BEREA -- Pat Shurmur broke into the subtle nuance of the professional game Monday when discussing the Browns opening day loss to the Eagles.
“When the ball hits you in the neck,” Shurmur said, “you’ve got to catch it.”
OK then.
Shurmur was referring to Greg Little’s missed chance at the five-yard-line in the first half. But the theme was present throughout Shurmur’s day-after analysis.
Much of it was bottom line, and much of it was pointed -- especially for Shurmur.
Especially when he was asked about Colt McCoy.
“Clamoring for McCoy?” Shurmur said incredulously when asked about fans “clamoring” to see the backup on the field. “Brandon Weeden is our starter, and he’s going to get better.”
He then told a media member with a flip-cam that he was speaking right into his camera before saying, with a laugh, “That thing creeps me out by the way. For the record.”
So no … there is no option to go to McCoy after one game, a notion that is preposterous. As for bringing McCoy in Sunday, the game was winnable and removing the starter in the first game could do more long-term harm than short-term good.
As for other plays, Shurmur did not beat around the football when he talked about them, starting with Little, who should have caught the ball at the five.
It went to Weeden, who should have hit Mohamed Massaquoi for a touchdown in the first quarter.
“The guy’s running wide open,” Shurmur said. “You got to keep it in bounds and make a better throw.”
Regarding the drop by Owen Marecic late in the first half that allowed the Eagles to score their first touchdown, Shurmur was more than blunt.
“All in all,” Shurmur said, “that was just bad football.”
Because Weeden threw to the wrong guy. He had Ben Watson open on a corner route but chose to go to Marecic. The ball was not thrown well but it was catchable and it was dropped.
“Poor execution all the way around,” Shurmur said.
Had Marecic caught the ball Shurmur was prepared, with two timeouts, to be more aggressive and throw and try to move the ball for a score. The turnaround to the Eagles scoring proved immense.
Of Weeden’s play, there was not much equivocation either.
“The corrections will be very obvious to him,” Shurmur said.
Shurmur said Weeden simply has to play better, but he added the quarterback “won’t lose his confidence.”
Of the deep passes down the sideline that were intercepted, Shurmur said the ball needs to be thrown better and the receiver has to turn into a defender to prevent the pick.
Bottom line?
“I don’t like where the throw was,” he said.
But he added it’s important the team not “overreact” to Weeden’s 5.1 rating. As if overreacting is possible.
Shurmur admitted rookie running back Trent Richardson looked like a guy just back from a knee procedure, and said he Richardson probably played 10 or 12 plays more than the team wanted or expected.
There were a couple times when the coaching staff planned to have Brandon Jackson get a few carries, but Richardson pretty much refused.
“He’s a hard guy to keep off the sideline now, I’m telling you,” Shurmur said. “I think that’s a great thing. He’s a competitive guy.”
Shurmur said he expects Richardson to “be fresher, sharper in everything he does” starting with week two.
As for the offense …
“I think it’s fair to say that every phase of the offense needs to improve,” Shurmur said.
Which concludes this week’s edition of “the bottom line.”
--Shurmur said he would do the same again regarding going for one instead of two when the Browns went ahead 15-10 early in the fourth quarter.
He said being up six was better than being up five (if they missed the conversion) because it was “one of those field goal kind of games.”
“Two field goals beat you if you don’t make the two-point play,” Shurmur said.
He said he prefers to look on the two-point option late in the game as opposed to when there are 14 minutes left. He was aware Pittsburgh went for two up five with a similar amount of time, but said he’d make the same decision.
And the offensive struggles did not affect his thinking.
“It has to do with possessions and how the game is going,” Shurmur said.
