Displaying items by tag: Mike Pettine

What is Jimmy Haslam thinking?

That's the question on the minds of Browns fans today in the wake of the expected firings of Browns head coach Mike Pettine and general manager Ray Farmer and the unexpected promotion of general counsel Sashi Brown to Executive Vice President of Football Operations with final say over the 53-man roster.

Jeff Schudel of The News-Herald and The Morning Journal and Ty Schalter of Bleacher Report both joined The Jasen Sokol Show to try to explain the promotion and the decision to hire a head coach before a general manager.

- - -

(Cleveland Browns) The Cleveland Browns on Sunday night relieved General Manager Ray Farmer and Head Coach Mike Pettine of their duties.

Farmer joined the organization in March of 2013 as the Assistant General Manager and was promoted to General Manager in February of 2014.

Pettine was named the 15th full-time head coach of the Browns on January 23, 2013. In two full seasons with the team, he compiled at 10-22 record.  

Owner Jimmy Haslam released the following statement:

"We greatly appreciate Ray’s and Mike’s dedication and hard work while with the Cleveland Browns. We’ve made this decision because we don’t believe our football team was positioned well for the future. We are all disappointed with where we are and we take full responsibility. We will approach the search for our next football coach and executives to lead our football operations with a clear vision regarding what we need to do to build a successful organization. We will be methodical in looking for strong, smart leaders with high character who are relentlessly driven to improve our football team, willing to look at every resource possible to improve, and who embrace collaboration to ultimately make the best decisions for the Cleveland Browns. We are fully committed to bringing our fans the winning organization they so clearly deserve.”

Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh McCown was pulled out of Monday night's game with the Ravens when he was injured.

Now, that injury will sideline him for the rest of this season.

"It's the worst case scenario for Josh," Browns head coach Mike Pettine told reporters in a conference call on Monday. "He will miss the remainder of the season with a fracture to his collarbone."

Coach Pettine says that McCown's injury won't require surgery, but the quarterback won't be able to come back before season's end.

"It's not displaced so he does not need surgery, but it will take more than the rest of the season to get it healed up," Pettine says.

Pettine says Josh means a lot to the team.

"He's in the locker room, practice field, game day, just the positive energy that he exuded, and leadership," Pettine says, "I just can't say enough positive things about Josh McCown and what he's done for this football team, and what he means for this football team."

Pettine won't, however, name a starter in McCown's absence.

Second string quarterback Austin Davis led the Browns to a touchdown drive on Monday. Johnny Manziel was active as the third string quarterback, but did not play.

With the Browns in the bye week after the loss to the Steelers, the team already knows who will be behind center when they finish the season.

The 2 and 8 Browns have tapped quarterback Johnny Manziel to play the last six games of the 2015 season.

The move came just before the NFL announced that it won't discipline Manziel for an October incident with his girlfriend in Avon.

Head coach Mike Pettine says that not only has Manziel's play improved through the loss to the Steelers.

"We understand where our season is at this point," Pettine told reporters in Berea on Tuesday, "and this is a kid that we've invested a lot in...and this will give us an opportunity to see how far he's come, and what he's capable of."

Manziel says he's excited to start, and says he's told coach Pettine that he'll be on his best behavior.

"I let him now that I'm not going to do anything that's going to be a distraction to this team, or be an embarrassment to the organization," Manziel says, "and that was the thing that he stressed to me as well, so he kind of stressed that back."

The Browns play next a week from Monday night at FirstEnergy Stadium against the Baltimore Ravens.