Another wrong turn

By Joel Hammond
210 west Writer [send email]

There's been a helluva lot of talk in this space and space elsewhere throughout the state of Ohio about the plight of professional sports teams in Cleveland.

You know, the old argument that the city on the Lake (not the only city on the lake mind you, but they pretend it is -- that's another column) is so cursed that the powers that be will never, ever let their precious Brownies, Cavs or Tribe win a title.

These guys and gals will have you believe NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and former Browns owner Art Modell were in it together, just trying to screw Cleveland and not, in some crazy money-making scheme, trying to get out of a town that had lost interest in its once-storied franchise (why did Cleveland fans wait until Modell moved the team to pay attention? Once again, that's another column).

The same theorists will have you believe the the Cavs' savior, 'Bron-'Bron, will be hurt in his first game, and that the Cavs will once again be one Zydrunas Ilgauskas broken foot and one more Ricky Davis shot at the wrong hoop away from another 17-65 season.

And then, in one fell swoop, Browns head coach Butch Davis reminds us all that it's not karma that's holding these three franchises back -- it's idiocy.

Forget karma. And for the purposes of this column, forget about the ineptitude of the front offices of the basketball and baseball franchises in the city.

The fact is that I don't, nor does any other critic of Davis, have any statistical evidence to condemn his decision to make career-backup Kelly Holcomb the starter for the regular season over four-year starter and one-time franchise savior Tim Couch.

Holcomb started two games for the Browns a year ago for injured starter Tim Couch, and relieved him in parts of three others. He was, statistically, impressive. He completed over 60 percent of his passes and threw twice as many touchdowns as interceptions.

Couch's numbers don't quite stack up to those, despite completing more of his passes (61.6 percent) in 14 games a season ago. Couch threw 18 interceptions and his yards per attempt average was over a yard less than Holcomb's.

So the statistics do add up to Holcomb being the starter, especially after a stellar performance in the AFC Wild Card playoffs, where he threw for 429 yards and nearly led his team to an upset of the hated Steelers.

But what doesn't add up is my own gut feeling. Davis went with his gut feeling when he made the decision, but I get one of my own when assessing the situation. I don't know the reason -- perhaps it's because Couch was in Cleveland before Davis, therefore Timmy was not Davis' guy -- but Couch was doomed from the start.

In watching several Browns games over the last year, one thing seems clear: Couch did not get the opportunities Holcomb does.

For the first three years of his career, Couch had David Carr-like
numbers in the "times sacked" category, including years of 56 and 51, and 30 last year. Couch was sacked just 10 times in 2000. That's because one of those sacks led to a season-ending injury.

Last year, I watched two Browns games, their Sunday night game against Baltimore and the playoff game in Pittsburgh (as I was stuck in Maryland in a level-3 snow emergency; once again, another column).

Couch gets hurt against Baltimore with the Browns trailing by 16 and 10 minutes left. Naturally, Baltimore plays a bit conservatively on defense, and Holcomb, against a prevent defense 210 West Editor Dan Nied and I could pass on, leads the Browns to two more scores. Then, down two, Holcomb throws his second interception of the game with under a minute to go, and the Browns lose by two.

I could already read the headlines: "Holcomb nearly covers for Couch's mistakes," or "Holcomb should start."

If Tim Couch would have thrown two interceptions in less than 10 minutes, he would have been chastised.

Then, Holcomb gets enough pass plays called for him in Pittsburgh that he is able to put on a show, dissecting an anemic Pittsburgh secondary. But the Browns lost. 36-33.

Therein lies the point: For Couch, a good effort was never good enough. He had to win. For Holcomb, he just needed good numbers.

For the defining evidence on the hypocrisy Davis used throughout his self-created controversy, this pre-season is the place you need to look. The pre-season doesn't matter? Holcomb had more passing plays called for him, and had the better numbers. Davis said he wanted to firm up the running game when Couch was in the game.

Yeah, sounds like a gut feeling to me.

My gut feeling is that Couch will be traded this season or off-season, and whenever he plays the Browns for the rest of his career, he will throw for 429 yards.

And no interceptions.

It is just another idiotic move for a Cleveland franschise.