Browns fall in Pittsburgh-Shurmur,Heckert axed...

The Cleveland Browns were not expected to do much entering the Steel City for the season-ending game against Pittsburgh, considering that they were starting a third-string quarterback in Thaddeus Lewis and were without the main cog of the running game in Trent Richardson.
Cleveland surprised me by hanging in for the entire game before falling to the Steelers 24-10 on a day filled with snow showers.
Thaddeus Lewis tossed a seven-yard touchdown pass to Greg Little early in the third quarter to tie the game at ten and the game was still in doubt into the late fourth quarter when a Steeler score put the game away.
The Browns finished the season at 5-11 and fired head coach Pat Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert earlier this morning.
I'll be back later today or tomorrow with a more comprehensive look at the firings and either in that post or the following one, I'll take a look at some of the rumored candidates...

Brownie Bits

1) Thaddeus Lewis was better than expected, although those expectations were not very high.
Lewis finished with over 200 yards passing and threw just one pick.
The interception was a bad one as Troy Polamalu baited Lewis into throwing the ball and stepped in front for the easy grab.
That ended a drive that might have ended in a score, but all things considered, Lewis was more than adequate...

2) Lewis used Ben Watson as his safety valve as he caught seven passes, but Lewis had issues throwing the ball deep or even medium length as only one pass was completed for more than twenty yards on the afternoon...

3) Brandon Jackson made a rare appearance from the Pat Shurmur doghouse (Being demolished as I type) and rushed for over fifty yards on eight carries.
Jackson collected a lot of money for a lot of time spent on the injured list and being deactivated, so this was about what the Browns got for two years of salary.

4) Jabaal Sheard finished up a disappointing second season with a nice game against the Steelers O-line.
Sheard finished with two sacks in his return to his college home.
I hope Sheard is able to return to his rookie form and I believe that he will as this often happens to rookies as players learn and "get a book" on players.
How that player bounces back is how one looks at that player's career.

5) The Lewis interception was big but just as big was the Travis Benjamin catch and rise, which then resulted in a strip of the football.
Benjamin has become a larger part of the offense and I hope to see improvement next season...

6) Pat Shurmur showed more fire in this game than he has in two seasons.
We are all human and perhaps the knowledge of his coming release had him on edge?

7) Nice to see James Harrison show up with another helmet to helmet cheap shot.
Harrison is rumored to not be returning to Pittsburgh next season.
Baltimore would be a nice fit for this thug...

8) Nice day for the defense as they held the Steelers to just 212 yards on offense.
They were handicapped by field position, but it was a good effort on the whole...

9) Rumors have three college coaches at the top of the Browns list- Oregon's Chip Kelly, Syracuse's Doug Marrone, and Penn State's Bill O'Brien.
None do much for me.
O'Brien might be jumping the Penn State ship after getting the best mileage from a suffering program and has the Belichick stain (no Belichick assistant has succeeded as a head man). Kelly will be bringing a gimmick offense and makes me think of the failed Atlanta tenure of Bobby Petrino and Marrone is interesting with his success in New Orleans as their offensive coordinator, but Syracuse was not exactly a power.
Color me uneasy...

10) This started yesterday and never was finished, so sorry if this reads a bit disjointed!
My Apologies...

Photo Credit: Cleveland Plain Dealer

Jimmy Haslam in,Mike Holmgren out

The official word on Jimmy Haslam began as the NFL approved Haslam as the new owner of the Cleveland Browns yesterday.
Haslam quickly announced that Mike Holmgren resigned as team president and former Philadelphia Eagles executive Joe Banner was in Holmgren's former position after a transition period.
Haslam announced that there would be no further changes in personnel until the season concludes, which means that Tom Heckert as general manager and Pat Shurmur as head coach are safe in their jobs for a few more months.

So, now the worrying and wondering begin about the changes in a few months for the Cleveland Browns.
Ranging from personnel on the field, to personnel in the front office, to uniforms, to domes over the stadium, and who knows what other potential changes are on the mind of Jimmy Haslam?

As much as uniform changes are important (Keep the jerseys, move to orange pants), the top decision to be made has to be on the future of Tom Heckert and Pat Shurmur.
Tom Heckert worked with Joe Banner with the Eagles, which could be a plus or a minus, but an undisclosed source reports that Heckert is "not optimistic" about being retained.

That would be unfortunate for Browns fans, as I think Heckert has drafted very well, and I think his record would be even better had Mike Holmgren not intervened in the draft twice to insist on quarterbacks being selected (Colt McCoy in the 3rd round in 2010 and Brandon Weeden in the last draft) when better players were available.
Heckert could do a better job in free agency, although that might have something to do with the budget/saving Randy Lerner's money, so I am even open to that possibility.

Pat Shurmur's future looks a bit grimmer.
As excited as Browns fans are about last week's win over Cincinnati and a possible win this week against the Colts, the schedule then gets tougher for a while before weakening in December.
Shurmur's dull play-calling makes one wonder if he will survive even with a few more victories.

Considering the lack of on-field success, the less-than-fan-friendly Shurmur has to wonder about his chances of returning as well!
Short of winning at least six of the last ten games, I would think that it is a foregone conclusion that Pat Shurmur will be terminated, or I would hope someone would not be "Manginied", which is a term I just coined for being deluded that progress is being made for a few meaningless late-season wins over mostly other bad teams.

If Shurmur goes, and I believe that he will, the biggest question is this-Does Haslam make a huge splash with a big-name coach that is proven as a winner? Or does he select another assistant like the Browns usually do?
That selection can either inflame the fan base, as the Browns Backers can realize that change is finally here by the lake, or take away the enthusiasm that is being generated right now.
I like Tom Heckert and I think that he has done a good job, but not a great one as GM, but if landing a Jon Gruden or even a (Bleech) Bill Cowher type of winner means sacrificing Heckert, then I would be in favor of that, even reluctantly so.

Mike Holmgren leaves Cleveland as a failure.
Holmgren appeared to me to be disinterested (other than a few personnel decisions that he was involved in) and will be remembered mainly for rarely being seen, along with his two major decisions- the retention of Eric Mangini despite the clear philosophical differences after the 2009 season and the hiring of Pat Shurmur.

Keeping Mangini, when it was clear that the two men's ideas for football were never going to mesh, was the worst decision that Holmgren could have made.
That decision lessened the excitement of Browns fans for Holmgren (Take note, Mr.Haslam) and his ability to turn things around when hopes were still sky high.

The hiring of Shurmur after a lost season under Mangini was the knockout blow, as it appeared that it was more important to hire a crony at a lower cost than it was to hire someone with a winning background.
Those two decisions were the major calls of the Holmgren era, and both proved to be wrong ones.

Jimmy Haslam has brought hope and excitement to Cleveland as the Browns now have an owner who will not tolerate mediocrity, let alone bad football.
Changes are inevitable for both good and bad, I am afraid, under the new ownership.
Let's see how long this lasts for fans of the Cleveland Browns.

Photo Credit:Chuck Crow- Cleveland Plain Dealer

Richardson,Weedon and Day Two

Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert made some big moves on the first day of the NFL draft and those moves just might decide one or both of their futures in Cleveland.

The Browns traded excess picks in the fourth, fifth, and seventh rounds to move up one spot to land Alabama's Trent Richardson to be the workhorse running back that the team badly needed.
If Richardson pans out, you could make a real case that Richardson would give the Browns the best running back in his prime in the last 25 years as I don't count the one-year blips of Jamal Lewis and Peyton Hillis.
Backs that can catch the ball and play all three downs are rare indeed and if Richardson is able to do that, the small price that the Browns paid to move up will be well worth the cost.
My only small concern about Richardson is this-If Richardson was such a dominant back, why could he not beat out Mark Ingram for Ingram's term with the Crimson Tide?
All and all I believe Richardson has a good chance to be exactly the type of back that is going to thrive in the cold weather climate of the AFC North and he has the low to the ground body type that I think is going to dish out as much punishment as he takes.

Brandon Weeden was taken with the 22nd pick and even though I think that I would have passed and hoped that he would make it through to the Browns' second-rounder on day two.
However, three very good receivers are still on the board at the end of day one, and considering that the Browns hold the fifth pick in the round and two very good offensive linemen have slid out of the first round that was expected to be first-rounders (Stanford's Jonathan Martin and Georgia's Cordy Glenn), one of the three pass catchers should be Cleveland bound.

If one of the three (Georgia Tech's Stephen Hill, South Carolina's Alshon Jeffrey, who would be my choice, and LSU's Reuben Randle) is selected by the Browns, then the Weeden selection will not bother me as much as I would have picked one of those players possibly anyway, although I seriously winced when Iowa's powerhouse tackle Riley Reiff was available to be selected.
Reiff went to Detroit with the following pick and would have been a perfect fit at the gaping hole that is right tackle.
On one hand, Weeden is quite a gamble considering his age, but considering his strong arm and ability to make all the throws, if Weeden was 24 instead of 29, he never would have fallen to the 22nd spot in the first round.

The Browns did not draft a 29-year-old quarterback in the first round for him to sit behind Colt McCoy, so I would bet that Weeden will be the starting quarterback when the season starts.
I might even wager a nickel or two that Colt McCoy might not even be a Brown by the end of this draft.
Considering the lack of confidence that the Browns seem to have in McCoy at this time, I'd bet that if a team offered the Browns a day three draft pick that team just might land McCoy for a backup job elsewhere.

 
My biggest concern with Weeden is the age and that relates to the former baseball player issue.
So many of these types have entered the league and only Jay Schroeder had any kind of success at all and Schroeder was not exactly Johnny Unitas.
Chris Weinke, Josh Booty, Chad Hutchinson, Drew Henson, etc all came from similar backgrounds and none hit it big in the league, so Weeden would be the first to have real success after all the time spent elsewhere.
As noted, if the Browns can grab a needed player at 37 at wide receiver or tackle, then all is forgiven, and looking at the players on the board, I think that is a pretty safe bet to make.....

So looking at day two, Cleveland has their own second and third to use and I would be stunned if those two picks were not used on a receiver and a tackle.
But in the event that they pass on one of those two positions, I would love to see a linebacker, especially if that backer was Demario Davis of Arkansas State.

I listed three pass catchers above that all would look very nice opposite Greg Little and if the Browns are not able to land someone to take the pressure off Little,I believe that it will be difficult for Brandon Weeden, Colt McCoy, or anyone else to move the football effectively.

There are a few tackles that slipped from beyond round one and would be instant starters, but to take one of them means that none of the wide receivers could be taken and I think that the receiver would be a better pick in round two.
Jonathan Martin, Cordy Glenn, and Bobby Massie will likely be taken by the time round three rolls around, although if one of them does last that long then the decision would be pretty easy for the Browns.
Ohio State's massive Mike Adams has similar talents to the mentioned players, but failed a drug test at the combine and could slide to round three because of that reason alone.
Adams could provide the value that the Browns need if they are willing to take a chance.

The Browns could have a chance to have a vastly improved offense depending on the results on day two of the draft.
Brandon Weeden is under center, a durable, a high floor back in Trent Richardson, another receiver to add to Greg Little, and the only weak spot of the line addressed-now I am not saying the Browns become a playoff team, but they could take a large leap forward.
That is the optimistic view.
If Brandon Weedon is unable to make the transition, if the Browns miss on the second-round receiver etc, the Browns could be in a further hole as they will have spent a first-round pick on a passer that did not pan out.

Time will tell.
Back tomorrow with a look at day two.