Fritz's Nephew

Remember Bill Belichick when he was here?  Remember "We could have had Cowher!"?  Remember the worst coach in football?

You wore me down.  I quit defending him in the old Browns' final season, when the team seemed to regress.  I didn't know at the time that the players had known before we did that the team was moving.

Of course, that was BB101.  BB101 was a control-freak who didn't just do his job, but also those of his assistant coaches.  BB101 had film-study OCD and changed the game plan three or four times leading up to games.  He worked 18 hours a day.  He hovered over everybody.

His work ethic was awesome, and he was a genius.  He wasn't ready to be a Head Coach.  Being a Head Coach made him a Head Case.

BB102 is much more like Bill Parcells, his mentor.  He delegates authority to the best, smartest assistant coaches he can find.  He is the General and lets his Colonels and Captains do their jobs once they have their orders.

Sure, he's got Tom Brady!  But see how Brady himself is a coach?  See how he LETS Brady be Brady?  Note how he actually traded elite quarterback Drew Bledsoe to hand the reigns over to the inexperienced sixth-rounder after one pretty good season?

This whole thing with Shurmer sounds familiar.  "I say we haing 'im!"

His ultraconservatism in the red zone vs. the Ratbirds drove me nuts.  He didn't guarantee a bunch of field goals.  He made touchdowns much much more unlikely.  I wanted him fired.

But in the three subsequent games, he's done a great job.  He's better now!  The offense has been balanced, and not predictable.  He's even gone for it on fourth down!  He's PASSED on fourth-and-inches!  Not that being a compulsive gambler makes you a good coach or anything--but Shurmer has demonstrated adaptability and versatility in his gameplanning and playcalling.

Many fans seem oblivious to this.  This is because they're still repeating what they were saying five weeks ago.  Some don't even know what they're saying means, because they're repeating something somebody else said.   Most people also hate to change their minds, once their minds are made up.  It's like accepting defeat or something for them.

I was wrong!  Shurmer (so far) looks like a keeper who is improving!  See?  It's easy!  Everybody is wrong sometimes!  Nobody is perfect!  Admit it!  Say it!  "I was wrong!"

The youngest team in football is making fewer mistakes, and all along were competitive with teams full of veterans; contending, playoff teams.  Developing the young players and being competitive has always been a Shurmer positive.  The ONLY issue with Shurmer, really, was his playcalling.  You want to fire him now, just when his only weakness is disappearing?

And even his playcalling suckdom was overstated.  I was seeing red after the Ravens game, but in most of the other games I saw, the losses were more about dropped passes, interceptions, and blown blocks and referees than bad playcalls.

People were bashing him for sending TRich up the middle--for running on first down for crying out loud!  Yeah, 50% of the time, I can tell in advance if it's a pass or a run, and if I can tell...

Maybe the best thing he's done is to protect Weeden as much as possible.  That's WHY you run and dink-pass a lot-to protect a rookie quarterback.

He's not perfect, of course.  He's run TRich into the ground.  TRich is  conditioned to play a college season.  They can work out all they want, but every college running back starting in the NFL for the first season is not ready to carry the load for sixteen games.  That includes Adrian Peterson.

"Dancing"?  I can't say because I didn't see the KC game, but I strongly suspect that he's lost his explosion because his legs are dead.

Let's see if vs Washington Hardesty gets more carries.  And why not that guy with the name that starts with "O"?

But then, expecting Shurmer to be as smart as ME is probably setting the bar too high...