Pat Shurmur stresses passing as a way to rebuild Browns

Fresh off of molding Sam Bradford's breakout rookie season and having developed Donovan McNabb into a Pro Bowl quarterback, there's no doubting the focus of new Cleveland Browns coach Pat Shurmur.

So while Shurmur seeks a solid running game, that's only to balance the passing game that's crucial to success in the NFL.

"I think it's important to run the ball," Shurmur said during Friday's news conference introducing him as the Browns' 13th head coach. "But in the NFL you have to be able to efficiently and explosively throw the ball and that's something we're going to try to get done."

Shumur replaces Eric Mangini, fired after going 10-22 the past two seasons.

Whether Shurmur's quarterback will be Colt McCoy, who showed promise as a rookie this season after emerging from a battered group that included Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace, he wouldn't say. But he looks forward to working with McCoy and enters his first head coaching job with a 12-year resume of success as an NFL assistant and a strong bragging point in Bradford, a rookie of the year contender after leading the St. Louis Rams within a game of a playoff berth.

Not to mention, a strong pedigree. He's the nephew of the late Fritz Shurmur, who was Green Bay's defensive coordinator under Browns president Mike Holmgren when Holmgren coached the Packers to a Super Bowl championship in 1996.

Like Holmgren, who was a Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator before getting his first coaching job with the Packers in 1992, Shurmur, 45, aims to put aside concerns about his youthfulness and lack of head coaching experience by applying what he's learned at previous stops and seeking input from people he knows.

"I think we have a collective view of how to get it done and can't wait to get to work," said Shurmur, who didn't commit on a defensive scheme but plans to interview assistant coaches. "As you talk about our team and our goals, our goal is to win, win AFC North and get to the Super Bowl, and anything else is a distraction.

"I inherit a team with great tradition and it's not fair to comment on any of the details. We're going to do the best we can to win games."

Holmgren and Browns general manager Tom Heckert agreed that there was just an instinct about Shurmur that impressed them.

"It's just a gut feeling because you don't know the answer," Heckert said. "You just have to rely on what you've seen in the past, who you've worked with and who you've talked with, and after saying all that I think Pat has it."

Said Holmgren: "You just try to be as sure as you can be. But I do know this: We cannot keep changing around here every two or three years, you can't do that and expect to be successful. I see these two men working together and I can envision things where it's a pretty good fit and my hope and prayer is that now, the changes stop, and the growing and building begins. My hope is this is the coach and this will be the coach for a long, long time. This was part of the thinking."