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Coach Butch Davis wasted no time cleaning out his offensive coaching staff after a 5-11 season.
One day after the season ended, Davis fired offensive coordinator Bruce Arians
and the two assistants Arians brought with him to the Browns -- quarterbacks
coach Carl Smith and running backs coach Todd McNair.
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"You don't look at any one particular thing," Davis said when explaining his decision. "There's no one set of factors or reasons. Injuries did play a role to some extent, but it's a three-year, broad spectrum look at all of the things. Rushing offense. Total offense. The whole thing offensively for three years. The growth and development.
"In a three-year picture, I felt we needed to make a change."
Davis has talked all season about injuries short-circuiting any chance for the
offense to succeed, but those injuries, especially on the offensive line, did
not save Arians' job.
McNair and Arians did not want to comment. Smith could not be reached.
Support for the deposed coaches came from others, who asked for anonymity given
the sensitive nature of the firings.
"There were five games when the offense didn't score a touchdown, so in
that sense Bruce is accountable," one team source said. "But this
is the same coordinator who beat Baltimore with Ben Gay at running back and
guys like Jeremy McKinney on the offensive line, the same coordinator who had
Kelly Holcomb rank third all-time in NFL playoff passing, the same guy whose
offense ran for 264 yards Sunday with a ragamuffin offensive line.
"They can't take that away from Bruce. Something was going right."
Another source said the offense has been hamstrung by the offensive line's struggles.
He said the offensive coaching staff recommended drafting different offensive
linemen in April -- Steve Sciullo of Marshall in the fourth round (when the
Browns took running back Lee Suggs) and Eric Steinbach of Iowa in the first
round (when the Browns took center Jeff Faine).
Sciullo started 13 games for Indianapolis, and Steinbach started 15 games for
the Bengals. Faine was the Browns starter at center before getting hurt, and
Suggs looks like insurance in case William Green can't return from a league
suspension.
In explaining the move, Davis referred to Arians' three-year run in the five
major offensive categories and alluded to a lack of improvement.
The Browns went from 31st in the league offensively in 2001 to 23rd in 2002
to 26th this season when all the injuries hit.
The Browns never ranked better than 20th in the league in rushing in Arians'
tenure, but the rushing offense actually improved this season -- with 104.4
yards per game compared to 100.9 yards in 2002.
Players stood up for Arians after the season-ending win over Cincinnati, saying
no change should be made. One player said Arians had to work in difficult conditions;
some weeks he never knew the starting quarterback until Wednesday or Thursday
-- after the game plan had been drawn up.
Davis sounded, though, as if he wants to be more of a traditional, two-back
offense. Arians' system uses one back, a tight end and an H-back.
"You have to assess things as you go along," Davis said. "You
have a plan, and I believe we have a good plan and have things headed in the
right direction. If things come up that you need to tweak, then you have to
tweak it if it's going to help you win and get better in the future."
Davis did not specify whom he might consider or give a timetable for a replacement.
Speculation has included receivers coach Terry Robiskie and San Francisco quarterback
coach Ted Tollner, whom Davis offered the job before he hired Arians.
Davis even hinted that Arians did not have complete control of the game plan
or play-calling in the season finale against Cincinnati.
"It was not taken out of Bruce's hands (Sunday)," Davis said. "Like
all game plans, I believe that our offense... they tried to do what gave us
the best chance to win. I think that (Sunday) was somewhat indicative of playing
to the strengths of the players that had to play the game."