Browns coach Pat Shurmur and GM Tom Heckert have this young Browns team headed in the right direction. But will it be enough for Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner?
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"It's always good to hear good things," Browns coach Pat Shurmur said of compliments from new owner Jimmy Haslam before Sunday's win over Oakland. "But I do know this: what's important for me -- and it's very narrow-minded -- is this next game, period. And then whatever gets determined gets determined."
Gus Chan, The Plain Dealer
BEREA, Ohio -- With their jobs on the line, Browns coach Pat Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert have won four of their last seven games to improve to 4-8 and still haven't been eliminated from playoff contention. But will it be enough for owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner to keep them around?
Haslam and Banner will reserve judgment until after the season, but reports are swirling and speculation is rampant.
The latest has Pro Football Weekly publisher and editor Hub Arkush reasserting on his syndicated show on 92.3 The Fan Saturday what CBS Sports Jason LaCanfora reported last month: that Heckert is likely out and former Browns personnel chief Mike Lombardi is likely in as GM.
Lombardi, now an NFL Network analyst, worked with Banner in Philadelphia and the two have maintained a relationship. Arkush told The Fan's The Bull and Fox Show Monday that he's heard from "some very good sources" that Lombardi will be Banner's right-hand football man.
"According to some people I trust, they think there's a very good chance that could happen," said Arkush. He went on to say that "with a new GM, they like to have their own people in place, and I think that's going to be the problem for Pat Shurmur."
LaCanfora, who worked with Lombardi at NFL Network and has remained close, has also been reporting that Lombardi is likely Banner's top choice. Banner, in an interview with The Plain Dealer last month, said of LaCanfora's report, "Since I haven't even decided whether I'm keeping the people that are here, at best it's wild speculation and in this case it's unfounded. Somebody's taking a shot in the dark. They could be right or they could be wrong."
Shurmur, coming off a 20-17 victory in Oakland, his second straight, was more interested in discussing Sunday's game against the still-reeling and grief-stricken Chiefs than his job security.
"I don't want to talk about my future, OK?" he said. "I'm trying to make this the best Monday of the year. And I'm trying to get our team ready to play the Chiefs. I don't look at it that way [if he'll get a fair look]. I'm not taking any half-swings here. We'll just play it out and see what happens."
Shurmur was happy to hear that Haslam, who said last week that the Browns could just as easily be 6-5 and that they're close to being contenders, sees the team's progress. But that's not what's foremost on his mind.
"It's always good to hear good things," he said. "But I do know this: what's important for me -- and it's very narrow-minded -- is this next game, period. And then whatever gets determined gets determined. What I can control right now with this football team is what happens this week, and that's where my focus is."
He said he doesn't view the recent turnaround as vindication.
"I don't take this personally," he said. "My concerns are always for our team and our coaches. I really believe in this group we have and I really believe this is the foundation of something that could be really good. Until we start winning football games, that's what shows it."
"Some of the other stuff about me personally -- what more can they say about me? Right? think that's where the thick skin part comes in."
While he declined to defend his performance, he was effusive in his praise of Heckert, who this year drafted starters in Brandon Weeden, Trent Richardson, Josh Gordon, Mitchell Schwartz and James-Michael Johnson. He's also drafted or signed key contributors such as Billy Winn, John Hughes, Craig Robertson, Johnson Bademosi and Tashaun Gipson.
Over the past three weeks, the defense alone produced seven sacks in Dallas, eight takeaways against the Steelers and a clutch interception by Sheldon Brown that helped preserve the victory over Oakland. It's yielding only 17 points a game over the past six weeks.
"Tom knows personnel," said Shurmur. "Our team looks a lot different than it did last year and we're finding a way to improve. We have some impact players on this football team now that we didn't two years ago. So that's a good thing."
Shurmur added that the young players are nowhere near as good as they're going to be.
"I look forward to seeing these guys have good careers, very productive careers, hopefully all of them here in Cleveland," he said.
He stopped short of saying the Browns, who have also beat the 7-5 Bengals, 4-8 Chargers and 7-5 Steelers in recent weeks, have turned the corner.
"What I do know is we beat a quality opponent at home last week [Pittsburgh] and we won a game on the road and now what we've got to try to build on that," he said. "When you're working with young players and only time will tell how good they can be, you see guys improve and I think that's a good thing."
He also refused to make too much of the Browns' 4-3 record over the past seven games following an 0-5 start.
"We're moving forward with our eyes set on the next one," he said. "[You] do what you can to win each week and add them up at the end. I felt us improving throughout the beginning of this season and we couldn't get over the hump. Now we're finding a way to get over the hump."
When asked about still being a young coach, he quipped, "I don't feel young." But he did allow, "Any time you do something more and more you get better at it. It becomes clearer.
"There are things I see better now. I know my coaches and players better. I understand how everybody on our team is going to respond in most situations. Yeah. I think there's things we're doing better, me included."
As for whether or not this is the best he's felt about his team in two seasons, he said, "I feel good about where we're going, we've just got to keep going. It's easy to let that momentum stop. That's what I'm guarding against."
He was also pleased to hear that team captain D'Qwell Jackson predicted after the Pittsburgh game that the Browns would win out.
"He's mature enough to know that it takes going through this process and he's one of the guys that helps me keep the guys going the right direction," Shurmur said.
Will the right direction save their jobs? They'll know in a month.
On Twitter: @marykaycabot