What are the Browns' plans for Colt McCoy, Peyton Hillis and the rest of the offense? Everyone's waiting to hear from the Browns' top men.
![Mike Holmgren]()
Scott Shaw, The Plain DealerMike Holmgren and Tom Heckert answered questions for more than an hour on Thursday.BEREA -- Browns legal counsel Fred Nance, a senior advisor to the president, slips into the back of the room to take in the show.
Browns President Mike Holmgren and General Manager Tom Heckert enter the packed media room three minutes after 11. They are smiling. Holmgren in silk black shirt and Heckert in Browns warmup.
Holmgren announces the club is giving a game ball to play-by-play announcer Jim Donovan for persevering through a tough season for him after undergoing a bone marrow transplant in June.
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Holmgren says he and Heckert can't answer many of the expected questions regarding personnel, draft, etc.
"We have a lot of questions moving forward as an organization," he says.
He throws a bone to the media for "doing a good job" with coach Pat Shurmur in his season-ending press conference.
Time for Q&As:
On McCoy's future: Holmgren says "he can be (the guy), but I'm not ready to say that yet. He played young at times. Was I pleased? Yeah, at a lot of the stuff he did. My opinion of Colt has not changed. He has a lot of the intangibles. Ultimately though the quarterback is judged on how well your team did. I'm not ready to anoint Colt yet. Do I love him? Yes I do. We have three good quarterbacks on our team now."
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Holmgren backtracks on previous comments about not wanting a quarterback competition. "Sometimes circumstances dictate that," he said. "Last year the job was his. Competition will take place, but the decision I think probably will come earlier."
Have to get better?
"It's hard to judge this season because our offense just wasn't good enough. The quarterback's a big piece of it, but, shoot, you've got to throw it to somebody, they have to block. The quarterback is only part of it."
"I believe in the players we have. One way or the other, whoever's playing quarterback for us, we're gonna coach the heck out of him and I expect him to get help."
Need a new quarterback?
"We'll probably bring in a new quarterback every year. This year will be no different."
Heckert is asked about a QB in free agency?
"That's probably not the way we'll go about it. You never know. There are a few guys in the league who have started and will be free agents. We're going to look at them. We'll evaluate all of them."
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Holmgren is asked indirectly about Matt Flynn.
"I think when you go into your second start and you break (a Packers) record, yeah, that's a little unusual. But we can't comment on players with other teams."
Holmgren, on free agency: "We have a philosophy of how to build the team. Our record was poor. So the natural reaction is go crazy and spend millions of dollars. If that was the right thing to do in our opinion, we will do that. But that's not our philosophy for how to build this for the long term. You see teams do that every year. Does it guarantee anything? Absolutely not. So how do you build the team?
"I've got a lot of faith in (Heckert). He's good at what he does. We have a good coach and a good coaching staff and good young players. We are not opposed to doing anything, but we are going to stay the course."
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Holmgren is asked about "business as usual" after another 4-12 season.
"First of all, our fans are phenomenal. But Cleveland Browns fans are going to be fans of the Browns forever and ever. They can be upset. Just know, so are we.
Holmgren keeps saying this is actually the first year (with Shurmur) and not really the second year of him and Heckert. So he's not blowing it up after one year.
"The difference is we're going to stay the course and do it a certain way. I have an owner who supports us to do it this way. The growing pains are difficult. I understand that."
He then talks about how good the defense came around.
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On the organization's failure to effectively evaluate the wide receivers:
Holmgren said they absolutely dropped too many passes. "But I think we saw some things we can build on. Greg Little, I believe you can build on. Do we have to make the pile bigger? I would say there isn't an offensive area we won't look at and try to do that to, and the receivers are part of that, too."
Heckert talks up the defense, too, and agrees "on offense we need to upgrade all over the place."
On Peyton Hillis' future Holmgren hedges, like everyone else
"That was a tough one for a new head coach. You think you have a lot to worry about but one isn't who's going to be my starting halfback. Then Peyton gets hurt. Then Montario Hardesty gets hurt.
"As far as the future with any of our potential free agents, we're not going to talk about that today."
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Holmgren talks about Shurmur and admits rookie mistakes and says those type of things -- clock management, game management, etc. -- "I expect to be better next year."
Does he wish Shurmur had a coordinator his first season?
"We interviewed a couple guys. That's the way we were trying to go. As the process went on, I told him if you don't get the guy you want, do it yourself and use your staff to kind of fill in where you need to fill in. So he actually took my suggestion. Now we've learned a lot about what it takes. Right now, we're going to look at hiring an offensive coordinator."
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Holmgren is asked about building around the present QB.
Heckert says, "We're going to get the best players we can at any position. If we do it early in the draft, that guy's probably going to be the head guy for us."
Heckert dodges a question about securing D'Qwell Jackson to long-term deal.
Heckert says of McCoy, "We're still (evluating him). I think he played in a lot of games. He's a young quarterback. We think he has enough talent to be a player for us. Can he get better? We think he can and will get better."
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In answer to Shurmur's status in 2012, Holmgren supports him and says, "No one's on the heat seat. I believe Pat will get it done."
Holmgren goes into anecdotes about how he liked to call games as head coach, too.
What did he think Shurmur did well?
"I thought he kind of emerged (under adversity). He went through some stuff now that I know I didn't have to go through my first year. It's never easy your first year. There was some stuff going on that was a little unusual.
"Does he need to take a vacation? Absolutely. Is he the same guy I hired? Yes. He's wired the right way, he cares, he's smart and he's going to do the right things for this football team. He did a lot of good things in somewhat of a tough situation, I thought.
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Holmgren talks about how "all of a sudden" the light goes on for a QB in the West Coast offense. He mentions Steve Young, Jeff Kemp, Steve Bono. "It's a good system, it's a proven system."
What other factors weigh in Hillis' future?
Holmgren: "Please respect our decision not to talk about that today."
How far away from winning Super Bowl?
Holmgren: "It's like trying to find a ceiling of a player, how good can a player be? In Green Bay it took us five years, but we found the quarterback in the first yeear. In Seattle, we were in the Super Bowl in seven years and didn't find the quarterback until Year 3."
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Holmgren says once you get to the playoffs, then you can get a better gauge on the timetable for winning a Super Bowl.
In what area would you be willing to deviate from your plan?
Holmgren: "We believe you build a team through a smart, solid draft. You can see it in (Heckert's) first two drafts. We have some ammunition in this draft if you want to play around. Also, selective, key free agents -- we'll go after if we think we neeed to do that."
Heckert: "We don't want to go out and sign 10 free agents, but if there's a guy we definitely like we will go after him."
Holmgren's informed of poor record in the AFC North division.
"I know. I know. I thought this year we were much more competitive against those teams. Fine football teams and they've built them and been good for a long time. Both Pittsburgh games, we were in those games without being able to score a lot of points. Both Cincinnati games, I thought, were competitive. One of the Baltimore games, we were in it, the other one they got us pretty good. So I thought we closed the gap this year. Now the record is what it is."
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The guys are asked about the funky offenses in college and how difficult it is to evaluate quarterbacks.
Heckert: "It's difficult, but it's the way it is. Everybody you see, especially in the Southeast Conference, is playing wide spread. It's something you have to evaluate. It's mostly shotgun and 4 wide receivers."
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Should Shurmur be graded now on just wins and losses?
Holmgren: "I think that's how we all look at it. If we're 4-12 next year, I won't be a very happy camper. We must improve. The head coach is judged on his record. I expect us to win."
Holmgren is asked about getting a bigger, more physical quarterback.
He talks around it, says, "It sure helps," but ultimately says he thinks his guys are big enough to win.
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About combining picks to trade up for "the guy," Holmgren says philosophically "we'd like to use our picks," but that would not prevent them "from wheeling and dealing in the draft. But we need the picks to fill in our roster."
Heckert says, "That's the reason we made the trade (last year) -- to get players. We'd like to add nine good football players and hopefully more if we get some compensatory picks."
Neither of you guys have had 3 picks in top 37 before.
Heckert: "I like it. We obviously have to hit on them. But we always have to. We're sitting at four right now. It's going to be tough to screw that one up."
"Write that down," Holmgren interjects.
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Holmgren is asked again about the physical stature of Browns QBs. Too short, too light?
"We take it (physique) into consideration. There are a lot of people in this room that wish they were taller. So you got the guys you got. If you have a quarterback that isn't 6-4, he has to show you the ability to get seams and see (the field). Steve Young did that. Drew Brees does that.
"The other thing, you see tall guys but they become shorter guys (on the field). So, we look at it. I think every position you have a guideline of what you like. I will say this: our offensive system -- I'm asking for a step of faith -- allows a player who is not 6-4, 240 pounds to be good. It does. Colt can do that. Seneca can do that. You've seen it."
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Heckert says, "I think it's obvious we have to help our offense. I can't sit here and lie."
Heckert on injured players ... Brandon Jackson is ready to go, passed his physical, think he'll be fine. Eric Steinbach getting close, a week or two. Marcus Benard is doing alright. Scott Fujita's fine.
Was Holmgren satisfied with the league's reaction to McCoy incident?
"I think they settled on something we talked about in our meetings. I think it's a good thing to have one more set of eyes, gives the doctors more information they can use in the evaluation process."
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Another question on wide receiver.
Heckert: "It depends on who's available. You want a big, fast guy who's got great hands. We do have to address playmakers all around -- running backs, receivers. If there's a guy in free agency or a guy picking at No. 4. It's a little early to say who's available and at what price.
"I think Greg (Little's) a good football player. He had too many drops. At Philadelphia, only one year, with T.O. (Terrell Owens) did we have a No. 1 receiver. We spread it around."
Holmgren: "I don't know when it started, but I never did it (calling a No. 1 receiver, a No. 2, etc.) That's not a good way to go."
Heckert on Montario Hardesty: "Running backs get hurt in this league. Guys have missed full seasons, 10 games. We like him. We know we needed more than one back. They all got hurt. We're going to try to address that."
Did the team underachieve v. your expectations?
Holmgren: "I had hoped to get up near .500. Evaluating the season, I felt with a couple things here and there, we could have come close to that. Our record could have been better. What does that mean? I think that's an indicator of progress, but really, it's the first year with this group and your record is what it is. So I am disappointed."
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Why isn't everybody on the hot seat, you included?
Holmgren: "I don't agree with it. You start any season and you read these coaches are on the hot seat before they play a game? I'm opposed to that. You are judged on what you do. Everybody is too impatient. You see franchises that don't do it that way (fire) and you make the team better and you watch him (the head coach) grow. And that's how you do it, in my opinion.
"Now, is there pressure to do well and do your best and catch the ball and block and throw that pass? Absolutely. As a coach, you don't need anyone else to put pressure on you. To answer, everybody, there is pressure to do better -- pressure on Tom, pressure on me, on everybody. That's the nature of this business."
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Regarding season ticket renewals?
Holmgren: "We're hanging in there, from a business side.
"the people in this area, this state, Browns backers all over the country, love this football team. They've been through a lot already. To wait another yeear or two, they'll hang in there. I meet people all over the city and they have no qualms about coming up to me and talking Browns. I have no doubt they're with us. They're not leaving. I suspect our fans are going to be there for us.
"That last game was something, considering the season we've had. I've said it before, we've laid out how we're trying to build this. I came here to build a football team and came to this city because of the tradition of the team. It reminded me so much of where I coached before. And the commitment by Randy Lerner. So I suspect the fans will keep hanging with us. And I so want to enjoy this at the end and we'll get there."
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Holmgren is asked about what record he hopes for next year?
"I'm not going to predict a won-loss record. Based on the games we were in this year, I thought we could come close to being a .500 team. Is that good enough? It's not good enough. Our expectations are much higher than that."
After questions, Holmgren thanks the media for "the job you do." He says he wants us to understand the commitment he, Heckert and owner Randy Lerner have "to get this done."
"I think it's important to say. The fans here have been a little long-suffering. So, we are driven. We put pressure on ourselves to do the right things and get this thing turned in the right direction. I think the next couple years are very important in determining how this is going to go. I'm a little upset with our record, but I'm not discouraged. There's a lot of hope."
Happy New Year, and we are done.
Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger (0) is averaging 16.4 points and 9.7 rebounds despite playing just 26.4 minutes per game.
Ohio State tight end Jake Stoneburner is 6-5, 245 pounds and can make big plays downfield.
