You Can't Blame Shurmur For This One

The fans have done it again. I am finally so fed up with this concussion story that I feel like I need to give my opinion on the matter.  

McCoy was injured after his throw to Hardesty when Harrison hit him.  What McCoy injured at the time, was his hand and wrist.  The trainers, two or three of them, were looking at his wrist and taping a few of his fingers together while talking to him.  These same trainers came to the conclusion that he was not showing symptoms of a concussion, therefore, no concussion tests were needed.  A concussion can show up later after a blow to the head and there are numerous examples to support that and it is not even worth going into.  That is simply what happened.

What bothers me the most is the backlash that head coach Pat Shurmur is enduring. People are on their high horses complaining that no way, no how, McCoy should have been put back into the game after that hit.  How could Shurmur have allowed such a thing?  

What people don’t realize, for some reason, is that Shurmur is trying to call plays, get formations together, and figure out what to do with Seneca Wallace.  He isn’t on the sideline to administer McCoy concussion tests or clear him to play, that’s a trainer’s job. His job is to coach the football team.  So when a player comes up to him and says, “I’m ready to roll,” the coach puts him back into the game to play because the doctors have cleared him as such.  That’s all there is to it.

People have been all over Shurmur for his play calling, how he’s handled personnel, and even what his demeanor is like on the sidelines and during press conferences.  Okay, fine.  You have the right to your own opinion (no matter how wrong I think you are for most of it).  But to take your aggravation out on Pat Shurmur for this concussion matter, when really you are just pissed off about another double-digit loss season, is stupid and illogical.

If we are going to continue to call ourselves the best football fans in football, then it’s about time we start becoming the smarter football fans. All I see is angry and bitter people trying to slam a coach for something he isn’t responsible for.  If McCoy came back in and threw the game winning touchdown pass your tunes would be a lot different, and I don’t even want to think about what some of you would’ve said if Wallace came in and threw the same interception that McCoy did.  It’s about time Browns fans pulled their head out of their asses and become informed about the way things work on an NFL sideline before they try to nail Pat Shurmur to a cross.  Pat Shurmur is a football coach, not a neurologist, and it’s about time everyone realizes that.  

The Wrong Time to Leave Your Browns

The Browns sit at 4-8 and are securely planted in the cellar this season in the AFC North.  An echoing sentiment from what I can gather from the radio, social networking, and talking to people in person, is that people are “fed up.”

I can’t help but ask, “Why now?”

Why is this the season that you are done with your Browns? Wasn’t it just a few years ago that we sat at 1-11 and there was no semblance of any playmakers on offense or defense? Mangini offenses make this one look like the Packers.  We couldn’t accidentally run into a touchdown let alone pick up a garbage score in the fourth quarter of games.  

What I really don’t understand is why we aren’t willing to give this front office and coaching staff more than a year to show us what they can really do.  Tom Heckert has given the Browns the two best consecutive drafts since the team returned in 1999.  They drafted Haden, Ward, McCoy, Hardesty, Luavo and ended up finding a great trade for Peyton Hillis in their first season.  Add to those players Taylor, Sheard, Little, Pinkston and Marecic, these are young players getting loads of experience in a season where WE WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO COMPETE. For anything.  This season was about experience, about finding what we DON’T have and then once we finally have an actual offseason, make the changes accordingly.  

And there in lies the real problem.  There were no OTAs this season.  The team wasn’t allowed to give out playbooks or even talk to players during the lockout, making it almost impossible for this team to fully grasp what Pat Shurmur wants to do on offense.  Is that an excuse that should be used in week 12? Probably not, but it definitely doesn’t get this team off to a fast start, a real theme to this season.

On offense our best pass catchers have proved to a rookie 2^nd round pick who didn’t play football last year and undrafted rookie wide receiver from Penn St.  You can say whatever you want about Colt McCoy and much of his criticism is garnered, but when you combine a kick returner, two rookies, and a very average receiver in Massaquoi as your receiving corps you don’t exactly have a recipe for success.  Combine that with the Peyton Hillis drama and how the Browns lead the league with 33 drops, I am not sure how any offense is supposed to survive that.  

McCoy has looked lost at times, has looked like he is staring down his receiver and only throwing short routes, but he can only throw to the plays that are called.  And in Shurmur’s defense, how is he supposed to call a complicated passing game with the pieces that he has? Cribbs still doesn’t know how to run routes and the other receivers have seen this offensive scheme for less than a year.  How can anyone succeed in that environment, quarterback, receiver, and lineman alike?

So why should we stick around and tune in every Sunday to watch the Browns? Seven draft picks in the first four rounds of the upcoming draft certainly is one of them.  This front office has done as well as any in recent Browns history in getting talent and there is no reason why that should stop.  There are proven veterans as well on this team in Joe Thomas, D’Qwell Jackson, Alex Mack, and the much forgotten Eric Steinback.  All I am saying, is that this is not the season to jump ship.  You can say that you have put up with this same thing for 12 years now, but guess what, this front office has been here for only one year and this is Shurmur’s first season as a head coach.  There has been improvement whether people want to see it or not, and if you “fans” really want to be angry enough to leave the Browns, call me in two years, because there is no quick fix in the NFL.  The Browns cannot be built in one day, so if you want the gratification of sticking around, rooting for your team that you grew up with and seeing them succeed, you need to wait.  If not, go root for the Steelers.

The Wrong Time to Leave Your Browns

The Browns sit at 4-8 and are securely planted in the cellar this season in the AFC North.  An echoing sentiment from what I can gather from the radio, social networking, and talking to people in person, is that people are “fed up.”

I can’t help but ask, “Why now?”

Why is this the season that you are done with your Browns? Wasn’t it just a few years ago that we sat at 1-11 and there was no semblance of any playmakers on offense or defense? Mangini offenses make this one look like the Packers.  We couldn’t accidentally run into a touchdown let alone pick up a garbage score in the fourth quarter of games.  

What I really don’t understand is why we aren’t willing to give this front office and coaching staff more than a year to show us what they can really do.  Tom Heckert has given the Browns the two best consecutive drafts since the team returned in 1999.  They drafted Haden, Ward, McCoy, Hardesty, Luavo and ended up finding a great trade for Peyton Hillis in their first season.  Add to those players Taylor, Sheard, Little, Pinkston and Marecic, these are young players getting loads of experience in a season where WE WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO COMPETE. For anything.  This season was about experience, about finding what we DON’T have and then once we finally have an actual offseason, make the changes accordingly.  

And there in lies the real problem.  There were no OTAs this season.  The team wasn’t allowed to give out playbooks or even talk to players during the lockout, making it almost impossible for this team to fully grasp what Pat Shurmur wants to do on offense.  Is that an excuse that should be used in week 12? Probably not, but it definitely doesn’t get this team off to a fast start, a real theme to this season.

On offense our best pass catchers have proved to a rookie 2^nd round pick who didn’t play football last year and undrafted rookie wide receiver from Penn St.  You can say whatever you want about Colt McCoy and much of his criticism is garnered, but when you combine a kick returner, two rookies, and a very average receiver in Massaquoi as your receiving corps you don’t exactly have a recipe for success.  Combine that with the Peyton Hillis drama and how the Browns lead the league with 33 drops, I am not sure how any offense is supposed to survive that.  

McCoy has looked lost at times, has looked like he is staring down his receiver and only throwing short routes, but he can only throw to the plays that are called.  And in Shurmur’s defense, how is he supposed to call a complicated passing game with the pieces that he has? Cribbs still doesn’t know how to run routes and the other receivers have seen this offensive scheme for less than a year.  How can anyone succeed in that environment, quarterback, receiver, and lineman alike?

So why should we stick around and tune in every Sunday to watch the Browns? Seven draft picks in the first four rounds of the upcoming draft certainly is one of them.  This front office has done as well as any in recent Browns history in getting talent and there is no reason why that should stop.  There are proven veterans as well on this team in Joe Thomas, D’Qwell Jackson, Alex Mack, and the much forgotten Eric Steinback.  All I am saying, is that this is not the season to jump ship.  You can say that you have put up with this same thing for 12 years now, but guess what, this front office has been here for only one year and this is Shurmur’s first season as a head coach.  There has been improvement whether people want to see it or not, and if you “fans” really want to be angry enough to leave the Browns, call me in two years, because there is no quick fix in the NFL.  The Browns cannot be built in one day, so if you want the gratification of sticking around, rooting for your team that you grew up with and seeing them succeed, you need to wait.  If not, go root for the Steelers.