Delhomme, a 12-year veteran, has mentored McCoy all season, and coach Eric Mangini attributes some of McCoy's early success to Delhomme, who is signed through next season.
View full sizeJake Delhomme will start against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Delhomme recently said that rookie Colt McCoy is the Browns quarterback of the future. Quarterback Jake Delhomme, who will start Sunday against his former Panthers, says rookie Colt McCoy is the Browns' quarterback of the future.
The remark came on a conference call with Carolina writers, when Delhomme was asked how excited he is to play against his former team.
"Certainly I will be fired up to play because I'm sitting back, watching the young kid play, and he's pretty good," said Delhomme. "So I'm like, "Have I played my last down?" That can go through your head. The kid's playing well, and he is going to be the future of the Cleveland Browns. I understand that. So it's a great opportunity. I'm excited about it, I will say that."
Delhomme, a 12-year veteran, has mentored McCoy all season, and coach Eric Mangini attributes some of McCoy's early success to Delhomme, who is signed through next season.
"Colt really has benefited from having Jake here," said Mangini. "When Colt was starting, I think those guys drive into work each day together and spend a lot of time discussing the game plan, the reads, it's outstanding.
"For years to come, Colt will remember the time he's spent with Jake Delhomme and the importance of that and learning what it means to be a pro. Jake, he's a tremendous pro and to have a mentor like that it's invaluable."
McCoy, Wright doubtful: McCoy missed practice again Friday and is doubtful with his high left ankle sprain. He limped through the locker room Friday, and there's a good chance he won't dress for the game. With Josh Cribbs questionable with a foot injury, who will be the third quarterback?
"We'll have to see where Cribbs is," said Mangini. "After him, I think the only guy that we have is [Chansi] Stuckey who has thrown the ball."
Eric Wright is doubtful with a knee injury, but moved well in the locker room and is holding out a shred of hope. Joe Haden is expected to start in his place.
"I've still got a couple of days," Wright said. "We'll see how it goes. I'll be back sooner than later. I'm just trying to work as hard as possible to get back. I haven't missed a game since my rookie year, so obviously I don't like to miss any time." Six questionable: Five Browns besides Cribbs are questionable: defensive back Mike Adams (abdomen), linebacker Eric Barton (shoulder), defensive end Kenyon Coleman (knee), defensive lineman Shaun Rogers (ankle) and tight end Ben Watson (ankle).
Daboll explains: Browns offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who has been heavily criticized by fans for the Jaguars loss, explained the woeful performance.
"We didn't play well enough," he said. "We definitely had chances there to move the football, to get it in the end zone and we didn't get it done. All of us, we didn't get it done."
Did he try to force the run?
"They did a good job of stopping the run and we tried a variety of runs," he said. "Gap trap runs, scheme runs, we tried some inside zone runs, we tried some outside zone runs, we tried scheme outside zone. I believe you have to be able to run the football, too. We practiced it, we stressed it all week and they did a better job than we did all the way around, all aspects."
As for not getting the ball to the tight ends -- one ball apiece to Ben Watson and Robert Royal and three to tight end/receiver Evan Moore -- Daboll said, "Colt was going to the right spots with the football in terms of his reads, he was. He didn't have many poor reads, just kind of based on the coverage and how they played things. That's just kind of how it went."
On if he should have been more aggressive after turnovers: "We didn't score, so I definitely should have done something differently," said Daboll. "We didn't get it done.
"There were some things that we did see, even in the running game because Peyton [Hillis] has been good for us all year and the line has done a good job. In the passing game, they got us. Obviously if you don't score after that, you look in the mirror and say, 'I should have called this or should've called that.' They did a better job all the way around.'"
On Mo Mass: On the bright side, Daboll said receiver Mohamed Massaquoi's past three games have been his best. He has had 10 of his 19 catches in those games.
"He's done a nice job of creating some separation, making plays when he had a chance. He missed a couple of plays early on in the year maybe that he could have brought down, but he's getting better," said Daboll.