Grading Shurmer: I=Incomplete

[DawgFan]

After seeing a number of threads either calling for him to be dumped, I thought I should ATTEMPT to take an unbiased look at the first year of Coach Pat Shurmer.

1/15/2011 - Hired as HC
Assisted in drafting Phil Taylor, Jabaal Sheard, Greg Little, Buster Skrine, Owen Marcic, Jason Pinkston...5 starters and one likely to start at CB next year. Not bad. I know, he is not the GM, but you can't tell me he didn't have input.
3/11-7/25/2011 - Holdout/Lockout
NO MINI CAMPS
NO TRAINING CAMP
No player except Colt had a playbook until the week before pre-season games

So:
He didn't get to even SEE his rookies until just before pre-season, and we have 5 of them starting
He didn't get to coach up Colt McCoy on the WCO
He didn't get to assess off-season injuries to Colt/Cribbs/Steinbach/etc...
He was handcuffed by the total disregard towards the offensive side of the ball in FA/Draft

With that said, the Browns offense barely improved, but it DID improve.
On defense, we improved DRAMATICALLY

So, while we may be bitching and moaning over his play calling or whatever, the fact is that he had NO TIME WITH A YOUNG TEAM to actually implement his offensive and defensive schemes and still managed to improve the team (I know, not in wins/losses, but in play definitely).

I believe that with an opportunity to pick up a couple of playmakers on both sides of the ball via the draft/fa this off season, we may actually get a chance to stop saying "next year".

I am not SOLD, but considering the fact all the teams with new coaches/schemes struggled immensely this year, we should realize this deserves an incomplete grade and at least one more year.

[golfer704u]

Dawg I love ya,

But or defense did not improve dramatically. I'd be one to say it didn't improve at all, we just played worse offenses than last year. But I've had that arguement with a lot of people. I even started a thread comparing the QBs and RBs we have faced the last three years. We've spent a boatload of picks on defense. and it's marginally better. It shold be dramatically better, but it's not.

That being said, I am not calling for us to dump Shurmur. Every coach deserves at least 2 and likely 3 years to develop their system and get the players to buy in.

I'll be interest to see what happens in the draft. IF the "playmakers" we get in round 1 are a RB and QB, then I don't have a lot of faith in this FO going forward.

[hiwaygal]

Originally Posted by DawgFan

So, while we may be bitching and moaning over his play calling or whatever, the fact is that he had NO TIME WITH A YOUNG TEAM to actually implement his offensive and defensive schemes and still managed to improve the team (I know, not in wins/losses, but in play definitely).

I believe that with an opportunity to pick up a couple of playmakers on both sides of the ball via the draft/fa this off season, we may actually get a chance to stop saying "next year".

I am not SOLD, but considering the fact all the teams with new coaches/schemes struggled immensely this year, we should realize this deserves an incomplete grade and at least one more year.

Two words: Jim Harbaugh


Sorry, Shurmur has done NOTHING to improve this team in any way. In fact, the team has regressed.

And I'm not giving ANY credit to him for the draft. If Heckert gets all the "credit" for last year's draft (not our previous HC) then Heckert gets all the credit for this years draft too.

Sorry Dawg, I love that you always try to spin a positive, but there isn't one with this HC.

I would love to see this HC fired, but I know it's not going to happen. I'll live and I'll be cheering our team no matter what.

[mario]

Lets get a real QB & WR then assess shurmur. Coaches don't make plays on the football field. They don't get much glory when teams are winning, but they are always the scape goat when teams are losing. Unfortunately for us we are always losing, so we are always looking for another coach. I am done giving passes to players. If they suck we need to just admit it and move on. I've never seen a coach win a football game, but I have seen players win plenty.

[Sez.EJ]

I was thinking back to the conversations about teams tanking it for better draft position.. And I personally said players would never do this.. too much pride, contract incentives, and too much analysis as to who is kept, who is cut and free agent contracts etc.. So I say no way players tank games to aid draft postion because no player knows if they are even on the team for the following season.

Now after watching Shurmur botch 3rd down plays, two minute drills etc. and make some bad playcalls at critical times the last few weeks.. I began thinking that a coach CAN do what the players cannot do. Shurmer pretty much has been assured his job next year.. So he CAN deliberately tank games to improve/retain a higher draft spot.. Maybe he is not a lost as a playcaller as he seems in making the critical errors. Maybe he's just crazy like a fox... He did not want to actually win the game.. or games we have played recently... I am not saying this as fact.. just merely curious speculation.. No one can deny that draft position can really make a difference.. especially in rounds 1 and 2 where we have 3 picks. Just a thought..

[hoorta]

Originally Posted by hiwaygal

Two words: Jim Harbaugh


Sorry, Shurmur has done NOTHING to improve this team in any way. In fact, the team has regressed.

And I'm not giving ANY credit to him for the draft. If Heckert gets all the "credit" for last year's draft (not our previous HC) then Heckert gets all the credit for this years draft too.

Sorry Dawg, I love that you always try to spin a positive, but there isn't one with this HC.

I would love to see this HC fired, but I know it's not going to happen. I'll live and I'll be cheering our team no matter what.

I've seen plenty of players lose games Eric Wright's massive El Foldo last year immediately comes to mind. Shurmur has already lost more than his share, being conservative when he should be aggressive, and aggresive when he should be conservative.

If Shurmur's back, I'd be willing to sell off my season tickets. It isn't worth wasting the gas and 7 hours of driving to see Pop Warner coaching.

The Arizona game did me in when he played for overtime. I don't care who screwed up, that incredible blunder @ the end of the first half of the Ravens game shouldn't have happened. And really, Mr Oblivious on the sidelines, you didn't see McCoy get killed by Thug Harrison, and thought it would be a good idea to put him back in the game right after Wallace had just completed a nice long completion? So screwed up, it even got the NFL concussion overseers on your sorry ass?

If it's truly an evaluation year, why did it take you so long to can an obvious doesn't have it Robiski, and sit Carlton Mitchell until the 15th game?

Really the Gal's point about Harbaugh rings true. Throwing a 5 yard out on 4th and long is shit coaching. Seriously Browns= fewest 20+ yard plays in the NFL. 30th in points, 29th in yards. This is "improvement"? If I even saw any hope this guy could turn the corner, I'd be willing to give him anther year. The Rams fans that have posted on the other forum unanimously were glad to see him go as OC, just like the Lions fans who had my back when I told Shep Joey Harrington sucked.

This is cut your losses, and move on time.

[OconRecon]

Originally Posted by hiwaygal

Two words: Jim Harbaugh....

Yep, I agree. A guy comes in with the same pile of players and wins instantly. No preseason and a QB who is thought to be on the way out.

#ItsTheCoaching

I agree we need this and that, but Pat Shurmur makes me want to take a nap.

[Legacy Fan]

Originally Posted by OconRecon

Yep, I agree. A guy comes in with the same pile of players and wins instantly. No preseason and a QB who is thought to be on the way out.

#ItsTheCoaching

I agree we need this and that, but Pat Shurmur makes me want to take a nap.

+1

[Thaid_Up]

Originally Posted by Sez.EJ

I was thinking back to the conversations about teams tanking it for better draft position.. And I personally said players would never do this.. too much pride, contract incentives, and too much analysis as to who is kept, who is cut and free agent contracts etc.. So I say no way players tank games to aid draft postion because no player knows if they are even on the team for the following season.

Now after watching Shurmur botch 3rd down plays, two minute drills etc. and make some bad playcalls at critical times the last few weeks.. I began thinking that a coach CAN do what the players cannot do. Shurmer pretty much has been assured his job next year.. So he CAN deliberately tank games to improve/retain a higher draft spot.. Maybe he is not a lost as a playcaller as he seems in making the critical errors. Maybe he's just crazy like a fox... He did not want to actually win the game.. or games we have played recently... I am not saying this as fact.. just merely curious speculation.. No one can deny that draft position can really make a difference.. especially in rounds 1 and 2 where we have 3 picks. Just a thought..

I made a reference to this point in a different thread so interesting to me that someone else has noticed it as well. How else do you explain some of this mind boggling play calling. Seems to be doing the exact opposite of what you would expect during some of these games. If that's his "plan" do you think the players would pick up on it and if so how are they reacting to it behind closed doors? It would seem to be a little frustrating to think a coach has NO confidence in the team he's fielding so the effort on said plays might be a little lacking. How can the team have faith in a coach who has no faith in his team? All that aside since it's clear there will be an OC brought in next year so while I agree his grade should be incomplete I think he's on the lower end of that grade.

[akronjoe]

Originally Posted by hiwaygal

Two words: Jim Harbaugh


Sorry, Shurmur has done NOTHING to improve this team in any way. In fact, the team has regressed.

And I'm not giving ANY credit to him for the draft. If Heckert gets all the "credit" for last year's draft (not our previous HC) then Heckert gets all the credit for this years draft too.

Sorry Dawg, I love that you always try to spin a positive, but there isn't one with this HC.

I would love to see this HC fired, but I know it's not going to happen. I'll live and I'll be cheering our team no matter what.

Every week Shurmur limbos beneath ever lower expectations I have of him. his is the worst coach all time in Clevelend. Palmer formerly set the floor yet he had total boobs in the front office, no talent and yet they still won occasionally and he split wins vs the steelers.
given a chance to hire His coach holmgren blew it big time.

[jnuh]

Originally Posted by DawgFan

After seeing a number of threads either calling for him to be dumped, I thought I should ATTEMPT to take an unbiased look at the first year of Coach Pat Shurmer.

1/15/2011 - Hired as HC
Assisted in drafting Phil Taylor, Jabaal Sheard, Greg Little, Buster Skrine, Owen Marcic, Jason Pinkston...5 starters and one likely to start at CB next year. Not bad. I know, he is not the GM, but you can't tell me he didn't have input.
3/11-7/25/2011 - Holdout/Lockout
NO MINI CAMPS
NO TRAINING CAMP
No player except Colt had a playbook until the week before pre-season games

So:
He didn't get to even SEE his rookies until just before pre-season, and we have 5 of them starting
He didn't get to coach up Colt McCoy on the WCO
He didn't get to assess off-season injuries to Colt/Cribbs/Steinbach/etc...
He was handcuffed by the total disregard towards the offensive side of the ball in FA/Draft

With that said, the Browns offense barely improved, but it DID improve.
On defense, we improved DRAMATICALLY

So, while we may be bitching and moaning over his play calling or whatever, the fact is that he had NO TIME WITH A YOUNG TEAM to actually implement his offensive and defensive schemes and still managed to improve the team (I know, not in wins/losses, but in play definitely).

I believe that with an opportunity to pick up a couple of playmakers on both sides of the ball via the draft/fa this off season, we may actually get a chance to stop saying "next year".

I am not SOLD, but considering the fact all the teams with new coaches/schemes struggled immensely this year, we should realize this deserves an incomplete grade and at least one more year.

Just about every team with a new coach has gotten better except for us.

The Panthers went from a 1 win team to atleast a 6 win team
The Niners look to be a legit SB contender
The Broncos are fighting to win the division as are the Raiders
The Cowboys are fighting to win a division
The Titans slightly improved to atleast an 8 win team

So obviously saying every team with a new coach struggled couldn't be more wrong.

We are going to mot likely finish this season with 1 win less then last year and against a far worse scheduale. We were a MUCH better team last year in all 3 phases of the game. In fact our only stregnth the past few years haas been our special teams and even that has been bad this year.

[Vintage Whine]

Originally Posted by DawgFan

After seeing a number of threads either calling for him to be dumped, I thought I should ATTEMPT to take an unbiased look at the first year of Coach Pat Shurmer.

1/15/2011 - Hired as HC
Assisted in drafting Phil Taylor, Jabaal Sheard, Greg Little, Buster Skrine, Owen Marcic, Jason Pinkston...5 starters and one likely to start at CB next year. Not bad. I know, he is not the GM, but you can't tell me he didn't have input.
3/11-7/25/2011 - Holdout/Lockout
NO MINI CAMPS
NO TRAINING CAMP
No player except Colt had a playbook until the week before pre-season games

So:
He didn't get to even SEE his rookies until just before pre-season, and we have 5 of them starting
He didn't get to coach up Colt McCoy on the WCO
He didn't get to assess off-season injuries to Colt/Cribbs/Steinbach/etc...
He was handcuffed by the total disregard towards the offensive side of the ball in FA/Draft

With that said, the Browns offense barely improved, but it DID improve.
On defense, we improved DRAMATICALLY

So, while we may be bitching and moaning over his play calling or whatever, the fact is that he had NO TIME WITH A YOUNG TEAM to actually implement his offensive and defensive schemes and still managed to improve the team (I know, not in wins/losses, but in play definitely).

I believe that with an opportunity to pick up a couple of playmakers on both sides of the ball via the draft/fa this off season, we may actually get a chance to stop saying "next year".

I am not SOLD, but considering the fact all the teams with new coaches/schemes struggled immensely this year, we should realize this deserves an incomplete grade and at least one more year.