By TOM WITHERS

Associated Press

BEREA — The growing pains were agonizing, the mistakes numerous, the progress difficult to spot.

The Cleveland Browns had another one of those seasons.

Losing, though, has its rewards in the NFL, which compensates its worst teams with high draft picks to help them get better. After going 4-12, the Browns, with one of the league’s youngest rosters, will have the No. 4 overall selection in April and Cleveland fans are already frothing at the chance to bring in a college star like Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III to be their savior.

As he packed his bags for the offseason Monday, Browns cornerback Sheldon Brown issued a warning to that line of thinking.

“My thing is, if you’re dependent on a draft pick to come in here and change your life, then you’re kidding yourself,” he said. “This game is too hard.”

It certainly has been for the Browns, who haven’t made the playoff since 2002. They’ve lost at least 11 games in each of the past four seasons and a minimum of 10 in eight of the past nine. Green Bay (15) won more games this season than the Browns (14) have won in the past three seasons — combined.

And consider this stat: The defending Super Bowl champion Packers outscored the Browns 560-218.

So while some think Griffin, the Heisman Trophy winner, is the answer to all of Cleveland’s prayers, Brown believes the Browns already have the players they need to win consistently.

“The guys here have to step their game up to another level because they’re experienced,” he said. “Most rookies get hurt because they get tired and they don’t understand the speed and the strength of this game at the professional level. So I’m never sold on high draft picks.”

It was a turbulent first season in Cleveland for coach Pat Shurmur, who because of the NFL lockout didn’t have an offseason to install his new West Coast offense or get to know his team on the field. He made his share of mistakes, but Brown, who was previously with Shurmur in Philadelphia, is confident Browns president Mike Holmgren hired the right coach.

Shurmur has his detractors, but there’s no denying that the Browns, who went 0-6 in the rugged AFC North, played hard for him.

“He did a tremendous job,” Brown said. “Everybody thinks it’s an easy job, everybody wants to sit in a room and say, ‘I can do this better, I can do that better.’ He dealt with the situations to the best of my knowledge, the best he could, and he kept this football team fighting. And for me, that’s how I judge a head coach.

“If a football team goes out there and competes week in and week out, through thick and through thin — and it was very thick this year — but we didn’t quit. So that tells me that the leader is in place.”

Shurmur will discuss his rollercoaster rookie year Tuesday, and Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert are scheduled to meet the media Thursday, when they’re sure to be grilled about the team’s tricky quarterback situation.

Colt McCoy made 13 starts this season, but missed his final three games with a concussion. The Browns have a better sense of what McCoy is, and there’s a strong argument to be made for sticking with him in 2012 after investing so much time into his development.

But if the Browns — particularly Holmgren — don’t think McCoy can take them to a Super Bowl, they may look for a starting QB in free agency, a trade or the draft. With Stanford’s Andrew Luck expected to go No. 1 overall to Indianapolis, the next best choice could be Griffin, who resurrected Baylor and would be counted on to do the same with the Browns.

Brown, for one, isn’t counting on Griffin to ride in to the rescue.

“I’m definitely not, and if you are, you’re crazy,” he said.

Crazy would describe Cleveland’s wild season, which included costly injuries, endless drama around running back Peyton Hillis, dropped passes, and tough losses. The Browns lost six games by seven points or less, dropping their final three by a total of 13 points.

But close doesn’t put anything in the win column, and kicker Phil Dawson, whose 13th season with the Browns may have been his best, said the near misses can only help if players learned something from them.

“We were in a lot of games. It’s death by inches, though,” said Dawson. “Are we that close, or is that just the nature of the league? It depends on your personality, how you’re going to view that. In my little world, if my plant foot misses the spot by a quarter-inch, I miss the kick.

“That will probably tell you how I look at it. Everybody looks at themselves critically and figure out how they can improve. If we do that, now these close games are coming out in our favor. Hopefully that’s the way guys respond to it.”

Brown, too, thinks the Browns are nearing legitimacy.

“We’re very close,” said the 10-year veteran. “It’s one or two plays each game. You just have to find the playmakers and they just have to understand the sense of urgency and make the play.”

That sounds like a broken record, but Brown said he hasn’t felt this way before — not with the Browns.

“I didn’t tell you this last year,” he said. “I thought we were way off last year.”

The Browns put their franchise tag on Dawson this season and may do so again. The 36-year-old said he had a positive exit interview with team management and was encouraged by Heckert’s recent comments that the team would like to have him back. It would be hard to imagine the Browns not re-signing him.

Dawson has served his time — hard time — in Cleveland. The Browns have gone 68-141 during his tenure, and Dawson would hate not to be here when things finally get turned around. After waiting so long, he would hate to miss out on the good times.

“I don’t want to be Moses,” he said. “I don’t want to lead the people right to the edge and not get to go in. There’s going to be so many things, I can’t prioritize them at this point. We just lost to the Steelers 20 hours ago and that still hurts. I need to get home and eat a burrito.”

Hopefully, it will go down easier than this season.

By Tom Withers,

Associated Press

9:18 PM Monday, January 2, 2012

BEREA — The growing pains were agonizing, the mistakes numerous, the progress difficult to spot.

The Cleveland Browns had another one of those seasons.

Losing, though, has its rewards in the NFL, which compensates its worst teams with high draft picks to help them get better. After going 4-12, the Browns, with one of the league’s youngest rosters, will have the No. 4 overall selection in April and Cleveland fans are already frothing at the chance to bring in a college star like Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III to be their savior.

As he packed his bags for the offseason Monday, Browns cornerback Sheldon Brown issued a warning to that line of thinking.

“My thing is, if you’re dependent on a draft pick to come in here and change your life, then you’re kidding yourself,” he said. “This game is too hard.”

It certainly has been for the Browns, who haven’t made the playoff since 2002. They’ve lost at least 11 games in each of the past four seasons and a minimum of 10 in eight of the past nine. Green Bay (15) won more games this season than the Browns (14) have won in the past three seasons — combined.

And consider this stat: The defending Super Bowl champion Packers outscored the Browns 560-218.

It was a turbulent first season in Cleveland for coach Pat Shurmur, who because of the NFL lockout didn’t have an offseason to install his new West Coast offense or get to know his team on the field. He made his share of mistakes, but Brown, who was previously with Shurmur in Philadelphia, is confident Browns president Mike Holmgren hired the right coach.

Shurmur has his detractors, but there’s no denying the Browns, who went 0-6 in the rugged AFC North, played hard for him.

Shurmur will discuss his rollercoaster rookie year today, and Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert are scheduled to meet the media Thursday, when they’re sure to be grilled about the team’s quarterback situation.

Colt McCoy made 13 starts this season, but missed his final three games with a concussion. The Browns have a better sense of what McCoy is, and there’s a strong argument to be made for sticking with him in 2012 after investing so much time into his development. But if the Browns — particularly Holmgren — don’t think McCoy can take them to a Super Bowl, they may look for a starting QB in free agency, a trade or the draft.

Cleveland’s wild season included costly injuries, endless drama around running back Peyton Hillis, dropped passes, and tough losses. The Browns lost six games by seven points or less, dropping their final three by a total of 13 points.

Losing, though, has its rewards in the NFL, which compensates its worst teams with high draft picks to help them get better. After going 4-12, the Browns, with one of the league’s youngest rosters, will have the No. 4 overall selection in April and Cleveland fans are already frothing at the chance to bring in a college star like Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III to be their savior.

As he packed his bags for the offseason Monday, Browns cornerback Sheldon Brown issued a warning to that line of thinking.

“My thing is, if you’re dependent on a draft pick to come in here and change your life, then you’re kidding yourself,” he said. “This game is too hard.”

It certainly has been for the Browns, who haven’t made the playoff since 2002. They’ve lost at least 11 games in each of the past four seasons and a minimum of 10 in eight of the past nine. Green Bay (15) won more games this season than the Browns (14) have won in the past three seasons — combined.

And consider this stat: The defending Super Bowl champion Packers outscored the Browns 560-218.

So while some think Griffin, the Heisman Trophy winner, is the answer to all of Cleveland’s prayers, Brown believes the Browns already have the players they need to win consistently.

“The guys here have to step their game up to another level because they’re experienced,” he said. “Most rookies get hurt because they get tired and they don’t understand the speed and the strength of this game at the professional level. So I’m never sold on high draft picks.”

It was a turbulent first season in Cleveland for coach Pat Shurmur, who because of the NFL lockout didn’t have an offseason to install his new West Coast offense or get to know his team on the field. He made his share of mistakes, but Brown, who was previously with Shurmur in Philadelphia, is confident Browns president Mike Holmgren hired the right coach.

Shurmur has his detractors, but there’s no denying that the Browns, who went 0-6 in the rugged AFC North, played hard for him.

“He did a tremendous job,” Brown said. “Everybody thinks it’s an easy job, everybody wants to sit in a room and say, ‘I can do this better, I can do that better.’ He dealt with the situations to the best of my knowledge, the best he could, and he kept this football team fighting. And for me, that’s how I judge a head coach.

“If a football team goes out there and competes week in and week out, through thick and through thin — and it was very thick this year — but we didn’t quit. So that tells me that the leader is in place.”

Shurmur will discuss his rollercoaster rookie year Tuesday, and Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert are scheduled to meet the media Thursday, when they’re sure to be grilled about the team’s tricky quarterback situation.

Colt McCoy made 13 starts this season, but missed his final three games with a concussion. The Browns have a better sense of what McCoy is, and there’s a strong argument to be made for sticking with him in 2012 after investing so much time into his development.

BEREA, Ohio — Browns cornerback Sheldon Brown, who’s seen a lot in his 10 years in the NFL, held court on a getaway day Monday and said he’s not waiting for a college star such as Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III to come in and be the savior of this 4-12 team.

“I’m definitely not, and if you are, you’re crazy,” he said.

Brown stressed that one or two rookies — the Browns will have the fourth overall pick in the April draft and the Falcons’ first-round pick in the 20s, aren’t going to change the fortunes of this rebuilding team, at least not overnight.

“My thing is, if you’re dependent on a draft pick to come in here and change your life, then you’re kidding yourself,” he said. “This game is too hard. There’s too big of a jump to come from college and think that he’s going to come in … who does it? Maybe Randy Moss did it. So you already know the pattern. It’s not that.”

So what will it take for the Browns to compete in the AFC North, where their three foes are skipping off to the playoffs?

“The guys here have to step their game up to another level because they’re experienced,” said Brown. “When you lose close games, you can go back and maybe point to one or two drops, or one or two miscues. When things like that happen, I bet you go back and you say ‘ah, [it was] a young player [who] hadn’t been in that situation. Hadn’t experienced it.’ Well now he’s experienced it and he won’t do it again.

“Most rookies, anyway, they get hurt because they get tired and they don’t understand the speed and the strength of this game at the professional level. So I’m never sold on high draft picks.”

Brown said he’s not spewing lip service when he says the Browns are close to being a good team. They lost six games by seven points or less, and went down to the wire most games with their division rivals, although they finished 0-6 in the division for only the second time since 1999.

“We’re very close,” said Brown, who went to the playoffs with the Eagles six times, including one Super Bowl. “It’s one or two plays each game. You just have to find the playmakers and they just have to understand the sense of urgency and make the play.”

But don’t Browns fans hear the same thing every year?

“I didn’t tell you this last year,” he said. “I thought we were way off last year, from a lot of other things we were having to deal with. You can say whatever you want to say, but I do believe that and I came from an organization where we’d start 0-4 — sometimes 0-3 — and we were one or two plays out, and we found a way to start making those plays. Then we’d run off eight in a row, and then the people that were laughing, they don’t seem to laugh any more.”

Brown is convinced coach Pat Shurmur — who took a critical beating by some fans and media this season — is the right man for the job.

“I think he did a tremendous job, dealing with being a head coach for the first time,” said Brown. “Everybody thinks it’s an easy job, everybody wants to sit in a room and say, ‘I can do this better, I can do that better.’ He dealt with the situations the best he could, and he kept this football team fighting. For me, that’s how I judge a head coach.

“If a football team goes out there and competes week in and week out, through thick and through thin — and it was very thick this year — but we didn’t quit. So that tells me that the leader is in place and the guys believe in him and they will fight. If you put a football team out there that’s giving up 40 points, scoring nothing and they’re quitting, that tells me that the leader in place is not the guy.”

Can he make the jump in year two?

“He can definitely make a jump,” said Brown. “But the most important thing is that the players have to make the jump. And the players have to make the plays.

“I think this coaching staff is in place for a while. The worst thing that I’ve known of the history of the Browns is, one or two years and they want to blow it up. People want to think that it changes in one or two years. There’s a process that you have to go through in this league and you have to be patient to do it.

“The coaching staff did the best [they could] with their knowledge of the players, not having an off-season to really get to know the guys. They put them in the best positions that they knew how to make plays on the field, and I think it’s heading in the right direction.”

As for the defense, which finished 10th overall, Brown is certain it’s on solid footing.

“Anytime you have a [middle] linebacker like D’Qwell Jackson, your foundation is in place,” said Brown. “Anytime you have a starting defensive tackle — and I’ve played with some good ones — like Ahtyba Rubin, motor doesn’t stop, intense guy, angry player, studies, and he brings the young guys like Jabaal Sheard and Phil Taylor along with him, it’s in place. You’ve got Joe Haden, T.J. Ward, young players in the secondary, the foundation is in place.

“We had to go through the growing pains of being young, but the foundation is in place and I think it’s going in the right direction.”

While losing teams such as the Rams and Bucs fired their coaches Monday, other Browns agreed that this is a 4-12 team on the rise.

“My rookie year I played for Green Bay and we were 6-10 and there wasn’t a whole lot of turnover on that roster,” said tight end Evan Moore. “They had a lot of young guys that they let grow up in that system and look at them now. Granted, that team has a lot of talent and I believe we do, too. We have a lot of young guys I think are only going to get better.

“I think it goes without saying that a foundation needs time. Guys need time to mature and I think we have the makings here of something that could be pretty impressive if guys are given time to mature.”

Said kicker Phil Dawson: “We were in a lot of games. It’s death by inches, though. How are you going to look at that? Are we that close, or is that just the nature of the league? It depends on your personality, how you’re going to view that.

“In my little world, if my plant foot misses the spot by a quarter-inch, I miss the kick. That will probably tell you how I look at it. Everybody looks at themselves critically and figures out how they can improve. If we do that, now these close games are coming out in our favor. Hopefully that’s the way guys respond to it.”

On Twitter: @marykaycabot

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Notes, observations and some facts on the first quarter …

• Browns win coin toss, receive, and punt after three plays, one a sack.

• Sheldon Brown holding penalty on third down gives Steelers a first down.

• On a third-and-1 inside handoff, Isaac Redmon gains 13 yards on an inside cut. Steelers drive to Browns’ 32. On fourth-and-3, Redmond beats D’Qwell Jackson on a circle route, but Ben Roethlisberger’s touch pass is too long. Mike Tomlin eschewed 49-yard field goal try with 24 mph wind.

• Seneca Wallace is sacked before he takes two steps on well-timed blitz by Troy Polamalu. Browns offense really humming. Six snaps, 14 yards, two sacks, two punts.

• Roethlisberger is being very careful not to hold the ball very long. As a result, his passes are not sharp. He’s in dink and dunk mode, like the second half of Dec. 8 game after his injury.

• Ahtyba Rubin storms in to bury Roethlisberger for a 9-yard sack.

• Jeremy Kapinos’ punt bounces backwards from the goal line. Browns take over at their 4, then have third 3-and-out in a row.