Delhomme lucks into perfect situation with Browns
BEREA, Ohio -- I admit it. I'm worried for Jake Delhomme and the Cleveland Browns.
Delhomme is the 35-year-old quarterback the Browns hired to help prop them back on their feet, but I don't know if it's possible to resuscitate a club that has one winning season in seven years.
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| 'The biggest thing for me is to play smart football and not try to do too much,' Jake Delhomme says of directing his new team. (US Presswire) |
Yet Jake Delhomme may be the right guy in the right place at the right time.
I mean it, and here's why: The Cleveland Browns are built a little like Carolina, where Delhomme started and excelled for so many years. They want to run the ball. They want to beat you with sound defense and special teams. And they don't want to rely on the pass. Which means they don't want to rely on their quarterback throwing 40 times a game or producing 4,000 yards a season -- neither of which Delhomme will.
But that's OK because throwing a zillion times is not Cleveland's personality. The Browns will try to beat opponents with fundamentals, and if you don't believe me look what happened a year ago: In their five wins they completed a total ... a total ... of 33 passes, or one less than Drew Brees had in the Saints' Super Bowl defeat of Indianapolis.
Yet they won because they were sound in other areas. Like penalties. The Browns didn't commit many. In fact, they had the third fewest in the league. Then there were turnovers. Over the last eight games they had eight, also the third fewest in the league. They ran effectively, with Jerome Harrison producing 570 yards and five TDs the last four games -- including 286 yards against Kansas City. They also got to the quarterback, with their 40 sacks the most since 2001. And they clamped down on defense, holding opponents to 69 points in their five victories.
But the critical element there is turnovers, which is where Delhomme comes in. He has 23 interceptions in his last 12 starts, and enough already. That must stop. In essence, the Browns won last season without a quarterback, and while Delhomme is a significant upgrade at the position he's not if he can't stop throwing the ball to opponents.
But I say he does stop because this is not the Jake Delhomme of 2009. This is not the quarterback who carried the embarrassment of a playoff meltdown around with him, and this is not the quarterback who tried to prove over and over again that what happened in that game was an aberration.
Yeah, I know, that sounds warm and fuzzy, but it's true -- and if you don't believe it ask Delhomme. I did.
"The biggest thing for me is to play smart football and not try to do too much," said Delhomme, who is 54-38 as a starter. "Last year I tried to do way too much and, on the flip side, I tried not to make a mistake. That just doesn't mix for me. I've never played that way.
"Why [did I do it]? I just think being at one place for a long time ... I had a new quarterbacks coach, that was a little different for me ... and I didn't play well in the playoffs. So my whole offseason was geared toward playing well and not making the mistake.
"But I couldn't play that way. And I didn't play that way, so I tried to work even harder. It wasn't, 'Hey go out and be loose and play like you always played.' But it was a good learning experience, I can tell you that much."
The lesson seems to have sunk in. I know that preseason games don't tell much, but they did tell me that Jake Delhomme seems comfortable in the Browns offense. He completed 79 percent of his passes, had two touchdowns, no interceptions and a glittering passer rating of 110.5. More important, the Browns scored on six of 12 meaningful series in which he was the quarterback.
Contrast that to Cleveland's quarterbacks a year ago, when they connected on 49.5 percent of their passes, with 11 touchdowns, 17 interceptions and a passer rating of 56.75, and I think you understand why Jake Delhomme could be the ideal fit for a club in search of a direction.
Yeah, I know the Browns' roster won't overwhelm you. But neither did Carolina's in 2003, Delhomme's first season there. Yet he persevered, and so did his teammates, and the rest you know. With Jake Delhomme at quarterback, Carolina not only found out how to win again; it found its way to the Super Bowl.
"During this period where we're getting better, where we're gaining respectability, I think he's the perfect guy," said team president Mike Holmgren."
Why?
"Well, number one, there's the leadership," said general manager Tom Heckert. "Plus, he's a good player. He had a bad year last season, and everyone knows that. But he's a good player, and he's proving it."
Of course, now he must prove he can protect the ball and that last year ... well, that last year was one of those things that can happen but won't happen again.
"He's got to prove he can do it," said Heckert, "but I think Jake is smart enough where he knows we can run the ball. We proved that last year when we weren't throwing the ball. So Jake must realize he doesn't have to do everything.
"As long as we stay to our philosophy of not turning the ball over and just being protective ... that if we punt it's not the end of the world, [we'll be OK]. And I think we'll be able to do that."
So do I, and that's not saying that Cleveland is ready to challenge Cincinnati, Baltimore and Pittsburgh for the top of the division. But it is saying that Cleveland is better at the most important position, which should make the Browns better overall, and, OK, so it's not exactly a high bar when you're 5-11.
But Cleveland won its last four starts, just as Carolina won four of its last five in 2002, the year before Delhomme arrived. And he turned around a franchise there that only two seasons before won once. The curve here is steeper, but Delhomme knows what he's getting into and welcomes it.
And that, Cleveland, is nothing but good for you and your football team.
"This is totally new, this is fresh," Delhomme said. "I feel it coming to work in the morning, and I feel it on the practice fields. I've been dating my wife since I was 15, and before the first game in Carolina last season she said, 'Look, I've known you for a long time, and you're not yourself. You're not having fun. You need to enjoy.'
"During this offseason and during training camp she won't say it, but she can sense it: You're having fun again. It's kind of been like a rebirth for me, and I'm looking forward to embracing it."
Maybe Jake Delhomme doesn't cut it. Maybe he's a one-year bridge to the next young quarterback, I don't know. But I do know he's worth a try because he stabilizes a position that a year ago fractured Cleveland, because he knows how to win and because he comes here with the right approach.
"I'm 35," he said, "and every year I look at as my last. I really and truly do. I don't worry about next year. I worry about, hey let's go out and have fun and see what we can do.
"We have a chance here. We have a lot of different answers [on offense], and that's the good thing about it. Now, I just have to run it as we see fit."
Amen.
