Originally Posted by RaidenDAWG2, June 2004

Issue 2
So Long Timmuh, We Barely Knew Ya!
By RaidenDAWG2

The Butch Davis era has had many casualties. Among them are names like Earl Holmes, Chris Palmer, Carmen Policy, Dwight Clark, The Cleveland Browns franchise, etc., etc. The list goes on and on. But I keep getting stuck on the name that's number 2 on! that list...

TIM COUCH!!!

Flashback to April 1999. It was announced a few hours before the draft that Tim Couch had signed a seven year, 49 million dollar contract. The kid from Kentucky was hailed as the cornerstone of the new franchise, the piece around which everything else would be built.

Fast forward to last week: Tim Couch cut by the Cleveland Browns.

Well, as one might expect, the words "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED???" come to mind. And in this week's edition of the column, I'll explain exactly what happened: Butch Davis.

This may be a little bit biased (check my sig, Tim's my boy), but I can safely say that had any other coach came into Cleveland back in 2001 after the firing of Chris Palmer, Tim Couch would still be the quarterback in Cleveland.

I'll say it again: If any other coach had been hired in 2001, Tim Couch would still be the quarterback in Cleveland.

Why? Look at the offensive system Davis installed here. Vert! ical passing game based off the running game. Wait a second, I see a problem here, we had no running game up until this year (and after five years of bad drafting, it's still up for debate whether we have one or not). Basically what was asked of Couch, a then-third-year QB with basically no real NFL experience (watch the first two years, the offense he had to play in, and the injuries and sacks he took, you'll see what I mean very quickly), was to step into a system that did not fit him at all and carry the team with little or no help. He had no big play receivers, very little if any talent on the o-line, and no help from the running game whatsoever up until the last seven games of 2002. Couch played in a West Coast type system at Kentucky, and I dare say that had something similiar been instituted in Cleveland, it'd be a tale of two quarterbacks.

Butch Davis clearly did not understand what kind of quarterback he had in Cleveland. Any idiot could have seen that Butch and! the rest of the team were not on the same page. Clearly had Butch done the smart thing and instituted a better system in Cleveland, or at least done more to improve the offensive line, we might be talking about a different QB today.

Case and point regarding the Tim Couch/Butch Davis issue for me is Week 1 of the 2003 season. Trailing Indy 6-3 at home, Bruce Arians (now Pittspuke WR's Coach, but then Browns OC) called for a swing pass to RB William Green. Bonehead Butch's starting QB Kelly Holcomb drops back, tries to throw the swing pass to the back, and throws the ball about a yard behind him, totally uncatchable. Green drops the ball, even though had the pass been thrown properly, it was a walk-right-in TD to go up 10-6. Instead, Cleveland settles for a field goal, tie game, Browns lose 9-6.

Well Butch, in this case, right system, wrong QB. The Couch/Holcomb fiasco could have been avoided had Butch stuck to the guy who got them to the playoffs in 2002. However, he ! had a sour stomach, went with his gut feeling, and went 5-11.

As for Tim, he gets a fresh start learning from one of the best ever in Brett Farve in Green Bay. And now he's in a place that uses a West Coast system.

Here's my bold prediction: two years from now, Butch Davis will be out of a job, and Tim Couch will be an elite starting QB in the NFL. Mark my words...

As for Timmuh, so long pal, we barely knew you.

-RD