Quick Hits

McCoy eager
     I'm feeling better and better about Colt McCoy as a Brown. Much of it has to do with Holmgren and Mangini playing down the hype the day after the draft when they said he wouldn't even play in his first year. 
     It's hard for a rookie quarterback to learn and win in the NFL, especially on a team with a history of losing. Multiply that tenfold for a newly drafted quarterback in Cleveland, a town and team starved of a professional winner at the position since the late eighties and Bernie Kosar.
     Wednesday, Scott Petrak posted this story of McCoy's first shot during OTA's with the first team offense.
     The drive only engineered one first down, then fizzled, but the opportunity wasn't a waste. “It’s good to see what he’s going to look like operating with those guys,” Eric Mangini said.
     "The drive didn’t continue, but mechanically it looked fine."
     "“It was great,” McCoy said. “I got in the huddle, I was a little nervous. But once we got rolling, we got rolling," said McCoy.
     What stands out isn't the fact that he's excited to play, which is expected. It's that he hasn't said much since being drafted. McCoy has drifted around in the background with regard to the media. And in this town, that's not easy to do for a rookie quarterback seen as the future starter.
     But he seems poised and plodding, eager to be the starter, but not at all costs.
     “I can remember the first time I stepped in the huddle in spring ball after the five starting offensive linemen had just won a national championship and they had come back for their senior year and I was a freshman stepping in the huddle calling plays,” McCoy said. “I kinda had a little flashback just then.
     I'm getting the feeling McCoy is going to be a good quarterback in this league, and much of it has to do with his handling by the organiztion and the handling of the the expectations of the young player.

All five RFA's sign their tender offers

The Browns reported on Tuesday that all five restricted free agents, Jerome Harrison, Matt Roth, D'Qwell Jackson, Abe Elam, and Lawrence Vickers signed their one offers to play football the is season.

Signing the tender made sense for each of them.

Last week the Browns issued each a letter stating that the offer to each would be reduced to league minimum numbers if the player did not sign by June 15. Elam would have lost about $200,000, but the others would have lost over a million each.

The Browns have also said they would explore signing some of the RFA's to an extension during the season, after the current regime of Holmgren and Heckert have had a chance to see the players perform and evaluate their play.

Delhomme: Offense Installed

Jake Delhomme said yesterday that the bulk of the offense has been installed and run through a first time.

"We have and identity," Delhomme said of the team.

Is it me, or does Jake talk a lot about the Browns as a team? It's been at least three years since the quarterback was focused on preparing the group on the field to win ball games instead of wondering whether or not they would play.

When asked if he was comfortable he'd be the starter, he replied: Seneca can play. There's no way around that fact. And number 16 is a heck of a player too.

See? No posturing, no wariness. This is refreshing.

Holmgren a Great Communicator

It's been said before, but it's worth mentioning again.

After reading Terry Pluto's blog post Saturday, it is clear that Mike Holmgren is a great communicator. 

The Browns haven't had a front office person with his skills since Carmen Policy....but the difference with Holmgren is I actually believe him!

Reading how Holmgren and the staff went about choosing the quarterback for this team, as opposed to the "gut feelings," of the past....whew, what a relief.

Tone down the talk of 8-8

It's time to temper the enthusiasm about the Browns in 2010.

I know the team won four of it's last five games.

I know Randy Lerner was able to woo and lure the Big Show to little old Cleveland. I know Mike Holmgren is known as a Quarterback guru, and an offensive mind. I know he has a resume that includes turning two franchises around and taking them both to the Super Bowl.

I know he kept head coach Eric Mangini, has somewhat praised him in various interviews, and I know it seems like Mangini feels less pressure to run the franchise and just coach the players on the field.

I Jerome Harrison provided a spark to the offense last year down the stretch.

I know we landed a very good football mind in the hire of Tom Heckert.

I know Holmgren, Heckert, and Mangini want to incorporate "tough, smart" football players to this team.

I know Brian Robiskie keeps getting attention for his play in OTA's and mini camp.

I know.

I just wished I knew more. Like seeing them on the field before we say they'll be improved.

Over the last 2 years since the aberration in 2007,, the Browns have gone 4-12, and 5-11. I don't include any other years the comparison here because, let's face it, this team has been remade more times than Charlie Sheen's career.

Even with all the good news that has surrounded the team in the last six months, there is plenty negative aspects of the team that is still around.

First, Holmgren didn't turn around Green Bay and Seattle in one year, and those teams didn't go to the Super Bowl until he was in his fifth and seventh year's with the Packers and Seahawks, respectively.

Second, even Holmgren has downplayed this first year saying many times that "you can't fix everything in one year."

Also, he's not coaching this team. With regards o the play on the field, he is just an admitted tie-breaker.

The offense is purported to be run, run, then run, first. Great running teams can win just as much and sometimes more than high flying arial shows, but they have to have a good defense to do it. Maybe great.

It takes longer to score as a running team. If the defense can't play and hold the other team for longer than two quarters, something the Browns couldn't do much of last season, then Jerome Harrison can run for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns all day, but they'll lose 24-21 a lot.

Yes, they traded for Sheldon Brown, and spent their first rounder on a corner, which should mean they have three now, including Eric Wright. And they added hitters at the safety position with T.J. Ward and Larry Asante.

But if Haden starts at corner the defense is only one injury away from lining up two rookies at safety, assuming Ward or Asante starts out of training camp, which is likely. That's three rookies for four spots by my count. And that's scary.

Also, last year when they were able to beat Kansas City, Oakland, and Jacksonville y rushing the ball effectively to end the season...well, those teams combined for 16 wins last year So, I'm not placing a lot of weight on those performances.

Lots of players and teams are already packing it in by that point in the season. So, let's just wait and see who we can and can't run against this year.

And if Jerome Harrison is so good, why did the team feel the need to trade up into the second round to grab Montario Hardesty, a player who was listed as injury prone? It's especially alarming since at the time the Browns had a total of 15 caught balls leftover for the previous years wideouts.

Speaking about the WR's, why all the talk about Brian Robiskie in OTA's and mini camp? Maybe he has made some strides and looks good. I just get this feeling in my gut that the team is trying as hard as it can to prop up his spirits.

I know he's a strong willed kid who's game is built on fundamentals. That was why I was glad they drafted him.

But if the best thing you can say about the WR's at this time of the year is that a player who caught seven balls for 106 yards last year is "looking good," then I think our offense has a lot farther to go than some media reports are making it sound.