Cleveland Browns' Josh Cribbs is still a playmaker, despite NFL kickoff rules, Bud Shaw writes

League rules have compromised Josh Cribbs as a kick returner. Sports columnist Bud Shaw wonders if dangerous will still be his middle name as a wide receiver in Pat Shurmur's offense

Joshua Gunter, The Plain DealerThe Browns will need plays like this touchdown pass in an exhibition game against Green Bay from Josh Cribbs during the season. Cribbs remains a playmaker on a team with a shortage of them.

His head coach is not a fan of the wildcat formation. His league has legislated against the kickoff return, his forte.

Meet Josh Cribbs, spotted owl?

Not exactly.

Cribbs remains a playmaker for a team with a deficit of them. A season that begins Sunday against Cincinnati at the lakefront seems full of possibility, in part, because of what head coach/offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur might have in mind for one of his most dynamic talents.

"It's up to the coach," Cribbs said Saturday. "All I can do is show them why I should be a starter. I feel like I've really improved in route running. I think I've looked like a real wide receiver and not a converted one."

The wildcat is a gimmick best forsaken. Cribbs will never say a bad word about it because it delivered the ball directly into his hands, but the way the Browns utilized it, the wildcat was just another predictable aspect of an unremarkable offense.

It would show up one week, disappear the next.

Cribbs carried 20 times for 66 yards in 2010. There were eight games in which he carried once or not at all.

He admits the more teams studied it, the less effective it was. And sometimes it became an afterthought by choice.

In two games against Pittsburgh, Cribbs carried three times. Total yardage: 1.

"A lot of times, we had all this stuff in and we didn't use it," said Cribbs. "We weren't really a wildcat team."

What the Browns will be in Shurmur's first season isn't clear yet. The preseason featured more passing than running, but after the truncated off-season, it's a mistake to read too much into that.

The West Coast offense isn't a cookie cutter. There are versions of it that rely more heavily on the run. You would think Peyton Hillis would tilt Shurmur's thinking in that direction.

Even so, Cribbs should have a role in any offense that values "yards after catch." YAC is a big component of the West Coast. Speaking in general terms, Shurmur has called Cribbs "a fantastic player" who will be put in position to make plays "however we can do it."

Says Cribbs: "This offense is built to spread the ball around. . . . You can dilute too much, though. You still have to get the ball to your athletes."

So if Cribbs feels like an endangered species, he's not letting on just yet.

Much will depend on whether Cribbs really has improved his route running or has a false sense of improvement based on limited exposure in the exhibition season.

There were mitigating circumstances, but last year, he caught 23 passes for 292 yards and one touchdown.

"Timing in this offense is everything," Cribbs said. "As a receiver, you have to be ready before the quarterback is ready. You have to be precise in the routes you run."

The Browns didn't go looking for help at receiver beyond drafting Greg Little, a converted running back, in the second round. Mohamed Massaquoi missed nearly all of training camp. Cribbs expects to find himself in the backfield occasionally, but his best chance to help is as a receiver, which so far hasn't been his strength.

As precise as he will have to be running routes, he will also have to be discerning in his approach to kickoff returns. After watching the new rules enacted in the name of player safety limit kick returns in the preseason, Cribbs is more convinced the league went overboard.

"They missed the ball on that one," said the NFL's all-time leader in kickoff returns for touchdown. "Even though they're trying to make it safe, they took away from the tradition of the game as a rough sport that not everybody can play."

Cribbs won't concede too much too soon, saying he still plans to be aggressive and that he wants the guys in front of him to execute as if he's running every last kick upfield.

"If a guy doesn't fire out, we'll have words," Cribbs said.

It's doubtful the NFL will admit it made a mistake on kickoff changes.

For now, a Browns head coach schooled in offense for a change might be the best reason to hope "dynamic" -- or at least "dangerous" -- is still the word for Cribbs.

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/budshaw/index.ssf/2011/09/post_34.html

Gareth Barry Motoring Vladimir Putin Manchester City Television Floyd Mayweather