Browns hire Mike Pettine

The Cleveland Browns ended their hunt for a new head coach with the hiring of Buffalo defensive coordinator Mike Pettine as their new bench boss.

The 47 year old Pettine brings a strong defensive background and in his only year in Buffalo improved their defense notably in getting to the quarterback and interceptions,but in his previous stint as a coordinator with the Jets for four years,Pettine was more or less the coordinator in name only as Rex Ryan ran the Jets defense.

I'll break this down a bit via pros and cons as I did in telling the lovely Cherie when she asked about Pettine after she arrived home from work.

The Pros:
Pettine obviously comes from a solid football background with his dad being a legendary high school coach in Pennsylvania,lots of time learning from Rex Ryan and running a similar defense in Buffalo.

Pettine also seems to be a hard nosed guy that will put the whip to the Browns after nice guy coaches Shurmur and Chudzinski.
I don't think he will have any problems getting players fired up to play for him either.

He reminded me a little of Bill Cowher,physically and the way he exudes toughness made me think of Cowher again.
I have had my criticisms of Bill Cowher,but if Mike Pettine is able to get remotely similar results-it's a good hire.

I also liked him saying that he will suit his systems to the personnel.
After watching Eric Mangini and Pat Shurmur shove their preferences down the throat of players suited for something else,I love hearing that.

Pettine learned a lot from Rex Ryan and the Bills finished high in the standings of sacks and interceptions.
Big plays and attacking defenses are fun to watch.

The Cons:

Pettine has never been a head coach above the high school level.
That alone is a little red flag.

Has really just one year of a defense being truly "his" and now he will have the demands of a head man?

The Browns were the only team to have interest in Pettine,could it be that he was one of the few to tolerate little say in personnel and work for Joe Banner?

Zero experience in the NFL on the offensive side of the football.

When you consider that this job was looked at as the worst job available due to the personnel (Banner/Lombardi) department,I'm not sure that I would be thrilled no matter who was hired.
The Browns could have hired Pettine weeks ago,helped him assemble a staff etc,but instead chose to dither.
If they were waiting for someone,why didn't they finish their wait after this long?

I have an open mind to Mike Pettine as I would have to any hire.
The field was simply not that deep,no matter how many coaches that the Browns interviewed and whoever they hired would have questions,but any new coach is a shot in the dark no matter their pedigree.
As Browns fans,we just have to cross our fingers and hope they got this right...

Photo Credit;Cleveland Plain Dealer