"Calmer and less combative than in his last press appearance three weeks ago, Browns President Mike Holmgren sought to ease frustrations with and inspire confidence in a football team that has lost 23 of 32 games under his watch.

After 75 minutes of mostly dodging questions about specific plans, Holmgren summed up the state of the organization in a few sentences.

"The fans here have been a little long-suffering," Holmgren said. "So, we are driven. We put pressure on ourselves to do the right things and get this thing turned in the right direction.

"I think the next couple years are very important in determining how this is going to go. I'm a little upset with our record, but I'm not discouraged. There's a lot of hope."

Holmgren was joined by General Manager Tom Heckert. They did more sidestepping than Browns quarterbacks in a month of Steelers games. They offered little clarity on the status of Colt McCoy and running back Peyton Hillis -- who entered 2011 as huge fan favorites and ended it with cloudy futures.

Holmgren praised McCoy for possessing "a lot of the intangibles," but backed up coach Pat Shurmur's previous statements that McCoy would have to compete next season with Seneca Wallace and someone else for the starting quarterback job. Holmgren said he's "not ready to anoint" McCoy as the franchise quarterback.

As for a new quarterback, Holmgren steered conversation away from Green Bay backup and potential free agent Matt Flynn. He said he wouldn't comment on players with existing teams. Flynn's name, though, opened a discussion on whether the Browns would pursue a young quarterback in free agency rather than in the draft. "