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Home > Blogs > Dawging the Browns > Archives > 2009 > January > 29
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Butch’s words still haunting
With the Steelers in the Super Bowl again, it’s hard not to think of former Browns coach Butch Davis. For a couple of reasons.
First, I remember the day when Butch brought all the writers who cover the Browns up to his office for a little film study.
I don’t recall exactly why we were dragged up there. Think he was trying to show us how quarterback Tim Couch wasn’t as bad as what people were saying. But it turned into a fascinating tutorial on the Steelers.
Davis showed us what makes the Pittsburgh defense so tough to play against, aside from the fact they hit you in the mouth on every play.
It’s the unpredictability of the blitzing, Butch pointed out from behind his desk, starting and stopping the tape with his clicker again and again. They may only rush four or five, but the trick is to figure out who’s coming and from where, who’s blitzing and who’s dropping into coverage.
Of course, the other reason to think about Butch lately is because of Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who the Browns easily could have drafted in 2004 with the No. 7 overall pick. He went No. 11 to the Steelers.
It’s always tough when a local kid (is Findlay local?) gets away. Can’t corral them all, but it hurts when guys like Antonio Gates and James Harrison (both from Kent State) and Roethlisberger end up starring in other places after your team, in its infinite wisdom, judged them not worthy of the investment.
Anyway, Roethlisberger will be wearing No. 7 on Sunday, in case you’re just getting acquainted with him. He’s already got one Super Bowl ring and most likely will have another before your local news hits the air that night.
And two is halfway to four, and that’s where Davis’ words really start to become haunting.
In the days leading up to the 2004 draft, the thought of snagging Roethlisberger occurred to Davis, who was basically acting as his own personnel department back then. He even flew to Miami University to work him out.
Also on that trip were a couple of Browns receivers, including Andre “Spy” King, so Roethlisberger would have NFL receivers to throw to in his workout.
At a press conference, Davis explained his thinking this way, in words that will live in infamy, I’m afraid, along with other choice phrases such as “mad dog in a meat market” and “those plastic bottles don’t pack much of a wallop.”
Said Butch: “You don’t want to pass on a quarterback who’s going to go on and win four Super Bowls.”
Maybe Big Ben had given a lackluster workout that day. Maybe he had been out on the Oxford town the night before and wasn’t himself. Whatever, Davis passed.
Chosen instead that year was tight end Kellen Winslow with the No. 6 pick after Davis gave up a second-round draft choice in a trade to move up one spot.
That season, with Jeff Garcia at quarterback, turned out to be Butch’s last as an NFL head coach. He’s now the head coach at the University of North Carolina, back in college where he belongs, where there’s a little less pressure.
Garcia, a notable disaster in his own right, left at season’s end, too, and instead of having Roethlisberger to groom, new coach Romeo Crennel was stuck with Trent Dilfer and Charlie Frye.
And, don’t forget, the Browns could have had the other Super Bowl quarterback, but they passed on Kurt Warner in the expansion draft.
Painful.
