New Browns offensive coordinator faces a harder job than believe which saw him on the edge of…
BEREA, Ohio — Here’s a list of names: Bruce Arians, Todd Haley, Randy Fichtner, Matt Canada and Mike Sullivan.
Those five men were offensive coordinators in the 17 years Mike Tomlin has coached the Steelers. He just hired Arthur Smith to take the job in 2024.
Baltimore’s John Harbaugh has been a head coach for 16 years. Here’s a list of his offensive coordinators: Cam Cameron, Jim Caldwell, Gary Kubiak, Marc Trestman, Marty Mornhinweg, Greg Roman and Todd Monken.
Kubiak and Caldwell left for head coaching jobs elsewhere. The others before Monken were cut loose by Harbaugh.
One more example: Marvin Lewis was the head coach of the Bengals for 16 years. Here were his offensive coordinators: Bob Bratkowksi, Jay Gruden, Hue Jackson, Ken Zampese and Bill Lazor. Jackson and Gruden left to become head coaches. The others lost their jobs.
I can go through other veteran coaches and their histories with offensive coordinators, but it’s more of the same. Most offensive coordinators last about three years. They either become a head coach somewhere else, or are fired.
Then they often become an offensive coordinator elsewhere. Former Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt was hired for the same job by the New England Patriots.
The fact that Van Pelt had the job for four years in Cleveland under Kevin Stefanski is a fairly long tenure in one place for an offensive coordinator.
Why bring this up?
It explains why I’m not upset about the Browns hiring Ken Dorsey, who was fired after 10 games last season by Buffalo. You can argue that it’s rare for an offensive coordinator to be fired during the season. That’s true. But Pittsburgh did dump Canada during the 2023 season.
At his press conference Monday, I asked Dorsey what happened in Buffalo.
“At the end of the day the head coach decided to make a change,” he said. “That’s something I’ve turned the page on and I’m really excited to be here and more focused on this opportunity than what happened there.”
Dorsey supporters can point out the Bills averaged 26.2 points under Dorsey last season when they were 5-5. They averaged 27 under new offensive coordinator Joe Brady. The team finished 6-1.
QB Josh Allen cut his turnovers from 14 to eight, but the real key was Buffalo’s defense improved. They also ran the ball a little more.
Dorsey was Allen’s QB coach from 2019 when the Wyoming product improved his passing accuracy. In 2022, Dorsey became offensive coordinator and the Bills were No. 2 in scoring.
There may have been some internal reasons Dorsey was fired, but not much has been said about that. The big problem is the Bills started 3-1, then lost four of their next six games. It was a team with high expectations. Allen was committing too many turnovers.
