Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ex-coach gives insight into Browns’ firings
It’s been a change of pace that the latest drama with the Cleveland Browns is about their coaching, not about the quarterback or how bad the team is.
This time it’s about the Browns’ recently fired offensive coordinator Todd Haley. And the news comes from former Browns coach Sam Rutigliano. He and Haley are close, so Rutigliano was able to share some inside information when he spoke this week with Andy Baskin and Jeff Phelps of Cleveland sports talk-radio station 92.3 FM-The Fan.
“Why did they fire Todd Haley?” Rutigliano said. “I talked to him on the phone. When he was going to the office he thought he was going to take over. And he got fired. He said to me, ‘I had no idea. When I was going back into the office I thought possibly if they were going to let Hue Jackson go, that I would have the opportunity now to be the interim coach and then get the job eventually.’ And then it went the opposite direction.”
But Rutigliano may have revealed a bit more than he intended to or perhaps more than Haley wanted him to. According to Rutigliano, Haley’s purpose in taking the job with the Browns in January was to eventually become the head coach. Haley was the head coach for the Kansas City Chiefs from 2009 until he was fired in 2011.
“I don’t think they had a relationship,” Rutigliano said. “You’re working with a guy [Jackson] who had one win and 31 losses, and he’s going to tell you what to do? And he proved all three years that he was incompetent. He wasn’t qualified for the job.”
Quarterback talk
Even by Detroit Lions standards, the past few weeks have been rough.
The Lions have lost two games in a row, falling to 3-5, traded their most consistent offensive player in Golden Tate, and rookie head Coach Matt Patricia unprofessionally called out a reporter’s professionalism because of poor posture.
The criticism is coming from all sides, and at least one member of the franchise isn’t going to bite his tongue.
Rich Gannon, now a commentator on CBS Sports and Sirius XM NFL radio, made some harsh comments about Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford this week, saying that Stafford’s lack of production early in games is a big reason Detroit is struggling.
“I’m getting sick and tired of talking about Matthew Stafford,” said the former NFL quarterback. “The guy is overpaid. He’s been one of the highest-paid quarterbacks over the last four or five years, and he’s a stat king. He picks up a lot of yards and production in garbage time.” Gannon wasn’t done.
“At some point, you are what your record says you are. They haven’t been competitive enough in this division. The reason why the Lions are not a better football team — a big reason why — is the lack of production from Stafford in the first quarter to the third quarter. He just doesn’t put his team in position to be competitive and win close games,” he said.
Stafford, the No. 1 pick in 2009, has heard plenty of criticism over the years, so Gannon isn’t breaking new ground. Nor was Stafford about to let Gannon’s words affect him.
“I don’t need to answer to Rich Gannon,” he said. “I answer to the guys in my locker room or our coaches … before anybody else.”