Pat Shurmur on Adderall and Ankle Sprains

by Cleveland Frowns on October 2, 2012

It’s all the same to Coach. Per Bill Livingston in today’s PD:

Asked if he feels “betrayed” by [50 million dollar cornerback Joe] Haden, [who was suspended for a quarter of the season for recreational use of Adderall], coach Pat Shurmur said: “Betrayed? No. Joe could have gone out and sprained his ankle, I’m not betrayed.” . . .

When a reporter pointed out that Haden didn’t exactly sprain an ankle, Shurmur said: “I know. I think that’s where there’s a little disconnect between those asking the questions and those answering it. We deal with the cards we’re dealt, and you go play. That’s our little world here and that’s how we handle it. No, I don’t feel betrayed. I want the guys that play until he gets back to challenge their fanny off and play good football. When he gets back, we’ll play it out from there.”

. . .

. . .

Elsewhere in the paper, Tom Reed brings up a special Browns stat from the Elias Sports Bureau:

The Browns have not had a lead in 180-plus minutes – the longest drought in the league. They last held a lead with 24 seconds remaining in the opening-day, 17-16 loss to Philadelphia.

It marks the first time, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Browns have been without an advantage for three straight games since Dec. 15-28, 2008.

Wonder what the record is.

—————

In other news, things are happening in Brecks Vegas. Here’s an editorial by Brecksville attorney David Witt on the story of Rose and Jack Petsche (more background here), a pair of Brecksville residents who set out to do something about the increasing influence of unaccountable money in the political process by way of a local ballot initiative. The Petsches formed an organization called Brecksville Citizens for Transparent Politics, and their petition, “provided for [among other things] the establishment of a biannual Democracy Day in Brecksville where, via a public hearing, the mayor, at least one member of council and the community would examine the impact of local political contributions on local policymaking.”

In response, the city of Brecksville filed a protest with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to keep the petition off of the November ballot, “arguing that campaign finance is not a matter for local legislative scrutiny.” The matter ended up being resolved by the secretary of state, who resolved a split vote by the BOE in concluding that “scrutiny of campaign finance was a legitimate interest of city government.” Now the Brecksville City Council has appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, where “the matter is likely to be resolved within the next several weeks.”

Something to keep an eye on, of course, as well as a good show on the NFL Network tomorrow, which is all for today here. Hope everyone has a decent one.

UPDATE: The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Brecksville ballot initiative. Stay tuned re: whether it passes and how the new transparency measures will be implemented if it does.

  • p_forever

    hurray for home rule, for sure.

  • BIKI024

    still shakin my head on why Joe chose adderall over yayo. why joe, why!?!?!?!?!

    • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

      The league office does not release details on the infraction, so for all we know it was coke. All we have is Haden’s word that it was adderall.

      • BIKI024

        yeah it is still all hearsay but who initially broke the story about it being Adderall, don’t believe it was acknowledged by Joe until after the suspension was officially announced.

        • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

          The Adderall story came from Haden’s agent. If you can’t trust his agent for reliable news about his failed drug tests, who can you trust?

    • Cranky M

      He wanted all of the energy without any of that pesky euphoria.

      • acto

        You are exactly correct, that damn euphoria gets in the way of me being a dum ass prick too.

    • Believelander

      1) possession of cocaine is a felony

  • 910Derp

    Will Cleveland ’95 help or hurt Art’s HOF chances? I’ve gone back and forth about watching this; seems like it’s going to sting a little. Maybe a flash of a sting even.

    • Believelander

      I don’t think Cleveland ’95 is going to affect Art Modell’s hall of fame campaign. Aside from the interviews which are probably not going to center around Modell or bring to light a lot of facts, like the fact that the ‘legendary businessman’ was flat broke and the giant check Baltimore wrote him for our team was what bailed him out. The ironic truth is that the man responsible for one of the biggest sports atrocities in history is largely irrelevant to the story beyond his role as the catalyst for the story, not to mention possibly the greatest ‘What If’ in modern sports history.

      From what Baskin and Phelps said yesterday morning, there’s going to be a lot of back room footage never before seen of the guys and what was going on inside the organization. That’s why I’m watching it. It’s an unprecedented look inside a piece of Cleveland history.

      Of course it’s going to hurt. Dustin Fox said flat out on his radio show (he and Adam the Bull got to watch it yesterday) that he would probably have broke down if Bull hadn’t been in the room.

  • Hopwin

    STOP THE PRESSES!

    http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2012/10/sandy_alomar_wont_repeat_ozzie.html

    One more candidate: Former Tribe slugger Albert Belle said he threw his hat into the ring with an email to President Mark Shapiro asking for a managerial interview.

    “I’m just like Robin Ventura and Mike Matheny were last year,” said Belle with a laugh, referring to the White Sox and Cardinals bosses. “I’m sitting on my couch waiting for my phone to ring.”

    Belle is currently rehabbing his left hip after having “resurfacing” surgery on it about 10 weeks ago

    • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

      That’s laughable. Belle must have forgotten what a colossal ASSHOLE he was to everyone in the 216 area code.

      • Believelander

        I don’t think Albert should get a manager job after being completely divorced from the league for over 10 years, but I would like the Indians to hire him into the system if he can teach and consider him for manager in the future if he does well. Just because he had a badditude when he was young doesn’t mean he will today. But these are things you have to learn about a guy, and you also have to see if he’s willing to put in the time.

        I’d really like to see Albert get hired on as a hitting coordinator to work closely with any/all of our prospects. The guy was one of the greatest hitters of his era, and if a degenerative hip hadn’t ended his career he might still be playing in his mid forties.

        • CleveLandThatILove

          Absolutely.

        • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

          I’m not opposed to him being involved at some level, I’m simply saying that he should not get any consideration for a major league managing job right now.

          Everything you’ve said here is fair, but he has to make his bones first.

    • BIKI024

      it seems like it’s going to be Francona..

      • NeedsFoodBadly

        Who on earth would pick Francona to manage a team over Albert Belle? He hit 50 home runs and 50 doubles!

        You’re sitting on the bench, some guy says “hey, do a better job out there,” who are you going to listen to? Some 50 year old shlub who shares a nickname with the worst member of the Jackson Five? Or are you going with the guy who once smashed a thermostat with a baseball bat, a man who ruled the clubhouse through a mixture of terror and sub-60 degree temperatures? Belle was able to motivate Jason Grimsley to crawl through air vents to recover a corked bat. The man can clearly lead like no other.

        STOP THE PRESSES THIS MANAGER SEARCH IS OVER

        • Hopwin

          Don’t forget about the time he ran over two trick or treaters for pranking him.

          • NeedsFoodBadly

            Manager Belle would force underperforming players to run wind sprints while he chased them in an SUV. Players who twittered indiscreetly would get baseballs flung at their heads.

            Imagine what he could do with this squad! Why wasn’t he hired yesterday????

        • maxfnmloans

          How dare you say Tito was the worst member of the Jackson 5? In Cleveland, shouldn’t we biased against any and all things named “Randy”?

          • NeedsFoodBadly

            A great point! I will take Randy under consideration.

        • clay

          Hell yeah, give me A.B. I can imagine him taking the ball from a pitcher who just got shelled… Berating an umpire… Calling Asdrubal a fat ass for not hustling down the line… Would make for great tv.

      • Cranky M

        Methinks Sandy Alomar.

        • BIKI024

          yeah, i mean it’s likely, but only if Francona turns us down.. i love Sandy, but he may need some more time as a benchcoach, learn from Terry for another couple years.

          • Believelander

            What he actually needs is a job as a manager. You can’t learn to be the manager until you become one and make your mistakes, grow, and learn.

            However, Francona is the correct move for the Indians, no questions asked. We don’t necessarily need a rookie manager managing a young struggling team.

    • nj0

      Has he managed on any level? I’d be all for getting him involved with the organization, but you sure as heck can’t start at the top when you haven’t paid your dues or shown any acumen in a managerial position.

      • Alexb

        dude you’ve completely overthought this, it’s fucking Cleveland just give Belle the job…who gives a fuck? At this point if Bob Golic wanted to coach the browns i’d say fuck it why not. I mean seriously this is Cleveland who gives two shits anymore

        • nj0

          me

          • Petefranklin

            Why?? Its not like they can win or anything.

          • Alexb

            The indians are farm team now for the rest of the league. They develop players than trade them off for zip, nothin. So again, why on earth would you care if Albert Belle took a crack at managing the Indians? Help me understand.

          • Believelander

            +1 Derps for this comment. Had to be entered as a reply since there’s no Derp button.

  • p_forever

    haden : adderall :: winslow : motorcycles

    • ClevelandFrowns

      :: fannies : challenging

      • p_forever

        hahaha – i forgot that you were an SAT savant, frownie.

  • Ron

    I particularly enjoyed this quote from Coach:

    “If we’ve got use three tight ends, if we’ve got to use two receivers, whatever the combination is, we’ve got plenty of plays and a lot of ideas and we’ll put the guys out there that will give us the best chance to win.”

    http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/01/josh-cribbs-held-out-with-concussion-expects-to-play/

    12 -0 the rest of the way.

    • reggiebuckeye

      That is so awe inspiring coming from Pat. So where was all this ingenuity when you had a full compliment of healthy players? Does that include TE screens on 3rd and 20?

      I can’t do another season of this. I don’t know if I can finish this season with him.

      • Believelander

        You forget draw runs on 2nd and 20 AND 3rd and 17.

        • reggiebuckeye

          Oh, yes, how could I forget? Shumurball at its finest.

          Is it wrong that I feel like crying every time I see a college team or another NFL team complete one of those plays successfully? Can we just have a semi-competent team I can watch during the season? Isn’t it amazing the standard we are willing to accept?

    • Beeej

      I’m intrigued by this idea of two receiver sets. It could revolutionize the game. Next thing you know, he’ll be talking about the forward pass.

      • reggiebuckeye

        You mean instead of the screens? Never! Then again, he’ll just blame Greg Little for dropping one or two passes on the many different plays the team has that aren’t thrown behind the line of scrimmage. Or better yet, we’ll see 3 TE sets so we can give the ball to TRich. Oh, wait, anything that doesn’t include Ginger throwing the ball all over the field to anyone or anything not in a Browns jersey doesn’t count as acceptable football in his eyes. Someone save us, please.

      • acto

        Coach Pat is going to revoltionize the game. The Browns picked Sammy Baugh up off the waiver wire.

        • Petefranklin

          So I guess we’ll lead the league in net punt yardage and interception s now, hooray for us!!

  • Bryan

    The one thing I like about Shurmur is how poorly he hides his contempt for the Cleveland media at press conferences. He can’t stand their stupid questions.

    I predict Jon Gruden will be our next coach.

    • Believelander

      I was largely against Gruden because I considered him an inferior choice versus keeping Mangini. I always considered him overrated, though I don’t really think he’s a bad coach, and there are quite a few positives to consider too. And whatever else you think of Chucky, based on my previous criteria for not wanting to hire him, I must now wholeheartedly support hiring him if the alternative is keeping Pat Shurmur.

      Here’s what I want from a new head coach:

      1) Has succeeded before. Check. I would also be happy with any coach who has had really noteworthy success – an offensive coordinator who presided over perennially powerful offenses (rather than Shurmur offenses, which looked in St. Louis a lot like they look in Cleveland), or Brad Seely, a special teams coach who has presided over perennially excellent special teams (by the way, quite a few notable successful head coaches were successful/great special teams coaches). Basically, have tangible reasons anyone with basic research skills could cite as credible reasons for the hire.

      2) Willing to run the West Coast offense. Check.
      2a)addendum: West Coast must be of variety that has worked in this millennium. Check (see: Super Bowl 37)

      3) Willing to work off of our base defensive scheme. This is more unknowable but as a guy whose zenith was attained largely by not messing with a great defense put into place by another man, I’ll assume he’s got enough flexibility in this department. Furthermore, the protean Cover 2 base isn’t forced to be a 4-3 or a 3-4, so you’re fine with a 4-3 personnel grouping.

      4) Great hair. Check.

      5) Able to take the architecture established by predecessors and succeed with it instead of turning it over for ‘his’ ‘system’/'plan’/'scheme’/'othermeme’. Obviously check. Gruden did this in both Oakland and Tampa Bay. This is really important because what the Browns need is consistency. So far we’ve been turning over our schemes and systems and as a result, our personnel, every 3-5 years, which has left us a listless demasted ship drifting and useless. The biggest thing we need in a new head coach is a guy who is going to take the talent we have, the system we have, the architecture we have, and build from that point instead of tearing it down to start fresh.

      Not saying Gruden’s the ideal candidate but he certainly ‘fits the bill’ as it were, with where we currently sit.

      • bupalos

        I’m not a Gruden fan by any stretch, but he would be fine, and I think your checklist is excellent, most especially the emphasis on some continuity. The only scheme that really can’t work is the one you just installed.

      • Peter

        Gruden is a good coach, but a lousy evaluator of talent. He must be teamed with a good and strong willed GM. Gruden’s struggle to add talent to the Bucs led to his demise. Bruce Allen was a disaster. I can’t believe he found another job. He drafted poorly and let Gruden convicen to sign every has been free agnet avaiable. On the flip side, Super Bowl 37 was both of his teams. The Raiders could have easily played in a couple more with a little luck. Tuck Rule game and Goose knocking Gannon out of a play off game come to mind.

        • BIKI024

          Bruce Allen is the GM of the Redskins, and the architect of the trade for RG3 that some people around here call one of the biggest blunders by Holmgren. (I disagree of course)

  • CleveLandThatILove

    Trying to imagine Pat Shurmur on Adderall.

    • Shadow_play

      I need adderall to stay focused during his press conferences. He’s so dull.

      • Believelander

        Ironically people thought Mangini was bad. They didn’t know bad.

        The greater irony is that people knocked Mangini for mishandling the media, often becoming cross and cantankerous. Those who chafed and raged at Mangini daring to speak crossly to The Media could never until now imagine a coach who has never accomplished anything of great mention as a coach at any level speaking to them as if they were five years old.

        They also used to bag on Mangini for his in-game decisions, use of time outs, his system, lackluster offense, etc.

        Sometimes during the day, my eyes just glaze over as I reminisce. I think of Tony Grossi, Biki, and most of all, Smittypop. Then a small ironic smirk crosses my face.

        • bupalos

          >>>speaking to them as if they were five years old.>>>

          And as if he was 5 and a half.

        • BIKI024

          again, I had a 3 year jump on your love affair of Mangini, so his Belichian charm had worn off.. but his time with ESPN sure has done wonders for his tan!

          and what is the smirk for? knowing that Mangini has made $8m the last 2 years, with zero, zilch chance of him being the HC of the Browns ever again???

  • ClevelandFrowns
  • http://twitter.com/musicman06 Chris Music

    Add 60 more minutes to that 180. Coughlin is gonna be ready to roll after the Giants lost that last minute game to the Eagles Sunday Night. #DRINK

    • Believelander

      I got a dollar says the Browns hold a lead in Sunday’s game.

      • reggiebuckeye

        In your dreams.

  • Beeej

    I thought GLittle was to blame for our poor start. Did the PD run out of ways to blame him, or did they find out that Haden is the man pouring the gasoline in the dumpster?

    • acto

      “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

  • Defenestration

    “Hey Frank, sorry to hear about little Timmy going to prison. I read he was making meth. Man you must be really disappointed in him, huh?”

    “Nah. He could be off in the Armed Forces or volunteering with the Peace Corps or something.”

    No personal responsibility at all? I don’t get worked up too much over sports, but this is a life thing. The guy didn’t just get hurt. There was no accident here. He made a bad decision that led to a suspension which hurts his team. Is ‘betrayed’ possibly a loaded word and maybe too harsh? Sure. But to liken it to something out of his control is unbelievable.

    • Beeej

      Would it make it more acceptable if he was caught using PEDs? Hadden isn’t the first player in any sport to fail a drug test and he won’t be the last. It was agreed upon, in these parts at least, that the Browns were looking at anywhere from 0-4 wins this season. Does not having Hadden on the field hurt the team? Yes. Is it going to keep us out of the playoffs? dielajsiehasdfngielkasdfowe…Sorry, I couldn’t even take that last question seriously.

      I get it. Drugs are bad mmmm’ kay. Marijuana is bad mmmm’kay. Don’t do drugs, cause they’re bad mmmm’kay.

      P mentioned Winslow and motorcycles. How many games did Braylon miss for a cut he received from running with his shoes off? To put a Biki face on it. It is what it is. Get over it. Move on to the next thing. #bikiface

      • Defenestration

        Sorry, I must not have been clear. I was taking umbrage at how Shurmur likened it to an injury. This is not about Haden’s actions or drug use in any way. It’s about Shurmur’s treatment of the situation.
        I have nothing to get over when it comes to Haden’s drug use and subsequent suspension. My personal thoughts on recreational or performance enhancing drugs and how they are treated in sports is of no importance to this conversation. To what degree the suspension affects the Cleveland Browns is inconsequential to this discussion. What is of importance is that the personal responsibility of Joe Haden is being trivialized by a head coach in the NFL. My outrage is toward the subsequent treatment of the situation, not toward the action that led to the situation or the consequences felt because of it.

        • Beeej

          Sorry, as well.

          I just don’t see why the Hadden suspension is still getting serious press. I’d prefer to see more questions about our 1st quarter point differential and what that says about the teams game plan and/or preparation; instead we get laser beams, Haslam speculation, Gruden rumors, and fingers pointing in every direction but the right one.

          • Defenestration

            Yeah, I definitely was not addressing it as a football issue. I agree that a lot of talk is focused on the easy narratives like injuries, suspensions, and dropped passes. That is frustrating. As you say, there are plenty of things to examine without rehashing that stuff.

            For me, Shurmur’s comments were a life thing. When Haden apologized to teammates and fans, no one said “Hey man, you have nothing to apologize for, you could have sprained your ankle and been out four weeks.” Because that would be crazy pants.

            Or even better, had someone asked Haden about apologizing and he replied “for what? I could have sprained an ankle and been out four weeks,” would everyone nod knowingly, thinking ‘yeah, this guy really has his head on straight’?

          • acto

            Go back to fighting with him Beeej!
            He is the guy who took our umbrage.

          • Defenestration

            The foliage will return in the spring.

        • nj0

          I don’t know if it’s being trivialized. He’s just trying to redirect a bear-trap-of-a-question about a player’s off-field shennanigans to focus on what the team is on-the-field is doing. That’s Coach 101 stuff.

          Even if you think Shurmur is trivilializing it, this is just what he is saying to the press. What is said in public and private about a player should not, imo, be the same.

          As with Shurmur (and most coaches), someone more savy probably could have provided a response that would have answered the reporter, sent a message to the player, appeased the fans, and still avoided the bear trap (“betrayal”? really?). But come on. He’s not a lawyer. He’s just trying to get through a press corps Q&A without having to say anything meaningful. No sin there.

          Anyway, I’m no Shurmur fan, but parsing his idiotic replies to idiotic questions is a waste of time at this point (outside of the entertainment value, that is). If we were 4-0, he could compare adderall to lockjaw and I wouldn’t care.

          But we’re not 4-0.
          We’re 0-4.
          Don’t forget, that’s the real issue here.

          Eyes on the prize: 0-16

          • Defenestration

            “He’s just trying to redirect a bear-trap-of-a-question about a player’s off-field shennanigans to focus on what the team is on-the-field is doing. That’s Coach 101 stuff.”

            That speaks to intent. I agree that this was probably his intent. That doesn’t mean that anything he says with that intent is a reasonable thing to say. In this case, I think he screwed up with the action he took to carry out his goal.

            “What is said in public and private about a player should not, imo, be the same.”

            Agree as well. But again, that doesn’t mean anything he says in public is excusable. If he chooses to address it at all in public, he should say something he believes. He doesn’t have to say it all, but he should be able to stand behind it.

            “He’s just trying to get through a press corps Q&A without having to say anything meaningful.”

            Yep.

            “No sin there.”

            No sin in what he was trying to do as you state it. But that doesn’t mean everything he does while trying to do that is free of sin, or fine, or right, or whatever you want to call it.

            “parsing his idiotic replies to idiotic questions is a waste of time at this point”

            Yeah, well, you know, that’s just like, uh, your opinion, man.

      • Believelander

        The problem is and isn’t that Haden got popped for taking Adderall.

        The problem is that Haden got popped for taking Adderall so he could remain conscious to continue an all-night Vegas bender. It’s the first big pothole on a long road. The fact that it’s not going to keep us out of the playoffs is wholly irrelevant. The Browns made an enormous investment in Joe Haden, and his chosen lifestyle outside his chosen vocation can, at best, be something he ‘balances’ with his work life. In general, the partying, the excess, even removed from NFL violations, are all things that adversely affect his mind and body. Obviously up until that point he had balanced it all, but then he did something really dumb and got caught doing it.

        We can get over it and move on to the next thing when Haden comes back and demonstrates growth. I sincerely hope he does. It’s possible getting the full-time party lifestyle out of his system and settling for a part-time party lifestyle allows him to take steps to become an even better football player. Boy would that be something to see.

  • Beeej
    • acto

      Beej,
      They are a bunch of Fracking Bastages!
      I bought a bunch of land SE of Austin and I heard that some Bastages are going to start Fracking there soon.
      I bought it planning to build a very large animal shelter.
      Are dogs and cat frightened by earthquakes?

      • NeedsFoodBadly

        Anecdotally, animals can sense earthquakes before they occur. And yeah, it freaks them right out.

  • Bryan
    • Believelander

      /suicide

  • bupalos

    Frostee unfrozen:

    http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2012/10/frostee_rucker_gives_us_the_sc.html#incart_river_default

    He seems like a more than decent guy, but the big takeaway here is that he got his name because his military dad apparently ran Marine house parties under a “DJ Frost” label and thought everyone would call his son little Frostee no matter what he named him, so he just went with it.

    • Hopwin

      Can’t tell if kidding or not…

      You know he was arrested for spousal battery in Cincinnati and Sexual Assault and indecent exposure back at Colorado State (resulting in expulsion) right?

      • bupalos

        Maybe I should have capitalized SEEMS. I have a hard time giving doubt-benefits and second-chances to wife-stompers. But people have multiple sides, and everything is definitely a little relative in the rage-ridden NFL (and the town of Jim Brown.)

  • Believelander

    Look Pete, the people need some positivity around these parts, and yes, there are things to be positive about. For example, it could always be worse.

  • Believelander

    So when we fire Holmgren and Shurmur, let’s look forward to what we should hope for.

    1) Joe Banner for President. Championships (overrated) aside, Banner has presided over a successful franchise. They’re prime time, they’re big money, and they’re a good team far more often than they’re not. Furthermore, he hired the guy who headlines point

    2) Tom Heckert should stay on as general manager unless there’s a clear-cut better choice. As the GM (read: draft liaison to Andy Reid) in Philly and GM (read: draft liaison to Mike Holmgren) in Cleveland, he’s presided over a mostly successful draft history. Draft gaffes (new rhyme!) such as Hardesty (high 3rd round pick plus 2 5th round picks) and Marecic (bottom of 4th round pick – house money from ATL in Julio Jones deal) really didn’t significantly hurt our team (beyond the fact that this team really needs all the help it can get).

    Last I checked, every NFL team drafts players who don’t pan out at all, and to expect a drafter to frequently produce an embarrassment of riches in the 3rd-7th round isn’t realistic. You can also bag on his free agency, but we really don’t have the access to know where the balance lies in who is making those decisions between him and Holmgren, and I tend to err on the side of agreeing with Heckert – when your cupboard is bare, inking a bunch of free agents will probably get you a few more wins in the short term, hurt your draft position, and bury yourself in salary concerns in the long-term, hamstringing your ability to re-sign your best home-grown talent and bring in prime free agents to complement them when they get good.

    I think unless the Browns somehow got an unprecedented shot at an Ozzie Newsome or another GM of that caliber, there’s no reason to turn over Heckert. I’ve really warmed up to him as a man to acquire talent for the franchise, and if Phil Taylor, Brandon Weeden, and Greg Little all become legit players, the Julio Jones trade may go down as a historic blockbuster – a trade that was really a home run for both franchises.

    Finally, we all who supported Mangini hammered the drum of continuity and stability, oft citing our successful, stable, hated rivals as a model of success through stability. While it’s obvious Shurmur is not at this point an acceptable head coach and while Mike Holmgren has gone from preordained folk hero/superhero/franchise messiah to franchise pariah in under 2 years, Heckert is the one largely successful thread woven into this tapestry in the last 3 years of Holmgren mediocrity. Allowing the same talent architect to continue to accrete talent and build a deep, healthy roster gives us a basis of stability, continuity, and patience. Since he’s a GM inherently familiar with the systems we currently have in place (despite them badly needing a firmware upgrade), keeping him on board would really help out with my point

    3) Hire a coach who will build with the talent and schemes we have in place. Whoever it is, let him be a guy who is comfortable with running a newer, better, modern Philly/Indy/New Orleans style WCO that fundamentally works in today’s NFL – or willing to secure an offensive coordinator who is. The concepts and fundamentals have been established (those are apparently all Shurms+Holms know) and for better or worse, it’s the only pro system Brandon Weeden, Greg Little, Trent Richardson, and many other Browns offensive players will know going into 2013. Also, our defensive personnel is distinctly geared towards the 4-3, so we should build upon that rather than flipping it around. If we ever land a Mario Williams/Demarcus Ware/Julius Peppers/Jason Pierre-Paul caliber pass rusher, we could shift our 4-3 base into a Cover 2 base, but we definitely should not push back to a 3-4 when most of our talent favors the former.

    So that’s all I want. Nothing major. Get the guy we all pretty much know Haslam wants to get. Have him keep the guy he hired once before in Philly. Get a coach who runs the systems we run now, which happen to be the systems run under Banner and Heckert. Easy peasy. Let’s make it happen.

    • Hopwin

      Last I checked, every NFL team drafts players who don’t pan out at all, and to expect a drafter to frequently produce an embarrassment of riches in the 3rd-7th round isn’t realistic. You can also bag on his free agency, but we really don’t have the access to know where the balance lies in who is making those decisions between him and Holmgren, and I tend to err on the side of agreeing with Heckert – when your cupboard is bare, inking a bunch of free agents will probably get you a few more wins in the short term, hurt your draft position, and bury yourself in salary concerns in the long-term, hamstringing your ability to re-sign your best home-grown talent and bring in prime free agents to complement them when they get good.

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      Make up your mind, is this Heckert’s philsophy or is it imposed by Holmgren. You can’t praise him out of one corner of your mouth and damn Holmgren for the concept out of the other.

      In either case if you will not add pieces through pieces/parts than your paragraph above is laughable. You cannot miss on any picks when that is the only method to bring in talent. Other teams can afford to muff draft picks because they have trades and free agent acquisitions to offset those misses. We do not have that luxury, we can add 7 players per year during the draft to fill a 53 man roster meaning if we hit on EVERY single pick it would take over 7 years to draft a full roster.

      So neener on you sirrah.

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