Just how bad was it between Kyle Shanahan and Mike Pettine in Cleveland?
At an introductory press conference for new offensive coordinator John DeFilippo on Thursday, Pettine cast Shanahan as a coach that had his eye elsewhere, which made it hard to function as a unified staff.
"It was something that we didn't want to drag out," Pettine told reporters, via The Plain-Dealer. "It's just very hard to win in the NFL (even) when everybody's into it and they truly want to be there, and again if you have somebody that just doesn't want to be there, I know it's easy to say, 'Hey he's under contract, hold him to it,' (but now) there's a dark cloud over your coaching offices, and I've been a part of that."
Pettine's words are interesting and will certainly invite some form of rebuttal from Shanahan whenever the talented coordinator lands his next gig. This is obviously just one side of the story.
But in introducing DeFilippo, Pettine had better hope he has the answer to a complex problem he'll soon see on offense. Johnny Manziel is just the beginning, and at the least, Shanahan had a background with mobile quarterbacks.
DeFilippo finally earned a promotion that, according to a few of his former players, was a long time coming. Perhaps some enthusiasm will be enough to set the Browns ahead of where they were a few months ago.
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