McCoy’s fresh start invigorates Cleveland

[BernietheKid]

McCoy’s fresh start invigorates Cleveland

By Les Carpenter, Yahoo! Sports
Aug 9, 4:03 pm EDT

BEREA, Ohio – Colt McCoy(notes) was never Eric Mangini’s idea, so after Cleveland Browns president Mike Holmgren strongly “suggested” the team pick McCoy in the third round of the 2010 NFL draft, the team’s then-coach gave his new quarterback something of a silent treatment.

When McCoy arrived in the spring, ready to work out, a source familiar with the situation says, his new coaches barely spoke to him.

When the season began, the other quarterbacks got the weekly game plan on Monday. McCoy didn’t see his until Wednesday. No explanation provided; it was as if he didn’t exist at all.

Last year had a lot of challenges,” McCoy said last week as he sat on a pile of pads near the edge of the practice fields. “I spent a lot of time trying to think about ‘Why did this happen? Or that happen?’ ”

McCoy does not like to talk about these things, reluctantly confirming details of his relationship with the previous regime only when pressed. “I don’t want to throw those guys under the bus,” he said. He is a coach’s son and there is a respect for the process.

Plus he has a chance to be the star who can fill the void left by LeBron James. His story is a positive one now after injuries to Jake Delhomme(notes) and Seneca Wallace(notes) forced Mangini to play McCoy for eight games last year, and the quarterback gave enough hints of promise to pump a long-festering hope that has been tempered in the past by so many dreadful Browns seasons.

And Mangini is gone, anyway, dumped by Holmgren who, multiple sources say, grew weary of watching the former coach’s wayward offense and knew McCoy had to be in more nurturing hands. This is why he picked Pat Shurmur – the nephew of Fritz Shurmur, Holmgren’s most trusted defensive coordinator with whom he went to two Super Bowls in Green Bay.

Pat Shurmur is an offensive coach who runs the same pure, Bill Walsh version of the West Coast offense that Holmgren cherishes. When he was in his 30s, Shurmur molded Donovan McNabb(notes) in Philadelphia. Last season, as the Rams offensive coordinator, he managed Sam Bradford’s(notes) transition to the NFL. And now, at 46, he has been given McCoy with the mandate of building him too.

“The biggest thing that we have going for us is Pat knowing the offense,” said Gil Haskell, the former offensive coordinator of the Panthers and Seahawks who is a special advisor to Holmgren. “San Francisco won Super Bowls. Green Bay went to two Super Bowls. Seattle went to a Super Bowl. Tampa Bay went to a Super Bowl. Andy Reid went to a Super Bowl. It works. The offense works.”

And it works for quarterbacks. Holmgren has always been about quarterback-driven teams, rather than those built around defense or a great running attack. Growing up in the game under Walsh, he was responsible for developing Joe Montana, Steve Young, Brett Favre(notes) and Matt Hasselbeck(notes). Being picked by him is like being hand-selected for greatness. It makes sense he would fall in love with McCoy. The quarterback from Texas has excellent vision of everything on the field, anticipating things others can’t.

The fact he had been injured in college and wasn’t tall (listed at 6-foot-1) and didn’t possess one of those tremendously strong passing arms was never a concern. The West Coast offense demands precision over brute strength. The more Holmgren passed McCoy’s tapes around to his coaching advisors, the more he liked him.

It’s now up to Shurmur to turn him into an NFL star.

Shurmur spent a lot of time with McCoy in the weeks before last year’s draft as the Rams considered him and found he and Bradford to be the same in many ways. He liked McCoy’s demeanor and decision-making and saw him as a player who could win in the NFL.

“I think what I have seen in Colt, at least in the last week or so, he’s a very eager guy, very smart, he understands how to play the position and he really tries to learn the terminology – try to get up to speed that way,” Shurmur said. “Because every play doesn’t work how you draw it up, he has the ability to improvise and make something happen.”

Whereas many of the coaches ignored him last year and he had to seek out friendly faces on the staff to ask what he should be doing, Shurmur is a confidant, someone who is always willing to go over the offense and include him in the creation of the game plan. But the problem is that development has been set back by the lockout. It is hard to teach the West Coast offense and all of its nuances without practices.

Cleveland’s staff believes it lost 24 opportunities to work with players on the field. This doesn’t even speak to the countless weeks of private conversation and study Shurmur and McCoy would have had.

Shurmur said he had time to meet with McCoy a little before the lockout happened. He gave his new quarterback a playbook and some advice. But it was hardly enough. When Browns players wanted to work out together, McCoy had to call them himself and try to recreate a minicamp or OTA without having ever led one previously.

But if Shurmur is bothered by the lost time, he won’t show it.

“You just got to be smart about what we are putting in and make sure we are doing all the right things with what we have,” Shurmur said.

And it’s far different for McCoy than last summer when communication was sometimes non-existent with his coaches. For instance, he says he didn’t learn he was going to start the team’s final exhibition game in 2010 until about five minutes before the contest started. A coach looked at him and said: “You’re starting,” then McCoy raced into a huddle with players he barely knew.

“There had been no reps [in practice], nothing,” McCoy said.

That he completed all 13 of the passes he threw that evening was a shock – “13 for 13, where did that come from?” he said, his voice filled with wonder. It was one of those moments that baffle him, both in the way it was handled and the success that he had. And if nothing else it gives him a belief that he can handle anything the NFL will throw his way.

“Have a healthy respect for what happened last year, then move on,” Shurmur told him.

Sitting on the pads, McCoy nodded.

“I try to look back at the positives,” he said.

Like the two games of the eight that the Browns won. Like the game against the Jets they should have won if a couple things had gone right, or the contest in Jacksonville they had won until Jaguars running back Maurice Jones Drew broke off a long touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.

“I told Pat I’m always going to be a learner,” McCoy said.
Across the field a huge roar went up from inside a tent filled with Browns fans. McCoy is asked if he knows how much Cleveland has been dying for a winner.

“Oh yes,” he said, laughing slightly for emphasis.

The thought has only been driven into him nearly every day since he arrived last summer. The city scorned by LeBron and hungry for football success for the past 25 years has placed many of its hopes on the promise he showed in those eight games he started last season. This is a football town at heart as evidenced by the throng of fans that come to the team’s headquarters every day during training camp just to watch the players run through drills. Last Saturday, 11,000 people came to the stadium downtown simply to sit through an open practice.

“It’s easy to say this is one of those teams that fans will support if it plays well,” McCoy said. “We’ve got to win. We’ve got to find a way.”

How much is going to be up to him.

McCoy's fresh start invigorates Cleveland - NFL - Yahoo! Sports

[Enigmatic Evil]

Colt's going to be a big factor for us this year. We need him to step in and be THE guy, we haven't had THE guy at QB and Colt shows all the signs that he CAN be THE guy but he needs to put that together on the field. I think that McCoy has the heart, he has the conviction, the work ethic and the talent. If he can put that together and have a good Sophmore season, stay HEALTHY (which is a key I draw upon often) then we should be in good Shape.

I would put money on the fact that if McCoy can stay healthy for 8+ games this year. He will have the best season we've seen from a Browns QB - Post 1999 that wasn't a fluke year by Derek Anderson.

[nickers]

Great read Berns,,,Thanks,,,

[Riffer X]

According to Walrus the other day on the radio before practice Monday (Triv’s show), he stated he had no say one way or the other on drafting Colt. It was a group decision and they had Colt as a third round value, hence when he was available they made the decision to choose him collectively. That was straight from his mouth and he was very adamant about it. Watch these articles that tweak the truth in some parts.

[BernietheKid]

Monday, August 08, 2011
8-8 Triv and Mike Holmgren

8-8 Triv and Mike Holmgren - The BIG One - WTAM 1100

[golfer704u]

I hope folks here heard that it takes 3 YEARS in this offense for a QB to really shine.

[YtownBacker]

Originally Posted by golfer704u

I hope folks here heard that it takes 3 YEARS in this offense for a QB to really shine.

Good point Golf. Fact is that Holmgren's plan was to sit McCoy all last year and just let him learn how to be a NFL QB and let his body mature while they worked on his mechanics. 2011 was to be a year where he would be the backup QB and start contribution in practice and working on reads and continue the learning process. 2012 as to be the year that he actually would have been turned loose to so if he could be a franchise type QB.

So, this year was suppose to be that big learning and growth year. Now it will be thrown into the fire and learn as you go. So, expectations shouldn't be overly high.

[Bronx Cheer]

Maybe I missed grumblings or rumors about this last year, but I am beyond shocked about the freezing out that went on last year and confused that nobody else commented on it. Is this a standard defensive guy not liking the pretty boy QB deal? Rookie hazing? Or something more unusual and nefarious? I just don't see any sense in intentionally hamstringing your young QB. Were they worried that he would show up the corpse of Delhomme?

IF this stuff is true, I think we have a prime factor in Mangini's firing.

[Brown Warrior]

I wasn't a fan of McCoy in the draft but saw great value in round 3... and then wondered WHY he couldn't compete at QB. But I also wondered why we weren't learning the inevitable WCO he would be playing the next season.

I think that was a stumble for the organization, and it was one of being TOO open minded. The Browns should have been running the WCO last season.

I'm not sure what McCoy has to do this season to prevent QB talk IF the team is drafting in the top 10 with ammunition to move up. I don't think you can necessarily quantify it. I think the brass need to watch him and see a guy who could take at team to a championship, period, because you don't expect to be drafting that high year after year and you don't wanna be stuck in a cycle of mediocrity.

Again, he's getting an amazing opportunity. Third rounders just don't become long-term starters for their original team. They aren't handed the job without competition and given all the starter reps. They don't get to learn the WCO from Mike Freaking Holmgren. They don't have the best left tackle in all of football and probably one of the best OLs.

It's golden. But he has to prove some things and he knows it. If the Browns lose enough games to draft fourth or third and the stats aren't there? It's really, really tough to say, "But we aren't interested in Luck or Barkley." He's gotta earn it.

[Bronx Cheer]

Still, in what world does it make sense to intentionally snub/bury one of your draft picks?

It's more like Mangini was protesting the pickups of McCoy, Mitchell(s), and Schaeffering by never playing them. Control freak much?

[Brown Warrior]

Originally Posted by Bronx Cheer

Still, in what world does it make sense to intentionally snub/bury one of your draft picks?

It's more like Mangini was protesting the pickups of McCoy, Mitchell(s), and Schaeffering by never playing them. Control freak much?

Oh, totally agree. He earned Heckert's disdain and Heckert's gonna win that one with Holmgren every time. He sat on too many of Heckert's favorite prospects to play old dogs. Not a smart move at all.

Plus he said he had to have Daboll. If Mangini had met with Holmgren and said, "Let me have the defense while we go West Coast on the other side of the ball?" Things would've been very different, I think.

[pl4tinum]

But mangini is a control freak. And that's how the story ends.