By Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Pittsburgh used to be called "Hell with the Lid Off," but then the steel industry declined and, apparently, the infernal torments relocated to the hearts and minds of Browns players and fans. 
A year ago, Pittsburgh was the game in which Colt McCoy got his first start, right there by the rivers' confluence. He fared at least as well as Daniel (his real first name) in the lions' den and became another hope/hype for the future.
Thursday night, McCoy returns to Pittsburgh. The lions are big favorites.
McCoy has not looked like he's the answer to the ongoing quarterback crisis. Sports Illustrated's Peter King gave him a "D" grade recently. Reader email is divided, but more and more wonder when McCoy will show something.
It is true what McCoy lacks: a stable of play-making wide receivers, separating from defenders like celebrities from spouses; an All-Pro offensive line, allowing patterns to be timed by sun dial; a running back able to hit 'em where they ain't or in the mouth, as the occasion demands.
The fact is, however, that nobody has it all, although Troy Aikman came pretty close when he was winning three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s.
But when you look around the league, the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger is playing behind a patchwork line.
Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Tom Brady are playing at near-historic levels because they have to. Their defenses resemble O.J. Simpson after, as Detective Nordberg in "The Naked Gun," he fell from the upper deck of Dodger Stadium, was flattened by a steamroller, and marched upon by the University of Southern California band. You know, sort of the Chris Gocong position, after Ricky Williams ran over him last Sunday.
Brady had a wide receiver in Deion Branch who was only special in Bill Belichick's system. He was a dud in Seattle. The Browns picked up Brady's starting guard, Joe Andruzzi, as a free agent in the Romeo Crennel era, then decided he couldn't play after two seasons.
But Browns fans keep thinking a football utopia is required for judgment to made about a quarterback.
Certainly, McCoy has been the victim of almost criminal neglect in the laughable assertion in the off-season that either Pat Shurmur could coach up the returning wideouts or that the West Coast offense would allow McCoy to run the "Open sesame" play, and defenses would be powerless to stop it.
At least some blame for the failure goes on Peyton Hillis and his ego, injuries and alarming free fall from Madden video trendiness.
And yet ... one remembers that Bernie Kosar's receivers -- Webster Slaughter, Reggie Langhorne and Brian Brennan -- made exactly one Pro Bowl among them with the Browns (Slaughter in 1989, although he also was honored with Houston in 1993). Kosar had better protection than McCoy, but he was also far less mobile. After the trade of Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack's trouble with the law, he did not have a powerful running game at his disposal.
In each of the three seasons in which the Browns reached the AFC title game, tight end Ozzie Newsome never had 500 yards in receptions. Still, Kosar showed enough in short order to become the franchise's building block. Kosar could throw deep, but he was also adept at the intermediate pass, the 15-yard comebacker or the so-called skinny post.
Forget stretching the defenses with the bomb. No one respects even the mid-range pass with the Browns, both because receivers can't get open on such routes and because McCoy seldom throws such balls.
Kosar had a gambler's mentality, always looking for the big play. McCoy has been in a short-pass offense since high school. He was programmed in the Big 12 at Texas to dink and dunk. Even his short throws are too often behind the receiver or he has to wait for the ball.
In the NFL, a passing league despite the aberration that is Tim Tebow, the game is won and lost in the pocket. Running the shotgun, although McCoy has familiarity with it, is counterproductive over the long haul. It makes running the ball difficult. The inside handoff to the running back can fool them only so many times.
Running the hurry-up offense for 60 minutes is worse. Does anyone really want to send this Browns defense out on the field, time after time, after quick three-and-outs?
The Browns need to look for a quarterback in the 2012 draft when they have the picks to get a good one. Stanford's Andrew Luck would cost too much to move up to the first pick, but Baylor's Robert Griffin III or USC's Matt Barkley might be there for a probable 4-and-12 Browns team.
It's too soon to say McCoy can't play, period. He isn't as inaccurate as Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn. He doesn't make as many bad decisions as Charlie Frye.
This, however, is known as being damned by faint praise.
http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index.ssf/2011/12/time_is_running_out_for_colt_m.html
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