Joe Cleveland is relieved that the Chip Kelly infatuation is over and done without him being named the 16th full-time head coach in Cleveland Browns history.
I never understood the infatuation with the guy, other than his college teams tend to score a lot of points.
This was Kelly's second flirtation with the NFL in as many years. Last season, he appeared to have a deal in place with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but walked away. They wound up hiring Greg Schiano from Rutgers.
This season, the Browns, Eagles and Bills all staked out Arizona to try to interview the University of Oregon coach after his Ducks finished beating the tar out of Collin Klein and Kansas State, 35-17. In the meantime, all three interviewed some candidates that were affiliated with the Arizona Cardinals (Ray Horton and ex-head coach Ken Whisenhunt) along with former Saints offensive coordinator and Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone while they waited for Kelly's game to finish.
Jimmy Haslam III and Joe Banner were up first on Friday, and they wined and dined Kelly for about seven hours. It was to the point that many media members were saying that Kelly to the Browns was essentially a "done deal." However, Kelly walked away from that meeting without a contract, expressing a desire to meet with the Bills and Eagles.
On Saturday, the Eagles wined and dined Kelly for over eight hours. It caused Kelly to cancel his follow-up meeting with Haslam and Banner that evening.
By Sunday, Haslam and Banner decided that it wasn't worth the trouble and flew back to Ohio. Kelly wound up spurning the Eagles overtures as well, getting a hefty pay raise to stay put at Oregon when it seemed all but a virtual certainty that he was going to leave for the NFL.
The Browns fan base seemed divided about Kelly, although most of them weren't sold on the so-called offensive "genius" taking his gimmicky zone-read offense to the NFL. For every one who thought that Kelly's playcalling would revolutionize Browns football, there were at least three who feared the worst.
This is what happens when a college coach who has never been affiliated with NFL in any fashion -- as a player, front office person or an assistant coach -- gets talked to. Kelly would have been the ultimate boom-or-bust choice to be the head coach of the Browns.
Haslam and Banner ultimately walked away because they didn't believe he was fully committed to being an NFL head coach. They were right. Better to find that out now than this time next season, when Kelly pulls a Bobby Petrino and leaves midway through his first season to go back to the college ranks.
The NFL is a different animal than Division I college football. There's no Southwest Louisana States on your schedule in the NFL. Sure, there's usually a handful of teams that suck in the NFL (like the Browns, sad to say), but the beauty of the NFL is that any team can win on any Sunday.
You don't have that assurance in college football. Thanks to recruiting, there is a big disparity between the haves and the have-nots in Division I football. Teams aren't as focused on building a defense in college and seem to be more focused on putting up gaudy offensive numbers instead.
That's Chip Kelly in a heartbeat, and that's what the Browns almost got.
To be honest, I don't see the appeal of a Chip Kelly. It's not like his hands are lined with BCS National Championship rings or anything.
Kelly was an assistant coach at such football hotspots like Columbia, Johns Hopkins and New Hampshire before becoming Oregon's offensive coordinator in 2007. In his two years as the offensive coordinator, the Ducks led the PAC-10 in both scoring and total offense each year. When Mike Bellotti was promoted to athletic director, Kelly ascended to the head coaching job.
Kelly's first game as a head coach, which was a 19-8 loss to Boise State, was marred by running back LaGarrette Blount's punch to a Bronco player's face following the game. Kelly kicked Blount off the team.
Kelly wound up winning PAC-10 Coach of the Year honors and won Oregon's first PAC-10 championship since 1995. He became the first rookie head coach to win the PAC-10 outright title in his first season. His Ducks wound up losing to Jim Tressel, Terrelle Pryor and the Ohio State Buckeyes, 26-17, in the Rose Bowl to finish 10-2.
The next season, the Ducks went a perfect 12-0 in the regular season and finished as the No. 2 team in the BCS standings, earning a berth in the National Championship Game. Against Heisman Trophy-winner Cam Newton and Auburn, the Ducks trailed 19-11 before a touchdown and 2-point conversion with 2:33 remaining tied the score. However, a failure to tackle Michael Dyer on what wound up being a 37-yard run highlighted a game-winning 73-yard drive by the Tigers, and Wes Bynum's chip-shot field goal with no time remaining handed Kelly's Ducks a 22-19 loss.
Kelly's Ducks won the PAC-12 each of the last two seasons and qualified for BCS bowls each year. They defeated a Russell Wilson-led Wisconsin team, 45-38, in the 2012 Rose Bowl, then beat K-State in the Fiesta Bowl a few days ago.
His teams were 46-7 overall over the last four years and were known for their flashy uniform combinations and overall team speed and offensive prowess.
Kelly's methods achieved some legitimacy within the NFL when Bill Belichick, the NFL's so-called "genius" coach of the New England Patriots, summoned him to talk two seasons ago and share some of his offensive secrets. While the Patriots don't run a zone-read option offense, they have utilized his spread tendencies, the break-neck speed of offensive plays and the simple playcalling terminology to make that happen. New England has had one of the best offenses in the NFL the last several seasons.
Because "Don Belichick" seemed to give his seal of approval to Kelly's methods, many NFL teams were willing to risk their franchises for this unproven commodity. The Browns, included.
While the Browns waited for Kelly, Marrone (who was believed to be their second choice) accepted the Bills head coaching position. Also, Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien, Belichick's former offensive coordinator, interviewed with the Browns and Eagles but decided to stick around (especially after PSU gave him a nice pay raise).
Alabama coach Nick Saban, whose Crimson Tide are playing Notre Dame in tonight's BCS National Championship Game, was believed to be Haslam's first choice. However, both publicly and privately, Saban has said he's not leaving Tuscaloosa. We'll see if that's still the case 24 hours from now, but it appears he's out of the running.
So, where does that leave the Browns?
Of course, that Baltimore-shilling AFC North blogger for ESPN was trying to say that not landing Kelly made Haslam and Banner look bad. That same person couldn't stop typing sonnets dedicated to that accessory-to-murdering linebacker on the Ravens who decided he was ready to retire this week, so you see where his objectivity plays in.
Here's a few people to keep your eyes on this week:
1. Whisenhunt -- Haslam was reportedly impressed with the former Browns special teams coordinator (1999), Steelers offensive assistant (2001-06) and Cardinals head coach (2007-12). Under Whisenhunt, the Steelers reached their first Super Bowl since 1995 in 2004, where they won, 21-10, over Mike Holmgren's Seahawks. The defining play of that Super Bowl was Whisenhunt's decision to call a flea-flicker wide receiver pass from former college quarterback Antwaan Randle-El to Hines Ward that went for the game-clinching touchdown. Two seasons later, Whisenhunt was passed over by the Steelers to replace Bill Cowher for Mike Tomlin, and he took several Steeler offensive assistants with him to Arizona. Two seasons later, he took the Cardinals to their first-ever Super Bowl against (coincidentally) the Steelers. His 9-7, AFC West champion Cards led Pittsburgh, 23-20, following 16 unanswered fourth-quarter points with 35 seconds left before Santonio Holmes made the play of his life for a fantastic, six-yard touchdown reception, which gave the Steelers a 27-23 victory. The Cardinals have struggled since Kurt Warner retired following the 10-6 2009 season and haven't found a capable replacement, going through Matt Leinart, Derek Anderson, Max Hall, Kevin Kolb, John Skelton, Ryan Lindley and Brian Hoyer. All four started this past season, which the Cards squandered their first 4-0 start since 1974 and finished 5-11. His ties to the North Division, and his ability to turn around a moribund franchise, makes him appealing to the Browns.
2. Lovie Smith -- Smith is reportedly going to be interviewed by the Browns this week. Smith had been the head coach of the Chicago Bears since 2004, where he compiled an 81-63 regular season record. Like Whisenhunt, Smith took a team to the Super Bowl (the 2006 Bears), where they lost, 29-17, to the Indianapolis Colts. Prior to the Bears job, he was the defensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams from 2001-03. The 2001 Rams reached the Super Bowl, but were stunned, 20-17, by the heavy-underdog Patriots. Smith led the Bears to the playoffs three times over his 9-year career, but was let go after the final game of this season despite a 10-6 overall record. The Bears squandered a 7-1 start and wound up missing the playoffs when the Vikings knocked off the Packers in one of the season's final regular season games. Smith has a defensive background, which may not appeal to Haslam and Banner. However, Smith's teams have won, and he does have a Super Bowl to his resume. In fact, his resume is arguably more appealing than Whisenhunt's is because of his win-loss record and more recent success.
3. Bruce Arians -- Arians guided the Colts to a 9-3 record as their interim head coach while Chuck Pagano was sidelined due to leiukemia. Arians helped rookie first-round choice Andrew Luck blossom in his first professional year while lending some stability to an otherwise rocky coaching situation. However, the 60-year-old Arians is currently hospitalized in Baltimore with an undisclosed illness. The illness prevented Arians from fulfilling his duties as the team's offensive coordinator in yesterday's 23-9 playoff loss to the Ravens, and may be a red-flag to some prospective suitors. The Chargers, Cardinals and Eagles have also sought permission to interview the long-time assistant, and it looks like he'll parlay that successful interim stint into a head-coaching gig. Arians does have links to the Browns -- he served as the offensive coordinator under Butch Davis from 2001-03 before becoming a Steelers offensive assistant from 2004-11. He was their offensive coordinator from 07-11, helping Ben Roethlisberger reach two Super Bowls during that span and winning one. He was the offensive playcaller for the the 2002 Browns team that reached the playoffs with a 9-7 record -- still the only team in the expansion era to reach the postseason -- and helped turn a non-descript backup journeyman quarterback in Kelly Holcomb into a decent starting quarterback. He was forced out by the Steeler brass before last season because they felt he was "too close" with Roethlisberger, and the offense struggled with Todd Haley calling the plays this season. Haslam was a minority owner of the Steelers while Arians was the team's offensive coordinator.
4. Marc Trestman -- Trestman's name has suddenly popped up on the NFL radar ever since the Bears sought to interview him for their vacant head coaching gig. Trestman has been the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League since 2008, and his team reached three straight Grey Cups in his first three seasons, winning the last two in a row (2009-10). He is 59-31 in five seasons as a head CFL coach and is a respected offensive coach. In fact, he has deep ties with Browns legend Bernie Kosar. He served as Kosar's offensive coordinator at the University of Miami from 1981-84 (including that 1983 National Championship year), then joined the Browns' coaching staff in 1988 as Kosar's quarterbacks coach. He served as the offensive coordinator in 1989 under Bud Carson, which was the last year the Browns reached the AFC Championship Game, before he resigned under pressure after some up-and-down play calls. He stayed in the NFL from 1990-04 with the Vikings, 49ers, Lions, Cardinals, Raiders and Dolphins as an offensive assistant, varying from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator. Prior to joining the CFL, Trestman was the offensive coordinator at North Carolina State from 2005-06. He is actually a licensed Florida attorney after graduating from Miami Law School in 1983. Browns fans old enough to remember yelling for Trestman's head during 1989 (like me) may not be comfortable with the idea of him being the head coach. However, the 56-year-old Trestman has become a respected offensive mind at the professional ranks. The Browns are set to interview him this week.
5. Mike McCoy -- The 40-year-old McCoy was one of the candidates reportedly interviewed by Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert two years ago when they ultimately decided to hire Pat Shurmur. McCoy has been the Broncos' offensive coordinator since 2009, when he stayed with John Fox after Fox left the Carolina Panthers to take the Broncos' job. McCoy had been an offensive assistant with the Panthers since 2000 after a two-year quarterbacking career in the CFL and a successful collegiate career at the University of Utah. McCoy has helped three different starting quarterbacks with the Broncos have successful seasons. Kyle Orton set career-highs in virtually every passing category in 2009, and Orton finished fourth in passing yards in 2010. In 2011, McCoy adopted a new offensive scheme on the fly to accomodate new starting quarterback Tim Tebow, and the team not only led the NFL in rushing using an option scheme, but also reached the playoffs and won their first-round game with Tebow under center. This season, McCoy switching things up with Peyton Manning under center, and Manning is enjoying an MVP-esque season for the Broncos. The Bears, Cardinals and Eagles have also requested to interview McCoy, and the Browns may have to wait until after the Super Bowl if they believe he is their guy. McCoy's versatility and ability to get the very best out of his offensive personnel, along with his age, make him a very appealing head coaching candidate.
I would expect the Browns' next head coach to come from that group of five names, unless Saban suddenly has a change of heart in the next 48 hours or Haslam is able to pull Jon Gruden out of thin air.
None of those five are as "sexy" as Chip Kelly. However, they all may be more stable hires in both the short and long-term for a franchise that is desperately trying to become a perennnial winner that has a lot of young building blocks already in place.
One other good thing to come out of this -- Kelly, Marrone, O'Brien and Saban were all head coaching candidates being built up by NFL "insider" Michael Lombardi, who has been linked to a Browns front office job since midseason. It appears that Lombardi was unable to deliver on any of these candidates, which I'm sure doesn't help his future job prospects here in town.
Losing out on Chip Kelly is not the worst thing ever, Browns fans. In reality, the Browns probably avoided hiring the next Steve Spurrier, Bobby Petrino, Butch Davis, Howard Schellenberger, Lou Holtz and Dennis Erickson, among other college coaches that became NFL washouts. I can only imagine how much the Ravens and Steelers would have licked their chops trying to stop that gimmicky Kelly offense in December.
Hiring Kelly would have prompted another change at quarterback. Supposedly, Kelly told Haslam and Banner that none of the Browns' current quarterbacks could run the type of offense he wanted to run. What's disturbing is that Haslam and Banner were still interested in hiring the guy. Weeden was already linked to being possibily traded to the Kansas City Chiefs (where Tom Heckert could wind up being Andy Reid's hand-picked GM) before the Browns decided the risk outweighed the reward on Kelly.
Who knows, perhaps any one of these new hires will prompt a change at quarterback again. Weeden's rookie season was certainly an up-and-down one, but perhaps a change in schemes -- away from the basic West Coast offense Shurmur was trying to install to a more vertical-based, run-oriented attack -- would help him develop more as a second-year quarterback.
Joe Cleveland, for one, was ecstatic that the rumors (by the way, nice job, media, for blowing every little rumor out of proportion and virtually assuring everyone that Kelly was the new head coach) were unfounded and Kelly will keep his gimmicky-ass in Eugene, Ore. Now, let's bring in a proven commodity and turn this Brown and Orange ship around.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
Showing posts with label Nick Saban. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nick Saban. Show all posts
Monday, January 7, 2013
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
A Banner New Year?
First of all, here's wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year. Hopefully 2013 is a better year for you than 2012 was.
Joe Cleveland wants to thank all of you for taking the time to visit this blog whenever I update it. I got a lot more readers in 2012 than in 2011, so hopefully, things can keep taking off for Joe Cleveland in 2013.
The new year is only a few hours old, but I felt it was worth doing my first update of the year about what transpired just 24 hours ago and what could transpire during this week for the Cleveland Browns.
Shortly after a 24-10 loss to the hated Steelers at Heinz Field, in a game that was started by practice squad quarterback Thaddeus Lewis and where the leading rusher was a guy who was only active in one other game during his two-year stint with the Browns -- Brandon Jackson -- and where the longest run from scrimmage was by a backup safety. Despite all of that, the Browns were competitive until the bitter end and didn't back down when the Steelers tried to intimidate them with some extracurricular activities as plays ended.
It was fitting that the final offensive play of the Pat Shurmur era came when a quarterback named Josh Johnson -- who had been on his couch the entire season before the Browns placed a desperate call to him last Monday -- was leveled on a blitz by Lawrence Timmons past a rookie guard, Ryan Miller, who had never even played a single snap before that possession started, and Johnson fumbled. So ended the tumultuious two-year tenure of Pat Shurmur as the head coach of your Cleveland Browns.
The ax came swiftly and decisively on New Year's Eve morning. New owner Jimmy Haslam III and Joe Banner, as expected, fired both Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert. Both were hired by departed president Mike Holmgren under the guise of absantee owner Randy Lerner -- Heckert a year earlier than Shurmur.
Joe Cleveland believes that both firings were the right choice. However, I've got to give Shurmur (begrudgingly) a bit of credit.
Shurmur's two seasons were held under difficult circumstances. Shurmur was a surprising choice by Holmgren in 2011 to replace Eric Mangini, and just a month after his hiring, the NFL locked out its players. That deprived Shurmur of an offseason, in which he was going to impliment a new offensive scheme (the West Coast offense). Believe it or not, the Browns had records of 2-1 and 3-3 under Shurmur before the bottom fell out in a disappointing 4-12 2011 season.
On the eve of training camp, news broke that Lerner had sold the team to Haslam. Suddenly, the "5-year plan" net and the security of having the Big Show in the building was going to be gone, with the impetus on winning if people wanted to retain their jobs. Despite that, Shurmur and Heckert trotted out a roster that was heavy on rookies and 1st-year players that were competitive in most games, but wound up a disappointing 5-11. The season ended on a 3-game losing streak, in which the Browns were outscored 96-43.
I still blame Holmgren for these last three years of 5-11, 4-12 and 5-11 ball. Holmgren was given a Brinks truck worth of money by an exasperated Lerner after the Browns stumbled to a 1-11 start under Mangini. It was expected that Holmgren would fire Mangini after the season and name himself as the head coach. However, Holmgren held on to Mangini for one more 5-11 season, despite a clash of overall philosophies, then "discorvered" the unknown Shurmur to be his hand-picked head coach one season later.
Halfway through the season, Holmgren was gone. By that point, Heckert and Shurmur were fresh out of friends, and only a miraculous finish to the regular season could save them.
It almost happened. A three-game win streak put the Browns at 5-8 and on the outer cusp of playoff contention. However, a dismal 38-21 loss to the Washington Redskins, led by fourth-round rookie backup QB Kirk Cousins, virtually sealed Shurmur's fate.
There was a mild push to retain Heckert because of some of the draft picks he had made in his three seasons. However, 14 wins in three seasons is difficult to ignore. When the teams in last year's NFL draft that picked first (Colts), second (Redskins) and fourth (Vikings) are all in the postseason while you, who picked third, are not, it's pretty indiciaitive of the job Heckert and Shurmur had done.
The trade of Julio Jones to the Falcons, the non-trade to obtain Robert Griffin III and the drafting of 28-year-old Brandon Weeden with the 22nd overall pick are the most heavily scrutinized moves, and Joe Cleveland actually supported all three of those maneuvers.
Essentially, Haslam and Banner had to do this to remake this once-proud franchise in their image. They want a "strong personality" at head coach, which is why they are hiring the coach first and the GM/personnel director second. You can say the Browns did that twice before and it failed both times when they hired Butch Davis and Mangini. However, the common denomonator in both of those hiring were the hand's-off, no-accountability Lerner family ownership.
Haslam is about as hand's on an owner as you want without him becoming meddling. Banner is a proven football executive that oversaw the rebirth of a Philadelphia Eagles organization that had fallen on hard times. I think they know what they're doing.
College coaches like Alabama's Nick Saban, Oregon's Chip Kelly, Penn State's Bill O'Brien and Syracuses's Doug Marrone are on the radar, as are NFL coordinators such as the 49ers' Greg Roman, the Falcons' Dirk Koetter, the Bengals' Jay Gruden and the Colts' Bruce Arians (who was once the Browns' offensive coordinator and may wind up winning the NFL Coach of the Year Award for the job he did helping Indy reach the playoffs in the stead of regular head coach Chuck Pagano). Ex-Bears head coach Lovie Smith is rumored to have been contacted by the Browns, and they may be interested in Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett if Jerry Jones fires him tomorrow or the next day.
All of the current assistants are under contract and can be retained by the new coach. They will be granted permission to interview for other jobs. There still is a chance that defensive coordinator Dick Jauron is retained by the new head coach.
Both the new coach and the new GM/personnel director will report directly to Banner, who will report directly to Haslam. Haslam and Banner want a coach who will command respect by the players, the media and the fanbase that will help mold this team into a winner. They will give the new coach equal say in the final roster, and he will be expected to work in concert with the new GM. Since Banner is the de-facto poobah and he and Haslam are conducting the searches, both decided it was imperitive to hire a head coach first.
If you think about, NONE of the models have worked for the Browns. Carmen Policy hired Dwight Clark as his GM, who then hired Chris Palmer as the team's first expansion head coach. Five wins and two seasons later, Palmer was out and Clark's authority was ursupped by the incoming Butch Davis.
Davis brought along his former University of Miami cronie Pete Garcia to be his Director of Player Personnel. Three-and-half seasons later, despite a 9-7 playoff season in 2002, Davis resigned and Garcia followed him out the door.
Next, Lerner hired Phil Savage to be his new GM, and Savage tapped Romeo Crennel, the Patriots' DC during their three Super Bowl wins in a four-year span, to be his new head coach. Savage barely lasted the first season due to a power struggle with then-team President John Collins. Four seasons later, Savage and Crennel were fired in one-fell swoop by Lerner.
Lerner was heavily rumored to hire former Patriots GM Scott Pioli as his GM. However, his love affair with fired Jets' coach Eric Mangini changed all that. Lerner quickly hired Mangini without hiring a GM, and most of the experienced GM candidates that were available (such as Pioli and Tom Dimitroff) passed on the job. Mangini reccommended George Kokinis to be his new GM, and one failed draft later, Kokins was fired and Lerner was willing to give ANYONE a boatload of cash to help save him from the mess his franchise was becoming.
I believe that if Nick Saban wants to leave Alabama, the job is his. I don't think he'd leave Alabama, but there are some sources that say that Saban could leave if his Crimson Tide win the national championship later this week. The only job on his radar is the Browns job, where he once served as the defensive coordinator with great success.
Chip Kelly has become the darling coach prospect. However, he runs a gimmicky offense with Oregon that I don't think can succeed in the NFL. Let the Eagles and Chargers fall over themselves to try to hire him. I'd rather have Bill O'Brien if you're going the college-coach route.
Josh McDaniels, the former Patriots offensive coordinator, already took himself out of the equation for any head coach openings (not many Browns fans were unhappy to hear that), and it looks like Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher aren't in any hurry to resume their coaching careers. If either them got hired by the Browns, I'd be surprised.
I'm anxious to see what happens these next few days. I'm willing to show Haslam and Banner my confidence as a Browns fan on what they can do. I really have no other choice.
Until next time, Happy New Year to you all, and remember that Cleveland Rocks!
Joe Cleveland wants to thank all of you for taking the time to visit this blog whenever I update it. I got a lot more readers in 2012 than in 2011, so hopefully, things can keep taking off for Joe Cleveland in 2013.
The new year is only a few hours old, but I felt it was worth doing my first update of the year about what transpired just 24 hours ago and what could transpire during this week for the Cleveland Browns.
Shortly after a 24-10 loss to the hated Steelers at Heinz Field, in a game that was started by practice squad quarterback Thaddeus Lewis and where the leading rusher was a guy who was only active in one other game during his two-year stint with the Browns -- Brandon Jackson -- and where the longest run from scrimmage was by a backup safety. Despite all of that, the Browns were competitive until the bitter end and didn't back down when the Steelers tried to intimidate them with some extracurricular activities as plays ended.
It was fitting that the final offensive play of the Pat Shurmur era came when a quarterback named Josh Johnson -- who had been on his couch the entire season before the Browns placed a desperate call to him last Monday -- was leveled on a blitz by Lawrence Timmons past a rookie guard, Ryan Miller, who had never even played a single snap before that possession started, and Johnson fumbled. So ended the tumultuious two-year tenure of Pat Shurmur as the head coach of your Cleveland Browns.
The ax came swiftly and decisively on New Year's Eve morning. New owner Jimmy Haslam III and Joe Banner, as expected, fired both Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert. Both were hired by departed president Mike Holmgren under the guise of absantee owner Randy Lerner -- Heckert a year earlier than Shurmur.
Joe Cleveland believes that both firings were the right choice. However, I've got to give Shurmur (begrudgingly) a bit of credit.
Shurmur's two seasons were held under difficult circumstances. Shurmur was a surprising choice by Holmgren in 2011 to replace Eric Mangini, and just a month after his hiring, the NFL locked out its players. That deprived Shurmur of an offseason, in which he was going to impliment a new offensive scheme (the West Coast offense). Believe it or not, the Browns had records of 2-1 and 3-3 under Shurmur before the bottom fell out in a disappointing 4-12 2011 season.
On the eve of training camp, news broke that Lerner had sold the team to Haslam. Suddenly, the "5-year plan" net and the security of having the Big Show in the building was going to be gone, with the impetus on winning if people wanted to retain their jobs. Despite that, Shurmur and Heckert trotted out a roster that was heavy on rookies and 1st-year players that were competitive in most games, but wound up a disappointing 5-11. The season ended on a 3-game losing streak, in which the Browns were outscored 96-43.
I still blame Holmgren for these last three years of 5-11, 4-12 and 5-11 ball. Holmgren was given a Brinks truck worth of money by an exasperated Lerner after the Browns stumbled to a 1-11 start under Mangini. It was expected that Holmgren would fire Mangini after the season and name himself as the head coach. However, Holmgren held on to Mangini for one more 5-11 season, despite a clash of overall philosophies, then "discorvered" the unknown Shurmur to be his hand-picked head coach one season later.
Halfway through the season, Holmgren was gone. By that point, Heckert and Shurmur were fresh out of friends, and only a miraculous finish to the regular season could save them.
It almost happened. A three-game win streak put the Browns at 5-8 and on the outer cusp of playoff contention. However, a dismal 38-21 loss to the Washington Redskins, led by fourth-round rookie backup QB Kirk Cousins, virtually sealed Shurmur's fate.
There was a mild push to retain Heckert because of some of the draft picks he had made in his three seasons. However, 14 wins in three seasons is difficult to ignore. When the teams in last year's NFL draft that picked first (Colts), second (Redskins) and fourth (Vikings) are all in the postseason while you, who picked third, are not, it's pretty indiciaitive of the job Heckert and Shurmur had done.
The trade of Julio Jones to the Falcons, the non-trade to obtain Robert Griffin III and the drafting of 28-year-old Brandon Weeden with the 22nd overall pick are the most heavily scrutinized moves, and Joe Cleveland actually supported all three of those maneuvers.
Essentially, Haslam and Banner had to do this to remake this once-proud franchise in their image. They want a "strong personality" at head coach, which is why they are hiring the coach first and the GM/personnel director second. You can say the Browns did that twice before and it failed both times when they hired Butch Davis and Mangini. However, the common denomonator in both of those hiring were the hand's-off, no-accountability Lerner family ownership.
Haslam is about as hand's on an owner as you want without him becoming meddling. Banner is a proven football executive that oversaw the rebirth of a Philadelphia Eagles organization that had fallen on hard times. I think they know what they're doing.
College coaches like Alabama's Nick Saban, Oregon's Chip Kelly, Penn State's Bill O'Brien and Syracuses's Doug Marrone are on the radar, as are NFL coordinators such as the 49ers' Greg Roman, the Falcons' Dirk Koetter, the Bengals' Jay Gruden and the Colts' Bruce Arians (who was once the Browns' offensive coordinator and may wind up winning the NFL Coach of the Year Award for the job he did helping Indy reach the playoffs in the stead of regular head coach Chuck Pagano). Ex-Bears head coach Lovie Smith is rumored to have been contacted by the Browns, and they may be interested in Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett if Jerry Jones fires him tomorrow or the next day.
All of the current assistants are under contract and can be retained by the new coach. They will be granted permission to interview for other jobs. There still is a chance that defensive coordinator Dick Jauron is retained by the new head coach.
Both the new coach and the new GM/personnel director will report directly to Banner, who will report directly to Haslam. Haslam and Banner want a coach who will command respect by the players, the media and the fanbase that will help mold this team into a winner. They will give the new coach equal say in the final roster, and he will be expected to work in concert with the new GM. Since Banner is the de-facto poobah and he and Haslam are conducting the searches, both decided it was imperitive to hire a head coach first.
If you think about, NONE of the models have worked for the Browns. Carmen Policy hired Dwight Clark as his GM, who then hired Chris Palmer as the team's first expansion head coach. Five wins and two seasons later, Palmer was out and Clark's authority was ursupped by the incoming Butch Davis.
Davis brought along his former University of Miami cronie Pete Garcia to be his Director of Player Personnel. Three-and-half seasons later, despite a 9-7 playoff season in 2002, Davis resigned and Garcia followed him out the door.
Next, Lerner hired Phil Savage to be his new GM, and Savage tapped Romeo Crennel, the Patriots' DC during their three Super Bowl wins in a four-year span, to be his new head coach. Savage barely lasted the first season due to a power struggle with then-team President John Collins. Four seasons later, Savage and Crennel were fired in one-fell swoop by Lerner.
Lerner was heavily rumored to hire former Patriots GM Scott Pioli as his GM. However, his love affair with fired Jets' coach Eric Mangini changed all that. Lerner quickly hired Mangini without hiring a GM, and most of the experienced GM candidates that were available (such as Pioli and Tom Dimitroff) passed on the job. Mangini reccommended George Kokinis to be his new GM, and one failed draft later, Kokins was fired and Lerner was willing to give ANYONE a boatload of cash to help save him from the mess his franchise was becoming.
I believe that if Nick Saban wants to leave Alabama, the job is his. I don't think he'd leave Alabama, but there are some sources that say that Saban could leave if his Crimson Tide win the national championship later this week. The only job on his radar is the Browns job, where he once served as the defensive coordinator with great success.
Chip Kelly has become the darling coach prospect. However, he runs a gimmicky offense with Oregon that I don't think can succeed in the NFL. Let the Eagles and Chargers fall over themselves to try to hire him. I'd rather have Bill O'Brien if you're going the college-coach route.
Josh McDaniels, the former Patriots offensive coordinator, already took himself out of the equation for any head coach openings (not many Browns fans were unhappy to hear that), and it looks like Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher aren't in any hurry to resume their coaching careers. If either them got hired by the Browns, I'd be surprised.
I'm anxious to see what happens these next few days. I'm willing to show Haslam and Banner my confidence as a Browns fan on what they can do. I really have no other choice.
Until next time, Happy New Year to you all, and remember that Cleveland Rocks!
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Change is a comin'
The 38-21 loss to a Washington Redskins team led by a fourth-round, second-string rookie quarterback named Kirk Cousins all assured it, and last week's lackluster 34-12 drubbing by Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos all but cemented it.
By this time next week, Pat Shurmur will be gone, and Tom Heckert may as well be gone, too.
That's even if the Browns can somehow knock off the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road this Sunday, clinching the first season-sweep of our hated rivals since 1988 and first since the team returned in 1999. In fact, it would only be the four season-sweep of the Steelers since 1970 (the Browns went 0-16 in their first 16 years playing at Three Rivers Stadium and wound up only winning there five times before it was mercifully imploded following the 2000 season).
The Browns will go into that game potentially with their third-string quarterback under center -- Thaddeus Lewis, who has never taken a regular season snap and was on the practice squad for most of this season. Josh Johnson, a former Tampa Bay quarterback who had been out of the league since the 49ers cut him in training camp, was brought in as the emergency quarterback in case starter Brandon Weeden or backup Colt McCoy (both shoulder injuries) can't go.
It's eerily reminisent of the last act of the Romeo Crennel/Phil Savage era. The Browns couldn't keep a healthy quarterback as the 2008 season wore down, losing Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson and third-stringer Ken Dorsey to injuries heading into the season finale at Pittsburgh. Bruce Gradkowski, who had just been signed two weeks earlier, was thrust into action and went a dismal 5-of-18 in a 31-0 drubbing by the Steelers.
That Steelers team wound up winning the Super Bowl, even though Ben Roethlisberger was carted off the field during that loss. This Steeler team is lugging a three-game losing streak into this season finale and have only won one game since the Browns beat them, 20-14, at home. All three losses have come with Roethlisberger at the helm, and the last two have directly been his fault with late interceptions directly leading to the game-winning points.
Oh, and did I mention the Steelers will miss the playoffs? Beauty.
Joe Banner has promised to make speedy decisions on both Shurmur and Heckert, which means that, by 10 a.m. New Years Eve, you can expect to get a press release saying both parties have been fired, followed by a press conference held by both Banner and owner Jimmy Haslam III defending their decision to make the change and talking about potential candidates.
Those candidates include Alabama head coach Nick Saban, Oregon head coach Chip Kelly, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, soon-to-be fired Eagles head coach Andy Reid, ESPN football commentator Jon Gruden, Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy and the possibly fired Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett.
The Browns will have competition as they look for a new head coach. There could be at least 11 teams making a change at head coach this season. Along with the Browns, the Chiefs, the Chargers, the Eagles and (if they miss the playoffs) the Cowboys are assured of seeking a new head coach. The axe could be falling in Buffalo, New York (Jets), Jacksonville, Carolina, Arizona and Tennessee this offseason as well. So, they'll need to act fast if they want to hire the best person for the job.
Reportedly, if Saban wants the Browns job, it's his. Haslam is prepared to offer him a 10-year contract to come to Cleveland, reportedly, and that's regardless of who they hire at GM. Kelly has also been linked to taking Romeo Crennel's job in Kansas City, while Reid has been linked to Norv Turner's job in San Diego.
The new coach and GM's first major decision will be made at quarterback, with 30-year-old Weeden entering his second-year in the NFL. If he doesn't take another snap, Weeden will finish with 14 touchdown passes and 17 interceptions and 3,385 yards. Those are the most yards in a single-season since Derek Anderson threw for 3,787 yards, 29 touchdowns and 19 interceptions for the Browns in 2007. That year, the team went 10-6, but missed the playoffs by tiebreakers.
Tim Couch, the last Browns quarterback to start all 16 games in a regular season, threw for 3,040 yards with 17 touchdowns and 21 interceptions in 2001 for a Browns team that went 7-9.
Weeden's yardage total is the second-highest for the Browns since they've returned in 1999. In fact, it's the third-highest single-season total by a Browns quarterback since Bernie Kosar threw for 3,487 yards, 18 touchdowns and 9 interceptions for a 6-10 Browns team in 1991. That was also the last time a Browns quarterback started all 16 games until Couch did it in 2001.
It's pretty apparent that Weeden is a ill-fit for the West Coast offense operated by Pat Shurmur. Weeden has had a ton of passes batted down at the line of scrimmage because of the slant and short crossing routes -- defensive linemen who are blocked just follow his eyes and reach up as Weeden tries to thread the needle. That offense will be history next season.
Weeden has the arm strength to succeed in the NFL, especially in a cold-weather climate like Cleveland. He has displayed poise and has a bit of a gunslinger's attitude. That has led to some interceptions. However, Shurmur and Brad Childress have tried to rein him in, and that has only hindered Weeden's progress.
Unlike last season, there is not a deep quarterback draft to find an heir apparent. Matt Barkley and Geno Smith are the two best options, and both have fallen off the radar after dismal seasons.
In trades or free agency, the choices aren't all that great, either. The 49ers' Alex Smith, the Jets' Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, the Jaguars' Blaine Gabbert, the Seahawks' Matt Flynn, the Patriots' Ryan Mallett and the Eagles' Michael Vick are the most intriguing options that could be obtained, and all of them don't necessarily ooze "franchise-changer" at QB.
Joe Cleveland is inclined to give Weeden another season with an offense more tailored to his strengths and the strengths of running back Trent Richardson. Joe Cleveland does not want to see Colt McCoy return as the starter -- we've seen enough. Also, Bears backup QB Jason Campbell, Chiefs' deposed starting QB Matt Cassel or Raiders starting QB Carson Palmer aren't attractive options, either.
Let the speculation go in full force a week from now. But for now, this edition of the Browns have one more game to play and it's against the hated Steelers.
***
Before Joe Cleveland goes, congrats to Browns' left tackle Joe Thomas on his sixth Pro Bowl berth of his six-year NFL career. Thomas was Phil Savage's lone great choice (yeah, he passed on Adrian Peterson for him, but I think Thomas will have a longer career) and is well on the way to a Hall of Fame career.
Also, a hearty congratulations to long-time kicker Phil Dawson on his long-awaited, well-overdue first Pro Bowl berth. Dawson certainly deserves it after a long and successful career as the Browns' primary kicker since they returned in 1999, and his 2012 season has been fantastic. He's only missed one field goal, and that kick was blocked. Hopefully, Haslam and Banner ensure that Dawson ends his career in the Brown and Orange, because he certainly deserves to.
With Josh Cribbs (kick returner and special teamer), D'Qwell Jackson (inside linebacker) and Alex Mack (center) as first alternates, there could very well be five Browns playing in Hawaii the week before the Super Bowl. Joe Cleveland may have to actually watch the game now.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
By this time next week, Pat Shurmur will be gone, and Tom Heckert may as well be gone, too.
That's even if the Browns can somehow knock off the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road this Sunday, clinching the first season-sweep of our hated rivals since 1988 and first since the team returned in 1999. In fact, it would only be the four season-sweep of the Steelers since 1970 (the Browns went 0-16 in their first 16 years playing at Three Rivers Stadium and wound up only winning there five times before it was mercifully imploded following the 2000 season).
The Browns will go into that game potentially with their third-string quarterback under center -- Thaddeus Lewis, who has never taken a regular season snap and was on the practice squad for most of this season. Josh Johnson, a former Tampa Bay quarterback who had been out of the league since the 49ers cut him in training camp, was brought in as the emergency quarterback in case starter Brandon Weeden or backup Colt McCoy (both shoulder injuries) can't go.
It's eerily reminisent of the last act of the Romeo Crennel/Phil Savage era. The Browns couldn't keep a healthy quarterback as the 2008 season wore down, losing Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson and third-stringer Ken Dorsey to injuries heading into the season finale at Pittsburgh. Bruce Gradkowski, who had just been signed two weeks earlier, was thrust into action and went a dismal 5-of-18 in a 31-0 drubbing by the Steelers.
That Steelers team wound up winning the Super Bowl, even though Ben Roethlisberger was carted off the field during that loss. This Steeler team is lugging a three-game losing streak into this season finale and have only won one game since the Browns beat them, 20-14, at home. All three losses have come with Roethlisberger at the helm, and the last two have directly been his fault with late interceptions directly leading to the game-winning points.
Oh, and did I mention the Steelers will miss the playoffs? Beauty.
Joe Banner has promised to make speedy decisions on both Shurmur and Heckert, which means that, by 10 a.m. New Years Eve, you can expect to get a press release saying both parties have been fired, followed by a press conference held by both Banner and owner Jimmy Haslam III defending their decision to make the change and talking about potential candidates.
Those candidates include Alabama head coach Nick Saban, Oregon head coach Chip Kelly, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, soon-to-be fired Eagles head coach Andy Reid, ESPN football commentator Jon Gruden, Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy and the possibly fired Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett.
The Browns will have competition as they look for a new head coach. There could be at least 11 teams making a change at head coach this season. Along with the Browns, the Chiefs, the Chargers, the Eagles and (if they miss the playoffs) the Cowboys are assured of seeking a new head coach. The axe could be falling in Buffalo, New York (Jets), Jacksonville, Carolina, Arizona and Tennessee this offseason as well. So, they'll need to act fast if they want to hire the best person for the job.
Reportedly, if Saban wants the Browns job, it's his. Haslam is prepared to offer him a 10-year contract to come to Cleveland, reportedly, and that's regardless of who they hire at GM. Kelly has also been linked to taking Romeo Crennel's job in Kansas City, while Reid has been linked to Norv Turner's job in San Diego.
The new coach and GM's first major decision will be made at quarterback, with 30-year-old Weeden entering his second-year in the NFL. If he doesn't take another snap, Weeden will finish with 14 touchdown passes and 17 interceptions and 3,385 yards. Those are the most yards in a single-season since Derek Anderson threw for 3,787 yards, 29 touchdowns and 19 interceptions for the Browns in 2007. That year, the team went 10-6, but missed the playoffs by tiebreakers.
Tim Couch, the last Browns quarterback to start all 16 games in a regular season, threw for 3,040 yards with 17 touchdowns and 21 interceptions in 2001 for a Browns team that went 7-9.
Weeden's yardage total is the second-highest for the Browns since they've returned in 1999. In fact, it's the third-highest single-season total by a Browns quarterback since Bernie Kosar threw for 3,487 yards, 18 touchdowns and 9 interceptions for a 6-10 Browns team in 1991. That was also the last time a Browns quarterback started all 16 games until Couch did it in 2001.
It's pretty apparent that Weeden is a ill-fit for the West Coast offense operated by Pat Shurmur. Weeden has had a ton of passes batted down at the line of scrimmage because of the slant and short crossing routes -- defensive linemen who are blocked just follow his eyes and reach up as Weeden tries to thread the needle. That offense will be history next season.
Weeden has the arm strength to succeed in the NFL, especially in a cold-weather climate like Cleveland. He has displayed poise and has a bit of a gunslinger's attitude. That has led to some interceptions. However, Shurmur and Brad Childress have tried to rein him in, and that has only hindered Weeden's progress.
Unlike last season, there is not a deep quarterback draft to find an heir apparent. Matt Barkley and Geno Smith are the two best options, and both have fallen off the radar after dismal seasons.
In trades or free agency, the choices aren't all that great, either. The 49ers' Alex Smith, the Jets' Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, the Jaguars' Blaine Gabbert, the Seahawks' Matt Flynn, the Patriots' Ryan Mallett and the Eagles' Michael Vick are the most intriguing options that could be obtained, and all of them don't necessarily ooze "franchise-changer" at QB.
Joe Cleveland is inclined to give Weeden another season with an offense more tailored to his strengths and the strengths of running back Trent Richardson. Joe Cleveland does not want to see Colt McCoy return as the starter -- we've seen enough. Also, Bears backup QB Jason Campbell, Chiefs' deposed starting QB Matt Cassel or Raiders starting QB Carson Palmer aren't attractive options, either.
Let the speculation go in full force a week from now. But for now, this edition of the Browns have one more game to play and it's against the hated Steelers.
***
Before Joe Cleveland goes, congrats to Browns' left tackle Joe Thomas on his sixth Pro Bowl berth of his six-year NFL career. Thomas was Phil Savage's lone great choice (yeah, he passed on Adrian Peterson for him, but I think Thomas will have a longer career) and is well on the way to a Hall of Fame career.
Also, a hearty congratulations to long-time kicker Phil Dawson on his long-awaited, well-overdue first Pro Bowl berth. Dawson certainly deserves it after a long and successful career as the Browns' primary kicker since they returned in 1999, and his 2012 season has been fantastic. He's only missed one field goal, and that kick was blocked. Hopefully, Haslam and Banner ensure that Dawson ends his career in the Brown and Orange, because he certainly deserves to.
With Josh Cribbs (kick returner and special teamer), D'Qwell Jackson (inside linebacker) and Alex Mack (center) as first alternates, there could very well be five Browns playing in Hawaii the week before the Super Bowl. Joe Cleveland may have to actually watch the game now.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
Monday, December 10, 2012
No trophy for this Lombardi
Lombardi
A certain magic still lingers in the very name.
It speaks of duels in the snow and November mud...
He remains for many the heart of pro football, pumping hard right now.
-- Steve Sabol
Steve Sabol's poem, read famously by the "Voice of God" John Facenda as a narration on an NFL Films special, is not about the guy who's being rumored to become the new general manager of the Cleveland Browns, Michael Lombardi.
No, this poem was about the late, great Vince Lombardi -- one of Fordman's legendary "Five Blocks of Granite" offensive line, the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants in the 1950s (while Tom Landry served as the offensive coordinator) and the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during that teams' ascension to glory during the 1960s.
Lombardi's teams won the first two Super Bowls, and the winner of the Super Bowl is annually awarded the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
The only link to Vince Lombardi and Mike Lombardi is that they just so happen to share a remarkable last name. The fact that I just linked these two in the same sentence will probably make Vince roll over in his grave and have his ghost haunt me.
Mike Lombardi was here in Cleveland, from 1987 to 1996. He was the team's Pro Personnel Director in 1987 after serving as a scout for Bill Walsh's 49ers teams from 1984-87. He was promoted to Director of Player Personnel in 1992 when Bill Belichick was hired as the head coach and Ernie Accorsi took that as his cue to depart.
Lombardi was essentially the general manager during Belichick's final four years as the head coach of the Browns before the Dead Judas decided to move the franchise to Baltimore in a selfish act of greed. During that time, the Browns went 7-9 (1992), 7-9 (1993), 12-6 (1994) and 5-11 (1995). The ''94 team went 11-5 in the regular season and reached the playoffs as a Wild Card team. The 20-13 home victory over the Patriots on New Year's Day 1995 is still the last playoff victory for the Cleveland Browns -- home or overall.
In that time period, the Browns drafted such "luminaries" as Tommy Vardell, Patrick Rowe, Gerald Dixon, Dan Footman, Mike Caldwell, Romeo Bandison, Issac Booth, Craig Powell, Eric Zeier, Mike Frederick and Tau Pupua. To be fair, he also drafted Steve Everitt, Derrick Alexander and Antonio Langham, but overall, this guy was a freaking disaster. Even then, I may be generous about Alexander and Langham -- Alexander was a bust in his two seasons with the Browns, while Langham had an injury prone career and didn't play beyond 1999 after being drafted in the first round in 1994. I can remember seeing Langham getting torched repeatedly when he came back to the Browns during the expansion season.
Remember the 1995 draft, the last Belichick/Lombardi draft? Lombardi had Belichick convinced that a big tight end named Kyle Brady was the answer to his prayers. When the Jets selected Brady ninth, both guys blew their stacks and made a trade with the 49ers. San Francisco moved up to the 10th spot and selected receiver J.J. Stokes, who had a decent career. The Browns moved all the way to the bottom of the first round and took Powell, an Ohio State linebacker who couldn't get off special teams duties.
The Dead Judas gave the ax to both Lombardi and Belichick when the move was officially approved. He then served as an advisor for the St. Louis Rams in 1996, a consultant to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1997, the Director of Pro Personnel in Philly in 1998, and the Senior Football Executive for the Oakland Raiders from 1999-2007.
In his last draft with the Raiders, Lombardi selected one of the biggest draft busts of all-time, LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell, with the first overall pick. Russell only played three years in the NFL and hasn't even gotten a tryout since the Raiders washed their hands of him in 2009.
In 1996-97, Lombardi got a TV gig as the "insider" on CBS's pregame show, The NFL Today. He had his own segment and eventually became a regular on the desk toward the end of his tenure. That was just a small taste of what he's done since 2007.
In 2008, both the NFL Network and HBO hired him to be an on-air "insider." He worked on the Emmy-award winning Inside the NFL show while also serving as a studio analyst on NFL Network's Total Access show. From 2008-10, he started writing columns for Sports Illustrated's Web site, NationalFootballPost.com (which he helped found) and NFL.com.
He's also been a very outspoken critic of all things related to the Browns since the team returned in 1999. He gave Tom Heckert's 2012 draft a 'C,' and was critical of the trade to move up to select Trent Richardson and the selections of Brandon Weeden, Mitchell Schwartz and John Hughes.
And, THIS is the guy Joe Banner wants to turn the keys to the castle over to? REALLY?!?!?
I can remember Lombardi being a swarmy asshole during his tenure in Cleveland. He was supposedly the main imputus behind Bernie Kosar's outright release during the 1993 season, to the point where he had a tape made of nothing but Kosar lowlights and showed it to the Dead Judas as the reason why they had to get rid of him, even though Vinny Testaverde was injured and they were let with a non-descript third-stringer named Todd Philcox.
I also find it interesting that, of all the people associated with Belichick during his Browns years, Lombardi was the only one who never was re-hired by Belichick when the latter got back into head coaching five years later with New England and was never publicly vouched for by Belichick.
Nick Saban, Jim Schwartz, Eric Mangini, Scott Pioli, Kirk Ferentz, Tom Dimitroff, Ozzie Newsome, Phil Savage ... all got the Belichick seal of approval. All (except Ozzie and Saban) have failed without being around Belichick, but you get the picture.
According to a recent story in the Boston Globe that claims that Lombardi is a "serious candidate" to be Banner's hand-picked GM to replace Tom Heckert, Lombardi is serving as an unofficial consultant to Belichick this season and helping him by providing scouting reports on their opponents. Whether that's true or not remains to be seen -- Belichick still hasn't acknowledged Lombardi publicly.
The story in the Globe, and that has been reported on other "insider" NFL Web sites, says that, if Lombardi gets hired in Cleveland, he will likely hire Saban, Chip Kelly or Patriots offensive coordinator and former Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels as the new head coach. That's an awful big promise list there. Funny that, at one point, three different reports linked Lombardi to the three different candidates before it's been merged to being one of the three.
Lombardi has not publically commented on the possibility of coming back to Cleveland, or as to how (and if) he can deliver on his head coaching wish list. However, these news outlets are getting their info from somewhere.
Banner gave a veiled denial a few weeks back, and some Cleveland sources are saying that reports chasing Heckert out of town are very premature. One thing, though, is that Heckert's job description has changed -- Banner now has the final say over everything football related, including over the roster, whereas Heckert had that say when he left Philly to become the Browns' new GM in 2010 under Mike Holmgren.
Perhaps the source of all of this Lombardi talk is Lombardi himself.
Being a so-called "NFL insider" and working as a bit of a rumor monger himself for different Web sites, I'm sure he's met a lot of reporters and sided up to them over the years. Perhaps he's been promoting himself as this candidate with these visions of grandeur of hiring a new head coach while doing so "anonymously" and "off the record."
Does Lombardi have a tie to Saban still? Who knows? Saban, who is preparing his Alabama team to take on Notre Dame for the BCS National Championship in a few weeks, hasn't commented on anything not related to the game and his quest for his second-straight national championshp, his third since taking over Alabama, and his fourth overall as a college football head coach.
Saban had one forgettable stretch as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, where he went 15-17 from 2005-06. That was right after he won the national championship at LSU and before he took the Alabama job. His only other NFL job was when Belichick plucked him from being the head coach at Toledo to becoming his defensive coordinator for the Browns from 1991-94.
That 1994 team had one of the best defenses Cleveland had ever seen. I believe they finished ranked second overall when that season was concluded. But, after that season, Saban accepted the head coaching gig at Michigan State, and just one season later, the Browns were no more.
Saban was already a candidate to replace Pat Shurmur (if Jimmy Haslam III decides to make a coaching change) because of those Cleveland ties, along with his being from West Virginia and a former player, graduate and assistant coach at Kent State. Many people believe that if he wins his second-straight national title and third in the last four years at Alabama, he would be inclined to test the waters in the NFL again.
The reporter for the Boston Globe, in that story, blamed Saban's coaching shortcomings in Miami to working with Randy Mueller as the GM. The two had never worked with each other before and didn't seem to grasp each other's systems. As for the real reason, who knows.
Of the three on Lombardi's so-called "wish list," McDaniels seems the least desirable, even though he grew up in Canton and played football for John Carroll. McDaniels got off to a 6-0 start with the Denver Broncos in his first season, even though he ran off Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall and Peyton Hillis, among others, before he even got started. But, that team slumped to 8-8, and he didn't even last his full second season before being shown the door by new team president John Elway.
While this talk continues to swirl about, the Browns have suddenly become one of the hottest teams in the NFL. Since Haslam officially took over as the team's owner, the Browns have gone 4-3, with close road losses to Indianapolis and Dallas and a close home loss to Baltimore staining that record. The Browns have won their last three games in a row and have looked better and better with each win.
The defense has emerged as one of the best defenses in the league under Dick Jauron. They've improved on their run defense and have forced a lot of turnovers. The eight turnover game against the Steelers has kick-started this win streak, which has kept the Browns alive for the postseason with three games left in the regular season.
PLAYOFFS!! PLAYOFFS??
In order for that to happen, the Browns would have to turn that three-game win streak into a six-game win streak -- a tall order, indeed. But, they'll be facing a Redskins team with a gimpy Robert Griffin III at home this Sunday, a Broncos team that, despite having Peyton Manning, has already clinched their division just before Christmas, and a suddenly very-beatable Steelers team at the big ketchup bottle in the season finale on Dec. 30.
Could that Steeler game suddenly have playoff implications for BOTH teams?
Could the Browns go into that game with a five-game winning streak?
Could the Browns pull off the rare season sweep of the Steelers -- something that hasn't happened since 1988? In fact, the last time the Browns won consecutive games against the Steelers was back in 1999-2000.
And, when it's all said and done, could Shurmur and Heckert retain their jobs?
Of the two, Heckert should be the safest. However, you hear more rumors about replacing Heckert than you do about Shurmur (I still believe it's because of Lombardi's behind-the-scenes self-promotion). Many people believe that a change at coach would lean to a change at GM as well.
The Browns have many people in this town finally believing that something is there. The offense has improved under Weeden and Richardson, and Josh Gordon (who Lombardi ripped the Browns for picking in the second round of the supplemental draft, by the way) has emerged to become a legitimate deep threat. Greg Little, who many fans (Joe Cleveland included) were ready to run out of town earlier this year with his bout of dropped passes and self-promotions, has become a fantastic receiver over the second half of the season.
Tight ends Ben Watson and Jordan Cameron have become reliable receivers, and Montario Hardesty -- who came into this season as the one glaring blemish on Heckert's resume -- has emerged to become a legimate change-of-pace back to the pounding Richardson and has looked very good. Even fourth-rounder Travis Benjamin showed glimpes of being a playmaker this past Sunday with that 93-yard punt return touchdown.
Could a proven head coach, like a Saban or an Andy Reid or a Jon Gruden, come in and take what this team has done and get them to the next level? Or, does it make sense to stick with Shurmur one more season and see if he can continue to build off of what he's accomplished.
The 4-3 defense should be here to stay. The Browns are playing the best defense we've seen, arguably since Saban's 1994 unit. That defense was also a 4-3 defense. Or, Bud Carson's attacking 1989 unit, which was also a 4-3. Most of the current Belichick disciples are rooted to the 3-4 (just ask Mangini and Romeo Crennel how well that worked out for them). Like the Steelers did with Dick LeBeau when they replaced Bill Cowher with Mike Tomlin, the Browns should insist the new coach retains Jauron and his philosophies or else take a hike.
The West Coast offense could use some tweaking. Perhaps trying to go to more of a spread-style would work with the weapons the Browns have. Weeden excelled in a spread at Oklahoma State, and his receivers played in it at the college level. While Richardson did not play in a spread at Alabama, I'm sure he'd do just fine in it. Perhaps a guy like Chip Kelly, whose innovative offensive schemes at Oregon have gotten some kudos, could make the spread work at the NFL level. Or, perhaps a hybrid WC scheme, like the ones used by the Eagles, the Packers or the Saints, would work better.
As a Browns fan, it's good to be excited about games in late December -- it's been a while since that happened. And, it's good to be legitimately excited about what the future holds for this franchise.
Joe Banner and Jimmy Haslam, don't drink the Lombardi Kool-Aid. Don't let him destroy the process that has taken place. Don't let his promises of Saban and Kelly persuade you to bring him in. He's a bullshitting blowhard -- always has, always will.
You've done nothing but ooze goodwill since you've taken over this franchise from Absantee Randy. Hiring a clown like Lombardi would deflate that balloon really quickly.
Instead of his Lombardi's name reminding of "duels in the snow" and "November mud," it speaks of wasted draft picks and bad PR.
This will be an intriguing offseason, indeed, in many, many ways. Hopefully, it's for all the right reasons.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
A certain magic still lingers in the very name.
It speaks of duels in the snow and November mud...
He remains for many the heart of pro football, pumping hard right now.
-- Steve Sabol
Steve Sabol's poem, read famously by the "Voice of God" John Facenda as a narration on an NFL Films special, is not about the guy who's being rumored to become the new general manager of the Cleveland Browns, Michael Lombardi.
No, this poem was about the late, great Vince Lombardi -- one of Fordman's legendary "Five Blocks of Granite" offensive line, the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants in the 1950s (while Tom Landry served as the offensive coordinator) and the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during that teams' ascension to glory during the 1960s.
Lombardi's teams won the first two Super Bowls, and the winner of the Super Bowl is annually awarded the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
The only link to Vince Lombardi and Mike Lombardi is that they just so happen to share a remarkable last name. The fact that I just linked these two in the same sentence will probably make Vince roll over in his grave and have his ghost haunt me.
Mike Lombardi was here in Cleveland, from 1987 to 1996. He was the team's Pro Personnel Director in 1987 after serving as a scout for Bill Walsh's 49ers teams from 1984-87. He was promoted to Director of Player Personnel in 1992 when Bill Belichick was hired as the head coach and Ernie Accorsi took that as his cue to depart.
Lombardi was essentially the general manager during Belichick's final four years as the head coach of the Browns before the Dead Judas decided to move the franchise to Baltimore in a selfish act of greed. During that time, the Browns went 7-9 (1992), 7-9 (1993), 12-6 (1994) and 5-11 (1995). The ''94 team went 11-5 in the regular season and reached the playoffs as a Wild Card team. The 20-13 home victory over the Patriots on New Year's Day 1995 is still the last playoff victory for the Cleveland Browns -- home or overall.
In that time period, the Browns drafted such "luminaries" as Tommy Vardell, Patrick Rowe, Gerald Dixon, Dan Footman, Mike Caldwell, Romeo Bandison, Issac Booth, Craig Powell, Eric Zeier, Mike Frederick and Tau Pupua. To be fair, he also drafted Steve Everitt, Derrick Alexander and Antonio Langham, but overall, this guy was a freaking disaster. Even then, I may be generous about Alexander and Langham -- Alexander was a bust in his two seasons with the Browns, while Langham had an injury prone career and didn't play beyond 1999 after being drafted in the first round in 1994. I can remember seeing Langham getting torched repeatedly when he came back to the Browns during the expansion season.
Remember the 1995 draft, the last Belichick/Lombardi draft? Lombardi had Belichick convinced that a big tight end named Kyle Brady was the answer to his prayers. When the Jets selected Brady ninth, both guys blew their stacks and made a trade with the 49ers. San Francisco moved up to the 10th spot and selected receiver J.J. Stokes, who had a decent career. The Browns moved all the way to the bottom of the first round and took Powell, an Ohio State linebacker who couldn't get off special teams duties.
The Dead Judas gave the ax to both Lombardi and Belichick when the move was officially approved. He then served as an advisor for the St. Louis Rams in 1996, a consultant to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1997, the Director of Pro Personnel in Philly in 1998, and the Senior Football Executive for the Oakland Raiders from 1999-2007.
In his last draft with the Raiders, Lombardi selected one of the biggest draft busts of all-time, LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell, with the first overall pick. Russell only played three years in the NFL and hasn't even gotten a tryout since the Raiders washed their hands of him in 2009.
In 1996-97, Lombardi got a TV gig as the "insider" on CBS's pregame show, The NFL Today. He had his own segment and eventually became a regular on the desk toward the end of his tenure. That was just a small taste of what he's done since 2007.
In 2008, both the NFL Network and HBO hired him to be an on-air "insider." He worked on the Emmy-award winning Inside the NFL show while also serving as a studio analyst on NFL Network's Total Access show. From 2008-10, he started writing columns for Sports Illustrated's Web site, NationalFootballPost.com (which he helped found) and NFL.com.
He's also been a very outspoken critic of all things related to the Browns since the team returned in 1999. He gave Tom Heckert's 2012 draft a 'C,' and was critical of the trade to move up to select Trent Richardson and the selections of Brandon Weeden, Mitchell Schwartz and John Hughes.
And, THIS is the guy Joe Banner wants to turn the keys to the castle over to? REALLY?!?!?
I can remember Lombardi being a swarmy asshole during his tenure in Cleveland. He was supposedly the main imputus behind Bernie Kosar's outright release during the 1993 season, to the point where he had a tape made of nothing but Kosar lowlights and showed it to the Dead Judas as the reason why they had to get rid of him, even though Vinny Testaverde was injured and they were let with a non-descript third-stringer named Todd Philcox.
I also find it interesting that, of all the people associated with Belichick during his Browns years, Lombardi was the only one who never was re-hired by Belichick when the latter got back into head coaching five years later with New England and was never publicly vouched for by Belichick.
Nick Saban, Jim Schwartz, Eric Mangini, Scott Pioli, Kirk Ferentz, Tom Dimitroff, Ozzie Newsome, Phil Savage ... all got the Belichick seal of approval. All (except Ozzie and Saban) have failed without being around Belichick, but you get the picture.
According to a recent story in the Boston Globe that claims that Lombardi is a "serious candidate" to be Banner's hand-picked GM to replace Tom Heckert, Lombardi is serving as an unofficial consultant to Belichick this season and helping him by providing scouting reports on their opponents. Whether that's true or not remains to be seen -- Belichick still hasn't acknowledged Lombardi publicly.
The story in the Globe, and that has been reported on other "insider" NFL Web sites, says that, if Lombardi gets hired in Cleveland, he will likely hire Saban, Chip Kelly or Patriots offensive coordinator and former Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels as the new head coach. That's an awful big promise list there. Funny that, at one point, three different reports linked Lombardi to the three different candidates before it's been merged to being one of the three.
Lombardi has not publically commented on the possibility of coming back to Cleveland, or as to how (and if) he can deliver on his head coaching wish list. However, these news outlets are getting their info from somewhere.
Banner gave a veiled denial a few weeks back, and some Cleveland sources are saying that reports chasing Heckert out of town are very premature. One thing, though, is that Heckert's job description has changed -- Banner now has the final say over everything football related, including over the roster, whereas Heckert had that say when he left Philly to become the Browns' new GM in 2010 under Mike Holmgren.
Perhaps the source of all of this Lombardi talk is Lombardi himself.
Being a so-called "NFL insider" and working as a bit of a rumor monger himself for different Web sites, I'm sure he's met a lot of reporters and sided up to them over the years. Perhaps he's been promoting himself as this candidate with these visions of grandeur of hiring a new head coach while doing so "anonymously" and "off the record."
Does Lombardi have a tie to Saban still? Who knows? Saban, who is preparing his Alabama team to take on Notre Dame for the BCS National Championship in a few weeks, hasn't commented on anything not related to the game and his quest for his second-straight national championshp, his third since taking over Alabama, and his fourth overall as a college football head coach.
Saban had one forgettable stretch as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, where he went 15-17 from 2005-06. That was right after he won the national championship at LSU and before he took the Alabama job. His only other NFL job was when Belichick plucked him from being the head coach at Toledo to becoming his defensive coordinator for the Browns from 1991-94.
That 1994 team had one of the best defenses Cleveland had ever seen. I believe they finished ranked second overall when that season was concluded. But, after that season, Saban accepted the head coaching gig at Michigan State, and just one season later, the Browns were no more.
Saban was already a candidate to replace Pat Shurmur (if Jimmy Haslam III decides to make a coaching change) because of those Cleveland ties, along with his being from West Virginia and a former player, graduate and assistant coach at Kent State. Many people believe that if he wins his second-straight national title and third in the last four years at Alabama, he would be inclined to test the waters in the NFL again.
The reporter for the Boston Globe, in that story, blamed Saban's coaching shortcomings in Miami to working with Randy Mueller as the GM. The two had never worked with each other before and didn't seem to grasp each other's systems. As for the real reason, who knows.
Of the three on Lombardi's so-called "wish list," McDaniels seems the least desirable, even though he grew up in Canton and played football for John Carroll. McDaniels got off to a 6-0 start with the Denver Broncos in his first season, even though he ran off Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall and Peyton Hillis, among others, before he even got started. But, that team slumped to 8-8, and he didn't even last his full second season before being shown the door by new team president John Elway.
While this talk continues to swirl about, the Browns have suddenly become one of the hottest teams in the NFL. Since Haslam officially took over as the team's owner, the Browns have gone 4-3, with close road losses to Indianapolis and Dallas and a close home loss to Baltimore staining that record. The Browns have won their last three games in a row and have looked better and better with each win.
The defense has emerged as one of the best defenses in the league under Dick Jauron. They've improved on their run defense and have forced a lot of turnovers. The eight turnover game against the Steelers has kick-started this win streak, which has kept the Browns alive for the postseason with three games left in the regular season.
PLAYOFFS!! PLAYOFFS??
In order for that to happen, the Browns would have to turn that three-game win streak into a six-game win streak -- a tall order, indeed. But, they'll be facing a Redskins team with a gimpy Robert Griffin III at home this Sunday, a Broncos team that, despite having Peyton Manning, has already clinched their division just before Christmas, and a suddenly very-beatable Steelers team at the big ketchup bottle in the season finale on Dec. 30.
Could that Steeler game suddenly have playoff implications for BOTH teams?
Could the Browns go into that game with a five-game winning streak?
Could the Browns pull off the rare season sweep of the Steelers -- something that hasn't happened since 1988? In fact, the last time the Browns won consecutive games against the Steelers was back in 1999-2000.
And, when it's all said and done, could Shurmur and Heckert retain their jobs?
Of the two, Heckert should be the safest. However, you hear more rumors about replacing Heckert than you do about Shurmur (I still believe it's because of Lombardi's behind-the-scenes self-promotion). Many people believe that a change at coach would lean to a change at GM as well.
The Browns have many people in this town finally believing that something is there. The offense has improved under Weeden and Richardson, and Josh Gordon (who Lombardi ripped the Browns for picking in the second round of the supplemental draft, by the way) has emerged to become a legitimate deep threat. Greg Little, who many fans (Joe Cleveland included) were ready to run out of town earlier this year with his bout of dropped passes and self-promotions, has become a fantastic receiver over the second half of the season.
Tight ends Ben Watson and Jordan Cameron have become reliable receivers, and Montario Hardesty -- who came into this season as the one glaring blemish on Heckert's resume -- has emerged to become a legimate change-of-pace back to the pounding Richardson and has looked very good. Even fourth-rounder Travis Benjamin showed glimpes of being a playmaker this past Sunday with that 93-yard punt return touchdown.
Could a proven head coach, like a Saban or an Andy Reid or a Jon Gruden, come in and take what this team has done and get them to the next level? Or, does it make sense to stick with Shurmur one more season and see if he can continue to build off of what he's accomplished.
The 4-3 defense should be here to stay. The Browns are playing the best defense we've seen, arguably since Saban's 1994 unit. That defense was also a 4-3 defense. Or, Bud Carson's attacking 1989 unit, which was also a 4-3. Most of the current Belichick disciples are rooted to the 3-4 (just ask Mangini and Romeo Crennel how well that worked out for them). Like the Steelers did with Dick LeBeau when they replaced Bill Cowher with Mike Tomlin, the Browns should insist the new coach retains Jauron and his philosophies or else take a hike.
The West Coast offense could use some tweaking. Perhaps trying to go to more of a spread-style would work with the weapons the Browns have. Weeden excelled in a spread at Oklahoma State, and his receivers played in it at the college level. While Richardson did not play in a spread at Alabama, I'm sure he'd do just fine in it. Perhaps a guy like Chip Kelly, whose innovative offensive schemes at Oregon have gotten some kudos, could make the spread work at the NFL level. Or, perhaps a hybrid WC scheme, like the ones used by the Eagles, the Packers or the Saints, would work better.
As a Browns fan, it's good to be excited about games in late December -- it's been a while since that happened. And, it's good to be legitimately excited about what the future holds for this franchise.
Joe Banner and Jimmy Haslam, don't drink the Lombardi Kool-Aid. Don't let him destroy the process that has taken place. Don't let his promises of Saban and Kelly persuade you to bring him in. He's a bullshitting blowhard -- always has, always will.
You've done nothing but ooze goodwill since you've taken over this franchise from Absantee Randy. Hiring a clown like Lombardi would deflate that balloon really quickly.
Instead of his Lombardi's name reminding of "duels in the snow" and "November mud," it speaks of wasted draft picks and bad PR.
This will be an intriguing offseason, indeed, in many, many ways. Hopefully, it's for all the right reasons.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
Monday, October 22, 2012
Shurmur's Replacements
Before we get going, wasn't it refreshing to see the owner of the Cleveland Browns during a telecast of the football game?
Seeing him was enough (especially since we never saw Randy Lerner). But seeing him give genuine emotion during the game? Times, they are a changing, my friends.
Jimmy Haslam III's body language during Sunday's game in Indianapolis told Joe Cleveland a lot about what he thinks about the coach he inherited, Pat Shurmur.
It now leads me to believe that the question is no longer "if" Shurmur will be fired at the end of the season, it now becomes "when."
As in, will Haslam fire Shurmur next week? At the bye week? With two weeks to go in the regular season? In the locker room following the season finale?
Mike Holmgren is on his way out the door. Shurmur's fresh out of friends. Sure, new CEO Joe Banner knew Shurmur when the latter was an assistant coach on Andy Reid's staff in Philadelphia, but that may not be the best thing for Shurmur.
Shurmur's only won five games in a year-and-a-half. Shurmur has an 11-game losing streak to his credit. Shurmur has made countless coaching blunders during games that have cost his teams a chance to win.
I'll let this one sink in for you ... Shurmur was outcoached yesterday by an interim coach. Bruce Arians (remember him as the offensive coordinator who perpetuated the Tim Couch-Kelly Holcomb controversy back in the early 2000s) outcoached Pat Shurmur.
Joe Cleveland woke up Monday fully expecting to see a banner headline on Cleveland.com saying that Shurmur was fired. It would not have surprised me.
Sure, Shurmur could still save his job. But this team is 1-6 and lost to a very beatable Colts team. Coaching decisions, such as the decision to punt on fourth-and-1 from the Indy 40 with six minutes left (then going for it from the same yard line but fourth-and-six), kicking the extra point instead of going for the potential game-tying 2-point conversion after Josh Gordon's touchdown to start the third quarter, and essentially abandoning the run game against a very weak run defense in a game that within one possession the majority of the game will come back to haunt him.
Shurmur would have to win at least five more games over the remaining nine to even be in the discussion to come back. I believe that he would have to sweep the Steelers as well. Can it be done? There are some winnable games on the schedule -- the Chiefs, the Redskins, the Raiders, the Steelers (both), the Ravens and the Chargers are all winnable games. That's seven of the remaining nine games, so it's not as if they're having to play the Patriots, Packers, Falcons, Texans and 49ers.
The only two games on the schedule that look like definite losses are the Cowboys and the Broncos on the road. Even the Cowboys look beatable.
Will it be done? Even with a roster of up-and-coming talent that has been competitive each and every week, I don't think it will.
So, let's get the ball rolling and see who could be on the short list of guys to replace Shurmur. Mike Holmgren essentially took himself out of the equation by retiring at the end of this season, and I can't see existing assistants with head coaching experience such as Brad Childress and Dick Jauron being legitimate candidates.
Haslam and Banner will want a proven head coach that can turn this collection of talent into a perennial winner, or at lease someone with a winning background. Here's who could be on that list:
1. Jon Gruden, ESPN Monday Night Football analyst: Gruden, a Sandusky native who grew up as a Browns fan, was everyone's No. 1 choice two years ago when Holmgren fired Eric Mangini. Gruden was from the Holmgren coaching tree and the two remained close through the years. Gruden turned a struggling Raiders franchise into a winner then left after a falling out with owner Al Davis. He landed in Tampa Bay and won a Super Bowl (over the Raiders) in his first season there, giving the perennial losing Bucs their first Super Bowl berth and title. He kept the Bucs a perennnial winner, but was fired in 2008 after his team missed the playoffs. For whatever reason (ego?), Holmgren decided to go the unproven route (a decision that greased his skids out of town). But the time may be right for Gruden to get back into coaching. He's also high on current rookie QB Brandon Weeden, and he may look forward to working with him. Gruden has ring, the local pedigree and the big name to get people talking.
2. Bill Cowher, CBS NFL analyst: Cowher is always on Browns fans' radars whenever they make a coaching change. He'll always be the one that got away in a lot of fans' eyes when the Dead Judas passed on the former Browns linebacker and defensive assistant for Bill Belichick back in 1991. The next year, Cowher was hired to replace Chuck Noll at Pittsburgh, and he immediately turned around a franchise that was stagnant under Noll back into a contender. Cowher was always a thorn in the Browns' side, but, like his mentor Marty Schottenheimer, his Steeler teams were prone to a big playoff choke every single year. He finally got that monkey off his back in his second-to-last year when the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2005. Since he stepped down, he's been a fixture on CBS's Sunday game-day telecasts. At least once, Cowher turned down Randy Lerner to be the Browns head coach and he has not given any indication that he would be interested in returning. Also, Haslam's Steeler ties occurred AFTER Cowher left, so they do not have a prior relationship. Do I think Cowher would come to Cleveland? Probably not. But, as long as there is a coaching vacancy, you have to include him on any short list.
3. Nick Saban, Alabama head coach: Saban's name has suddenly become hot rumored commodity, especially after Saban's interview for the NFL Network documentary "Cleveland 95: A Football Life," in which he waxes poetically about his time as the Browns defensive coordinator under Belichick and how close that team was to becoming a winner. Saban left the Browns to become Michigan State's head coach, and he has been very successful there, at Louisiana State (a national championship in 2006) and at Alabama (two national championships in 2008 and 2011 and potentially a third this year). In between LSU and Alabama, there was a forgettable two-year stint as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2005-06, in which his teams went 15-17. Saban's track record shows a guy who doesn't like to get settled down in one place too long, and he may feel the time is right for a return to the pro game. With his former Tide star Trent Richardson as the cornerstone of the Browns' offense, and with Haslam's deep checkbook, Saban could come here. But, let's take a moment and remember the last college coach that came here, Butch Davis, and how well that four-year stint went. Just because a guy was successful in college doesn't mean that will translate to the pros.
4. Andy Reid, Philadelphia Eagles head coach: Reid's hot seat in Philly keeps getting hotter the more his team loses games. His firing of defensive coordinator Juan Castillo at the bye week reeked of a desperation move. He came very close to losing his job last year after going 8-8 despite a ton of high profile free agent signings that bolstered both defense and the offense. He's only been to one Super Bowl in his 10 years in Philly, so it may be title or bust for him. Banner worked closely with Reid at the Eagles, although their relationship was strained at best (according to some reports). Reid also worked with current Browns GM Tom Heckert, although Reid had final say on the roster. Reid may keep a lot of the assistant coaches because of his familiarity with them and may keep up some of continuity. Reid's a proven winner (129-83-1), but he's never won a championship.
5. Brian Billick, FOX NFL/college game analyst: If Cowher's the one that got away for the old Browns, Billick is the one that got away for the expansion era. Billick quickly emerged as Carmen Policy's No. 1 candidate to be the head coach of the new Browns. After his Vikings were upset in the NFC Championship game by the Atlanta Falcons, then-GM Dwight Clark was whisked to Minneapolis on Al Lerner's private jet with a contract for Billick to sign. However, Billick wanted to meet with the Ravens first and talk about their opening. An insulted Policy yanked the offer away from Billick and watched him agree to become the Ravens coach. He quickly turned Baltimore's fortunes around, winning the Super Bowl in just his second year and turning the franchise into a perennial winner. The Browns may have cost him his job in 2007, when they memorably swept his Ravens and knocked them into a losing season. Since then, he has not been a serious candidate for any head coaching openings. Who knows if he has the itch, but his familiarity with the AFC North Division (especially the Ravens) would make him a legitimate candidate if he decided to test the waters. Plus, he has a ring and his name is recognizable. Oh, and did I mention he was an Ohio native (Fairborn)?
6. Jim Tressel, University of Akron vice president: Tressel is like a modern-day Paul Brown when it comes to Ohio football coaches. Tressel, after turning Youngstown State into a perennnial Division I-AA (FCS) powerhouse, winning four national championships in the 80s and 90s, came to Ohio State and immediatly won the school's first national championship since 1968 (well, in his second year, but it was pretty close to immediate). He coached the Buckeyes to two other national championship games and always had his program on the verge of national contention. His teams owned the Michigan rivalry, only losing once from 2001-10. However, he was forced out following a scandal involving several of his players selling their memorablilia (such as trophies) for tattoos. Last season, he served as a consultant for the Indianapolis Colts and was interviewed for their head coaching job (which wound up going to Chuck Pagano). The NCAA has barred him from accepting another college head coaching job for the next five years. He stated many times that the one NFL job he would even consider leaving Ohio State for was the Browns job, because he grew up in Berea and was still a die-hard Browns fan. He was even linked to the job twice during Romeo Crennel's up-and-down four-year tenure, but was never a serious candidate. While his style may be best suited for college players, there's no denying that he's a winner. Plus, he'd be a very popular choice with the fans -- many still think he got a raw deal even though it was proven that he lied to NCAA investigators.
7. Tony Dungy, NBC Sunday Night Football analyst: Dungy, like Cowher, Gruden and Billick, has found a home on television following his retirement from being the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts following the 2008 season. Since then, Dungy has been a fixture on NBC's Football Night in America highlight show and on the SNF postgame studio show. Dungy was in the process of turning Tampa Bay's football fortunes around from 1996-2001 before he was mysteriously fired (and replaced by Jon Gruden, who promptly won a Super Bowl with his players). Indy snapped him up to replace Jim Mora, and, with the help of Peyton Manning, rode a wave of prosperity with the Colts from 2002-08, even winning the Super Bowl in 2006 and building a team that got to the Super Bowl a year after he stepped down. Dungy, a former Steeler player and assistant coach, is one of the most respected figures in professional football today and would bring instant credibility to this franchise. However, it appears he's comfortable as a TV analyst and hasn't leaked any indication of a possible return to coaching. He'd be worth talking to, though.
8. Kevin Gilbride, New York Giants offensive coordinator: As the architect of the Giants' offense, Gilbride has won two Super Bowl championships over the last five years and has the chance to win a third this season. Gilbride is one of the most respected offensive minds in the NFL, dating back to his Run-&-Shoot offensive scheme with the Houston Oilers in the early 1990s. However, as a head coach, he didn't cut the mustard, going 6-16 during his two years as the head coach of the San Diego Chargers (1996-98). Gilbride may be one of those guys who is just cut out to be a top-level assistant but not ready to be a head coach. However, the work he's done with the Giants lately has seemingly put him back on the radar for head coaching gigs. He's arguably the top candidate among current assistant coaches. If the Giants reach the Super Bowl again, his name will definitely be a hot commodity.
9. Philip Fulmer, CBS college football analyst: I throw Fulmer's name on this list because he's a coaching legend from the University of Tennessee. Haslam's father was a football player for the Volunteers, and the Haslam family is one of Tennessee's biggest athletic boosters and a very influential family down there. Fulmer won Tennessee's only BCS National Championship in 1997, and his Volunteers are still the last SEC team to win back-to-back conference championships (1997-98). Fulmer hasn't coached anyone since Tennessee fired him after a 5-7 season in 2008, but he has said that he hasn't ruled out a return to coaching. I refer to my earlier statement on college coaches making the transition to the NFL, and, if any college coach makes the jump, it's likely to be Saban. Also, Fulmer has never even been an NFL assistant coach. But, anything's possible.
10. Dom Capers, Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator: Capers has had a sketchy track record as an NFL head coach. In two four-year stints with the Carolina Panthers (1995-98) and the Houston Texans (2002-05), his record is just 48-80. However, he did take over two expansion franchises, and his Panthers reached the NFC Championship game in just his second year. However, that 1996 season was his only winning season as a head coach. His defenses were always tough, but his offenses were conservative and lackluster. Capers is an Ohio native (Byesville) who played collegiately at Mount Union and also served as an assistant coach with both Kent State (1972-74) and Ohio State (1982-83), so he has some Ohio ties. He was also the Steelers' defensive coordinator from 1992-94 under Cowher. His Packers' units are known to be among the top defenses in the NFL. However, he did win a Super Bowl with the Packers in 2010 and could very well do it again this year. His background in the 3-4 defense clashes with the Browns' current desire to go with a 4-3.
HONORABLE MENTION: Urban Meyer, Ohio State head coach; Aaron Kromer, New Orleans Saints interim head coach; Todd Haley, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator; Herman Edwards, NFL Network analyst; Kirk Ferentz, Iowa head coach; Jay Gruden, Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator; Wade Phillips, Houston Texans defensive coordinator; Joe Vitt, New Orleans Saints assistant head coach; Rob Ryan, Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator.
There is no shortage of legitimate candidates to be the next Browns head coach, one that would surely get the fans excited and help put this team over the hump.
And, I've got to say, I would prefer anyone on this list over Pat Shurmur.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
Seeing him was enough (especially since we never saw Randy Lerner). But seeing him give genuine emotion during the game? Times, they are a changing, my friends.
Jimmy Haslam III's body language during Sunday's game in Indianapolis told Joe Cleveland a lot about what he thinks about the coach he inherited, Pat Shurmur.
It now leads me to believe that the question is no longer "if" Shurmur will be fired at the end of the season, it now becomes "when."
As in, will Haslam fire Shurmur next week? At the bye week? With two weeks to go in the regular season? In the locker room following the season finale?
Mike Holmgren is on his way out the door. Shurmur's fresh out of friends. Sure, new CEO Joe Banner knew Shurmur when the latter was an assistant coach on Andy Reid's staff in Philadelphia, but that may not be the best thing for Shurmur.
Shurmur's only won five games in a year-and-a-half. Shurmur has an 11-game losing streak to his credit. Shurmur has made countless coaching blunders during games that have cost his teams a chance to win.
I'll let this one sink in for you ... Shurmur was outcoached yesterday by an interim coach. Bruce Arians (remember him as the offensive coordinator who perpetuated the Tim Couch-Kelly Holcomb controversy back in the early 2000s) outcoached Pat Shurmur.
Joe Cleveland woke up Monday fully expecting to see a banner headline on Cleveland.com saying that Shurmur was fired. It would not have surprised me.
Sure, Shurmur could still save his job. But this team is 1-6 and lost to a very beatable Colts team. Coaching decisions, such as the decision to punt on fourth-and-1 from the Indy 40 with six minutes left (then going for it from the same yard line but fourth-and-six), kicking the extra point instead of going for the potential game-tying 2-point conversion after Josh Gordon's touchdown to start the third quarter, and essentially abandoning the run game against a very weak run defense in a game that within one possession the majority of the game will come back to haunt him.
Shurmur would have to win at least five more games over the remaining nine to even be in the discussion to come back. I believe that he would have to sweep the Steelers as well. Can it be done? There are some winnable games on the schedule -- the Chiefs, the Redskins, the Raiders, the Steelers (both), the Ravens and the Chargers are all winnable games. That's seven of the remaining nine games, so it's not as if they're having to play the Patriots, Packers, Falcons, Texans and 49ers.
The only two games on the schedule that look like definite losses are the Cowboys and the Broncos on the road. Even the Cowboys look beatable.
Will it be done? Even with a roster of up-and-coming talent that has been competitive each and every week, I don't think it will.
So, let's get the ball rolling and see who could be on the short list of guys to replace Shurmur. Mike Holmgren essentially took himself out of the equation by retiring at the end of this season, and I can't see existing assistants with head coaching experience such as Brad Childress and Dick Jauron being legitimate candidates.
Haslam and Banner will want a proven head coach that can turn this collection of talent into a perennial winner, or at lease someone with a winning background. Here's who could be on that list:
1. Jon Gruden, ESPN Monday Night Football analyst: Gruden, a Sandusky native who grew up as a Browns fan, was everyone's No. 1 choice two years ago when Holmgren fired Eric Mangini. Gruden was from the Holmgren coaching tree and the two remained close through the years. Gruden turned a struggling Raiders franchise into a winner then left after a falling out with owner Al Davis. He landed in Tampa Bay and won a Super Bowl (over the Raiders) in his first season there, giving the perennial losing Bucs their first Super Bowl berth and title. He kept the Bucs a perennnial winner, but was fired in 2008 after his team missed the playoffs. For whatever reason (ego?), Holmgren decided to go the unproven route (a decision that greased his skids out of town). But the time may be right for Gruden to get back into coaching. He's also high on current rookie QB Brandon Weeden, and he may look forward to working with him. Gruden has ring, the local pedigree and the big name to get people talking.
2. Bill Cowher, CBS NFL analyst: Cowher is always on Browns fans' radars whenever they make a coaching change. He'll always be the one that got away in a lot of fans' eyes when the Dead Judas passed on the former Browns linebacker and defensive assistant for Bill Belichick back in 1991. The next year, Cowher was hired to replace Chuck Noll at Pittsburgh, and he immediately turned around a franchise that was stagnant under Noll back into a contender. Cowher was always a thorn in the Browns' side, but, like his mentor Marty Schottenheimer, his Steeler teams were prone to a big playoff choke every single year. He finally got that monkey off his back in his second-to-last year when the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2005. Since he stepped down, he's been a fixture on CBS's Sunday game-day telecasts. At least once, Cowher turned down Randy Lerner to be the Browns head coach and he has not given any indication that he would be interested in returning. Also, Haslam's Steeler ties occurred AFTER Cowher left, so they do not have a prior relationship. Do I think Cowher would come to Cleveland? Probably not. But, as long as there is a coaching vacancy, you have to include him on any short list.
3. Nick Saban, Alabama head coach: Saban's name has suddenly become hot rumored commodity, especially after Saban's interview for the NFL Network documentary "Cleveland 95: A Football Life," in which he waxes poetically about his time as the Browns defensive coordinator under Belichick and how close that team was to becoming a winner. Saban left the Browns to become Michigan State's head coach, and he has been very successful there, at Louisiana State (a national championship in 2006) and at Alabama (two national championships in 2008 and 2011 and potentially a third this year). In between LSU and Alabama, there was a forgettable two-year stint as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2005-06, in which his teams went 15-17. Saban's track record shows a guy who doesn't like to get settled down in one place too long, and he may feel the time is right for a return to the pro game. With his former Tide star Trent Richardson as the cornerstone of the Browns' offense, and with Haslam's deep checkbook, Saban could come here. But, let's take a moment and remember the last college coach that came here, Butch Davis, and how well that four-year stint went. Just because a guy was successful in college doesn't mean that will translate to the pros.
4. Andy Reid, Philadelphia Eagles head coach: Reid's hot seat in Philly keeps getting hotter the more his team loses games. His firing of defensive coordinator Juan Castillo at the bye week reeked of a desperation move. He came very close to losing his job last year after going 8-8 despite a ton of high profile free agent signings that bolstered both defense and the offense. He's only been to one Super Bowl in his 10 years in Philly, so it may be title or bust for him. Banner worked closely with Reid at the Eagles, although their relationship was strained at best (according to some reports). Reid also worked with current Browns GM Tom Heckert, although Reid had final say on the roster. Reid may keep a lot of the assistant coaches because of his familiarity with them and may keep up some of continuity. Reid's a proven winner (129-83-1), but he's never won a championship.
5. Brian Billick, FOX NFL/college game analyst: If Cowher's the one that got away for the old Browns, Billick is the one that got away for the expansion era. Billick quickly emerged as Carmen Policy's No. 1 candidate to be the head coach of the new Browns. After his Vikings were upset in the NFC Championship game by the Atlanta Falcons, then-GM Dwight Clark was whisked to Minneapolis on Al Lerner's private jet with a contract for Billick to sign. However, Billick wanted to meet with the Ravens first and talk about their opening. An insulted Policy yanked the offer away from Billick and watched him agree to become the Ravens coach. He quickly turned Baltimore's fortunes around, winning the Super Bowl in just his second year and turning the franchise into a perennial winner. The Browns may have cost him his job in 2007, when they memorably swept his Ravens and knocked them into a losing season. Since then, he has not been a serious candidate for any head coaching openings. Who knows if he has the itch, but his familiarity with the AFC North Division (especially the Ravens) would make him a legitimate candidate if he decided to test the waters. Plus, he has a ring and his name is recognizable. Oh, and did I mention he was an Ohio native (Fairborn)?
6. Jim Tressel, University of Akron vice president: Tressel is like a modern-day Paul Brown when it comes to Ohio football coaches. Tressel, after turning Youngstown State into a perennnial Division I-AA (FCS) powerhouse, winning four national championships in the 80s and 90s, came to Ohio State and immediatly won the school's first national championship since 1968 (well, in his second year, but it was pretty close to immediate). He coached the Buckeyes to two other national championship games and always had his program on the verge of national contention. His teams owned the Michigan rivalry, only losing once from 2001-10. However, he was forced out following a scandal involving several of his players selling their memorablilia (such as trophies) for tattoos. Last season, he served as a consultant for the Indianapolis Colts and was interviewed for their head coaching job (which wound up going to Chuck Pagano). The NCAA has barred him from accepting another college head coaching job for the next five years. He stated many times that the one NFL job he would even consider leaving Ohio State for was the Browns job, because he grew up in Berea and was still a die-hard Browns fan. He was even linked to the job twice during Romeo Crennel's up-and-down four-year tenure, but was never a serious candidate. While his style may be best suited for college players, there's no denying that he's a winner. Plus, he'd be a very popular choice with the fans -- many still think he got a raw deal even though it was proven that he lied to NCAA investigators.
7. Tony Dungy, NBC Sunday Night Football analyst: Dungy, like Cowher, Gruden and Billick, has found a home on television following his retirement from being the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts following the 2008 season. Since then, Dungy has been a fixture on NBC's Football Night in America highlight show and on the SNF postgame studio show. Dungy was in the process of turning Tampa Bay's football fortunes around from 1996-2001 before he was mysteriously fired (and replaced by Jon Gruden, who promptly won a Super Bowl with his players). Indy snapped him up to replace Jim Mora, and, with the help of Peyton Manning, rode a wave of prosperity with the Colts from 2002-08, even winning the Super Bowl in 2006 and building a team that got to the Super Bowl a year after he stepped down. Dungy, a former Steeler player and assistant coach, is one of the most respected figures in professional football today and would bring instant credibility to this franchise. However, it appears he's comfortable as a TV analyst and hasn't leaked any indication of a possible return to coaching. He'd be worth talking to, though.
8. Kevin Gilbride, New York Giants offensive coordinator: As the architect of the Giants' offense, Gilbride has won two Super Bowl championships over the last five years and has the chance to win a third this season. Gilbride is one of the most respected offensive minds in the NFL, dating back to his Run-&-Shoot offensive scheme with the Houston Oilers in the early 1990s. However, as a head coach, he didn't cut the mustard, going 6-16 during his two years as the head coach of the San Diego Chargers (1996-98). Gilbride may be one of those guys who is just cut out to be a top-level assistant but not ready to be a head coach. However, the work he's done with the Giants lately has seemingly put him back on the radar for head coaching gigs. He's arguably the top candidate among current assistant coaches. If the Giants reach the Super Bowl again, his name will definitely be a hot commodity.
9. Philip Fulmer, CBS college football analyst: I throw Fulmer's name on this list because he's a coaching legend from the University of Tennessee. Haslam's father was a football player for the Volunteers, and the Haslam family is one of Tennessee's biggest athletic boosters and a very influential family down there. Fulmer won Tennessee's only BCS National Championship in 1997, and his Volunteers are still the last SEC team to win back-to-back conference championships (1997-98). Fulmer hasn't coached anyone since Tennessee fired him after a 5-7 season in 2008, but he has said that he hasn't ruled out a return to coaching. I refer to my earlier statement on college coaches making the transition to the NFL, and, if any college coach makes the jump, it's likely to be Saban. Also, Fulmer has never even been an NFL assistant coach. But, anything's possible.
10. Dom Capers, Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator: Capers has had a sketchy track record as an NFL head coach. In two four-year stints with the Carolina Panthers (1995-98) and the Houston Texans (2002-05), his record is just 48-80. However, he did take over two expansion franchises, and his Panthers reached the NFC Championship game in just his second year. However, that 1996 season was his only winning season as a head coach. His defenses were always tough, but his offenses were conservative and lackluster. Capers is an Ohio native (Byesville) who played collegiately at Mount Union and also served as an assistant coach with both Kent State (1972-74) and Ohio State (1982-83), so he has some Ohio ties. He was also the Steelers' defensive coordinator from 1992-94 under Cowher. His Packers' units are known to be among the top defenses in the NFL. However, he did win a Super Bowl with the Packers in 2010 and could very well do it again this year. His background in the 3-4 defense clashes with the Browns' current desire to go with a 4-3.
HONORABLE MENTION: Urban Meyer, Ohio State head coach; Aaron Kromer, New Orleans Saints interim head coach; Todd Haley, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator; Herman Edwards, NFL Network analyst; Kirk Ferentz, Iowa head coach; Jay Gruden, Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator; Wade Phillips, Houston Texans defensive coordinator; Joe Vitt, New Orleans Saints assistant head coach; Rob Ryan, Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator.
There is no shortage of legitimate candidates to be the next Browns head coach, one that would surely get the fans excited and help put this team over the hump.
And, I've got to say, I would prefer anyone on this list over Pat Shurmur.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
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