Cleveland Browns: What Is Wrong on Offense What Can Be Done?

While the Cleveland Browns defense has clearly improved week to week under the firm hand of defensive coordinator Dick Jauron, the offense has regressed becoming a joke around the league. But head coach Pat Shurmur is an offensive specialist, and he is calling the plays as the offensive coordinator as well. While Jauron has 20 years of coaching experience in the NFL including three tours as head coach, Shurmur has only two years as offensive coordinator and has never been a head coach at any level. The difference in experience is showing.

Going into their game at home against the Rams, the Browns are 29th in scoring, 30th in total yards, 25th in passing and 31st in rushing. Admittedly, there are some excuses for the bad performance on the field. The loss of Pro Bowl left guard Eric Steinbach was big. The team was starting second-year pro Shawn Lauvao at right guard, but he could be helped by center Alex Mack. 

The team put fifth-round pick Jason Pinkston at left guard to replace Steinbach, and the blocking was never the same.

The Browns Running Game Has Disappeared

Running back Peyton Hillis won the cover of Madden 2012, and the curse that goes with that distinction. 

The curse struck not only Hillis but the entire running back corps. Hillis has just 60 carries with 211 yards and only 15 catches. Last year, he had 270 attempts for 1,177 yards and 61 catches for another 477 yards. He has been sidelined by illness, a hamstring injury and the lack of a contract extension from the Browns. He has changed agents more often than most people socks. The negotiations have broken down, and Hillis will be a free agent at the end of the season. He will not likely get much interest because he has had only one successful year as a starter.

The team’s drafted running back Montario Hardesty with a second-round pick in 2010, but he blew out a knee in the preseason and never played. This year was expected to be his coming-out party. Instead, it was his staying-in-the-training-room party. He has carried only 75 times for 277 yards—just a 3.3 average.

He is sidelined now with a calf injury. The Browns also acquired Brandon Jackson from the Green Bay Packers, but he ended up on injured reserve before the regular season started. 

Now the Browns have two guys who they picked up off the street in the last couple of weeks.  When someone asks your starting running back how long he has been with the team, and he looks at his watch, you don't have much of a running game.

The Wide Receiver Position Is Weak at Best

The wide receiver position has been debacle as well. At the end of the lockout, Browns President
Mike Holmgren said the wide receivers group was fine. He felt the team did not need to get a veteran free agent. The starters in the first regular season game were 2009 second-round picks Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi. But Robo was cut last week after proving beyond a doubt that he was not an NFL receiver. 

Massaquoi is out with his third concussive event in the last two games. His career is in doubt from the injuries.

The replacement wide receivers are converted kick returner Joshua Cribbs and rookie third-round pick, ex-running back Greg Little. Neither of them run disciplined patterns the offense requires.

Is Colt McCoy the Browns' Quarterback of the Future?

The biggest question going into the season was, can Colt McCoy be the quarterback of the future for the team? With the issues on offense, the team is no closer to an answer to that after eight games than they were prior to the first game. McCoy has regressed badly during the season. He has started to bounce around in the backfield, a move known as “happy feet.” The West Coast offense that the Browns are trying to install requires that the ball be thrown as the quarterback hits his third, fifth or seventh step depending on the play. It is a timing offense that cannot be successful if the quarterback is hopping around. 

McCoy has also been using the pump fake way too often. While a pump fake is part of the seven-step drop on long passes, it destroys the timing of a three- or five-step drop. McCoy clearly does not trust his wide receivers to get to the correct spot on time and waits until he sees the wide receiver get open to throw the ball. Since the wide receivers struggle to get off the line they seldom get open before the pass rush gets to the quarterback.

The Browns' Fans Are Tired of Waiting Until Next Year

While this administration is not responsible for all of the failures, since the team came back in 1999, the fan base is impatient. They want a winner as soon as possible. The Browns are now 3-5, and their chances of winning any more games are small. They might steal a win from either the Jags or the Rams, but the way they are playing there is no chance they can win any of their last five games. Even the trip to the Arizona to face the Cards in Week 15 seems like an impossible win because the team does not play well in the West.

The failure of general manager Tom Heckert to sign young free agents in the shortened offseason put additional pressure on the rookie head coach to win now. While there were several free agents that would have had a significant impact on the record, Heckert stuck to his philosophy of building strictly through the draft. This franchise has been the most inept in the league for over a decade. Browns fans often joke about the Bengals, but at least they have won a division title in the last couple of years.

So there have been issues that the first year head coach needs to overcome. But head coach Shurmur has totally failed to make the changes necessary to get the offense moving. The lack of change might be an attempt to get the best draft choice they can in 2012. 

It seems that the team may have already decided that McCoy is not the future of the team at quarterback. The question is, what can he do to overcome the issues the team has?

Shurmur Must Forget About the Drops and Go to a Shotgun Formation Full Time

Assuming the team wants to win more games, the team has to make Colt McCoy much more comfortable with the offense. It would also give him another half to three quarters of a second to get rid of the ball. This should also limit the happy feet problem and improve his mechanics. Mechanics and, therefore, accuracy are largely dependent on correct footwork. 

By not forcing him drop back, McCoy will be able to depend on his mechanics from college and that should improve his accuracy. This change would give the staff the best chance of deciding on McCoy’s future with the team. Given his horrible performance in the preseason, a change to Seneca Wallace at quarterback will only make things worse.

Holmgren Needs to Become Much More Active in Helping Shurmur

While Shumur has not been good as the offensive coordinator, he has been an abject failure as head coach. Shumur has yet to solve the special team failures, the offensive problems or the preparation of the team prior to kickoff to get a fast start to the game. Holmgren has NFL Hall of Fame credentials but has put his legacy on the line with his choice of Shurmur to be the head coach of the Browns. 

Shurmur is failing and needs to be bailed out. In order to save his coach's face, Holmgren needs to lend his help behind the scenes, and he needs to start doing it now. Holmgren has to step in to prevent the entire franchise and his hopes for election to the Hall of Fame from going up in flames.

The Team Needs to Go Two Tight Ends and Put Cribbs in Motion

The man in motion will help McCoy determine if he is facing man to man or zone coverage, and help Cribbs get off the line of scrimmage. Cribbs struggles to get off the line against press coverage when he is not in motion. 

McCoy is most comfortable throwing seam patterns to the tight ends and those players will help with pass protection against the leagues better defensive ends. 

In addition, any patterns that have the wide receivers stop must be eliminated from the playbook. The West Coast offense depends on hitting a moving receiver on a short pass for the big plays. When the receiver catches the ball on the run, the better he is able to get yards after the catch.

The Team Needs Play Running Back Armond Smith or Get a Real Vet Starter

Smith is now on the practice squad.  The shotgun can produce a running game, but that requires a back with speed. Neither of the currently healthy backs can average more than four yards per carry because they lack the speed to break long runs.

If the passing game starts to succeed in moving the ball, a fast runner can break contain and make significant yardage as a change of pace from the passing game. Smith has the speed to turn a small hole into a touchdown from anywhere on the field. The speed threat will tend to do more to hold linebackers in than any thought of the other Browns runners would. 

If they don’t trust Smith, the team should consider taking a veteran running back with starting experience. There are a couple of those guys available including ex-Steeler Willie Parker and ex-Redskin Clinton Portis.

Place Massaquoi on IR and Use Wideouts Carlton Mitchell and Jordan Norwood

Massaquoi’s health is the most important part of this move. He has suffered a number of
concussions since being hit in last year’s Pittsburgh game. He has not been the same player since that injury. 

Both Mitchell and Norwood have speed and size to help the team. Norwood has already made some nice catches for the team. Mitchell, a fifth-round pick in 2009, has not caught a pass but has great speed and is tall. 

Singing a veteran wide receiver would be a good idea. Randy Moss would help the team this year and help the evaluation of McCoy by providing a reliable player who still has the speed to get deep and stretch the defense. He has yet to get an offer and might want to get a paycheck. A veteran would also help develop the younger guys. Say what you want about Moss; but he has a work ethic
that no one questions.

Either Sign Hillis at Fullback Money or Put Him on IR

Hillis has been a distraction for the team and the coaching staff. As they prepared for the game last week against the Texans, the staff expected Hillis to be available. But as usual, he hurt his hamstring again in practice on Friday and was out for Sunday's game. The staff had to change their game plan again. 

He should realize that he has extremely little market value given his one year of stardom and his injuries in 2011. He has all the talent to be an outstanding fullback in the West Coast offense. If he will not agree, go ahead and put him on injured reserve to end his season.

Accept That We Will Not Know If McCoy Can Be the QB of the Future by 2012

Even though I think team management may have decided that the quarterback must be replaced, based on the Holmgren/Heckert draft history, this team is not likely to take another quarterback in the first round any time soon. 

Holmgren has made a reputation of taking a lower-round pick and turning him into a winner. The problem is this: When you pick a second- or third-round quarterback, you get a guy with a great arm that could not hit the state of Ohio from downtown Cleveland or a guy with good to very good accuracy but no stronger arm than McCoy’s. 

Will either of those types of quarterbacks do the Browns any good? Probably not. They have been the "great arm but no accuracy route" with ex-Brown quarterback Derek Anderson.

In the 2012 Draft, Take a Top QB, RB or WR with the Two First Round Picks

I believe that if a franchise quarterback is available, you have to draft him. If the Browns get a chance to take one of the top four quarterbacks in the 2012 draft, they should take him. That is particularly true given the lack of success on offense this season. 

This current roster is devoid of game breakers. If the Browns finish the season with a 4-12 or 5-11 record, they should get the seventh or eighth pick in the draft. The draft is not deep at running back, so if a guy like Trent Richardson from Alabama is on the board, they have to take him. Otherwise, take the top wide receiver. They also have the Falcons’ first-round pick estimated to be in the late-teens. They should get a wide receiver there if they go running back with the top choice.

That is what I think. Tell us what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He edits http://fryingpansports.com and hosts the Internet radio version of News, Notes and Rumors M-Th at 6 PM EST on http://mooheadradio.com/2.0/. He has also published several novels on http://www.eBooks-Library.com/Contemporary/ and a non-fiction work at http://www.merriam-press.com/.