First, the daunting Steelers on the road. Now, the defending Super Bowl champion Saints in the Superdome. Welcome to the NFL, Colt McCoy. The Browns’ rookie quarterback is expected to start Sunday in New Orleans in place of Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace, who are nursing high ankle sprains. Both sat out practice Wednesday and are not expected to...
Colt McCoy is expected to get his second NFL start Sunday at New Orleans.First, the daunting Steelers on the road. Now, the defending Super Bowl champion Saints in the Superdome. Welcome to the NFL, Colt McCoy.
The Browns’ rookie quarterback is expected to start Sunday in New Orleans in place of Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace, who are nursing high ankle sprains. Both sat out practice Wednesday and are not expected to be ready to play Sunday.
Coach Eric Mangini said he was going further than last week at this point when he said he was “leaning toward” starting McCoy.
“We’re heading into [Thursday] with the idea that if the other two guys aren’t available, then Colt would start, yes,” he said.
The Saints are preparing for McCoy, and coach Sean Payton liked what he saw against the Steelers, when McCoy completed 23 of 33 attempts for 281 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He earned an 80.5 rating.
“He was a player we liked coming out of Texas,” said Payton. “Considering where he was starting that first game against that defense, I thought he handled it well. He’s a player that has poise. He’s played in big spots. I think he’s accurate and certainly it didn’t look too big for him. When you watch that tape, you’re impressed because there was a calmness about his play.”
McCoy said the most disappointing thing about his debut was not winning the game, but that some good came from it.
“For my first start, I think there are a lot of things that you can look at and say, ‘OK, that was pretty good. Now let’s just get a little bit better. Let’s make better throws in some tight coverage,’ and things like that.
“We’ve got another huge challenge with New Orleans this week, the Super Bowl champions. Their defensive coordinator [Gregg Williams] is a guy who, when I talked to my coaches, they like to come after you. They like to put pressure on you. Being a rookie, being my second start, I imagine we’ll get a lot of that.”
McCoy said his job won’t get any easier with receivers Josh Cribbs and Mohamed Massaquoi likely to miss the game with concussions.
“Those two guys are some of our best playmakers on offense,” he said. “They’re not going to play, so we have got to be able to find a way to make it happen.”
Smith, Pashos on IR: The Browns placed starting end Robaire Smith on injured reserve for the season with a back injury and starting right tackle Tony Pashos on IR with an ankle injury suffered in Pittsburgh. To replace them on the roster, they signed fourth-year receiver Yamon Figurs and fifth-year offensive lineman Paul McQuistan.
Mangini said he had a talk with Smith, an 11-year veteran, about whether he will retire. Smith is also believed to be contemplating surgery.
“There’s a lot of information that Robaire needs to gather still and there’s a lot of time now before any decision has to be made,” said Mangini. “He’s got kids, he’s got a long life [ahead]. You never discourage anybody, you never push them one way or the other. I love Robaire and I want him to keep playing, but I also want him to have a really good, healthy long life.”
Replacing Pashos: Mangini said Pashos is so tough that he didn’t realize how bad his ankle was and finished the Steelers game. As for his replacement, the Browns have several options, including moving Floyd Womack to tackle and starting rookie Shawn Lauvao at guard. Lauvao missed the first six games with a high ankle sprain.
Mangini said Womack, McQuistan and Eric Steinbach will work at right tackle this week. John St. Clair is idle with a sprained ankle.
McQuistan (6-6, 315) has started 12 of 35 career games, including six at right tackle. He was a third-round pick of the Raiders and spent the time with the Jaguars before being waived Sept. 5.
“It’s gonna be a challenge for us this week,” said offensive tackle Joe Thomas. “We’ve got a couple guys that are going to be coming in playing new positions for this season, not something they haven’t ever played, but it’s going to be a different five that we’re gonna have out there this week. I think we’re gonna have confidence in the guys who are going to go in there, but it hurts to lose Tony. He was playing really well.”
Josh and Mo: Massaquoi and Cribbs were among eight players idle. The others besides the two quarterbacks and St. Clair were defensive linemen Shaun Rogers and Kenyon Coleman and tight end Robert Royal.
Mangini said Cribbs and Massaquoi are in the first phase of the concussion process, which includes the following steps: be symptom-free, take a baseline test, evaluation by Browns’ doctors, evaluation by independent doctors, and then once all of those things are cleared, then you are cleared to re-participate with the team.
Neither was available Wednesday, but Cribbs Tweeted:
“It is unfortunate, but our sport is brutal. We will both bounce back and compete again real soon. Oh yea, and we play each other twice!!!”
Notable: Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a big Browns fan, will address the team today in Berea.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: mcabot@plaind.com, 216-999-4670
Video: Tony Grossi and Mary Kay Cabot report from Berea