Tuesday, October 08, 2002
Browns' Couch doesn't back down
By TOM WITHERS
AP Sports Writer
BEREA, Ohio — Tim Couch didn't duck and he didn't scramble. One day after tearfully assailing Cleveland fans for booing him and then cheering as he staggered to the sideline with a concussion, the Browns quarterback refused to take back a single word.
“If fans don't like the way I'm playing or the way we're playing, they have a right to boo us or boo me,” he said. “But to cheer when I got hurt, that's a whole other level with me. I don't agree with that at all.”
Following Sunday night's 26-21 loss to Baltimore, Couch choked back tears as he recounted the moment in the fourth quarter when Browns fans — some of whom think backup Kelly Holcomb should be starting — turned on him.
While recovering a fumble near Cleveland's goal line, Couch was hit by four Ravens, including linebacker Peter Boulware, whose helmet appeared to slam into the back of Couch's head.
Wobbled by the blows, Couch was dazed as he attempted to walk back toward Cleveland's huddle. Seconds later, he dropped to a knee hoping his head would clear.
As medical personnel rushed onto the field to assist Couch, some fans started to cheer knowing that Holcomb, who started the first two games this season while Couch nursed an elbow injury, would be coming into the game.
“I'll remember being on the ground, a little dazed and hearing cheers,” Couch said. “It's tough. To have the rest of the country watching as home fans cheered when I got hurt, is something that didn't set well with me. It's embarrassing for me, and it's tough for my family to sit in the stands and watch that.”
Couch said the rough treatment from the crowd has forever changed him.
“Now I can expect what's going to happen every time I walk into the stadium,” he said. “I guess I'll treat every game like a road game because yesterday was like playing on the road.”
While Couch was being helped, several of his offensive teammates huddled over him in support.
“That's our guy,” tight end Mark Campbell said. “He's the backbone of the offense. If we don't have him we're missing a lot more than just our quarterback. Tim's our leader. He's going to take us to the Super Bowl.”
Before that can happen, Couch is going to have to play much better than he did against the Ravens.
In just more than three quarters, the former No. 1 overall draft choice, went 16-of-26 for 216 yards with one TD and two interceptions. Couch said the picks were a direct result of trying to win over a crowd that seemed to target him early.
“I kind of got caught up in trying to do that and I hurt the team,” Couch said. “I threw a couple of interceptions trying to do stuff like that and that's not the way I've been playing this year.”
Still, Browns coach Butch Davis said Couch played better than his stats showed.
“I thought he played well,” Davis said. “There's one or two things that I wish he wouldn't have done.”
Davis again diffused any notion of the Browns having a quarterback controversy. Holcomb led Cleveland's frantic fourth-quarter comeback, throwing two TD passes and barely missing on a third in the closing seconds that would have given the Browns a remarkable win.
Asked if Couch would start this Sunday at Tampa Bay, Davis said, “If he's healthy enough, absolutely he is.”
Davis remains Couch's biggest supporter. Nothing has changed his belief that Couch is the quarterback who will eventually get Cleveland a Super Bowl title.
Davis said he has no plans to switch quarterbacks — unless Couch suddenly becomes a different person.
“If I thought he was selfish and just playing for himself, and he was just playing for stats and uncooperative and didn't want to learn the offense and was just free-lancing and using Sundays as his own format, absolutely I'd consider changing,” Davis said.
“But that kid is a hell of a kid, and he wants to win so bad. He wants to win for the team and for the city and for all the right reasons. He stands in there and gets hit right in the face and delivers throws and battles.”
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Browns' Couch doesn't back down
