In many ways, the focus for the Browns in Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium will be on rookie Cody Kessler.
Can he be the quarterback for whom the Browns have looked so long and hard – without success – in the expansion era?
We’ll see.
I don’t think so, but you never know. He’s not a big, strong guy, and ultimately, I believe the man who turns out to be the franchise quarterback will have the size of the other passers in the AFC North in Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger, who’s headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday, Baltimore’s Joe Flacco, who’s likely headed to the Hall of the Very Good someday, and even Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton, who’s one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL in the regular season. That tells you a lot.
On the other hand, I truly believe there’s a decent chance that “the guy” will not be thought of as such when he arrives in Cleveland. He will be like Kessler in that he will be only a candidate to be “the guy,” but will really maximize his opportunity and come out of nowhere, more or less, to win the job.
Why do I think that?
Because history tells us.
In 1962, his first season with the Browns after being acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams, Frank Ryan split the starting job with Jim Ninowski. Neither player wowed anyone that year.
But when Blanton Collier was promoted to head coach after Paul Brown was fired shortly following the end of the season, his first order of business was to name Ryan the full-time starter. Two seasons later, in 1964, Ryan threw three touchdown passes to wide receiver Gary Collins to bury the Baltimore Colts 27-0 in the NFL Championship Game.
The Browns traded Paul Warfield to Miami on the eve of the 1970 NFL Draft to get the Dolphins’ No. 3 overall pick, which they used to select Purdue’s Mike Phipps. So the Browns thought Phipps – a guy who, with a powerful arm and a great college resume — would be the guy, but it never happened.
When Sam Rutigliano took over as head coach of the Browns in 1978, his first order of business was to name Brian Sipe as his starting quarterback. Sipe, a smallish guy like Kessler, had been drafted in the 13th round in 1972 and spent the first two years on the taxi squad, the forerunner of today’s practice squad. He had played well at times, but not consistently.
Eleven games into the 1978 season, the jury was still out on Sipe, but in game No. 12, he had his first 300-yard passing performance in a 45-24 win over the Baltimore Colts and his career just took off from there. Two years later, in 1980, he threw for a team-record 30 TD passes and became the last Brown to be named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player as he led the Kardiac Kids to an 11-5 record, the Browns’ first AFC Central title in nine years and their first playoff berth in eight seasons.
So you never know.
But while most of the spotlight will be on Kessler to see if he can join some other rookie quarterbacks around the league in getting off to a good start, his head coach will also be under the microscope.
Hue Jackson was hired in January with the reputation of being a quarterback whisperer, someone who can spot talented passers and then develop them into productive players.
Kessler is the coach’s hand-picked guy, taken in the third round as the first quarterback drafted by the Browns in the Jackson era. Jackson has had a week to coach up Kessler and design a training-wheels type offense that will accentuate the things that he does best and give him a chance to be successful. That’s what Doug Pederson has done with Carson Wentz in Philadelphia and what Stark County native Josh McDaniels did with Jacoby Brissett in New England in the 27-0 dismantling of the Houston Texans last Thursday night.
Jackson must do the same. If he can and Kessler holds his own – even if the Browns don’t win – then the coach will prove his reputation is legitimate.
But if Jackson can’t do that and Kessler looks completely lost, confused and befuddled and the Browns get run out of the stadium, then … well, it won’t be good.
What do I think?
That Kessler – and thus Jackson – will both acquit themselves well.
We shall see.
