Denver offensive coordinator Adam Gase pulled his name from consideration for the Browns' head coaching job. But indications were strong that he was always going to return to the Broncos in 2014.
CLEVELAND, Ohio – We hardly knew you, Adam Gase.
And we mean that.
No offense. I would’ve loved to take a depressed-fan-on-the-street poll a month ago as the Browns' losses piled up. Adam Gase: Denver Broncos’ assistant or Colorado snowboarder bound for Sochi?
Yet some are in the dumps over a 35-year-old first-year coordinator many didn’t know three weeks ago deciding at least another year in Denver is what’s best for him.
Is he the next Sean Payton, or Gary Kubiak? If you know for sure, report to Berea directly. If the Browns fired Rob Chudzinski solely to find out the answer to that question, your franchise is in more serious trouble than you suspect.
Not getting the chance to interview a reluctant inexperienced candidate? That’s not in the Top Five things to worry about with the Browns and their current talent search..
Gase was never coming here. Had he jumped at the only remaining job in the NFL – especially when the team hanging the shingle fired its coach after 11 months -- his reputed genius would be in serious question. If he waits a year, he’ll have more opportunities. No doubt with more accomplished organizations (that doesn’t take much).
The angst over the twists and turns (and length) of the Browns’ coaching search is bigger than the search itself.
You’d understand the roller coaster feel some have, if somewhere along the way the process promised an interview appearance by Jon Gruden or Nick Saban and failed to deliver. But the initial excitement over the possibility that Jimmy Haslam was going to show up Saban-big died last year.
Now the fan discontent seems to spike over the dropouts like Gase and Josh McDaniels. Why?
Gase has never been a head coach. McDaniels was a failed one. After starting 6-0 in Denver, he finished up 5-17. I believe that’s the definition of the “lack of improvement” used to damn Chudzinski.
The bigger worry is why so many experienced coaches below the Saban-Gruden level don’t become serious candidates. Bruce Arians last year, Lovie Smith, Jim Caldwell this year. The Browns did interview Ken Whisenhunt again for whatever reason before Whisenhunt jumped at the Tennessee job. Mike Zimmer got an interview last year but not this year. Minnesota hired him as its head coach.
Zimmer seemed an even better fit this time around as the Browns seem more open to the idea of a defensive coach who can get a team’s attention and hold it accountable.
The bigger worry has been evident from the start of the search: Last year’s search.
Does an experienced coach want to report to Banner, want to give up control of the roster and draft to Banner and Mike Lombardi? If you allow that they don’t, and the front office knows it, then the Browns canvassing the league to find the best understudy shouldn’t surprise anyone.
The Browns have brought some of this angst on themselves, of course. This is how Haslam allowed Banner to set up the organization. As for the interview process at hand, Haslam’s letter claiming the Browns are engaging in a “purposefully methodical” search isn't calming many nerves.
Does the pace of the search mean they won’t be able to hire a good coach? No.
Will anyone remember this process one way or another? No.
Especially if there’s another one next year.
In the meantime, I don’t believe there’s ever been a team that went into training camp still looking for a head coach. So there’s that.
SPINOFFS
• Draft Johnny Manziel, trade for Richard Sherman, hire Rob Ryan as head coach.
And if the 50-year anniversary of the last title passes without a Cleveland team winning anything, maybe we won’t even notice.
• The extended weather forecast for the Super Bowl calls for a low of 25 with a chance of rain or snow showers.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell plans to sit outside, making all those who paid $1,000 for a ticket feel no better whatsoever.
• The only two states to legalize marijuana have put teams in the Super Bowl.
Another possible first: a single sponsor Super Bowl telecast.
Step right up, Doritos.
• The fact that so many sideline interviews are clichéd and add nothing to the broadcast makes Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman’s post NFC Championship game rant refreshing even if he made it all about himself (which he later apologized for).
Not exactly classy, but different.
I just can’t understand how, when it was his turn to be interviewed, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson had the audacity to thank God before thanking Sherman. #ingrate
• Erin Andrews handled the Sherman interview as well as possible, especially for someone so fashionably dressed and caught without a spit shield.
For those who think she looked stunned, or intimidated, you try carrying on a conversation with someone while a producer yells, “Mayday, Mayday, Evacuate, Evacuate” in your ear.
• Sherman tore up Niners receiver Michael Crabtree in the interview, calling him “sorry.” Later he lauded the season turned in by the Browns’ Josh Gordon as much better than Crabtree’s year despite Gordon playing only 14 games and having “Brandon Weeden, Brian Hoyer and Jason Campbell playing quarterback.”
Ouch. If any of the three feel compelled to say Sherman should shut up and leave them out of it, they might consider this retaliatory Tweet Sherman posted after Crabtree pointed out that Sherman only had one pass defended and two tackles vs. San Francisco.
And let sleeping lions lie.
• Asked about Sherman’s outburst, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said, “We win with graciousness.” Maybe so, but when they lost Sunday, Bill Belichick ripped into former Patriots receiver Wes Welker for a hit that put cornerback Aqib Talib out of the game.
But give Belichick a break. Usually Gisele Bundchen is around to blame Wes Welker for a loss.
• After the New England-Denver game, Talib told an approaching reporter to “get out of my face, $%^#!.”
Actually, it made more sense to use that line on Welker.
• On one series Sunday, Peyton Manning handed off to tight end Virgil Green, who hadn’t carried all season. The play went for a nice six-yard gain.
Pat Shurmur got criticized for using tight end Alex Smith as a fullback in the red zone during a 13-12 loss to the Rams.
So other than the fact the Broncos practiced their play, and Smith carried only because the wrong personnel was on the field and Shurmur didn't call a timeout, no difference whatsoever.
• Omar Vizquel will be inducted into the Indians’ Hall of Fame on June 21 along with legendary broadcaster Jimmy Dudley. Vizquel won 11 Gold Gloves and owns the highest fielding percentage for a shortstop.
Vizquel hasn't said who will introduce him. Guessing he's trying to decide between Albert Belle and Jose Mesa.
• Watching Vizquel and Robbie Alomar as a double play combination is in my Top 5 experiences as a Cleveland sports writer.
Now, how to break it to Andre Rison that he didn't crack the list.
• The Cavaliers have thrown away a couple chances to win games on botched inbounds passes, most recently Monday against Dallas.
Mike Brown argued that Kyrie Irving was wide open and that Jarrett Jack simply didn't see him but Irving was on the far side of the floor and Jack was being hounded by a 6-10 defender.
Other than that, flawless.
• People have contributed to a fund to help the Jamaican bobsled team with expenses for the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Initially, they believed they were sending the team to Sochi. Now it’s been clarified. The team was always going to Sochi. It needs money to defray $80,000 worth of costs related to training.
Lincoln Wheeler, who started the fund raising through the website Crowdtilt, is excited that “we, as fans, could have the opportunity to influence sport.”
The largest percentage of the money has come from the U.S.
Guessing here, Colorado and Washington?
• Agent Leigh Steinberg says he helped quarterback Ryan Leaf orchestrate getting picked second in the 1998 draft behind Peyton Manning because Leaf preferred going to San Diego over Indianapolis.
How? Leaf purposely failed to show up at a scheduled meeting with the Colts at the combine. In his new book, Steinberg suggests San Diego knew about the plan. Good story except Bill Polian, the Colts’ GM at the time, says the canceled meeting didn’t change strategy. And Bobby Beathard, the GM in San Diego, says he doesn’t remember it that way.
Beathard told ESPN’s Mike and Mike he knew Leaf was a mistake at his first practice.
“He was in terrible shape — he couldn’t even complete the jog around the field at the start of practice,” Beathard said. “It was a disaster from the start and I’m responsible for it."
And if others didn’t know it then, they suspected it after this episode a month into Leaf's career:
YOU SAID IT
(The Expanded Midweek Edition)
Bud: How soon will we see Richard Sherman in a remake of Taxi Driver? “You talking to me?” -- C. Wilson, Shaker Hts.
Not sure but I loved him in “The Shining.”
Bud: Isn't this Kellen Winslow Jr.'s second incident in a parking lot, one involving a "crotch rocket" and the other a motorcycle? – Jim Corrigan, Fairview Park
Allegedly.
Bud: It sure doesn't instill any confidence in the Browns’ executives when they have a news conference and Joe Banner sits up at the table looking like he just ate a bad piece of fish! -- Randy Verner, Chagrin Falls
Jimmy Haslam thanks you for not saying a truck stop hot dog.
Bud: We heard a lot of Omaha, but isn't it too bad we didn't hear Adam Gase shouting Cleveland? – Michael Sarro
I believe that’s used for a punt.
Bud: What would happen if A Rolling Ball of Butcher Knives met a Mad Dog in a Meat Market? – Michael Sepic
It would be do or die. No tomorrow. Backs against the wall. And the winner would be the one who takes it to the next level. Going forward.
Bud: Do you think the Cavaliers will ever win two NBA titles? – Joe S
Slow down. Let's take it one inbounds pass at a time.
Dear Bud: Do you think Adam Gase is ready for a head coaching job, or is he better off with another year of experience and applying for the Browns' head coaching job next year? – Jim O, Chardon
First-time “You Said It” winners receive a T-shirt from the Mental Floss collection.
Bud: Do you recommend that Browns fans follow the example of the Seahawks fan with the Super Bowl tattoo and get "4-12 in 2014" tattooed on our chests? – Mark Novak
Repeat winners often trade their shirt for tattoos in Columbus.
