The Browns have hired 45-year old Pat Shurmur to serve as the teams’ new head coach.  Shurmur has never been a head coach anywhere in his career until now.  He was the Rams’ offensive co-ordinator the last two seasons and he served as the Eagles’ TEs & QBs coach from 1999-2008.  Shurmur is the nephew of the late Fritz Shurmur who was the Packers’ defensive co-ordinator under Mike Holmgren from 1994-98.  Under Shurmur, the Packers won 2 NFC Championships and Super Bowl XXXI over the New England Patriots.  Pat Shurmur has ties to both GM Tom Heckert and team president Mike Holmgren, so the Browns should be on the same page going froward.  Shurmur did a good job coaching up Sam Bradford in his rookie season and the hope is that he will do the same with Colt McCoy in Cleveland.  Only time will tell if this is a good hire for the Browns, but if nothing else he will give the team a new sense of direction especially on the offensive side of the ball.

24-year old rookie Colt McCoy had a couple of rough games against the Ravens & Steelers the last two weeks of the year but overall he played well enough to likely enter 2011 as the Browns’ starting QB.  McCoy was especially impressive when you consider the WRing corps he had to work with.  One of the Browns’ top priorities this off-season will be upgrading at WR in both the draft and free agency.  McCoy played in 8 games for the Browns as a rookie this year and he completed 135 of 222 passes (60.8%) for 1,576 yards with 6 TD passes and 9 INTs (74.5 QB Rating).  McCoy also carried the ball 28 times for 136 yards (4.9 ypc) with 1 TD run as a rookie.  McCoy will likely be a good fit in the Browns’ new West Coast Offense built on timing and rhythm.

30-year old Seneca Wallace will likely return as McCoy’s backup in 2011 due to the fact that he played pretty well last season and he knows the West Coast System pretty well from his time in Seattle.  Wallace played in 6 games for the Browns last season and he completed 64 of 101 passes (63.4%) for 694 yards with 4 TD passes and 2 INTs (88.5 QB Rating).  Wallace also carried the ball 7 times for 9 yards (1.3 avg) and he caught 1 pass for 9 yards.  Wallace has now played in 54 games in his NFL career and he has completed 397 of 657 passes (60.4%) for 4,241 yards with 29 TD passes and 16 INTs (83.9 QB Rating).  Wallace also has carried the ball 61 times for 223 yards (3.7 ypc) with 1 TD run and he has also caught 5 passes for 85 yards (17.0 avg) in his NFL career.  Wallace is a solid backup and the Browns would be smart to bring him back.

The Browns are likely to part ways with 36-year old Jake Delhomme as he was pretty awful when healthy in 2010.  Delhomme played in 5 games for the Browns this year and he completed 93 of 149 passes (62.4%) for 872 yards with 2 TD passes and 7 INTs (63.4 QB Rating).  Delhomme has now played in 102 games (92 starts) in his NFL career and he has completed 1,723 of 2,904 passes (59.3%) for 20,764 yards with 125 TD passes and 101 INTs (81.2 QB Rating).  Delhomme has also carried the ball 175 times for 328 yards (1.9 ypc) with 7 TD runs in this career to date.  I look for the Browns to release Delhomme this off-season.

VERDICT:  McCoy looks like he could be the Browns’ QB of both the future and the right now based on what I saw this year.  But, the Browns are going to need to revamp the WRing corps to give him a fair shot.  Seneca Wallace is a solid backup while Jake Delhomme looks like he’s toast.

The Cleveland Browns have fired 39-year old head coach Eric Mangini.  Last season, Mangini saved his job by finishing 4-1 in the last five games.  But, this year was the complete opposite and it cost him his job.  In the last four games the Browns were outscored 93-42 and they lost all of them.  The Browns were pretty brutal to watch on offense outside of Peyton Hillis and Ben Watson who were the only skill players who probably grade out as players better than average on that side of the ball.  Browns’ President Mike Holmgren is an offensive wizard and he probably couldn’t take it anymore watching the Browns play offense.  The Browns averaged 102.9 yards rushing (4.0 ypc), 186.8 yards passing (75.0 QB Rating) and 16.9 points per game last season and that flat out won’t get the job done.  Mangini finishes his career in Cleveland with a 10-22 record (31.3%) as the Browns were 5-11 in each year with him in charge.  It might be a while before Mangini gets another shot to lead a team in the NFL as he is now 33-47 (41.3%) in his five years as a NFL head coach during the regular season.  He is also 0-1 in the playoffs.  I look for Holmgren’s next head coach to be more offensive minded unless it turns out being John Fox.  Jon Gruden is probably really high on Holmgren’s wish list as they worked together for a few years in Green Bay.

The Browns came out flat in this game and the Steelers punished them from beginning to end.  Colt McCoy looked awful today as he completed 20 of 41 passes for 209 yards with 1 TD pass and 3 INTs.  McCoy also carried the ball 4 times for 19 yards (4.8 ypc) in this game.  Seneca Wallace ran a few plays at QB and he completed his only pass but it was only good for 1 yard.  Mike Bell got the start at RB today and he finished up with 14 yards rushing on 5 carries (2.8 ypc).  He also caught 4 passes for 14 yards (3.5 avg) in this game.  Peyton Hillis only carried the ball 6 times for 13 yards (2.2 ypc) and he caught 1 pass for 3 yards in a brief appearance.  TE Ben Watson led the way in the passing game for the Browns in this game with 7 grabs for 67 yards (9.6 avg).  Mohamed Massaquoi (3 rec, 50 yards), Josh Cribbs (3 rec, 37 yards) and Brian Robiskie (2 rec, 35 yards, TD) also pitched in for the Browns in the passing game today.  The Browns finished up with only 43 yards rushing on 17 carries (2.5 ypc) and they completed 21 of 43 passes for 182 yards as they only had the ball for 26:46 in this game.

CB Mike Adams (8 tackles, 1 QB hit), safety T.J. Ward (7 tackles and 1 pass defensed) and CB Joe Haden (6 tackles and 1 pass defensed) led an awful effort by the Browns’ D in this game.  The Steelers finished up with 100 yards rushing on 30 carries (3.3 ypc) and they also completed 21 of 30 passes for 318 yards.  The Browns finished the 2010 season in third place in the AFC North with a 5-11 record.

The Cleveland Browns have lost three games in a row, only scoring a combined 33 points in those games.  But this week is the Browns’ version of the Super Bowl (as of late anyway).  The Browns are out to beat the Steelers and hurt their playoff seeding and who is to say they can’t.  After all they beat the Steelers 13-6 in Cleveland last season as a big underdog.  The Steelers win tomorrow and they get the #2 seed in the AFC Playoffs earning them a bye next weekend.  But, a loss to the Browns could drop the Steelers all the way down to the #6 seed if the Ravens, Chiefs and Jets all win tomorrow.   Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Browns have the ball:  I look for the Browns to pull out all of the stops tomorrow on offense.  Look for Josh Cribbs to be heavily involved in the offense as he really hurt the Steelers last season.  Colt McCoy is likely going to lead a pass  first  attack by the Browns tomorrow against a Steelers’ D that is allowing 216.2 yards passing per game.  The O-Line will need to give McCoy time to throw the ball in order for him to make plays down the field.  TE Ben Watson could cause the Steelers big time trouble in this game because of his hands and size.  Peyton Hillis is banged up but he’s going to try to give it the old college try tomorrow.  If he can’t go, then look for Mike Bell to get the call as the featured back of the offense.

When the Steelers have the ball:  The Steelers are likely going to be a run first team tomorrow.  The Browns need to stop Rashard Mendenhall and it won’t be easy as they are giving up 131.3 yards rushing per game and 4.1 yards per carry.  The Browns will likely be blitzing a lot in this game as they sacked Ben Roethlisberger 8 times in last year’s game.  Joe Haden will probably be responsible for covering Mike Wallace and that should be fun to watch.  The safeties will have to be concerned with helping Haden deep while keeping eyes on Hines Ward and Heath Miller on the short stuff.

PREDICTION:  STEELERS 23, BROWNS 20

24-year old DT Ahtyba Rubin has played so well that he pushed Shaun Rogers to the bench in 2010.  Rubin has played in 15 games for the Browns so far this year and he has 79 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 passes defensed and 1 interception.  Rubin has now played in 42 games in his first three years with the Browns and he has 128 tackles, 2 passes defensed, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble and 1 interception.  Rubin has really turned into a good player for the Browns as he was a sixth round pick out of Iowa in 2008.  He has gotten better each season which has the Browns pretty excited about his future.

25-year old OLB Marcus Benard is the Browns’ secret weapon on D.  He has played in 14 games for the Browns so far this year and he has 26 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 7.5 sacks and 2 passes defensed.  Benard has now played in 20 games in his first two years with the Browns and he has 40 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 11 sacks.  Benard is the best pass rusher on the Browns and I think they should play him more.  He could be like Cameron Wake of the Dolphins if they let him play every down.

23-year old WR Brian Robiskie has finally woke up the last couple of weeks.  In Robiskie’s last two games he has caught 7 passes for 117 yards (16.7 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  He has now played in 13 games this year for the Browns and he has caught 27 passes for 275 yards (10.2 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Robiskie has played in 24 games in his first two years with the Browns and he has caught 34 passes for 381 yards (11.2 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  It is nice to see Robiskie finishing the year strongly as he might actually be a bigger part of the Browns down the road than I thought he was going to be.