Wolf
11-26-2011, 02:26 PM
As Colt McCoy(notes) prepares for Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Cleveland Browns’ second-year quarterback is fighting through frustration on several fronts. His team has a disappointing 4-6 record. He and his receivers are adapting to a new, West Coast system implemented by rookie coach Pat Shurmur. And the team’s most valuable offensive player of 2010, running back Peyton Hillis(notes), has been a non-factor, undone by injury and contract-related dissatisfaction.
Colt McCoy says the rough treatment he endured as a rookie from coaches helped him grow as a quarterback. "I really did appreciate them," McCoy said. "It made me stronger as a man. It taught me a lot about how to handle things."
(US Presswire)
Compared to the onslaught of negativity McCoy experienced as a rookie, however, these frustrations are subtle and quaint.
When McCoy arrived in Cleveland after a standout career as a four-year starter at the University of Texas, the third-round draft pick was welcomed with stiff arms by then-coach Eric Mangini and his assistants. Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, in particular, unleashed a torrent of tough love, except the love part was lost on McCoy and the teammates who observed the regular razzing.
In what became a running joke in the Browns’ locker room, Daboll disparaged McCoy loudly and relentlessly – sometimes to his face, sometimes through the earpiece in the quarterback’s helmet.
“There were times I had to pull my helmet off to call a play in the huddle,” McCoy recalled in an interview earlier this month. “Guys could hear him yelling, and they’d say, ‘Just take it off.’ People said to me, ‘Man, I ain’t never seen anything like that. Just hang in there.’”
Daboll, now the Miami Dolphins’ offensive coordinator, declined a Y! Sports interview request. His heavy-handed coaching approach toward McCoy was hardly unique, especially given that it occurred during the quarterback’s rookie season. Says Pro Bowl center Alex Mack(notes), the team’s first-round draft pick in 2009: “When I got here as a rookie, I got hazed much worse by the coaching staff than I did by any player.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-silver_colt_mccoy_browns_brian_daboll_112411
Colt McCoy says the rough treatment he endured as a rookie from coaches helped him grow as a quarterback. "I really did appreciate them," McCoy said. "It made me stronger as a man. It taught me a lot about how to handle things."
(US Presswire)
Compared to the onslaught of negativity McCoy experienced as a rookie, however, these frustrations are subtle and quaint.
When McCoy arrived in Cleveland after a standout career as a four-year starter at the University of Texas, the third-round draft pick was welcomed with stiff arms by then-coach Eric Mangini and his assistants. Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, in particular, unleashed a torrent of tough love, except the love part was lost on McCoy and the teammates who observed the regular razzing.
In what became a running joke in the Browns’ locker room, Daboll disparaged McCoy loudly and relentlessly – sometimes to his face, sometimes through the earpiece in the quarterback’s helmet.
“There were times I had to pull my helmet off to call a play in the huddle,” McCoy recalled in an interview earlier this month. “Guys could hear him yelling, and they’d say, ‘Just take it off.’ People said to me, ‘Man, I ain’t never seen anything like that. Just hang in there.’”
Daboll, now the Miami Dolphins’ offensive coordinator, declined a Y! Sports interview request. His heavy-handed coaching approach toward McCoy was hardly unique, especially given that it occurred during the quarterback’s rookie season. Says Pro Bowl center Alex Mack(notes), the team’s first-round draft pick in 2009: “When I got here as a rookie, I got hazed much worse by the coaching staff than I did by any player.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-silver_colt_mccoy_browns_brian_daboll_112411