CANTON TWP. “I’m not a controversial guy,” Don Cockroft said as he jumped into the Cleveland Browns quarterback controversy.
“Brady Quinn will be the Browns’ starting quarterback next season,” Cockroft said early in his speech Monday to the Hall of Fame Luncheon Club.
Cockroft is a former Colorado high school quarterback better known as the kicker who replaced Lou “The Toe” Groza and lasted 13 years with the Browns.
He lives in Stark County’s Hills and Dales area and enjoyed his seat on Cleveland’s 2007 roller coaster ride, except for the ending.
“It’s so cockeyed hard to get where they got,” he said, which is from 4-12 to 10-6 but out of the postseason.
His last NFL game was 1980, when he could have kicked a short field goal to beat Oakland Raiders and buy a trip to San Diego for the AFC title game. He never got the chance because quarterback Brian Sipe threw the infamous “Red Right 88” interception.
That group went from 11-5 to 5-11.
That Oakland playoff game will never die. Cockroft said he was a guest at the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day when an elderly woman asked why Coach Sam Rutigliano didn’t play for the field goal.
His response: “You’re the 1 millionth person to ask.”
He invites all 1 million to buy a book he plans to release before next Christmas, “Red Right 88: The Story of the 1980 Kardiac Kids.”
Interceptions foiled the 2007 Browns. Derek Anderson coughed up four in a game at Cincinnati that could have delivered a playoff berth.
“Call it a brain fart ... I don’t know what you want to call it,” Cockroft said.
Cockroft said Anderson did “a phenomenal job” in going 10-5 as the starter, but he also said, “Something is missing.”
He senses the intangible “it” in Quinn, although he worries about his height, 6-foot-3.
“One thing Anderson has ... he’s a big kid,” Cockroft said. “He has the tools to be great. It’s just that ... he needs development.”
In a general assessment, Cockroft said, “Phil Savage has done a phenomenal job in developing the team’s offense. These guys can play with anybody.”
The flip side:
“They’ve got to shore up that defense.”
Cockroft was elected to the Browns’ Legends club in 2007. He ranks second all-time in team scoring, sandwiched between Groza and current kicker Phil Dawson.
He gained a new level of appreciation for Dawson in 2007 during the Snow Bowl victory against Buffalo.
“His 49-yard field goal was phenomenal,” Cockroft said. “His 35-yarder was tougher.”
Likewise, he suggested, getting to 10-6 was phenomenal. Getting back to 10-6 might be tougher.
