Shurmur defends strategy

By Mary Kay Cabot

Cleveland Plain Dealer

BEREA

If Pat Shurmur had it to do all over again, he’d do it almost exactly the same way.

The Browns’ first-year coach staunchly defended his strategy at the end of Sunday’s 13-12 loss to the Rams, running the ball six straight times in the red zone and setting up a field goal instead of trying to pass for a touchdown.

The Browns lost after Phil Dawson’s 22-yard field goal attempt was deflected by James Hall with 2:10 left following a snap that went off Alex Mack’s foot.

“No. I’ll go to the well with what I did,” said Shurmur. “And I’ll go to the well lining up to kick the field goal, making them use timeouts and leaving them nearing two minutes to try to drive and beat us. I’ll do that again.”

He said he thinks quarterback Colt McCoy understood his decision to rely on the foot of Dawson to win the game. Dawson had made 16 of 18 field-goal attempts before the final attempt Sunday, with two blocked.

“I’d do it again that way because I think you can run the football in the end zone as well,” he said. “We were having some success with some of the schemes we were running and making yards with the backs we had in the game. Just because you run the ball doesn’t mean you’re giving up.

“We’re all aware they ran the ball here last year and had success. There are reasons for it. The clock runs. You shorten the game. [Rams coach] Steve [Spagnuolo] took a timeout because he wanted to preserve time.”

He said going for the field goal was a no-brainer.

“You have a chance to score and go ahead, you do that,” he said. “Then you kick to them and play defense. There’s no decision there, I don’t think. I mean, I think that’s what you do.”

He said the Browns’ 0-for-3 mark in the red zone leading up to that point played into the strategy at the end. The Browns had thrown a few passes to the end zone that were unsuccessful.

“I was going to run the football there and I wanted to run plays that would keep the clock running,” he said.

The only thing he probably would’ve done differently is call a timeout once he was told by his staff on the sideline that tight end Alex Smith was in the game at fullback for an ailing Owen Marecic on a second-and-goal play at the 9.

Shurmur called a handoff to Marecic, and once he discovered it was Smith, he felt it was too late to do anything about it. Smith, who said he can’t ever remember taking a handoff, fumbled the exchange, with Josh Cribbs recovering. If Cribbs hadn’t done so, the focus would’ve been on that miscue. As it was, the play went for a 2-yard gain.