Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Don't let the door hit you . . . 
One of them must go.

The sooner, the better.

The Browns cannot keep Colt McCoy and Seneca Wallace on the same roster. If nothing else, it would foment an untenable situation.

The Browns’ backup quarterbacks cannot coexist behind Brandon Weeden for any number of reasons, not the least of which is at least one of them does not believe he should be a backup.

Wallace doesn’t mind being No. 2 behind Weeden. It’s a position with which he is thoroughly familiar. After all, he’s been a backup his entire career.

McCoy, on the other hand, has never been a backup unless you include the first half of his rookie season when he sat behind Jake Delhomme before the veteran got hurt halfway through the campaign.

Tom Heckert Jr. and Pat Shurmur are messing with the minds of McCoy and Wallace, although Wallace knows he has no chance of starting. McCoy believes otherwise.

That mind-set is typical of the extremely confident young man from the University of Texas, who honestly thinks he has a great shot at the starting job.

And that’s where Heckert and Shurmur, particularly the latter, are playing with two sticks of dynamite. Wallace doesn’t mind clip boarding behind Weeden. McCoy does.

That’s a problem. A very big and potentially dangerous problem.

Maybe it’s not in his nature, but McCoy might sulk when it becomes glaringly apparent Weeden is the top guy and nothing he does is going to change that. Sitting behind Delhomme is one thing. Sitting behind someone who has never thrown a pass as a professional is entirely different.

We know Wallace, who balks at the notion that he'd be No. 3 if the club kept all their quarterbacks, can handle being No 2. We don’t know how – or if  – McCoy can handle it.

Someone must go before training camp begins. Not when training camp begins. Too much can fester between now and then. It has to happen sometime in the next month.

Heckert and Shurmur can blather all day long about conducting a fair competition for the starting quarterback job, but their words fall on increasingly deaf ears. It’s not fair and they know it.

The guess here is they want to move McCoy, but have no takers. Who wants a relatively small, weak-armed quarterback who can’t even make it with the Cleveland Browns? That’s a tough sell.

Teams that have even a minuscule amount of desire for such a commodity will wait until the Browns no longer have a choice other than to place him on waivers. And that’s when you’ll see some takers.

It certainly won’t be Wallace. He’s golden because he knows the system too well. And his connection with Mike Holmgren works heavily in his favor. Besides, he’s even shorter than McCoy.

If the Browns want to begin camp with a poisonous situation, they’ll hang on to both backups and continue pretending the competition is fair. If both are in camp late next month, that‘ll be yet another indication this front office doesn’t get it.

It’s also quite possible that sides in the quarterback issue will be taken among the players. Locker room mentality cannot be underestimated. The front office and coaches should know that.

If the Browns want to start off training camp in the right manner with the proper atmosphere, both physically and psychologically, they must make one very important move.

One of them must go.

The sooner, the better.

It’s time to stop playing games.

4 comments:

  1. I honestly don`t know if I agree with you or not. I see why they have no choice but to start Weeden but if anything happens to him, (like what happened to Jake)do you really want to have only one QB left on the roster?
    These guys are under contract and suposed to be pros they need to suck it up and fall in line.
    In a perfect world Weeden would be a few years younger and McCoy would start the season... Cause we all know age is the reason for the rush....

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  2. In a perfect world, if Weeden is a few years younger, he's with another team. And if age is the reason he's gonna be the starter, it's the wrong reason.

    And there will be as third QB on the roster. His name is Thad Lewis.

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  3. Well no disrespect Rich, but age certainly has something to do with rushing him into a starting role. I`m not saying it can`t work but I`d rather see the kid sit and learn for awhile. Personally I think his accuracy will go out the door when the bullets start to fly. We don`t even know if he can adapt to playing under center yet let alone adjust to the speed of the game when he`ll be facing defenses the likes of which he`s never dreamed.
    I like the kid but so I`d hate to see him end up with David Carr syndrome. I`ve begun to believe that starting him opening day is more about saving Holmgren`s job than it is about what`s best for Weeden and his career in the NFL.
    Sorry about that perfect world comment (bad choice on my part) cause in a perfect world football wouldn`t be the least bit interesting....

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  4. Dirt,

    This is the bed Holmgren & Co. chose to make. Now they've got to sleep in it. Who knows? Everything you say about Weeden might come true. Then again, he might surprise and assimilate better than anyone thought.

    If he's not out there "when the bullets fly," then the Browns made a mistake by drafting him. He's not David Carr (22 when drafted). Besides, he played in a much better college program with far better results against far better competition.

    And from a mental standpoint, he's about as ready as he's ever going to get. Carr was nowhere close to being as ready to step right in.

    As for saving Holmgren's job, Weeden starting has absolutely nothing to do with that. Holmgren's job is secure for the time being, but is tied to the club's won-lost record.

    The fact Weeden will be 29 in October has everything to do with where he'll be on Sept.. 9. And that better be under center. Barring injury, that's where he'll be.

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