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Browns analysis: Lerner: QB is inspired
Steve Doerschuk

Browns owner Randy Lerner discussed the state of the team during a meeting with the media, including The Repository’s Steve Doerschuk, on Wednesday at Browns headquarters in Berea.

What a long, strange trip the last five years have been for Randy Lerner.

He attended his father’s funeral at this time in 2002, then became owner of the Cleveland Browns.

His first game was a road win over the Jets. His first season ended with a run to the playoffs.

It was a mirage. The Browns went no better than 6-10 the next four seasons.

Now, he faces the flickering promise of a 3-3 start to 2007.

As the Browns head into the bye week, the 44-year-old Lerner walked into an upstairs room wearing a smile and a casual gray sweater. A cup full of coffee in hand, he hunkered down to answer a variety of questions Wednesday.

He are excerpts of some of the items he discussed:

Q: What got the organization to a point of optimism?

Lerner I don’t know about optimism necessarily. We’re at a good point, hanging in there with the plan to build a foundation, to get core players in place, to continue to repair having gone five years with no core foundation, foundational players or what have you.

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Q: When the Indians are in the ALCS and the Cavs are a few months removed from a trip to the NBA Finals, what does it do to the equilibrium of the town’s other major pro sports owner?

Lerner I think it makes it a lot easier. When you pull for Cleveland teams and you see a game like (Tuesday) night and see your kid going absolutely berserko, not going to bed on time ... I think it’s amazing. I understand the implication, which is you don’t want to be the team that’s not doing as well as the other team. I get it very clearly.

Q: Is the team lucky to have gotten breakout play from quarterback Derek Anderson but unlucky in not knowing that would happen before investing so much in Brady Quinn?

Lerner I don’t think luck played any part in it. While it might not have looked like the smartest thing on a given day in training camp, the coaches, the coordinators, what have you, decided to effectively split the practice time, the reps (between Anderson and Charlie Frye). It paid off having two prepared guys, because the coaching staff was not clearly terribly sure about either one. Having Derek ready to go was less a matter of luck and more a matter of being as prepared as you could get a guy who started the season as the No. 2 quarterback.

Q: As a longtime Browns fan, are you eager to see what Quinn can do in a game?

Lerner Not right now. It’s so much more important to get Brady as much observation and experience as possible. ... I think that Derek Anderson has been inspired, and I’m pretty caught up in that, frankly. He’s got some pretty impressive rankings right now.

Q: How tense a time is this, going into the bye on an uptick but having no way of knowing if progress can be sustained?

Lerner (Weighs his response and laughs) I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a tense time. It’s the least tense time since the season started. There’s a reasonable level of optimism. I don’t think you can overstate how good it feels to be 3-3, having been 1-5, so I think it has a lot to do with our sanity.

Q: What about some of your players talking playoffs?

Lerner I don’t know that I would necessarily jump on that bandwagon. That always should be your goal.

Q: Your goals for the rest of the season?

Lerner To have players make the Pro Bowl, for us to play in a way where people who know football and support the Browns feel like we’re playing well. We’ve got to win games, hopefully a lot of games, and in a way that creates the sense we are continuing to build and move forward.

Q: What were you thinking after the opening loss to the Steelers?

Lerner Nothing very good, frankly. Probably nothing different than what anybody else who loves the Browns was thinking.

Q: What role did you play in keeping things together after that game?

Lerner I spoke at length with Romeo (Crennel) and Phil (Savage) and Mike Keenan (business executive). ... Everybody, I think, pitched in. We talked about everything from practices, timing, players, team leaders, how the team gets together the night before games in a hotel, whether or not there was anything we could do to encourage or inspire. In the end if I were to point to one thing that came out of those discussions, it was the head coach’s reliance on team captains. They probably did step up and communicate, maybe in a way that was more direct than they had.

Q: In retrospect, how did the team get from 4-12 last year to a bad opener to 3-3?

Lerner Staying the course. I would also attribute it to moving to Derek Anderson. That’s a hindsight observation, but that is clear. It was a difficult, conspicuous, high-profile move, and it worked.

Q: Did you have a part in the Charlie Frye trade and the sudden move to Anderson?

Lerner No. I was updated. I was made to be involved the way we would do anything with players, but no.

Q: Has it been difficult to stay the course?

Lerner There are times when it’s difficult. We’ve tried to create some strong voices in our organization. The point of doing that is it allows for debate and different points of view to guide the collective opinion.

Q: Might the Browns play a game in Europe anytime soon?

Lerner It’s more or less voluntary in the near term, and I wouldn’t volunteer the Browns. The Browns spent enough years out of Cleveland in the ’90s.

Q: What’s your sense for how General Manager Phil Savage has grown into his job?

Lerner The results speak for themselves. We have the foundations in place. We’re in strong financial shape in terms of the cap. And we have an organization that’s communicative internally. I think that’s, in the simplest terms, what Phil set out to do, and I think he’s accomplished it.

Q: Does Bernie Kosar have a presence in the organization?

Lerner He has strong relationships in the building. He’s very, very well liked. I’ve been close to Bernie for a long time. I probably know Bernie more outside football than inside. We’re essentially the same age. He shares his insights. He’s supportive. He’s therefore very effective.

Reach Repository sports writer Steve Doerschuk at (330) 580-8347 or e-mail:

In the media he says the exact opposite that we hear about the one certain people call "Junior."

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Q: Might the Browns play a game in Europe anytime soon?

Lerner It’s more or less voluntary in the near term, and I wouldn’t volunteer the Browns. The Browns spent enough years out of Cleveland in the ’90s.

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That was awesome, I love to hear this. I don't begrudge foreign fans, but on the other hand it's the local fans that foot the bill for most stuff. Lets not forget them.

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When you pull for Cleveland teams and you see a game like (Tuesday) night and see your kid going absolutely berserko, not going to bed on time ... I think it’s amazing.

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LOL.....ayyy the memories...

Now, 'others' may or may not be right about "Junior," but he's been nothing if not consistent since he had this team handed to him.

Basically that attiude has been (if I may paraphrase): "I'm the owner. My job is to own. I have others whos job it is to manage the workings of this team." If he was going about things any differently than that, I think we'd have heard more rumblings about it from the likes of Cabot, Grossi, Upchuck, et al, instead of just hearsay and rumor from posters on this board. No organization as big as the Browns can keep their laundry totally out-of-view.

I don't think he's totally a "hands off" kind of guy, but he ain't no meddling Steinbrenner or Jerry Jones type, either.

As the old truism goes- the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Here's another article from a different source.



BEREA: Browns owner Randy Lerner confessed he took the 34-7 season opening loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers about the same as any other fan.

''What was I thinking? Nothing very good, frankly,'' Lerner said.

The Browns are now 3-3 at their bye week, and their offense ranks eighth in the league. Lerner, a publicity-shy billionaire, conceded in a rare half-hour interview Wednesday that he didn't see the turnaround coming, even though he did everything he could to orchestrate it.

Lerner attributed the drastic improvement in the Browns' fortunes to ''staying the course'' and to switching to quarterback Derek Anderson. Two days after the Steelers' loss, the Browns traded starting quarterback Charlie Frye to the Seattle Seahawks and installed Anderson.

''That was a difficult move, a conspicuous, high-profile move, and it worked without a doubt,'' Lerner said in his first session with reporters in more than a year. ''It was a very crisp, quick, difficult decision that has to be considered very, very success ful.''

Lerner said he had no part in that decision.

''I wouldn't have answered the phone if I was being called,'' he said. ''What do I know?''

After the disastrous opener, Lerner said he spent Monday and Tuesday meeting with coach Romeo Crennel, General Manager Phil Savage and senior vice president Mike Keenan, talking about what they could do to ''strengthen the resolve within the building.''

The discussions ranged from the practice format, team meetings on Saturday night in the hotel, their personnel's overall strengths and weaknesses and whether they needed to bring in inspirational speakers.

''In the end, if I were to point that one thing that came out of those discussions, it was probably the head coach's reliance on team captains,'' Lerner said. ''They did step up and communicate maybe in a way that was slightly more direct than they had.''

Lerner complimented Crennel for weathering the storm ''professionally and very effectively'' and keeping the players poised and their attitude positive.

Taking over after his father Al Lerner died in 2002, Lerner said he never considered getting out of the football business after the Steelers game.

''One game is not enough to get you that extreme in your emotions,'' said Lerner, 44.

''It's a burden and it's a privilege. I don't know anybody who wouldn't take on that burden who's from Cleveland, pulls for the Browns their whole life. I don't feel the weight of the world. I still think it's the best team in the NFL, the most traditional, honest, straight team. It's an amazing experience.''

Now that the Browns are part of an unprecedented sports resurgence in Cleveland, Lerner doesn't want to tinker with a good thing and play first-round pick Brady Quinn at quarterback. The Browns gave up their first-rounder in 2008 to trade up to select him.

Asked if he's eager to see Quinn, Lerner said, ''Not right now. I think it is so much more important to get Brady as much observation experience as possible. Overwhelming information suggests if you can get that right there's a higher likelihood of a player like Brady getting off to a good start. And Derek Anderson has been inspired and I'm pretty caught up in that. He's got some pretty impressive rankings right now.''

The Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants will play Oct. 28 in London, but Lerner said he won't volunteer the Browns for a game in Europe. That seemed surprising because he also owns soccer team Aston Villa, a member of the English Premier League.

''I think the Browns spent enough years outside Cleveland in the '90s,'' he said. ''I want to keep them in Cleveland and I want them to play in our stadium.''

Lerner said the hardest thing about owning the Browns is realizing that they didn't get any players in their first five years. The only one remaining from 1999 is kicker Phil Dawson.

''If you don't have a quarterback or a left tackle or a wideout or a pass rusher or a cover corner, you're in a bad spot in this business,'' he said. ''You pick up about six or seven players a year when you combine the draft and free agency. Rule of thumb is 35-ish players to get deep in the season and be effective.

''So if it's six or seven and you need 35, that's another five years. That's a bad day, month, week, year, career, lifetime.''

Now it doesn't look to Lerner as if it will take five years.

''We're 3-3, we were 1-5 last year,'' he said. ''I think it's a good moment, fortunately.''
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com.

yeah, You don't run a multi-dollar business by not listening to the people you hire to perform certain tasks, and I doubt he runs the Browns without taking input from the people he has under him there either.

Yep...and the flip side is you probably don't own that business without throwing your weight around just a little every now and then.

He seems to have it balanced out pretty well.

I think there is something that hopefully all Browns fans can learn from our struggles, and that is this. Hire and bring in the very best people you can find, guys that know their crap, and stick to their beliefs inspite of overwelming pressure to make sudden and uncalled for changes.

I continue to see people reach for what they don't have, and try to make something sound reasonable even tho it is not. When fans reach the point where they realize that their gut feelings do not compare to the knowledge and experience of the men hired to make those decisions then we can begin to show that we too can learn. Few if any realize or state that we have indeed begun to see the results of not just RL and PS staying the course, but those of RAC as well. Lets put it this way, there were a lot of calls for RAC's head, even before the season started, but you listen to the players, and to the man they will tell you that RAC is a stand up guy, that he knows his football, and he is a solid coach that never wavers from his beliefs, or what he knows from experience.

The guy that owns the team realizes he has little knowledge about grading talent, and what it takes to win at the NFL level. He has come to understand somethings are basic, suck as, not making knee jerk decisions.

Having said all that I wonder when some FANS, and members of the media, begin to reach the same conclusions and stop with the unending hate I oft times see coming from those that profess to be fans. The reason I say these things is because I firmly believe that we the fans have been our own worst enemy at times. And whats worse is that we oft times believe the press, and their opinions as to what we should or shouldn't do. Me I am sticking with the real experts the coaches, and the GM. I refuse to and have not been apart of the hate and fire crowd, and I think it's long past overdue for those that think they know better to admit they don't. I am more then satisfied that our team is in very capable hands, and I have and will continue to support and encourage as much as I possibly can as a FAN. I would encourage you all to do the very same, after all RL has taken a hands off approach and he at least knows as much about football as the rest of us do, and yet he has placed his money and his hopes with PS and RAC. I refuse to believe he would have done so if he didn't think they were better able to run the team, and make the decisions about the what when where and how, then he does...

JMHO

Thanks for the read Stabber.. Nice find

Lerner is just what I told you guys he was 3 years ago... I damn near got my head torn off for saying it... He a wealthy guy and at that level very few involve themselves in the day to day operation of any one of thier businesses..

They see, they meet, they discuss, they may even kick a little butt as is needed, but when they don't have the detailed expertise, they hire people and stick with them and let them run things.

I'm not at all surprised..

By they way, I'm gonna rub this in because I have soooo little experience at being right that when I am, I'm as surprised as anyone

B2dB:

Welcome to the board... and way to come out swinging!

Nice to read another voice offering sound judgement and reason. With posts like this, you'll be a most welcome addition.

Looking forward to reading more from you. Good job, Dawg!

Just glad to hear the Lerner is wanting to stay the course. The last thing this organization needs is a change of plans again.

Brown to the Bone,,, WOW... I gotta say, I really hate it when people hold thier feelings back,, you should open up and let your voice be heard

Just kidding with you man.. there is a BUNCH of truth to what you say.. there are those on this board that feel they know more than the experts... Simply amazes me that if they really did, why the hell would they NOT be coaching or GMing a team somewhere.. Try to get the concept across and your liable to get your head handed to you... I'm still carrying mine in a paper bag from the last time I tried it

Keep up the good posts,,, enjoyed reading ya.

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It's really easy to read these comments now, look at a 3-3 record, believe that Lerner knows best, and say we need to trust these professionals when they make a decision.

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Well, in a way, it is easy.. But it's easy because through all the crap and bull, everything appears to be coming together...

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Sadly, that's far easier said than done. It was Lerner that handed absolute power to Butch Davis, therefore his "staying the course" speech sounds remarkebly similiar to the "staying the course" speech he made back in 2003

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What? You expected him to take over for his father and instantly be perfect and never make a bad move? Geesh.. How long is long enough to harp on mistakes and misteps from the past?

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To this point, they've been more wrong than right, which is why we're all cuddly about a .500 team, which leads me to my next point.......

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Let me enlighten you Toad my friend.. Most executives find themselves making lots of bad decisions. Comes with the turf..

Like a new Rookie QB, a new Rookie team Owner needs to find his way. He needs to find "his" guys. That doesn't always happen on the first attempt.....

It scares me when folks want to hammer people over and over again for errors they made in the past.. Sometimes,, not always, but sometimes, errors are made when people are growing into the role they were thrust into. Such as Randy Lerner..

Toad,, Keep in mind, I know it sounds as if I'm defending all of Lerners moves.. NOT SO.. the ones you bring up,, very very valid mistakes on his part. Can't sugar coat it! And I don't want to.. He's made his share of mistakes. He'll make more.. Count on it.

Something else to think about.. IF,, and it's a HUGE IF, this start turns out to be real and we go on to greater heights, it won't be because of things that Lerner did this past summer... It will be because of things he did 3 years ago by bringing in Savage and RAC.. And, it will be because of things that he DIDN'T do over the summer,,, such as FIRE RAC like so many wanted him to do.

I hope that everyone that bashes him now, will man up and say they were wrong if the team does indeed turn this thing respectable this year...

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I think there is something that hopefully all Browns fans can learn from our struggles, and that is this. Hire and bring in the very best people you can find, guys that know their crap, and stick to their beliefs inspite of overwelming pressure to make sudden and uncalled for changes.

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Too bad Senior Lerner didn't follow that path and we would have been way ahead of the game by now. JMHO

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It's great that we rank 8th in the league in total yards and 4th in points. Unfortunately, we've put up those numbers against teams that rank 23rd, 26th, and 30th in yards allowed.

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Oh yea?

Well. part of the reason they are down there in the rankings is because we put them there.




Good post Toad.

Ya gotta love an anphibian who jumps to neither side of the fence thus allowing him to be on or talk about either at any given moment. I think that's original as hell and wish I had thought of it.

Nice post.

The flip side of that is we haven't won anything in 43 years.


Just to keep some perspective on the matter.

There you go.....better post.

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However, just because he's no longer making all bad decisions, it doesn't mean that we forget what happened and chalk them up as mulligans.

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Why not? I mean seriously,, when is it time to put those demons to rest... No question, he made those mistakes... But I wonder when it will be time to forget them.

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It'd be nice to say he's figured it out, but we don't know that. Is RAC suddenly a good coach? Can't say that. Is Quinn a great QB? Nobody knows. Will Anderson keep it up? He's always been hot and cold, more cold than hot. Will they fix the defense because Savage gets it? We don't know that either, because Savage tried to fix the lines with other teams unwanted goods and it failed.

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I hoped you recognize, I put a bunch of caviats in my post... I honestly don't know if everything is going to continue in a upward trend... But you don't know it won't either..

But it's still not reason to constantly and repeatedly harp on the mistakes a rookie owner makes... Doesn't seem like the right thing to do,, well, at least not to me..

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I doubt even the thickest of numbskulls on this board expect any owner or GM to be perfect.

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Oh come on now.. That's just wishful thinking man!

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Maybe you missed how our 'expert' handled the QB situation. He couldn't tell that DA was better so he flipped a coin...much like the old gut feeling expert Butch. And the winner of the coin flip was out of a job in about 23 minutes of football.

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"Q: Is the team lucky to have gotten breakout play from quarterback Derek Anderson but unlucky in not knowing that would happen before investing so much in Brady Quinn?

Lerner: I don’t think luck played any part in it. While it might not have looked like the smartest thing on a given day in training camp, the coaches, the coordinators, what have you, decided to effectively split the practice time, the reps (between Anderson and Charlie Frye). It paid off having two prepared guys, because the coaching staff was not clearly terribly sure about either one. Having Derek ready to go was less a matter of luck and more a matter of being as prepared as you could get a guy who started the season as the No. 2 quarterback."






I try not to have my head in the sand either. Blind faith is really no faith at all.

However, and this is not a negative response to you Vette', I find it best for me and my enjoyment of the team if I try to understand what the thinking is behind the decisions before I question the right or wrong of them.

I have friends and know some other fans who love their team when they are winning, (baseball, football and basketball), and everybody sucks when they lose. For me, I'm not putting myself in that kind of hell as it comes from having no idea of what is going on.

Like you Vette' I try to keep abreast of what's happening and after careful thought I'll question things that don't make sense. I know I don't post those concerns much as there is always plenty of bitching and moaning to go around already.

For the most part I trust this regeme and the owner. That may seem naive at first. But so far, as a fan, I am very pleased with what I see as heading in the right direction.

I suffer to think that we still have two more years of aquireing talent and then, perhaps, another for it to all come together as a powerhouse, but I believe it will.

This is the beginning of 2007. TWO YEARS AGO at the beginning of 2005 this regime had not yet begun to rebuild other than the '05 draft and Baxter. By whatever vehicle or method we have come a long, long way since then. So long in fact that here we are TWO YEARS LATER and we no longer worry about the offensive line or even a LT. How long did we scream for a LT and for someone to build the offensive line? In two years it's a done deal.

I'm a happy but concerned Browns fan. For me that's a lot better than a helpless and hopeless constantly worried Browns fan.

That's improvement that I can releate to.

ddubia - I respect you as a poster and your obvious knowledge of the game (although sometimes your lengthy posts make my eyes tired)
BTW - what does your handle mean?

No matter how RL wants to word this year's starting QB selection, a coin flip was not the way to go. You have to be able to tell the winner why he was chosen (better team leader, more accurate, more experience, stronger arm, better touch, whatever) and you need explain to the loser why he's the backup and the importance of that position in the team game that football is.
Instead he made it look like he didn't care which bum kept the seat warm for the 1st round draft pick which instilled zero confidence...of which Frye demonstrated against the squealers. DA pretty much knew that HE wasn't going to be pulled for the guy that missed so much of training camp.

This is the main glaring mistake that stays with me.
Romeo has not been good with the red flag, but I don't know that it's HIS fault so I'm not blaming him. It could be poor information from the Browns people in the booth, or people around him.

What else is there to blame Romeo about? I'm not blaming him for the D. That's the 'next on the list' project. What does the HC do during a game? Call time outs at the half and end of game? Decide to go for it on 4th down? I'm not questioning the thinking there.

I thought that perhaps Harrison warranted more playing time this past game based on his production...but I'm not going to make an issue of it because JH hasn't been active for all games. They may have felt more comfortable with JW...and it may not have been Romeo's call, could've been Chud's. ???

Is he the right guy for the job? I - don't - know...I'm not in the locker room, in the meeting rooms, on the field(s). I have to believe in him because I don't have enough evidence to do anything else. I certainly think that he's a stand up guy...and I hope he succeeds because that means we're winning.

I'm incredibly pleased with our offensive philosphy. For a long time I've wanted an offense like the 'greatest show on turf'...or what the Patriots have been winning superbowls with. If a D shuts down the Patriots running game they say 'Oh Yeah? You're going to regret that.' And they proceed to pass you right into the grave.

I can't tell how much I love Romeo (nice enough guy)...but I LOVE chud and his philosophy.

I don't watch our team looking for reasons to hate somebody. But I watch the team, I love the Browns...have loved them since 1961. And if I see something that I believe is being done wrong...to the one I love (wife, child, mom, dad, brother, sister, the Browns, my vette ) I'm probably going to say something.

Even a blind squarrel gets a nut now and then, soooooooooooo !!!