Rod Chudzinski denies QB Brandon Weeden is on a 'short leash'

After giving Cleveland Browns fans hope in the pre-season, QB Brandon Weeden opened the season causing alarm.

Under pressure all day, Weeden was pressured on more than half of his 53 attempts, and didn’t do well under fire: He completed five of 24 attempts for 76 yards with two interceptions for a 5.6 QB rating facing the pressure.

Overall, his 48.4 QB rating was the second lowest on opening weekend and opened the door for critics to start calling for Jason Campbell. Coach Rod Chudzinski denied that Weeden is on a short leash or that they are scaling back the playbook for him.

“I don’t look at it as a leash,” Chudzinski said, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “These guys are developing players and they’re learning how to play in this system and I expect us to keep getting better and improving.”

“The protection issues were there and that’s something you have to contend with,” said Chudzinski. “I thought Brandon had some ups and downs. I know there are some throws and some reads he’d like to have back. I think the one thing you saw yesterday, you saw his resiliency and toughness. If anybody had questions about that prior to this game, you look at the game and he’s pretty tough and kept bouncing back.”