Is Cleveland Browns GM Mike Holmgren Taking West Coast Path Back onto the Field?

THE DAWGHOUSE December 1, 2010

What we saw in the first half of the Carolina game was the future of the Browns offense, and it looks to THE DAWGHOUSE like a winning strategy conjured up by GM Mike Holmgren. 

In fact, it looks like The Walrus is ordering his Eggmen, Eric Mangini and Brian Daboll, to "go west," as in West Coast offense.

Lost in all the lame lamentation over Delhomme's interceptions is the fact that the first-half Browns established a precise, short passing game offense that increased the effectiveness of Peyton Hillis' power running attack.

Delhomme threw precision darts and receivers caught the short passes and picked up first down yardage to keep the drives moving. Hillis hit the holes and hammered hapless tacklers of a defense scrambling to catch up, and had the ball not been stripped from reliable Evan Moore's arms, the score would have been 28-7 in the first half.  THE DAWGHOUSE howled and wagged its tail in approval.

This is classic West Coast offense football, a strategic approach Mike Holmgren has helped develop and refine. It's so perfect for this Browns team that it could not have been designed by Brian Daboll, whose track record to date features inconsistency bordering on incompetency.

THE DAWGHOUSE has scratched its head (when not scratching other body parts) all year long wondering why Daboll and Mangini have misused their team's talent by leading with the power running game, only to be forced often into long third-down passing options with good but not great receivers and quarterbacks unable to deliver the goods. 

If your receivers can't get open deep, then use them short.  If your O-line can't hold back the pass rush, design quick hitting pass plays.  If your quarterbacks are limping or their arms have seen better days, don't drop them back to risk further injury.  Give them a scheme to pass fast and furious and move those chains forward.

That's what the Browns did in the first half of the Panther game.  But the NFL requires teams to play 60 minutes.  And what did our doubting duo of Mangini and Daboll do?  After Delhomme's interceptions, they went back into their shells.  After all, they are the Eggmen. 

Sure, Delhomme threw some awful passes.  His pick six was pathetic.   But he's a veteran, he knows the plays and where the receivers will be. He sees the field, and he even put Brian Robiskie back in the headlines.  Interceptions happen, even to Hall of Fame quarterbacks, and they shouldn't cause a sea change in a strategy that's working. 

But instead of continuing with the proven productivity of the West Coast approach, the Browns went conservative, led with a Hillis attack (how the Eggmen would scramble without him) and allowed the-worst-record-in-football Panthers back into the game.

The Eggmen simply don't have the experience, confidence and poise under fire to man the torpedoes and go full speed ahead.  They score 21 (almost 28) points with ease, then abort at the first sign of trouble.  This is the telltale sign of green incompetence.  There are serious cracks in the hardboiled shells of these Eggmen. 

And the telltale sign of Mike Holmgren's growing influence on the Browns offense is the flourishing of the West Coast strategy seen last Sunday.  THE DAWGHOUSE sees this as a clearing of the pathway that leads The Walrus back onto the field. 

And that's a good thing because it is increasingly clear that they are the Eggmen, and he is The Walrus... "goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob!" 

In THE DAWGHOUSE for the Carolina Panthers Game

The toughest practice sessions in football are tackling drills.  Taking out the pins of powerful runners takes a toll on tacklers.  But this Browns defense is in dire need of remedial tackling work.  Because of this "D" on the report card of the Browns D, defensive coordinator Rob Ryan will spend this week penned in the putrid confines of the pooch palace.  Bow-wow, baby.