When the Cleveland Browns hired Mike Pettine, it had to stand out that CEO Joe Banner came out and told the media that the hardest decision of this whole process was passing on Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who had said he wanted to wait until after the Super Bowl to do a second interview.
So, how did Quinn do at the Super Bowl? His units played one of the best defensive games in Super Bowl history, routing the No. 1 offense in the NFL by a score of 43-8. Who saw that happening to Peyton Manning and the Broncos? After the game was over, Quinn was asked about the Browns, and he had this to say:
"I certainly would've been interested,'' Quinn told cleveland.com. "I mean, it's a big-time place. It's the Cleveland Browns.''
Dagger? Maybe, but Pettine's the guy, and we have to live with it. Technically, you could also say that it would've been a disaster had the Browns waited all this time to interview Adam Gase, who would've been coming off on the losing side in a game where Denver couldn't make any adjustments offensively.