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Even though Colt McCoy did not have a solid offensive line, or many weapons at wide receiver, Bleacher Report reporter Aidan Reynolds writes how the Browns quarterback  couldn’t make necessary NFL throws last season.

Reynolds continues to pile on McCoy. He writes how McCoy’s play was predictable in his inability to spread the defense with a deep ball and the opposition knew this, throwing blitz after blitz at him as he attempted to hit another curl or slant route.

The lack of an offseason or elite receiving threat can soak up a portion of the blame, sure, but the reluctance to name McCoy the 2012 starter ahead of the draft indicated that there was change afoot in Northeast Ohio.

Since the Browns no longer had any faith in McCoy, Brandon Weeden was the right choice, Reynolds writes. And because of (another) change, the Browns should be granted patience as the team moves forward, writes Reynolds.

How long is the next question.

More Cleveland Browns

Should the Cleveland Browns go after the Detroit Lions’ Tony Scheffler (sports.gather.com)?

NFL players knew what they were getting into (The News-Herald).

Otto Graham is the second-greatest QB of all-time (CBSSports).

Tony Peters, former Browns defensive back, becomes a high school coach (Tulsa World).

Phil Taylor will still have an impact once he returns (Cleveland.com).

The Browns have the largest rookie pool (ESPN).

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns quarterback Colt McCoy is determined to stave off the challenge from rookie Brandon Weeden for his starting job.

“I’m a competitor and I’m working harder than ever,” he told The Plain Dealer in an email. They were his first public remarks since Weeden was drafted No. 22 overall to become the Browns’ starter.

McCoy declined further comment, choosing to focus on the off-season program and the challenge he’ll get from Weeden. McCoy might be available next week when the team open its organized activities to the media for one of the three days.

On Monday, Weeden joined McCoy and Seneca Wallace in Phase II of the off-season program, which includes about an hour of work on the field each day, meetings and conditioning.

“I’ve already been bouncing ideas off of them,” Weeden told NFL Network’s Total Access Wednesday night. “I met both of them really for the first time on Monday and it’s been great ever since.”

 As for his approach to the quarterback situation, Weeden said, ‘hopefully I get to play sooner rather than later, but I’m going out and compete. That’s what I’ve done since day one. Colt’s a great player and Seneca’s a great player.”

   The Browns have consistently said that Weeden will have to compete for the starting job with McCoy and Wallace, but they’re aiming for Weeden to be their starter this season.

Browns coach Pat Shurmur told reporters after a Pro Football Hall of Fame luncheon on Monday that Weeden is “headed in the right direction” for the starting job, but that he believes McCoy can still win in the NFL.

“Colt McCoy is a gritty guy,” Shurmur told the audience. “I think Colt McCoy is a fine football player and can play quarterback in this league. They’re both guys (Weeden and McCoy) that I want on this team and I want to see them compete. The best one will play when we play Philadelphia in September.”

Shurmur said it’s possible that Wallace will stick around, too.

“I think there’s a case to be made that Seneca, Colt and Brandon are all (here) together,” Shurmur said. “We’ll see. I think that’s yet to be determined. We’re going to watch them all compete and interact, and we’ll see what happens.”

McCoy went 4-9 last season after the Browns ‘ top three running backs were injured for all or most of the season, and starting receiver Mohamed Massaquoi was slowed by a broken foot and concussion. Right tackle Tony Pashos also played injured all season.

The Browns repeatedly said after the 2011 season that they expect McCoy to look better in his second year in the West Coast offense, especially now that he’s got an offseason to learn it from the coaches.

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Cleveland Browns cornerback Joe Haden just became one of our favorite players in the game. The 23-year-old NFLer made one high school senior’s prom truly one of the most special nights of her life by being her date for the dance, and all she did was ask—on Twitter.

“[The tweet] just said, ‘Hey Joe, would you consider going to my senior prom with me because my date backed out and didn’t go,’ ” Independence High School student Joyce Grendel told Fox 8.

Within a few hours, she got the shock of her life—Joe responded with a “yes.”

The 18-year-old was understandably nervous as she got ready for her big date Saturday night, and Joe did not disappoint, picking her up from her home not in a customary limo, but in a white Lamborghini. And though he was the man everyone was looking for that night, Joe said it was a big night for him too because he never made it to his senior prom since he graduated early.

“I am nervous, too,” he told Fox. “We were taking pictures with me and her family. I feel this is very legit, like I was getting ready, ‘Does this look cool?’ when I’m getting ready. I feel like I’m very legit. This is my prom, too.”

Though it seems like a far stretch that a pro athlete would take a random girl to prom, Joe and Joyce have a little history, at least as far as fandom goes. Prom actually wasn’t the first time Joyce and her friend, Lacey, who accompanied them to the dance with her own date, met Joe.

“I knew her because she tweets me a lot, and she’s been a really good Haden Nation supporter. All my autographs, all my signings, she always shows up, and Lacey,” he said.

Even Joyce’s dad felt like his daughter couldn’t have had a better date for the night.

“We met him last year. As a matter of fact, the kids went bowling with him downtown. You couldn’t find a nicer guy. I talked to him a little bit there. He’s not different than any of us; he’s just a quality guy.”

How sweet! Check out the video of the teen’s special night here.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Three rookies, three views of how the Browns might evolve:

Johnny “Lam” Jones lined up against Hanford Dixon years ago, when Dixon was trying to make the Browns’ roster as a rookie cornerback and Jones had just left scorch marks on the grassy fields of his native Texas.

A New York Jets wide receiver, Jones was from Lampasas, near Austin, hence the “Lam” nickname. But as a gold medalist in the 400-meter relay in 1976, he could take it on the lam, too.

“The thing was, he got on you so fast,” Dixon said.

Dixon gave Jones a big cushion in his coverage. Then he turned to fellow Brown Greg Pruitt, who was on the sideline, sitting on his helmet. “Can you tell when he’s going to go deep?” Dixon asked.

“I’d say, ‘Anytime he wants to,’ ” Pruitt said.

Everyone digs the long ball. Travis Benjamin, the Browns’ fourth-round draft pick as well as the first receiver selected by the team, will make everyone take a look at his deep-threat capability. Benjamin is 5-10, 175, and he was the second-fastest player at the NFL Combine.

Compared with Benjamin, Lam Jones was an inch taller, 5 pounds heavier, even faster and more highly regarded as the second pick overall in the 1980 draft. But even though Jones had played football at Texas, his ability to instill fear with his feet was not accompanied by what he wrought with his hands.

He had bad ones. He scored only 13 receiving touchdowns in four years and never had a gain longer than 55 yards.

Benjamin really didn’t have big playmaking stats at Miami — 13 touchdown passes in four years, one punt return for a score. The latter came at the Horseshoe against Ohio State in 2010. Part of the blame goes to his inconsistent quarterback, Jacory Harris.

Saturday, Benjamin took part in the “post” drill, devised by special offensive assistant Nolan Cromwell. Standing behind a heavy post that extended well above his head, Benjamin, jiggling his arms up and down before every throw — like a tennis player bouncing on the balls of his feet before attacking a serve — caught every ball thrown from 10 yards away, some fired directly at the post, others to either side. He had no drops. The drill emphasized quick reactions and peripheral vision, although some players took a quick peek around the post as the ball neared their extended hands.

In the NFL, of course, he will be covered by livelier defenders than a metal post.

“Benjamin’s biggest challenge will be using his footwork to beat bump-and-run coverage,” said coach Pat Shurmur. “They can’t give him a big cushion. He’ll be open all day by running short. And we’ll move him around [in motion and in the slot as well as being split wide].”

If a defender can’t back off Benjamin in coverage, he will try to jam him, keeping him from getting off the line of scrimmage quickly, disrupting the pattern. “It’s hard to jam a guy that quick,” Dixon said.

A man never forgets getting Lam-basted.

For being just 5-9,

Richardson plays big

Running back Trent Richardson, the first prize of the Browns’ draft, is a little taller than 5-9, shorter than Benjamin, who is a Smurf in today’s game. (Benjamin, by the way, never heard of the “Smurfs,” a term for the small Redskins receivers of the 1980s.)

Richardson, however, is not slight, just short.

“Don’t let the 5-91/2 fool you, he is almost 230 pounds, and that is a lot of muscle packed into that body,” Shurmur said. “By the nature of his build, he is sometimes hard to get your arms around and tackle. That natural leverage that he has also gives him great balance and body control.”

In one agility drill, players ran over blocking pads laid on the ground, their knees high. Then they sidestepped them, first to the right, then left, then right again. Coaches had to stress not touching the pads to former Toledo back Adonis Thomas, and they told Richardson’s 6-2, 235-pound fullback at Alabama, Brad Smelley, that his feet were too high as he cleared the barriers. Too much time spent in the air allows tacklers to close in. Richardson, however, took a couple of practice steps, then skimmed over the pads and zigzagged to the finish with ease.

His feet were so quick that he recalled former Browns back Eric Metcalf, all 5-9 and 188 pounds of him, hopscotching through the Bengals near the goal line on a magical touchdown run on the banks of the Ohio River in 1989.

“Short backs can hide behind their linemen. When I was coaching, I never saw Barry Sanders [5-8, 203] until he popped through the hole,” said Browns President Mike Holmgren.

Weeden displays

solid mechanics

 Any fears that presumptive starting quarterback Brandon Weeden, a former minor-league pitcher, might get his curveball delivery mixed up with his swing-pass release seem unfounded. His mechanics are his strength.

“Did you see the out [pattern] Benjamin caught from Weeden?” asked Shurmur after a Saturday drill. “That was perfect.”

The ball seems to jump out of Weeden’s hand, even with his smooth release. He is accurate on slants and puts pace on the ball on deep outs. “A guy that can throw the ball with a smooth motion, the ball presents itself to the receivers well. I think that helps them be more efficient catching it,” Shurmur said.

Weeden recalled what Dallas’ Michael Irvin once said of the passes of strong-armed quarterback Troy Aikman: “The ball just says, ‘Catch me.’ ”

Once, Weeden whipped a slant squarely into the arms of Florida State free agent Bert Reed, hitting him in stride as he made his inside break. It is the same mastery of trajectory that Weeden showed on ESPN’s “Sports Science” show, when his passes were shattering clay pigeons.

It’s silly to make big judgments in noncontact drills. Still, this was a eureka moment. So this is what the West Coast offense is supposed to look like! It so seldom has been that way here.

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