When Cleveland Browns head coach Pat Shurmur met with reporters on Friday, there wasn't much new he had to add. One reported did ask again about the usage of tight end Evan Moore though, and that sparked off a couple of other questions about him:
(On why Evan Moore’s role has not been as prominent lately)- "I don’t think so. I don’t think his role has been diminished, we threw him a ball last week in the end zone on a fade. His role is not diminishing, we use him and we plan to use him a bunch in the red zone. We just need to get down there more and get more plays and you’ll see him more. Then we use him in the offense as well. He’s had production in every game and I think the other thing to keep in mind from the tight end position is that Ben Watson does a good job so there’s some tight end production there that you don’t necessarily want to take Ben off the field either. It’s a good problem to have when you have some guys at tight end that can make plays so we’ll just keep trying to use them."
(On if anything has changed about Moore being an ideal red zone target)- "No, not at all. Unfortunately, you don’t get to see the red zone portion of practice. I don’t let you because then I might not have got that question (joking). When you look at a lot of what we plan to do in the red zone, a lot of it involves Evan. Not all of it, but a lot of it."
(On Moore’s penalty last week)- "It was a penalty and I think we’ve got to be aware. You’ve got to beat bump and run and you’ve got to do it the right way. They called it."
This is a tough situation. Moore is probably ideal for being a red zone target, so in that sense, I understand Shurmur's logic. The issue is that the Browns don't get down there enough, and it looks like this offense often needs someone who can make a big one-on-one reception down the field. It seems like Moore could be that guy on certain plays, but he's been pigeon-holed into the red zone playbook. In other words, if we were getting into the red zone, we'd probably be seeing more of Moore and loving the way he was being used. Since we're not getting down there, it makes it seem like Moore is an afterthought in the offense.