The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Browns could learn a lesson from 1976 Bucs
Not all records were meant to be broken.
The Browns, now 1-27, have the worst record in a 28-game stretch from the start of a season in the 98year history of the NFL.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were an expansion team in 1976 when the season was 14 games long. The Bucs lost every game in their first season and the first 12 in 1977, but then won their last two, first beating the Saints and then the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Buccaneers were shut out six times in 1977, scored a field goal in two other games and a touchdown in another. That is a total of 13 points in nine games.
Tampa Bay finished 5-11 in 1978, the first year of the 16game schedule. Rookie quarterback Doug Williams was 4-6.
Williams and the Bucs were NFC Central Division champs at 10-6 in 1979 and played the Rams in the NFC championship game, losing, 9-0. They made the playoffs again in 1981 and 1982.
Which team is really worse, the Bucs from 1976-77 or the current Browns, is impossible to answer. But it is worth noting Hugh Culverhouse, owner of the Buccaneers at the time, stuck with John McKay as head coach through 1984, even though fans tried to run him out of Florida after the 0-26 start. It is also worth noting the turnaround coincided with getting the right quarterback.
McKay was the Bucs’ de facto general manager the first two years before Phil Krueger was named GM/ assistant to the president in 1978 — a job he would hold through 1991.
Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam will have to make a similar decision on Browns head coach Hue Jackson and the Browns’ front office in four weeks. The Haslams could stick with Jackson and clean out the front office led by EVP of Football Operations Sashi Brown.
The obvious difference is the Buccaneers were an expansion team in an era when there was no free agency. The Browns just
look like one.
McKay was passionately loyal to Williams, and Jackson is passionately loyal to DeShone Kizer.
“I’m not trying to compare DeShone to anybody I’ve ever had or anybody I know. But I just know quarterbacks from Year One to Year Two make huge jumps,” Jackson said on Dec. 4. “There have been some this year that have done that. I’m not saying he’ll have that kind of a jump a year from now, but I would be surprised if he is not remarkably better a year from now
from this experience.”
The Browns are 0-12 after losing to the Chargers, 19-10, on Dec. 3. They will have the first pick in the draft if nothing changes. They would also have the seventh or eighth pick belonging to Houston (the Texans and Buccaneers are 4-8) from the 2017 draftday trade with the 4-8 Texans. Jackson would not be surprised if whoever is in charge of the Browns draft in 2018 selects a quarterback with the first pick despite his support for Kizer.
“I think we can’t have
too many good quarterbacks right now on this football team,” Jackson said. “I just think we have to — and we have said it before — use resources at that position and go get the right guy that we feel comfortable with to pair them with some of the players we have here to come up with the best quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.”
Culverhouse’s decision to stick with McKay benefited Williams because Williams did not have to learn a new system. It would be a setback for Kizer if Jackson is fired and he’d have to learn a new system.
“I think (being in the same system next season) would be valuable,” Kizer said. “A lot of the better quarterbacks in this league have shown success consistently because they are in that same system. If you go back and look at the guys who are doing it at the highest level from Peyton (Manning) until he retired to Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, those guys have all been in the same system. They’ve been able to maximize their offseasons and their amount of time in this league because of that.”
It always goes back to the quarterback when anticipating the future of the Browns.
Reach Schudel at JSchudel@News-Herald. com. On Twitter: @jsproinsider