The story of the Browns in the expansion era is the same as that of the movie “Groundhog Day.
That is, no matter how many times they try to alter things and get out of the negative situation they’re in, they keep waking up only to find that nothing has changed. They’re stuck in neutral, unable to move forward.
It was funny when it happened to Bill Murray. But it hasn’t been so much of a tee-hee when it has happened to the Browns.
Maybe – just maybe – the Browns will be able to leave this malaise behind with the efforts of their new group of deep thinkers such as Sashi Brown, Andrew Berry, Hue Jackson and John DePodesta.
But while we’re waiting to see what happens, we can wonder, “What if?” That is, what if Phil Savage had remained as general manager and had been able to hire the head coach he really wanted in Kirk Ferentz, the former Cleveland offensive line coach under Bill Belichick 20-some-odd years ago who is now the longtime – and successful – head coach at Iowa? Where would the Browns be now?
Savage had potential to be a good GM, He just let his emotions get the best of him, but if the truth be told, he was, of course, hamstrung by being stuck with a head coach he didn’t want, and didn’t bond with, in Romeo Crennel.
Savage and Ferentz would have been a great fit in working together since they thought alike, and they were also talented enough individually to do some good things in their respective areas of expertise. Since Savage was fired following the 2008 season after spending for years on the job, the Browns have been stuck with the likes of Eric Mangini, a head coach acting as his own GM, and GMs Tom Heckert, Mike Lombardi and Ray Farmer. Since Crennel was fired, also after the 2008 season to end a four-year stint, Mangini, Pat Shurmur, Rob Chudzinski and Mike Pettine have served as the head coaches.
Both in terms of the GMs and the head coaches individually, and their combined work, of course, it has been a disaster.
It’s interesting to think about, and fans will continue to ponder what a Savage-Ferentz team might have done until the Browns get it right.
And speaking of coaches, we can’t let the recent passing of former Browns running backs coach George Sefcik, 76, go unnoticed. Sefcik was a Cleveland Benedictine High School product who coached briefly at Niles (Ohio) High School and did a good job in two stints with the Browns, 1975-77 under head coach Forrest Gregg and then 1989-90 under Bud Carson.
In his first stay, Sefcik helped turn Greg Pruitt into one of the NFL’s better runners and pass catchers out of the backfield.
Then in the second one, he began developing Eric Metcalf into a multi-faceted threat and got Kevin Mack ready to go in that pivotal 1989 regular-season finale at Houston after he had missed the entire year. Mack was the hero in a 24-20 win over the Oilers that clinched the AFC Central title.
By Steve King
