Pat Shurmur: 'Much More Prepared' to Be Giants HC Than I Was in Browns Tenure

New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur said during a Friday press conference he feels more equipped to handle the role than when he took over the Cleveland Browns in 2011.

The Giants hired Shurmur earlier this week to replace Ben McAdoo following his December firing.

"I feel much more prepared to do this than [I was] the first time around," he said.

Although Shurmur had more than two decades of coaching experience under his belt when he signed on with the Browns, he'd never served as a head coach at any level and only spent two years in a coordinator role with the St. Louis Rams.

Cleveland went 9-23 across his two-season tenure before he was fired after the 2012 campaign.

The Browns have remained the NFL's cellar-dwellers since his departure. In October, he told Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com he understood what current coach Hue Jackson is going through and explained his own development in the years that have followed.

"We were part of a big change with the ownership changing and whatnot, but I look back on it and I wish I knew then what I know now, because from a career standpoint I've learned a lot in the last five years," Shurmur said. "Unfortunately we didn't win enough games there and so they made a change but that's the way it goes. We own it."

The 52-year-old Michigan native spent three years as the Philadelphia Eagles' offensive coordinator and also won his only game as the team's interim head coach in 2015. He spent the last two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, first as their tight ends coach in 2016 and then offensive coordinator in 2017.

His success with the Minnesota offense, which ranked 10th in points and 11th in yardage despite starting journeyman quarterback Case Keenum due to the injuries of Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater, likely played a key role in earning him a second chance as a head coach.

Shurmur will inherit a Giants offense that ranked 31st in scoring amid a rash of injuries to wide receivers, including Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall.

Those struggles were a major reason New York finished 3-13, an eight-game drop-off from the team's playoff campaign in 2016.