Colt not gun-shy about taking leadership reins in Cleveland

[BernietheKid]

Colt not gun-shy about taking leadership reins in Cleveland

By Albert Breer NFL Network

NFL Network Reporter

Published: Aug. 11, 2011 at 02:00 a.m.

Updated: Aug. 11, 2011 at 02:45 a.m.
BEREA, Ohio - Back in May when the owners were meeting in Indianapolis, and the lockout was in full swing, Mike Holmgren left the door slightly ajar on Cleveland's quarterback situation. The Browns president told me he expected it to be "competitive" at the position, while adding that Colt McCoy would "probably be the guy."

Consider that door slammed shut and erase the word "probably" from Holmgren's assessment. The Browns are McCoy's team.

Does that mean for the next decade? Not necessarily. But for now, the quarterback's teammates have no problem deferring to the 24-year-old. One example? The move McCoy made in the offseason getting his hands on new coach Pat Shurmur's playbook.

It's not unlike the one that then-Denver coach Mike Shanahan taught Peyton Hillis when the Browns running back (and Madden cover boy) was a rookie with the Broncos, but when it came to disseminating the message to teammates, the bulldozing back cleared the way for McCoy, rather than taking the ball himself.

Colt did a great job with it. I left it to him," said Hillis, who's coming off an 1,177-yard, 11-touchdown season. "He's the leader of this team, and I accept that. Everyone else accepts that. So when he's trying to teach receivers the routes and progressions, you just sit back and try to listen and try to learn from it."

So how is it that McCoy, who has precisely one season as a pro, could teach the Browns' system? Part of it is the little bit of carryover in scheme from what he did as a four-year starter at Texas. But bigger is the fact that McCoy exhausted every resource available to get it down as the doors were locked, something that also played no small role in his teammates gravitating to the idea of a second-year guy as their leader.

And evidence of that happening was most clear in the number of offensive players first, and later guys on both sides of the ball, attending his offseason "camps." He had one at Baldwin-Wallace College, which is next to the Browns facility in Berea, and three more 1,400 miles from Cleveland in the Austin area -- one at his alma mater, and the others at nearby Westlake and Cedar Park high schools.

Nearly 40 Browns made the trek to the final session in Texas, showing the success of the project, which had veteran Scott Fujita as its defensive anchor.

"For me, going into my second year, and really for the first time having an offseason, when that's taken away, it's tough," said McCoy, who's taken every first-team snap through two weeks of camp. "I think when I left, it was like, 'Well, we don't want to have a setback when we come back.' So it was kind of on me to get things organized, get things put together. And I really commend the guys on offense for flying around. It's on our own time, on our own money.

"We pitched in and helped some guys get in. But we worked really hard. I had the playbook and we went over some things. And people ask me all the time, 'How good was it?' And I don't think it's going to win a game for us in December. In fact, I know it's not.

"But the fact is we understand personnel groups, we understand formations, we understand where we're supposed to line up. This offense is a lot about spacing, and so when we were together, we spent as much time meeting as we did going out on the field and throwing. It was definitely good for us. And you could tell the first few days (of camp) we were ahead."

It only works, of course, if McCoy knows what he's doing, which he certainly did.
The biggest challenge for the quarterback has been learning Shurmur's West Coast nomenclature. McCoy says there are at least five play calls the coach has that are 20 syllables long and, as such, he spent time reciting those in front of a mirror, as if he were in the huddle.

Additionally, he studied a ton of tape of West Coast quarterbacks, going back to Joe Montana (once coached by Holmgren) and forward to Aaron Rodgers, who sets the bar for McCoy in terms of running the modern day version of the scheme. And he taught what he'd learned enough for Shurmur to say, "In the first installations you saw carryover, where guys said, 'Yeah, we know this and we know this.'"

And there was one other resource you might not expect: one-time adversary from the other side of the Red River, ex-Sooner and current Ram Sam Bradford.

Bradford, of course, was brought along by Shurmur last season, while McCoy played in Brian Daboll's New England-style attack as a rookie, something analogous to the system Josh McDaniels is bringing to Bradford and the Rams. So McCoy and Bradford, friendly since college, spent time on the phone going over the finer points of each attack after the two, in essence, traded offenses.

As McCoy puts it, it was quarterbacks "going over different things, different plays, different looks vs. the plays. We were able to share some things, some thoughts, and that certainly will help."

As someone who's now coached them both, Shurmur sees similarities between the two.

"I've said it before, this isn't their first go at it," Shurmur said. "Playing at places like Texas and Oklahoma, they played a big-time level of ball and had success. It was written recently that Colt really hadn't lost many games as a starter, from grade school on up. So there's something about a guy who knows how to win."

Which brings us to the other element of McCoy's offseason work -- bringing the players around him together. When the players were in Austin, they took a trip to the renowned Salt Lick Barbecue Restaurant, and even took turns on a mechanical bull (center Alex Mack stayed on longest). Back in Cleveland, the guys went to an Indians game together after a workout.
The idea isn't tough to figure out.

"I only played with those guys eight games last year," said McCoy. "I don't think any of them really knew who I was. I was 'Colt from Texas' for the first six weeks of the season, because I wasn't getting anything (playing time) with them. I think this summer definitely gave us the opportunity to grow and learn with each other and spend some time together, not only meeting and going over football stuff, but away from that. It was really good."

It remains to be seen whether McCoy will become "really good" as a quarterback. But there's no question he's doing all he can to make that happen. And there's just as little doubt that plenty of folks in Berea have taken notice.

NFL.com news: Colt not gun-shy about taking leadership reins in Cleveland

[Brown Warrior]

Woke up today, pulled out my L.A. Times sports section... to see a Colt McCoy article on the front page! Very nice article by Sam Farmer (I'll go find it online), mostly about his leadership and intangibles.

With his usual bluntness, Holmgren basically said, "We found out the most important thing about him last year, that the game isn't too big for him. He can play. Does he have a strong enough arm? Can he stay healthy? Can he do it for a full year? That's what we need to find out."

In Berea, the only guy who would bluntly say McCoy has things to prove, including arm strength, is Holmgren.

EDIT: Here it is. And anybody who doesn't realize McCoy loathed Mangini isn't reading between the lines. This and other articles aren't gonna help Mangini get another gig. I would think all quarterbacks would cringe at the thought. It's a huge hole in Mangini's game.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...,436920.column

[Riffer X]

Colt may not realize it yet, but that tough coaching may have been good for him. He did pretty good when called upon. He also has been coached by his dad and Mack Brown, so it is possible that he didn’t take to tough love coaching very well. LOL, I remember when Mangie wanted to kill him when he threw a shit terrible pick at the end of a half during preseason. It was hysterical how mad he was. It’s called tough love coaching folks, it is life in the NFL as a supposed redshirted 3^rd on depth chart rook. I think Colt needs to wrap it up on dissing EM, he is beginning to sound a little like a sissy. All coaches have their own style.

[Brown Warrior]

I don't agree at all, Riff. He didn't get tough love... he got treated like shit. He was ignored, which is a great strategy for, uh... nothing.

Mangini just isn't a lover of QBs. He didn't want Favre because he was content with Kellen Clemens. He stages season long QB competitions. He just doesn't understand the position... or that it's way more than a position. All started with Tuna.

Tuna's approach to QBs just wouldn't fly today (treating them like shit, humiliating them in front of the rest of the team, making their job feel tenuous at all times), but Mangini seems set on trying it. Dude needs to handle the defense and nothing else.

[BernietheKid]

SAM FARMER / ON THE NFL
Browns' Colt McCoy is finding his comfort zone

The Cleveland quarterback, who showed promise in eight starts last season but cringed when coaches berated him, hopes to progress under a new staff.

By Sam Farmer August 11, 2011, 8:10 p.m.


Reporting from Berea, Ohio

Buried deep in a locker at Cleveland Browns headquarters is the essence of quarterback Colt McCoy on tape.

Not videotape. A scrap of athletic tape.

Just as he did at the University of Texas, McCoy has adorned his locker with a three-letter word scrawled on a piece of adhesive: WIN.

"You win, you produce, you get to play for a long time and do what you love," McCoy said Thursday, easing back on a bench after practice.

Around these parts, that's easier penned than done. The Browns are coming off consecutive 5-11 seasons, have a new head coach and staff, and are implementing fresh systems on both sides of the ball. Of all NFL teams, they might be the one most inconvenienced by the lockout and compressed off-season.

Then again, they also have McCoy, who showed remarkable promise in eight starts last season. During a three-game stretch, he led the Browns to upsets against New Orleans and New England, and he nearly toppled the New York Jets before one of his receivers fumbled away the game.

"The things that are hardest to evaluate, I learned in his first three starts," Browns President Mike Holmgren said. "It's not too big for him. He can play the game. Does he have a good enough arm? Can he do it for the whole season? Can he stay healthy? We'll see. But I know this: The stage is not too big for him."

The Dallas Morning News recently tabulated McCoy's record as a starting quarterback, dating to his days at Jim Ned Middle School in Tuscola, Texas. He has won 109 of his 126 starts.

Pat Shurmur, like every new NFL head coach, is scrambling to learn the strengths of his players and get them up to speed in a crunched time frame. He said McCoy has caught on quickly, and the coach compared him to St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford, Shurmur's student last season who went on to win NFL offensive rookie-of-the-year honors.

Shurmur said Bradford and McCoy "have a lot of the same attributes."

"They get up in the morning and the world tends to make sense," he said. "They're good decision makers. They know how to lead teams. There's a natural charisma to them."

McCoy showed that charisma during the lockout when he organized workouts in Austin, bringing most of his offensive teammates to his college town and putting them up in a resort to practice with them.

"To me, it was like he was comfortable again," tight end Evan Moore said. "Because he was in charge. It's not an ego thing. It's he's a confident leader."

Browns players might not have noticed that about McCoy at the start of last season. These coaches have a different philosophy about how to treat young players than Eric Mangini and his staff had last season. Then, McCoy was not a budding cornerstone of the team, but a rookie grunt, the undisputed, nameless low man on the totem pole who was alternately ignored and berated. It was straight out of the Bill Belichick football school, of which Mangini is a disciple.

"Last year presented a lot of challenges outside of football," McCoy said, choosing his words carefully. "It was different than anything I've ever been a part of."

Although he largely allowed Mangini to coach without peering over his shoulder, Holmgren did announce at the beginning of last season that McCoy probably wouldn't play. The Browns treated the rookie as such and did not allow him to take a snap with the No. 1 offense until it was absolutely necessary — in the run-up to the Week 6 game at Pittsburgh, when they were forced to start their third-stringer.

McCoy said many of his teammates barely knew who he was at that point "other than the guy who stood on the sideline and got yelled at for just standing there."

Even now, the residue from that experience lingers. He said he quietly cringes like a scalded dog when he makes a mistake in practice, waiting for the hellfire of criticism to come.

"One of the things out here is when I make a mistake, I get so fearful to do anything because I'm afraid of what's going to happen," he said. "If I throw a ball and try to squeeze one in, I'm like [wincing], 'Uh.' I'm hesitant to just turn around. That's not how it should be. If you start playing scared, you can't play."

Day by day, McCoy is getting used to the idea that the reaction is different with these coaches.

"Now don't think for a second that they're not hard on me," he said. "That's not what I'm saying. They're hard on me in a way that's nurturing and developing, but they're the same way with the rest of my team too."

There are expectations, but they are realistic ones. Promising as he was last season, McCoy is not expected to instantly flip a franchise that has won only a third of its games since the franchise was restored in Cleveland in 1999.

"I don't temper my enthusiasm," Holmgren said, "but I think I'm being realistic with my expectations for this group."

McCoy won't concede anything. He sees the writing on the wall. It's penned on tape.

sam.farmer@latimes.com


Browns quarterback Colt McCoy searches for comfort zone - latimes.com

[nickers]

Im on Sheps side on this one. This further demonstrates Mangini was, and is still an asshole. Thats My opinion whoever likes it or not. This doesnt mean hes not a nice guy out of football. Im sure he is....Tough love isnt gonna make a QB great...you either have it or you simply dont. Sure theres a learning curve and a window to wich all QB's grow. And yes there are ways to push buttons...Apparently Mangini is blind as a skunk as far as pushing the right QB buttons. Its an artform some are blessed with. Brown,Walsh,Coryell and Holmgren,etc. Im sure "Im leaving out others . Pat Shurmurs repore that ive seen of him comiserating with players is refreshing. You dont get the best of people by belittling people and making them them feel insecure. You empower them with confidence and the proper tools to succeed.

[hiwaygal]

Holmgren did announce at the beginning of last season that McCoy probably wouldn't play.

I seem to remember Holmgren stating he ABSOLUTELY would not play...now it's "probably". Ahhhh...the benefit of historical embellishment.

People who want to believe that EM was a dick will read into this in such a way to justify their opinions. Good on ya.

IF Colt is really continuing to make these kinds of statements, he's not making himself look too good. I'm guessing most coaches don't like to see a relatively unproven, former 3rd string QB talk that way about the last guy to coach him. Hopefully Colt has whatever it takes to be the kind of player who can talk like that. But he's no Peyton Manning yet.

For those of us who believe Mangini was (and will be again) a good coach, well, it looks like some kid whining about how he wasn't treated like a star....kinda like Bray-Bray. Or TO, or any of the long list of football divas. Some of them have earned that status, Colt hasn't yet.

[Brown Warrior]

He's a dick. Players hate him.

[Riffer X]

Originally Posted by Brown Warrior

He's a dick. Players hate him.

You could have used a little time under Mangini. Might have made you into a guy that didn't quit and instead wanted to prove him wrong. Maybe you would have fucked that running QB up and stuck it out.

As far as Nickers goes, nothing brings him out better than a Mangini take. Come on Nickers, we gotta get you back into the Browns and off this EM fetish. We can do this.

[Brown Warrior]

Originally Posted by Riffer X

You could have used a little time under Mangini. Might have made you into a guy that didn't quit and instead wanted to prove him wrong. Maybe you would have fucked that running QB up and stuck it out.

As far as Nickers goes, nothing brings him out better than a Mangini take. Come on Nickers, we gotta get you back into the Browns and off this EM fetish. We can do this.

Not only was that pretty fucking funny... somebody's taking their fish oil. Great memory.

That guy went missing in the mid-80s. Never been found. A year later, the coach. Then a guidance counselor who misspelled my name on some forms. Then...

[Riffer X]

Originally Posted by Brown Warrior

Not only was that pretty fucking funny... somebody's taking their fish oil. Great memory.

That guy went missing in the mid-80s. Never been found. A year later, the coach. Then a guidance counselor who misspelled my name on some forms. Then...

I do take fish oil actually. I thought it was better for the heart though. That's cool if good for the memory, cuz I forget stuff more nowadays.

[Brown Warrior]

Originally Posted by Riffer X

I do take fish oil actually. I thought it was better for the heart though. That's cool if good for the memory, cuz I forget stuff more nowadays.

Great for the heart but also brain function. Like green tea, fish oil is good for everything.

I think you're a fitness guy so you probably read all this stuff, but my brother-in-law is a crazy successful chemist for a huge company who makes speeches all over the world... and he said everyone should start taking Lipitor or another (whatever the hell inhibitor) at age 35 and never stop... and everybody should take fish oil their whole life.

No side effects to the cholesterol meds. No reason not to take them like vitamins. He says in five, six years, that's how they'll prescribe them.