First and 10
1) Seems like the Scott Pioli train could move quickly. Pioli seems very interested in the Browns, and the Browns are clearly very interested in him. If the parties can agree on the details, this could be over in a hurry. I don't know when or where Pioli will interview, but it was not Tuesday in Cleveland.
2) If the two candidates to run the front office are indeed Pioli and Atlanta president Rich McKay, the Browns have two excellent options. The two have different public styles, but the two can run a team. McKay has done it, though his tenure in Atlanta has not been as successful as the time in Tampa Bay. Pioli seems ready. You never know how things will go until it happens, but the options seem more than sound.
3) The styles are very different. McKay would be more public, more visible. Pioli, based on the way things have been in New England, would be more private and let the coach be front and center. Both approaches can work. Both are good, smart leaders. Pioli seems to be the first choice, but if McKay is first alternate the Browns would be well served.
4) If Pioli is hired Eric Mangini becomes the leader in the clubhouse to be the team's coach. Word is that Pioli would favor Mangini, let go by the Jets on Monday. Which might make Romeo Crennel his defensive coordinator. And might mean Rob Chudzinski stays to run the offense. Which makes the 2009 Browns on-field leadership a lot like the 2008 on-field leadership. Then again, this is all guesswork and anything can happen.
5) Here's why this may happen quickly: Bill Belichick would never grant permission for someone to interview with another team without knowing exactly how he plans to replace said person. Pioli was given the chance to interview in Seattle a few years ago, but turned it down. He preferred where he was. Pioli evidently has decided he will interview in Cleveland, and Belichick's thinking seems to be that if you want to interview you best be prepared to accept it. It is absolutely not guaranteed that Pioli takes the Cleveland job, but the stars seem aligned that it can happen.
6) Just a thought, but Baltimore defensive coordinator Rex Ryan deserves some more mention as a possible coaching candidate. The guy's reviews are very positive, and the on-field results are more than impressive. If the team wants to maintain continuity with Chudzinski on the offensive side, it could easily hire Ryan, who would run the defense, and keep Chudzinski.
7) It was pretty shocking to hear Randy Lerner admit he gave Phil Savage the final say over the coaching staff for Romeo Crennel. I have honestly never heard of that happening in the NFL where a GM picks a coach's staff. Kind of odd that a guy who said he should double his salary and put on a headset if he had to coach would want the duties normally given to a coach, and kind of odd the owner would make that call.
8) The Browns brought Joe Thomas and Brady Quinn to the media room to discuss happenings, and the two addressed the season and the changes and the future in very mature, intelligent ways. On the one hand, it was interesting that it was two second-year guys doing the talking (one might think a team would have a veteran voice or leader) but on the other if you sat and listened and heard what they said you'd feel pretty good about the future of the team if these are the two future cornerstones.
9) I'm compelled to point out that Phil Savage did draft both those guys.
10) By the by, there is a football team at play here, with actual players. And the quarterback position remains muddled. Derek Anderson is due a $5 million roster bonus in March or he becomes a free agent. What would I do? Pay it. People were talking about Philip Rivers' great season this year, and he had 34 touchdowns. Well Anderson had 29 two years ago. Not that Anderson is the be-all and end-all. Heck, he might not even start. But if it's me I keep him and Quinn and see what happens. As we learned this year, one can never have enough quarterbacks.
And … a bonus 11 …
11) I'm fascinated to see how many season ticket holders in playoff cities do not buy tickets. I have this theory that the economic troubles in the nation are going to whump pro sports in the head with a loud thump, but that it won't hit until the next round of tickets or suites of club seats have to be bought. The playoffs will be the first indicator that the economy's ripple effects will spread.
Three and Out
Dear Pat,
A few things I hope you'll consider:
1) Do NOT get too enamored with the recent success (and…….it's only ONE year of success) for some of the rookie coordinators at places such as Baltimore and Miami. They BOTH have experienced infrastructure in place to support such inexperience, while the Browns DON'T.
2) Almost all rookie coaches who succeed have EXPERIENCED coordinators in place. Recent examples include Mike Tomlin (Dick LeBeau) and John Harbaugh (Cam Cameron/Rex Ryan).
3) How many Head Coaches has Scott Pioli hired? What final decision making TRACK RECORD does Scott Pioli have? Is Scott Pioli his own proven man or another dropping from the Belichck tree that cannot function at that level given his own standing? Is this just yet another rookie hire potential for Randy Lerner? If so, what confidence level should we have in Pioli's ability to select the right coach, and ENSURE we AGAIN don't have a rookie GM and a rookie coach?
4) Is it smart to again look at the New England and/or Baltimore trees for the Browns? Can't we look elsewhere after all the past issues we've had with that?
5) Given Randy Lerner's track record shouldn't he bring in a consultant for a few months with appropriate experience to HELP him though this process? Why should we entrust or trust that Randy Lerner will make the right decisions
Please do what you can to stress the need for specific PROVEN WINNING EXPERIENCE in each of the available roles. I'm not confident based on past results.
Best regards,
Randy Tolen
Lyndhurst, Ohio
Dear Randy,
Excellent questions and points. I do not have the answer to all of them, but I do think at some point a person (like Randy Lerner) has to trust his best judgment. If a guy is never given a chance to prove he can do a job, he'll never be given the job. At some point if a guy proves he's worthy of a chance, he deserves the chance.
That being said, I hope Lerner does give serious consideration to a guy like Rich McKay as well as Pioli.
P.S. WHY all THE CaPs?
Dear Pat,
I had an excellent suggestion for the Browns. Take the following steps:
1) GET RID OF THE WHOLE TEAM
2) GET ALL NEW PLAYERS
3) GET ALL NEW COACHES
4) BUILD A NEW STADIUM
5) GET A NEW GENERAL MANAGER
But then I realized they had already tried this and it did not work either.
The old owner and the team left town, went to Baltimore and the very next year these same players and owner won the Super Bowl Am I the only one to see that there are some very strange and serious problems in Cleveland?
It was amazing to hear one more time on the news last night " This is what the fans wanted".
I am quite sure that somewhere today there is a guy working as a janitor or garbage pickup guy who knows exactly what President Bush should be doing, and what the Browns need to do and willing to advise.
Isn't it about time the fans sat back, calmed down, take a couple valiums and let the football people do what is necessary. We cannot let the inmates run the asylum.
I remember clearly the "Belichick incident " with Bernie Kosar and the coach was driven out of town on a rail.
Superman could not have flown if his car had "Cleveland" printed on it.
Seems to me the rebuilding started long, long, long ago and continues!
As far as how long it will take, no one will live long enough on this ride to see the destination.
Jim Starkey,
Stow
Dear Jim,
Yet more CAPS.
I do agree the hysteria in these parts reaches excessive levels, and the hysteria about who will be hired has started.
I'm not sure why this happens, but it does.
Dear Pat,
Just some thoughts.
In a normal season, one would expect the Browns to play eight games against the better defenses in the league and eight games against the lesser. It would be bad luck to have to play, for example, the #1, #3, and #5 defenses in the same season. Using yards per game as the measuring stick, the Browns luck was even worse.
The Browns played the "Top 5" defenses in 7 of their 16 games as they had to play the # 1 defense (Steelers) and the # 2 defense (Ravens) twice. In addition to the top five, they had to play the # 7, # 8, # 11, and # 12 defenses. That is a total of 11 games against the best 12 defenses in the league and only 5 against the 20 worst defenses.
What kind of nightmare scenario is that? Have the Browns EVER had to play that many games in a season against that many good defenses? Could Bill Cowher or any other head coach have fared better against this schedule than Romeo Crennel did?
We played one fourth of our games with a third or fourth string quarterback. Our best right tackle, Ryan Tucker, started only one game. Our Pro Bowl tight end missed more than half of our games as did one of our starting wide receivers. Our third receiver (Joe Jurevicius) missed the entire season. Our starting left guard (Eric Steinbach) played nearly the entire season at less than 100%.
How would any offense fare when faced with that many setbacks? How many games would any team win when playing the league's top 12 defenses in seven games out of every 10?
Those who were talking playoffs at the beginning of the season failed to look at the quality of the opposition this season. We were to face one difficult defense after another and seven games against teams that appeared in the playoffs last season. Some fans pointed out that the Browns would only be favored in four of our 16 games. And, how many did we win? Four.
Is Romeo Crennel a great coach? Maybe not, but he deserves to be given a pass for this season due to circumstances way out of his control. He's gotten several Super Bowl rings that prove his ability as a coach and there is no doubt that he is a decent, honorable, and well-respected man. Where will we find a better one?
Mark Schott
Canal Fulton, Ohio
Dear Mark,
This is an excellent letter, one that shows an understanding of football and the circumstances teams must confront. Clearly, though, Randy Lerner did not disagree. And his vote counts more than mine and yours.
NOTE: First and 10 will appear at irregular intervals in the offseason, but as long as the Browns make news it will appear. If you want to be included in "Three and Out" — a rare treat — comment here or send an e-mail to pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com, and put "First and 10" in the subject line.
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I'm not sure why you're so enamored with Rich McKay, who scores as high as Savage on the weenie scale.
He left Tampa because ownership lost complete faith in him after it became well-known he spread rumors about coaches, players and fellow adminisrators through the press. The Bucs' best players on that great defense were actually drafted by Sam Wyche before McKay had much control, and he left the team in terrible shape in regard to salary cap issues. The drafts he actually presided over were quite poor.
He then led the Falcons into the terrible mess they were in last offseason, including hiring Petrino and re-signing Vick to a huge contract even as federal investigators were looking into the dog fighting business. He was demoted in disgrace and has had little to no input in hiring that team's current coach, signing Turner or drafting their quarterback.
But I think it's safe to say Blank will give the Browns permission to talk with McKay.
the last couple letters are so typical of the browns fan who blindly accepts the slop dished out to them year after year. here's my understanding of football….the last four seasons under crennel and savage have sucked. including the 10-6 season when they choked their way out of the playoffs. no one needs to convince me that savage was garbage and he needed to go. but i don't really care what stupid things savage did to make crennel's job harder. savage did not control the bad judgement calls made by romeo, the poor game management, the failure to incorporate cribbs and harrison into the offense and the horrendous end of the year where the players supported their beloved coach so much that they tanked every game. oh, but the assistants weren't his you say? romeo was "head" coach right? he had the power to pull rank over chud and tucker at any time. romeo sucked. possibly the worst coach in browns history.
it's on randy lerner to prove to the fans that he truly cares about this team. i will give him the benefit of the doubt but his reputation as an owner is on the line this time. he is willing to spend the bucks but he needs to be more in tune with the structure of the organization. that means, he needs to pay attention at the very least and nip crap like this in the bud before it spirals into the abyss. savage should have been canned after that stupid e-mail. and i'm glad that lerner waited for the end of the season to fire romeo because now we know beyond a doubt that he is a terrible coach. no offensive touchdowns for a third of a season???? the 99 browns didn't even pull that one off.
this season goes down as the worst season i have seen since i started watching the team in 1980. bud carson's year at 3-13 had more going for it than this year. 5 and 11 with paul mcdonald gave me more hope. even in 94 when i knew rat modell had something up his sleeve the team was better to watch. and the following year when the team played as the fans ripped apart the stands for souvenirs was more enjoyable. 96-99 were tranquil, pleasant times in comparison.
we watched a team completely fall apart this year. from the front office all the way down to the pissboy (name that movie). good riddance romeo and phil. another season like this one and it's time to fold the franchise.
mike shanahan just got the ax. he is a much better option than mangini or an unknown.
Hold on terje, Shanahan is the same guy that wants total control of all football operations, and then takes the whole former Cleveland Browns D-line that the recently "old" regime let go. Thanks….but no thanks.
i'm just talking shanahan as a coach not as a football overlord like in denver. i'm not sure how many teams will give you total control of the roster after you've just been fired. if there is a team out there willing to do that then more power to them.
Yeah, what larry d. said. Probably a moot point, though, sports franchise owners always seem hypnotized by the man's employer's pedigree as opposed to the men themselves. Gilbert hires an inexperienced clown like Ferry, Lerner hires inexperienced clowns like Savage and Crennel. As if getting paychecks signed by quality franchises in San Antonio, Baltimore and New England have anything whatsoever to do with whether or not a guy is qualified to take over the reins elsewhere. Pioli is as good as hired.
Hey, I wonder if that's the same Randy Tolen I went to school with. I bet it is. Good guy. But 30 years later, he's still stuck in Lyndhurst. Disappointing.
Amazing! Someone, including you, wants to retain Crennel as our defensive coordinator! Just what a new coach needs…….the old head coach still around listening to the crybabies he failed to discipline in the first place. Only in Cleveland!
And maybe if Chud stays to coach the offense he'll bring Carthon back for the running backs and Robiskie can help the receivers out.
robiskie is actually a good coach. so i don't expect him to be coming back to the browns in the crennel mark 2 line-up.
I suspect we'd all feel better about future prospects if Randy first empowered a proven NFL executive as organizational overseer to set the tone, establish the attitude, formulate the identity and hire the GM and HC.
Were such a personality in place long ago (ever since Ron Wolf was brought in by Policy to help Butch Hubris?), we wouldn't be in the position we're now in nor would we have had to endure the garbage that has instead existed.
How can we trust Randy to make the proper adjustments? How can we be optimistic Pioli, who has never hired an NFL head coach, can manage that assignment? How can we trust yet another under-experienced HC?
Personally, I'd most like to see Parcells installed to supervise the entire operation.
I would really appreciate it if we could rebuild without any more Ravens rejects.
With the exception of Ozzie Newsome, since he wore the Burnt Orange, I don't trust any of these Modell-tainted wonder dogs that come bounding into town,
with all their nifty ideas. The Indians only turned the corner when they stopped hiring Yankee hand-me-downs, most of whom couldn't wait to get back to Gotham city. This isn't a conspiracy theory at work, just a plea to get either home-grown (Ohio) talent, or people who understand the franchise because they either played on the frozen turf, or worked behind the scenes.
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