Cleveland Browns: 3 storylines to watch in Week 1 vs. Pittsburgh
By Randy Gurzi
2. Is it Hue and Haley? Or Hue vs. Haley?
Most coaches in the NFL are there not only to teach their players but their assistant coaches as well. We’ve all seen the Bill Parcells and Bill Walsh trees, where so many assistants learned how to run a team while working under these great minds. In these cases, the talented and respected coaches made their assistants better.
In Cleveland, their plan is to do the opposite. Hue Jackson has an atrocious 1-31 record with the Browns and for his career he’s 9-39. Many point to his 8-8 season with the Oakland Raiders as proof he can coach, but that’s not the whole story.
Jackson may have gone 8-8 (still not a good record), but he set Oakland back years. He traded a first and second round pick for Carson Palmer, who lasted two seasons and was 8-16 as a quarterback for them (4-5 with Jackson). The head coach claimed it was the ‘greatest trade ever,’ but he was wrong and that was one of many reasons Oakland knew after one season this guy was in over his head and shouldn’t be an NFL head coach.
Somehow, he’s got enough people convinced despite the proof of his failures. Well, maybe not everyone. The Browns did bring in Todd Haley to coach the offense — which is supposed to be Jackson’s specialty. So now the head coach is relying on an assistant to make him better.
The two claim they can work together, but that’s easy to say. It’s harder to put into action. Haley has had a lot of success running offenses in the NFL, and it won’t be easy for him to be overridden by a guy in Jackson who is so prone to failure.
Sunday gives us our first chance to see how the two work together. When things get tough, will their egos clash? It could end up being a very interesting part of the 2018 season.