BEREA, Ohio—Browns offensive coordinator Brad Childress met with the Cleveland media for the first time since he was hired and believes he will be able to help ramp up the Browns' anemic offense. Childress was the Vikings head coach until last season and was out of coaching last year for the first time in 33 years.
"It really was a great blessing to me," Childress said. "After doing this for 33 years on the sideline during the fall, my daughter had grandsons so I'm a grandpa now. I probably wouldn't have gotten that chance so it was a real blessing."
Childress and Pat Shurmur were hired the same day by Andy Reid and both shared the same office for seven years with the Eagles. He feels he’ll be able to help shoulder some of the load that Shurmur had last season.
"We speak the same language," Childress said. "It's not like I'm coming in and reshaping the wheel.
"The biggest thing is the trust level," Childress said. "At this stage I'm at in my coaching life it's really important to be with people that you trust and that you know. It's a very difficult business and it's nice to know people and what their reactions are. In a perfect world you end up working with someone that you know and trust."
The Browns are hoping that Childress can impact the offense the way Dick Jauron did with the defense as the defense ended the season ranked 10th in the NFL. Meanwhile, the offense was at the bottom.
Here are some other questions that Childress addressed:
Q: What are your thoughts on Colt McCoy?:
Childress: “I haven’t evaluated him too deeply yet. The big question is does he show up, but I haven’t done a broad-based study. How I look at Colt is a second-year quarterback who had no benefit of an off-season. He’ll be so much better just with knowing the terminology.”
Q: How did you view him as the Vikings coach when McCoy came out of the draft?:
Childress: “He was very bright eyed. The product of a coach’s son. Many times coach’s sons are gym rats.”
Q: Thoughts on Peyton Hillis?:
Childress: “When he played he was a battering ram. He’s not a one-dimensional back. He’s not an elusive back, but he’s a big back and he’s been productive.”
Q: Thoughts on play calling duties?:
Childress: "You guys are making a big deal out of it. It really is a collaborative effort. It's not just a mad scientist thinking about it in his head at all. He's getting input from all areas. You can't have everybody talking at once and in the end someone's got to send the play in to the quarterback but it really is a collaborative game planning type of situation. Whether or not (Shurmur) wants to do it or wants me to do it, I'm good either way."
Q: What are your thoughts on the run/pass balance?:
Childress: "If I told you that it's 50-50 that probably means we're (not good) at both of them. Somewhere, you throw your lot in and you say 'hey this is where we're the best or against this particular team this is what we need to do to be able to win this game' so I think you have to be flexible.
