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By Patrick McCarthy
It appears to me that Browns fans everywhere are riding Tim Couch way too
hard. I keep hearing
“He’s not the answer”, “Why did we draft him?”, “Nice move
Dwight!” Some of the arguments that I hear have valid points, but I
truly feel that these statements are completely premature and totally
wrong.
I
was very apprehensive at first to come out and bluntly say that I am a fan
of Tim Couch, but here it comes. “I
am a fan of Tim Couch!” Realizing
that I’m going to take a lot of flack for this, I have compiled a list
of arguments to try and support my opinion
Starting
in his rookie season, he came in as a 21 year old kid who happened to be
able to sling a football extremely far and accurately. Couch had a lot of expectations put on him being the number
one pick in the draft, and with a horrible offensive line, was able to
live up to most of it. He
lead all NFL rookie quarterbacks with 223 completions, 399 attempts, most
yards with 2,447, touchdowns with 15, and a quarterback rating with a very
respectable rating of 73.2. Don’t
get me wrong, these are not numbers that are comparable to Joe Montana,
but as a 21-year-old rookie quarterback on an expansion team, they are not
bad at all.
Despite
playing in only seven games (with a record of 2-5) because of a thumb
injury, Couch still really did not perform that badly.
He was able to lead us to a 24-7 victory in Cincinnati, throwing
the ball very well. Couch was
19-31 for 259, with two touchdowns, and one interception. This equated to a 61.3 completion percentage and a fantastic
rating of 96.0 (for those who don’t know, a rating of near 80 is
considered above average). He
also was able to complete passes to 10 different receivers in the game.
The
following week, Couch was masterful as the Browns beat the Steelers for
the first time at home since their return to Cleveland. Throwing for 316 yards, on 23-31 passing, and receiving a
rating of 127.9! He even was
starting to become a “clutch” quarterback, showing signs of patience
and leadership. On his final
drive of the game, which began on their own 4-yard line, Couch was able to
lead the Browns on an 8 play, 95-yard drive that led to a game winning
Phil Dawson field goal. Even
though the Browns lost the final four games that Couch started, three out
of the four of them were against playoff teams as he was able to finish
the season with an overall rating of 77.3 and nearly 1500 passing yards.
The
criticism of the 6-4, 230 pound quarterback have intensified as now they
want him to bring a ring here to Cleveland.
I think we all realize that this isn’t going to happen, and that
he most likely will not be able to ever be compared to John Elway.
Some have said that he “sucks” because he didn’t have the
season that Donovan McNabb had last year.
Not only did Couch not have a supporting cast, but he was only able
to play seven games. Furthermore, and this is not meant to be a knock at an
outstanding football player, but McNabb has only had one good year and is
far from being a “proven star”.
Many
have said that Couch’s performance in the pre-season has been dismal and
very disappointing. I
disagree with this statement more than any other one.
Not only does the pre-season mean absolutely nothing, but also I
don’t even know how a person can evaluate a player like Couch when he
only gets 15-20 snaps an outing. To
make matters worse for Couch, half of his starters on the offensive line
have not played and may not play until the first game on September 9
against Seattle. Ross Verba
has an injured back and Tre Johnson is hurt with a bad knee.
Without these two, it appears like Butch Davis has, and rightfully
so, limited the playing time of Couch and has been very careful of the
plays he has called while Couch has been the signal caller.
Absolutely
attacking everything that Tim Couch does and has done is absolutely
inappropriate. He has been
hurt, has had absolutely no running game, no offensive line, and has taken
the normal amount pre-season snaps which adds up to be virtually nothing.
I plead you to hold off with the comments and wait and see how he
progresses through the season. If
at the half waypoint, the Browns are 0-8, I will write another column
saying how absolutely wrong I was and apologize to each and every one of
you.
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Don't Sit Too Hard On Couch