Browns pleased with better performance
Associated Press
BEREA
Pat Shurmur’s second regular-season Monday as Browns coach was nothing like his first.
He’s thankful for that.
When Shurmur arrived at work, the game ball he was presented by quarterback Colt McCoy following his first win at Indianapolis was in his office. He didn’t have to answer questions about a colossal late-game blunder, penalties or his awful punter. With his help, Shurmur’s team quickly put a horrific loss behind it and won.
In their opener, the Browns got caught napping.
This week, they were on the ball.
“When you win, the air breathes cleaner, the water tastes better, everything’s better when you win,” Shurmur said, one day after a 27-19 win over the Colts. “That’s what we all long to do. Aside from the day-to-day issues of the day in the sport and enjoying what we do, the real fun is in winning.
“If you don’t, then we talk about all of those other things that we talked about last week.”
The Browns rebounded on Sunday, bouncing back with a solid all-around performance to improve to 1-1 for the first time since 2007. A week ago, all the postgame chatter centered on an ugly, disheartening home loss to the Bengals, who scored their game-winning touchdown on a quick-snap pass.
On Sunday, the Browns were prepared and poised. They made corrections in three major troublesome areas, and the improvement was noticeable.
Cleveland committed just three penalties after being called for 11 in Week 1. The Browns converted 50 percent of third downs (8 of 16) after getting just 27 percent (4 of 15) against the Bengals. And their net punting average soared from 31.6 to 40.2 as veteran Brad Maynard, signed on Tuesday when the club placed Richmond McGee on injured reserve, came through in his debut.
McCoy, too, improved after a shaky opener. The second-year QB went 22 of 32 for 211 yards and a touchdown, dusting himself off after being rocked on a blind-side sack by Dwight Freeney in the first quarter.
All of the Browns were better in Week 2.
Shurmur was confident they’d improve.
“I was sure they’d bounce back and play well because I’ve seen them respond to everything we’ve asked them to do,” he said. “That’s what made me sure. They made me right, and I’m happy they did that.”
Several Browns said Shurmur’s positive approach last week played a major role in the one-week reversal.
As bad as things went against the Bengals, and it was bad, Shurmur and his staff did not dwell on the many mistakes that were made. Instead, they used the errors as teaching tools to make the Browns better.
“The atmosphere is really nice,” center Alex Mack said. “Here it’s, ‘guys we made mistakes and let’s get better’ and have a kind of lighter atmosphere. It’s going to help guys stay upbeat. It’s easier to learn.”
Browns linebacker Scott Fujita detected a renewed focus when he and his teammates began practicing last week.
“Guys were disappointed in the loss. That’s a good thing,” he said. “Losses like that should sting a little bit. It shows that you care.”