and, as well as McCoy played the first time, he did throw two interceptions and was sacked six times.

And that was with a healthy Peyton Hillis in the backfield. Hillis may be out – or limited – today with a rib injury, which would put Mike Bell (oh boy) and a (hopefully healthy) Josh Cribbs as the focus of the running game against Pittsburgh’s top-rated rush defense.

Defensively the Browns need to get pressure on Ben Roethlisberger. After sacking Roethlisberger eight times in their win last season, the Browns couldn’t get to him this year in Pittsburgh.

The Best Browns vs. Steelers Game I’ve Seen

There have been a lot to choose from: Turkey Jones stuffing Terry Bradshaw, David Mays coming off the bench to beat the Steelers, the overtime win in 1986. But the one that stands out is the 1983 game, Brian Sipe’s last in a Cleveland uniform, which the Browns won 30-17 in the season’s final game.

Video clips are here, here, here, here, here and here. No surprise that in the clips the Steelers are called for multiple personal fouls. The more things change …

The Plain Dealer‘s game story is here.

The Prediction

Once again, it’s hard to see the Browns winning today. The Steelers need this game to earn a first-round bye in the playoffs and the Browns are too injured to realistically expect an upset.

Sadly, after a long season of marked improvement, the Browns will end the year with the same record as last year, but will enter the off-season with a four-game losing streak, rather than a winning streak.

And tomorrow morning the jackals will descend on Berea hoping to pick over Eric Mangini’s carcass. Will Mike Holmgren leave them disappointed?

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 3-11-1.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy, Eric Mangini, NFL, Week 17 | Leave a comment
16 Nov 2010

Final Thoughts on the Browns-Jets

A day later and, while we’re not discouraged, Sunday’s loss to the Jets still hurts.

We like how quarterback Colt McCoy had Chansi Stuckey’s back after the game:

”There’s things I feel I could have done better. I should have made some plays when it counted, especially in overtime,” McCoy said in published reports. ”I definitely can stand up here and I can take some of that. It’s not Stuckey’s fault, it’s not anybody’s fault on the offense. I was the one leading it and I need to make some more plays.”

Too bad we can’t say the same for Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, who named Stuckey the Goat of the Week in his Monday Morning Quarterback column, writing that:

“Tough call. Very tough. Because the similarly deserving Nick Folk of the Jets missed three field goals, including a 24-yarder that would have prevented overtime, and then another in overtime that would have ended it. But it wouldn’t have come down to a tie had not Stuckey made a boneheaded play, getting the ball yanked from his grasp at the Jet 32 with 10 minutes left in OT. Going down there would have given the Browns a first down at the New York 32, and a very good chance at the winning field goal. Instead, a heartbreaking defeat lay, tortuously, just minutes ahead.”

Yeah, on a day when Brett Favre throws three more interceptions to kill the Vikings in Chicago, Stuckey’s the bad guy of the week.

***

We were surprised there was some criticism of Joe Haden for intercepting, rather than knocking down, Mark Sanchez’ pass near the end of overtime. Browns coach Eric Mangini said Haden would have been wiser to bat the ball down and force a punt.

”I’m sure in the heat of the moment when the ball is up there, he’s just thinking about making sure he has his hands on it and he doesn’t knock it up and tap it into the receiver’s hands,” Mangini said in published reports. ”You’d like to because it was third and such a long distance [14], force them to punt and see where it comes out. It’s a hard situation, especially for a young guy.”

We’re not so sure about that. Just look at the end of the Jacksonville-Houston game from yesterday. Houston defensive back Glover Quin tried to knock the ball down on the last play of the game but it ended up bouncing right into the hands of the Jaguars Mike Thomas for the winning score.

So you never know; we’re OK with Haden making the interception. He should work with Abe Elam this week about how to make an interception.

***

We’re still cool with the Browns going for the win at the end of overtime. It sends a message to the rest of the league that the Browns won’t stop fighting until the game is over.

And while a tie may have been better than a loss, we think in the long run this will be better for the team. The coaches can use this as an opportunity to remind/teach the players just how slim the margin is between winning and losing. If the Browns had just been able to make a couple of more plays they would have come out on top.

***

Still not sure how Matt Roth can’t sack a one-legged quarterback and how Eric Wright can’t cover a one-legged receiver on the same play.

***

More injury woes for the Browns as guard Billy Yates is going on injured reserve and linebacker Scott Fujita may be out for a few weeks, according to The Plain Dealer. Hopefully Josh Cribbs and Sheldon Brown can come back for Sunday’s game.

***

Looks like Pittsburgh should have studied the Browns a little closer; maybe then they would know how to beat the Saints and the Patriots.

Posted in Chansi Stuckey, Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy, Joe Haden, NFL | Leave a comment
14 Nov 2010

The Browns Go Down Fighting

The Browns may have lost Sunday’s game vs. the Jets, but we witnessed a team that obviously believes in themselves, never gives up and came within a couple of plays of its third straight win against a superior team with Super Bowl dreams.

And we definitely witnessed that Colt McCoy is the real deal and why Mike Holmgren deserves every penny of his salary.

The Browns gave the Jets everything they could handle but a couple of mistakes and first-half injuries to Joshua Cribbs (The PD is reporting he dislocated four toes on his right foot), Scott Fujita and Sheldon Brown added up to a solid effort that came up just short.

The Jets appeared to take control of the game at the start of the second half, as they put together a 19-play drive that took 10 minutes off the clock. Even though they ended up missing a field goal, the Browns subsequently went three-and-out on their next three possessions and seemingly lost their way as the Jets built a 20-13 lead with less than three minutes to play. At that point the Browns had 15 yards of total offense in the second half.

That’s when McCoy turned into the NFL quarterback that Browns fans have been waiting for since 1999.

McCoy took the team 59 yards in 10 plays, hitting Mohamed Massaquoi with a touchdown pass to tie the game with 44 seconds left. On the drive McCoy was five-of-nine for 58 yards, with a 17-yard completion to Ben Watson on third-and-1o and an 18-yard completion to Evan Moore on the next play.

“No. 12 [McCoy] is a special player,” cornerback Sheldon Brown told The Plain Dealer. “The poise is unreal for a rookie. I never saw anything like that for a rookie. The way the offense plays so hard for him. That whole drive, to see a rookie do that with calm [is unusual].”

Most notably, McCoy didn’t hit a wide receiver on the drive until the TD pass to Massaquoi. More on that in a bit.

After holding the Jets on the opening possession of OT, McCoy had the Browns driving for the win when Chansi Stuckey fumbled the ball away on the New York 32-yard-line. We can’t fault Stuckey as he was trying to make a play there.

After trading possessions throughout overtime, the Jets finally pulled out the win when Mark Sanchez hit Santonio Holmes on a short pass and Eric Wright and T.J. Ward stood around while Holmes ran 37 yards for the winning score.

This is a game that, in the past, the Browns would have lost going away. The Jets controlled the time of possession, especially in the second half, losing Cribbs took away a weapon on offense, and not having Brown in the secondary really showed as the Jets converted some key third downs to keep drives going.

We’re sure some will be critical of the Browns not accepting a tie (and Bud Shaw delivers) after Joe Haden intercepted a pass on the Browns three-yard-line with 1:35 left. The Browns could have tried to run out the clock and go home with a hard-fought tie, but why? The team is 3-5, you play to win and it was the right call there trying one last time to win the game.

“We can play with anybody and fight with anybody,” said Mangini in published reports. “We fight and deal with adversity well.”

Even though the Browns lost, we feel more so than ever the team is moving in the right direction. And Browns fans everywhere have Mike Holmgren to thank for that.

Because Holmgren “pulled rank” on draft day, the Browns have McCoy, who each week looks more and more like the quarterback of the future.

Because Holmgren convinced Tom Heckert to take over the role of GM, the Browns have a talented, credible talent evaluator.

Because Holmgren has brought order to the team, Eric Mangini is free to concentrate on coaching the team and we are seeing the payoff. The Browns are a hardworking group that gets the most out of their talent. They are a team that the fans can fall in love with.

As for McCoy, just think what he could do if he had some more weapons at his disposal.

While Peyton Hillis continues to deliver – 82 yards and another TD on Sunday – when he’s not in the game the defense has no reason to play the run, especially once Cribbs was injured.

Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie continue to be a complete void at the wide receiver position. While Massaquoi did pull in the tying TD, he only had one other catch while Robiskie posted his typical Blutarksi stat line – 0 catches for 0 yards.

If Montario Hardesty can get healthy next season – or the Browns can pick up someone who is – to give Hillis some support in the running game, and the Browns can bring in some NFL-caliber wide receivers, that can only help McCoy, who’s already shown he has the poise and savvy to play the position.

This one will hurt for a while, but we can temper the hurt by realizing that better days are ahead for the Browns.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy, NFL | Leave a comment
11 Nov 2010

Colt May Be The Real Deal

Browns quarterback Colt McCoy is starting to gain some respect from the national media.

Vic Carucci has some nice things to say about McCoy in his latest column: The Real McCoy? Browns think they have their QB of future.

Jeffri Chadiha’s latest piece at ESPN.com about how NFL teams are changing their attitudes toward developing young quarterbacks is also a good read.

And while he focused solely on first round picks, such as Matt Ryan, Mark Sanchez and Josh Freeman, a lot of what he wrote could be applied to the Browns and Colt McCoy.

And it makes us more comfortable that the Browns, even though they had to deviate from The Plan, are finally going about developing a quarterback the right way.

Chadiha points out that the biggest question about young quarterbacks used to be do you start them or sit them? He says that the current crop of young quarterbacks are succeeding because their franchises have been more focused on other issues, such as:

  • Does this quarterback really fit their needs?
  • What kind of supporting cast can be put around him?
  • How much patience is necessary to put the player on the path to success?
  • Above all else, a team wants to know how resilient the kid is.

The Browns have hit on all four of those items with McCoy:

  • McCoy fits the team because he’s a smart quarterback who doesn’t make mistakes or try to play outside of his ability
  • While the wide receivers are still a work in progress, the rest of the supporting cast is in place. The Browns, due to their division and geographic location, need a strong offensive line and a power running game. They currently have both.
  • The fact that the team was willing to let McCoy sit an entire season before playing shows the level of patience they have. No more will we see Tim Couch inserted in the second half of the opening game.
  • You could not pick a tougher three-game stretch for a rookie quarterback to open their career with than the one McCoy just went through – Pittsburgh and New Orleans on the road, New England at home. Through it all, it’s clear the game isn’t too big for McCoy and he never lost his poise and avoided the kind of mistakes that have killed this team in the past. In coach Eric Mangini’s words, “He just hasn’t been fazed.”

Carucci points out a particular play from the Pittsburgh game to illustrate McCoy’s football smarts:

Further proof came in the week leading up to the Pittsburgh game. With injuries to Delhomme and Wallace, the Browns were running out of quarterbacking options. However, by then, McCoy was showing that he had strong grasp of the offense, both in meetings and on the practice field.

In the second quarter, the Browns called a naked bootleg, anticipating that safety Troy Polamalu would blitz. McCoy stepped away from center, as if he were going to change the play. He never did, but his movement caused Polamalu, who was edging closer to the line, to recoil and take a couple of steps back. McCoy then went right back under center, took the snap, and had a positive play.

“To me, that’s innate,” Jake Delhomme said. “You can’t coach that. That’s playing the game. Something as small as that, to me, you’re seeing it. You know what’s going on.”

Chadiha also writes that veteran support is key in a young quarterback’s development. McCoy has that judging from his teammates comments:

“He’s very calm in the pocket. He’s smart, and he knows the reads,” tackle Joe Thomas has said in published reports. “One-two-three [options], nobody open, so he takes off or throws it away. There is no indecision. That means a lot up front. He’s not back there, patting the ball, the way you see so many rookies do.”

“One thing I can say about him is that everyone in that huddle respects that he’s the leader,” guard Eric Steinbach has said in published reports. “He’s in there and he’s talking to the offense, telling us what we’ve got to do, what’s expected of us. At one point yesterday, he’s like, ‘All right, this is a big drive.’ And it’s funny ’cause the kid’s only got three games under his belt in the NFL, but he knew it.”

If Thomas and Steinbach have McCoy’s back, then the kid must be doing something right.

There’s still a lot season to be played and, once Seneca Wallace and Jake Delhomme are healthy, the coaches will have a tough decision on their hands.

But for once it’s nice to see a Browns quarterback play himself into the discussion rather than playing himself off the team.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy, developing quarterback, NFL | Leave a comment

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