QB Brandon Weeden refuses to budge despite criticism – NFL Feature
Cleveland Browns’ rookie quarterback has rebuffed an impression that he is not a franchise quarterback, saying if it had not been the case, he would not have been selected by the team as a first-round pick out of this year’s draft.
He was responding a query from NFL Network staff in context of Browns’ offensive coordinator Brad Childress' remarks that he wanted to monitor Brandon for the entire season before coming up with his analysis of the offence leader.
Brandon said:
"Yeah, absolutely I do. Absolutely I do. If I didn't I wouldn't be here and they wouldn't have taken me in the first round to be their quarterback. Obviously, I have to play well and I have to do things to prove that I'm that guy. But, yeah, I'm confident.”
He added:
"If you come into this league and you're passive and you're not a competitive guy and you don't want to take the bull by the horns, you probably don't deserve to be the starting quarterback anyway. My attitude is, I'm going to get better these last seven
games."
The problem with Weeden is that he is working on mistakes on his own. Apparently, no Browns’ coach has exclusively mentored him and worked out his mistakes with him.
May be Childress is right in his saying that a few games are not enough to make an opinion about an offence leader but he should too accept some responsibility because he is directly coach of the player.
Some of the mistakes are easily avoidable and should not be repeated but it is lack of mentoring and training that the player finds himself helpless in addressing them. All the improvement he has so far made is a result of his own work.
The time is running out for all officials and coaches in the Browns as arrival of new chief executive officer Joe Banner has rung the alarm bells for them. Who stays and who leaves is going to be decided by the new executive and almost all coaches and officials
from the front office see their jobs on stake.
So does Brandon Weeden. He might not be touched this season but next season will totally depend on his form and performance. So far, Banner said he has an open mind and does not hold a bias against anyone.
At the same time, he has hinted at taking some decisions much to the disliking of some officials, which he admitted would be difficult but would be taken to fix the team’s problems. Although the first phase might focus officials only, the players are not
immune to the expected cleansing during its second phase.
Apparently, Weeden is positive about his game level and despite some consecutive failings he remains as confident as ever before. He also has coach Pat Shurmur’s backing who probably knows that Browns do not have any alternative in departure of Weeden.
They have already tried Colt McCoy for a couple of seasons and he is a complete failure as well. The only untried option left in front of him is running back Trent Richardson. He is rated to be the most talented player but whether he will be successful as
an offence leader is a different question altogether.
Some analysts believe the coach should try that option as well because now at end of the day he does not have anything to lose.
Nevertheless, the time from now on is going to be crucial as far as future of Browns' players and staff members is concerned.
Disclaimer: The views do not represent editorial policy of bettor.com
Tags: