Offense by Commitee
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This is the kind of thing that worries me..a lot..Too many hands in the soup..It feels like a clusterf**k is possible.
By Steve Doerschuk
CantonRep.com staff writer
Posted Feb 15, 2011 @ 08:35 PM
Browns Head Coach Pat Shurmur’s staff is complete.
Can it compete?
This is the first of two articles analyzing what kind of leadership has been assembled by and for Shurmur. Team President Mike Holmgren took an active role in shaping the group.
Today, a look at the offensive staff.
No coordinator was hired, but if five collective minds can meld effectively, the philosophy at Shurmur’s fingertips — he will call plays — should be dynamic.
Start with Holmgren, 62, who called plays for three Super Bowl teams as a head coach. Look for his input to be far greater than it was with former head coach Eric Mangini. They spoke different offensive languages.
Gil Haskell, 67, is an extension of Holmgren, with whom he has worked for 16 years. The “senior adviser” will do more unimpeded advising now that the team is doing way more than dipping its toe into the West Coast pool of thought.
Keith Gilbertson, 62, was hired this week as a “senior assistant.” He could easily perform coordinator duties aside from play calling. He was a head coach at Idaho, Cal and Washington. He coached Holmgren’s receivers in Seattle from 1996-98. He took his first coordinator job 33 years ago.
Mark Whipple, 53, would have been an unpopular hire as coordinator. Surrounded by the three men listed above, he instead was brought in as quarterbacks coach. He was Ben Roethlisberger’s position coach in Pittsburgh in Roethlisberger’s first three NFL seasons. He helped Shurmur work with Kevin Kolb during Kolb’s first two years with the Eagles. He is a former Brown quarterback who had three college head coaching jobs. He should be able to talk to Colt McCoy.
Technically, there is no coordinator. Practically, Holmgren, Haskell, Gilbertson, Whipple and Shurmur become a fascinating “coordinator by committee.”
Mike Wilson, 52, is the new wideouts coach. His predecessor, George McDonald, was inexperienced, and it showed.
Wilson has the background Holmgren thinks will help — Wilson was a wide receiver throughout Holmgren’s first six years as an NFL coach with the 49ers. The 6-foot-3 Wilson played with the same body type as current Browns wideouts Mohamed Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie.
Eight of the 11 positions on offense will be coached by three men who were hired by Mangini in 2008: Steve Hagen (tight ends), Gary Brown (running backs) and George Warhop (offensive line).
Hagen, 49, coached with the Browns from 2001-04, lost his job after Butch Davis quit, rejoined Davis at North Carolina, and came back to the Browns in ‘09.
Tight end Ben Watson had a career year in 2010 with 68 catches for 763 yards. In his previous two years combined with New England, he caught 51 passes for 613 yards.
Brown, 41, played in the NFL through most of the 1990s and helped two backs with different styles to breakouts in Cleveland. Shifty Jerome Harrison ran for 561 yards in the final three games of 2009 — Harrison had totaled 448 yards in his previous three seasons. In 2010, Peyton Hillis ranked sixth in the NFL with 1,654 yards from scrimmage. His 2009 number in Denver was 134.
Warhop, 49, enters his third year of working with left guard Joe Thomas, left guard Eric Steinbach, center Alex Mack and right guard Floyd Womack. The team is looking for a right tackle. Warhop has coached in the NFL since 1996.
Shurmur, 45, is younger than all of the men listed above. He will have a 38-year-old general assistant, Chris Beake, on his offensive staff. Beake was on Holmgren’s Seattle staff in 2007 and ‘08.
In theory, the Holmgren and Shurmur influences should work naturally together in the reshaping of the passing game.
The biggest jobs will be fitting Brown’s backs and Warhop’s linemen with a West Coast offense.
Copyright 2011 CantonRep.com. Some rights reserved
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I like zombo dont have a problem with shurmur calling the plays especially the first year, this way its clear to see what the shurmurnator has in mind without an OC to front the blame to like the previous coach did and if holmgren/heckert think shurmy can handle it then by golly i bet he can...
My expectations this year are more like they were at the beginning of last year until it became brutally obvious that mangini wasnt the guy, and my expectations are to see great playcalling and vast improvement in player execution as the season goes on not miracles...
And having all that experience and resources in his assistants should prove vital and positive not negative, as for warhop and his line i believe it was a good decision to keep him, he knows the X's and O's and is very familiar with what will be most of the starters, not to mention he done a good job with the O-line preps for mangini...
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I like zombo dont have a problem with shurmur calling the plays especially the first year, this way its clear to see what the shurmurnator has in mind without an OC to front the blame to like the previous coach did and if holmgren/heckert think shurmy can handle it then by golly i bet he can...
My expectations this year are more like they were at the beginning of last year until it became brutally obvious that mangini wasnt the guy, and my expectations are to see great playcalling and vast improvement in player execution as the season goes on not miracles...
And having all that experience and resources in his assistants should prove vital and positive not negative, as for warhop and his line i believe it was a good decision to keep him, he knows the X's and O's and is very familiar with what will be most of the starters, not to mention he done a good job with the O-line preps for mangini...
And having all that experience and resources in his assistants should prove vital and positive not negative
agreed. i see it as a positive as well.
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agreed. i see it as a positive as well.
I also see it as a positve. I hear or see people in GB or NO complaining about their headcoaches calling plays.
Also, SJ Browns who is that women in your avatar? Is she the chick from NCIS LA?
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agreed. i see it as a positive as well.
I also see it as a positve. I hear or see people in GB or NO complaining about their headcoaches calling plays.
Also, SJ Browns who is that women in your avatar? Is she the chick from NCIS LA?
edit: I also see it as a positve. I don't hear or see people in GB or NO complaining about their headcoaches calling plays.
Also, SJ Browns who is that women in your avatar? Is she the chick from NCIS LA?
yes, that's her. good ol' kensi.
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edit: I also see it as a positve. I don't hear or see people in GB or NO complaining about their headcoaches calling plays.
Also, SJ Browns who is that women in your avatar? Is she the chick from NCIS LA?
yes, that's her. good ol' kensi.
yes, that's her. good ol' kensi.
That show takes place in LA. Why doesn't she do some undercover work on the beach?
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yes, that's her. good ol' kensi.
That show takes place in LA. Why doesn't she do some undercover work on the beach?
That show takes place in LA. Why doesn't she do some undercover work on the beach?
she's too busy ripping deiks(sp?) with her sarcasm and constant insults lol.
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