Saturday, Aug. 15 (PM) – On a football team, the head coach is like the president of the country. That is, when he says something – no matter how simple or inane it may appear to be – it has tremendous meaning. Just as the president sets the course for the nation, so does the coach do so for his team. And when the coach talks about the quarterbacks, it means even more. For after all, quarterback is the most important position in team sports. If a team has a good quarterback, then it has a chance to win. And if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t. So it was with Browns head coach Mike Pettine on Saturday in his press conference following the team’s last public training camp practice in Berea. Pettine said Josh McCown is “firmly” his team’s No. 1 quarterback. “I haven’t wavered from that,” he pointed out. Yes, we understand that such pronouncements need to be made from time to time, especially on a club like the Browns that has had such struggles at quarterback in the expansion era. Like we said, Pettine’s word is law, and who plays quarterback is a really big deal. So the coach talking QBs is like the president talking foreign policy. It gets your attention. But did Pettine really have to say what he did about McCown on Saturday? Was it necessary? Was there any doubt that McCown is the guy right now at the position? With Pettine saying that, should he have also made other proclamations such as the sun will rise in the east on Sunday morning, the weather is hot, humid and dry in August in Northeast Ohio, Democrats can’t stand Republicans, and vice-versa, the Ohio State Buckeyes should have a good football team this season, Dick Goddard is TV legend in Cleveland and LeBron James is a tremendous basketball player? All of these fall under the heading of, saracastically, “No kidding?” Those are facts that have long since been established. They can’t be questioned. There is no need to deliberate on them. While backup Johnny Manziel has played well thus far, McCown is clearly ahead of him. Barring something unforseen, such as an injury or he suddenly decides to retire and pursue a career as a botanist in a Third-World country, McCown will be the starter when the Browns open the regular season against the Jets in New York. You can take that to the bank. In fact, you could have taken it to the bank months ago when the Browns signed McCown in free agency. Pettine and Browns General Manager Ray Farmer worked extremely hard to woo him to Cleveland, edging out the Buffalo Bills in a bidding war of sorts. With that, then, as much as it is important to Farmer’s job security that Manziel eventually develops into the starter because the GM traded up in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft to take him, it is also important to both Farmer’s and Pettine’s job security that McCown be under center to start this season. If not, then they’re going to have to answer some tough questions from Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, who signed off on paying McCown a hefty chunk of change. So, instead of wasting time talking about the obvious with his quarterbacks on Saturday, Pettine could have addressed much more pressing subjects about the team, such as why the Browns still can’t stop the run, how much longer they will give struggling cornerback Justin Gilbert a chance before they simply cut their losses and put the No. 8 overall draft pick in 2014 on the bench, where he deserves to be, and whether or not he liked the new uniforms his team debuted Thursday night. Now, what Pettine had to say about those topics would really be interesting.
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