Mini-Camp reports

[CLEVELandMILIDH]

By Jeff Schudel

JSchudel@News-Herald.com

 

Fans who have gone bald from pulling their hair out because of all the bonehead penalties and mistakes committed by the Browns the last 10 years are going to be very happy with Eric Mangini's rules to combat incompetence.

 

Mangini is going to hold every player accountable for everything he is supposed to do on the field if his first minicamp is an indication of things to come. That became evident when rookie Brian Robiskie was ordered to run a lap for dropping a punt during the second practice of minicamp last weekend.

 

Robiskie was not the primary punt returner at Ohio State. He returned 12 punts as a senior. He won't be returning punts for the Browns, but he was asked to stand in as a return man for the minicamp and he dropped the ball. So, under the Mangini Doctrine, he had to run.

 

That isn't all. I covered the minicamps and training camps of seven Browns head coaches before Mangini and cannot recall any of them employing officials to keep watch over a minicamp. But they were there for Mangini's rookie minicamp, and he says they will be there for every practice until the season ends with the exception of walkthroughs the day before a game. Any player committing a penalty in practice will be flagged.

 

Just as Robiskie had to run for putting the ball on the ground, anyone committing a penalty in practice will have to run a lap. It isn't so bad in a May minicamp when players are in shorts and T-shirts, but when it is August and the pads are on, players are going to remember the snap count or pay the consequence. Obviously, the theory is if they can be made to remember the snap count in practice there will be fewer false starts in games.

 

The Browns' facility under Romeo Crennel wasn't quite the country club it has been made out to be, but clearly things are going to be different under Mangini.

 

Last year, the Browns committed 100 penalties. The 2008 Jets coached by Mangini committed 23 fewer.

 

Game after game under Chris Palmer, Butch Davis and Crennel, the Browns were penalized for not having enough players at the line of scrimmage, illegal shifts and false starts. The 100 penalties last year were the ninth-most in the league, but the Browns were right at the top in pre-snap penalties. Avoiding false start penalties, especially in home games, and knowing the formation is strictly a matter of concentration. Mangini's rules reinforce that concentration.

 

Mangini will give his players pop quizzes at various times throughout the season. The quizzes could be about the game plan or about the upcoming opponent. If Player A is taking the quiz, it could be about how what Player B does relates to Player A's job.

 

Some veterans with the Jets did not like Mangini's quizzes. Kellen Winslow Jr., now with Tampa Bay, was notorious for lining up wrong initially and being directed to the right spot by the quarterback. He would not have liked the quizzes. Too bad.

 

I am not predicting Mangini will magically turn the Browns around in one season or four seasons. There are still too many unanswered questions — the starting quarterback for one. As it stands now, the Steelers with Ben Roethlisberger, the Ravens with Joe Flacco and the Bengals with Carson Palmer are better than the Browns at the most important position on the field.

 

But teams that do not beat themselves can find ways to beat teams with superior talent. If Mangini gets his message across to the veterans, there might be times next fall when the TV commentators ask rhetorically, "How did the Browns beat such a good team?"

 

[medicineman]

Not to change the topic but what are the odds of us getting Joe J back? Would he be willing to comeback?