Head Coach Butch Davis took to the microphone yesterday and said, “I take the ultimate responsibility for the direction and plan of this football team.” He then announced the firing of Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians, running backs coach Todd McNair, and QB coach Carl Smith, moves that were already the worst-kept secret in Berea.

When asked why, he provided predictable platitudes — not a knee-jerk decision, no one set of factors or reasons, needed to go in a different direction — as he did last year with the sacking of the defensive coaches. A glimmer of insight came in response to a later question about what he’d like to see from his offense. The answer: more balance, game plans that vary based on circumstances, and schemes which make the best use of available players’ skills. “We will move forward in the future with a better assessment of that,” Davis said.

The Plain Dealer interprets this move, as well as other recent comments by Davis and Carmen Policy, as a clear-out in favor of Tim Couch. I’ll have more to say about the QB situation when I begin my Positional Analysis series in the next post.

Meanwhile, other items from Davis’ Monday press conference:

–Asked which Browns had good seasons, Davis named these players in this order: Ryan Tucker, Andra Davis, Daylon McCutcheon, Orpheus Roye, and Kennard Lang. His support for ‘Cutch is heartening, as he mentioned the team has approached his agent with the possibility of a contract extension.

–Davis ducked a question asking for a response to Policy’s recent comments concerning “enhancements in the personnel department.” Butch said he hadn’t seen Policy’s remarks, but “you can never have enough good help.” Sounded like he was talking about maid service. (Snarky note: Davis made sure to credit Ariens, McNair, and Smith with being “good men.” Just not good help, I guess.) In any case, I’ll be adding my amateur analysis for free over the coming days.

–CB Michael Lehan and WR Andre King are likely to have surgery soon. Post-season physical results also show injuries to tight ends Chad Mustard and Keith Heinrich. That means the Browns had five tight ends hurt this year (Shea, Heiden, and Monroe were already on IR). Darnell Sanders is the last man standing, so please be careful turning out the lights.