First year in Cleveland ends with pain
A forgettable, frustrating season for Gilroy’s favorite football son is finally over.
The Cleveland Browns’ Jeff Garcia – a quarterback at Gilroy High, Gavilan College and San Jose State – saw his season come to an end on the turf of Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Stadium Sunday.
According to reports in Ohio, Garcia tore his medial capsule and the medial collateral ligament in his left knee during the team’s 37-7 loss to the Bills.
Bobby Garcia, Jeff’s father, seemed to think otherwise, though, when contacted by the Dispatch Tuesday night. Bobby said he talked to Jeff after the MRI Monday and was told it was a third-degree strain of the MCL, the most severe level before a tear.
“I’m not sure what they are saying in the Cleveland papers, but he told me it wasn’t a tear,” Bobby Garcia said. “That’s all I know.
“Either way, there’s no way he could play. He’s out. There’s just no stability in the knee.”
According to his father, Garcia is wearing a protective brace, but his injury won’t require surgery. Bobby said it will take eight weeks to heal and that his son won’t be returning to California until the Browns’ regular season concludes in early January.
With the setback, Garcia became the latest high-profile name to go down on Cleveland’s already-large roster of injured players. He joins starters Kellen Winslow Jr., Courtney Brown, Andra Davis, Andre’ Davis, Ryan Tucker, Kelvin Garmon and Ben Taylor on the injured reserve list.
There’s not much space left in the club’s overcrowded trainer’s room.
“Another Browns’ Monday,” lamented interim coach Terry Robiskie. “Another blue Monday.”
He will be the 17th player and eighth Cleveland starter to be placed on IR by the snake-bitten Browns (3-10), who have lost seven straight games.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in all of my years of coaching,” Robiskie said.
Garcia got hurt on the first play of the fourth quarter, injured on his third snap after replacing rookie Luke McCown.
After pump-faking inside Cleveland’s 10, Garcia was about to throw when he got hit from behind by Bills end Aaron Schobel, who beat tackle Ross Verba to the inside and knocked the ball free. According to Bobby Garcia, when the Browns’ center landed on Garcia’s knee, the quarterback “heard something that wasn’t good.”
When team doctors checked it out on the sidelines, Garcia was carted off the field and into the locker room.
The injury caps a long season in Cleveland for the former Pro Bowler from San Francisco who signed a four-year, $25 million contract as a free agent in February.
Beginning in training camp, Garcia didn’t hide his feelings about not being used properly in the team’s predictable offense. And he’s never really seen eye-to-eye with Robiskie, the offensive coordinator who became interim head coach when Butch Davis resigned last month.
Not longer after Garcia sprained his right shoulder while being sacked in a Nov. 21 loss to the Jets, he caught flak from Browns’ fans after a videotape of a team meeting revealed that he didn’t stand up when Robiskie asked the team’s leaders to identify themselves.
Garcia’s injury further clouds the 34-year-old’s uncertain future in Cleveland. After sitting out two games with his injured shoulder, Garcia was healthy enough to start against the Bills, but the Browns chose to play McCown instead.
Garcia’s role next season will be determined by Cleveland’s next coach, and until one is picked it’s impossible to guess what that might be. Robiskie was asked if Garcia would back up McCown next year.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” he said. “Luke is still growing and we are still growing with him. We don’t know how far that growth process will go. We don’t know what will happen with that and if I am here and Garcia is here, we will sit down and have a lot of discussions about that.”
– Associated Press reports contributed to this story.
