First and 27 with the Browns

[Guest Masters]

I found this to be an entertaining read this morning so I thought I'd share

 

http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/

 

1) Well things are just peachy now, eh? It’s hard to believe the Browns could be more of a mess, and a revived Cincinnati team arrives Sunday. It’s also hard to know where to start with this team. There are only 10 items (though the name did change this week) and the Browns show no signs of heading in a positive direction. There is talk of the team quitting, of Eric Mangini’s ways being too oppressive and of a negative feeling in the locker room toward the head coach that might be impossible to stem. The Browns may face another tough decision before the season ends – if things don’t change. Losing always brings out the negatives, and in the Browns case much of it is directed toward Mangini. It’s a mess. A m-e-s-s.

 

2) There has been national speculation that perhaps Mangini will not make it through the season. I speculated that very thing in Monday’s Beacon Journal. And I think it’s justified – if things do not change. This team is in disarray. There is not a single position on the team that is better than it was a year ago. It took the fifth pick in the draft – a potential spot for an impact player of some sort – and traded down three times for a center. That’s center. C-e-n-t-e-r. A bunch of guys have been brought in who have not helped. The team’s mood is horrible. There does not seem to be a drop of belief in the coach. The quit word has come up over and over again. The best thing the Browns have going for them is Rob Ryan, and right now his defense can’t defend a flea. If the problems and the losing persist, continuing on the same road for the sake of doing so is just compounding a mistake.

 

3) In past years I did not cry for coaches to be fired, even when they had bad records. Romeo Crenel had some really bad games, but he never lost his team. The players always played for him. And if they had a stinker of a game, they usually followed with a good effort. Chris Palmer’s teams competed. The 1999 expansion team lost by seven in Baltimore and actually laid a hand on guys when they scored. They beat Pittsburgh. As bad as those teams were, they beat Pittsburgh. They also did not avoid the head coach on the sideline like he had Bubonic plague. One might recall that at the end of the 2007 season the players presented Crenel with a game ball and a thank you, leaving him pretty emotional. I’m not thinking that Mangini is on many players’ Christmas lists at this point. It’s probably not even fair to say Mangini lost this team – because there never seemed to be a point where he had it.

 

4) The schedule is not pretty, not with two road games in Buffalo and Pittsburgh following Sunday’s game against Cincinnati. Pittsburgh is (sorry) a loss. Buffalo is not all that great, but going there 0-4 would not be like charging in with the Light Brigade. After those two games come a home game against Green Bay and a trip to Chicago. The hope in all these games isn’t based on the Browns suddenly finding themselves; it’s on the opponent. As in, maybe Cincinnati will go back to playing like Cincinnati and maybe Buffalo will be torn up by Terrell Owens by that point (though one would guess that if any cornerbacks can revive TO be season, it’d be the Browns). It’s never good when you look at a team that’s playing poorly and say: Well that other team might be worse.

 

5) At this point Mangini has to rally the team. Maybe he can. He best hope he can. But the clear feeling I get from league insiders is that Mangini will not try to be upbeat this week, but instead will hammer the team mentally for losing, and that this week will be tougher than tough. Maybe that’s what’s needed. We’ll see. But the general feeling from those I speak with is that that kind of negativity is what has the Browns where they are now. Players are beat down, beat up, playing like they’re tired and playing completely uninspired (hey, is that iambic pentameter rhyming, a la Shakespeare?). Manginieth does noteth seemeth like the coacheth who can get that doneeth.

 

6) The negativity toward Mangini is growing around the league as well. There’s a lot of chuckling in Seattle because of the signing of Floyd Womack. His nickname – Pork Chop – makes him sound like a gnarly offensive lineman. In reality, he’s been a walking injury report. In the past five seasons, he’s had elbow, triceps, quadriceps, knee, groin, hamstring and foot injuries. Nobody in Seattle is surprised he’s now been out with an ankle, but they were surprised any team signed him as a free agent. Since 2005, he’s started 26 of 67 games (14 of them last season) and missed 19 due to injury. Yet the Browns signed him and touted him as a hard-nosed guy. That’s our Browns.

 

7) Then again, Womack was playing because Rex Hadnot was hurt. Who’d have thought Rex Hadnot would be this team’s lynchpin?

 

8) The great mystery of this early season is what happened to Brady Quinn. A year ago, he threw for 239 yards and two touchdowns against Denver, then threw for 185 yards in a win over Buffalo. In that game he guided the Browns on a 96-yard touchdown drive, and led the team to the game-winning field goal. This season he’s looked lost. The difference? Clearly he has no confidence. Insiders say he’s been so programmed to avoid the mistake he was playing scared, which is impossible. It’s the only reason Derek Anderson might change things, because if he’ll do anything he’ll take chances. The Browns would have to live with his interceptions, but he’d also get the ball down the field. Quinn was so tied in knots by this coaching staff that he could not do a thing. I’m not at all sure, though, that Mangini is the kind of coach who will live with interceptions. Me, I’d start Anderson and hope for a miracle against the Bengals like Phil Savage got two years ago. There’s an inherent risk because Anderson pretty well figures this is his last season in Cleveland so he’s just going to go out and wing it. But … nothing ventured, nothing gained. And at this point, the Browns have to venture somewhere and try something.

 

9) At some point, too, some questions have to be asked about Brian Daboll, who kind of makes you pine for Maurice Carthon, but really makes you lust for Terry Robiskie or Bruce Arians. Daboll opened Sunday’s game in Baltimore with some quick-hit passes, but after an interception four plays in he went right back to the same old stuff. Daboll’s inexperience seems glaring, and a team with a young quarterback has a defensive head coach and an inexperienced coordinator trying to guide him. Is it any wonder Quinn looks confused?

 

10) Brian Robiskie has been spending his Sundays with Amelia Aerheart. One of the reasons given is that he’s not able to contribute on special teams. Anyone tell me how many receivers contribute on special teams? The answer: One. Josh Cribbs. Mike Furrey, Mohammed Massaquoi and Braylon Edwards do not play special teams. Why then is Robiskie required to do so? And if he is, didn’t he do fairly well on special teams in the final preseason game (yes, it was the final preseason game)? Is the guy considered the most polished and most NFL ready receiver in the draft that far behind? Or is there another unspoken reason he’s not playing? I don’t know. I just wonder.

 

OK .. I just can’t stop at 10 …

 

11) The San Francisco 49ers, who are 2-1, sent out this news release about injured players: “The results of a MRI on 49ers RB Frank Gore show a right ankle strain and a right hind foot sprain that will sideline him for approximately three weeks The results of a MRI on T Joe Staley show a right quad contusion and he is listed as day-to-day. The results of a MRI on S Reggie Smith show a right groin strain and he will be re-evaluated in two weeks.” Not only did the walls not collapse in the 49ers facility, the team is actually winning. Any explanations on how the 49ers can actually reveal this information and … umm … accomplish something on the field are welcome.

 

12) Randy Lerner is taking a lot of public heat for the state of the team. This comes with the territory. He did in fact hire Mangini. And my guess is he will recognize this reality. Calling for him to sell the team, though, is pretty silly. Unless you want to go door to door in the neighborhood, I’m not guessing there are many people in the area with $1 billion sitting around to spend on a football team. How Lerner handles this situation if it doesn’t improve will be telling, though. Because (I repeat) … continuing with a mistake just for the sake of doing so only makes the mistake worse.

 

13) The Browns have a very tenuous situation on their hands, and without a win it will not change anytime soon. In fact, it will get worse. They need some hope. So if there is any extra hope sitting around the house, it might be wise to pack it up and send it to Berea. Because right now the hope isn’t coming from within the team. It might on Sunday, but that will be tough. Please … folks … pack up any hope in an envelope, a mayonnaise jar, a small box … and send it to Berea. They really need some.

 

 

[grimmreaper3]

Does this guy just hate spell-check? Crenel? Lynchpin? I did not realize that the locker room had turned on Mangini *that* much.

[Guest Masters]

Does this guy just hate spell-check? Crenel? Lynchpin? I did not realize that the locker room had turned on Mangini *that* much.

 

No, but since it was in his blog I don't think editors review it much.

 

Not sure if the locker room has turned that much on Mangini. I think some of the feelings toward him have been there since day one.

[damajuki]

Ha. That was awesome writing. Great job, Pat.

 

Thanks for posting, Mik.

[Guest Masters]

Ha. That was awesome writing. Great job, Pat.

 

Thanks for posting, Mik.

 

No problem. It was one of Pat's better ones and hit on a couple of things we have been talking about here. Along with a few other things Shep noted reading about on the OBR.

[grimmreaper3]

No, but since it was in his blog I don't think editors review it much.

 

Not sure if the locker room has turned that much on Mangini. I think some of the feelings toward him have been there since day one.

 

Point taken. It's better than Twitter, at least. Though that's certainly no golden standard.

 

Nevertheless, Anderson starting does seem likely. At least there will be less punts, one way or another.

 

I can't say much on whether he has lost the locker room: I simply just don't know enough about it, and my speculation at this point is as uneducated as... well, I'm not going to finish that simile.

[Guest Masters]

Point taken. It's better than Twitter, at least. Though that's certainly no golden standard.

 

Nevertheless, Anderson starting does seem likely. At least there will be less punts, one way or another.

 

I can't say much on whether he has lost the locker room: I simply just don't know enough about it, and my speculation at this point is as uneducated as... well, I'm not going to finish that simile.

 

Way better than Twitter. I suspect you'll see those typo's cleared up once they have this in the regular sports section for the Beacon.

 

Likely less Zasdadil punts but more Brett Favre style punts :-)

 

I don't know if he has lost the locker room. I think it is still a little early for that notion.

[pl4tinum]

Womangini sucks... end of story!

[Guest Masters]

And of course Lerner will sit in his castle and refuse to speak to anybody

 

What is there to gain by Lerner speaking to anyone (publically that is, since it's reported he talks with the GM and HC almost daily)? I don't exactly need lip service from Lerner or him coming out and expressing his disappointment in the product on the field.

[Guest Masters]

Good owners are visible when the team is in crisis.

 

So are bad ones my man. There is no right or wrong way for an owner when a team is in crisis, as far as being in front of the fans and press.

 

I really don't think Lerner has much hands on involvement with his soccer team at this point. I think he knows as much about running a soccer team as he does a football team. Not exactly the guy I want actively involved in daily football operations. I do believe that people are right that he needs a good football man to be running the organization for him.

 

[bonedawg]

What is there to gain by Lerner speaking to anyone (publically that is, since it's reported he talks with the GM and HC almost daily)? I don't exactly need lip service from Lerner or him coming out and expressing his disappointment in the product on the field.

 

Honestly, just so we know he is aware of the situation and equally concerned. I mean I really don't think Lerner is going to go all Jerry Jones on us.

[Guest Masters]

Honestly, just so we know he is aware of the situation and equally concerned. I mean I really don't think Lerner is going to go all Jerry Jones on us.

 

I am sure he is aware. He goes to games, actively watches games, and grew up a Browns fan. He showed he was equally concerned when things headed south under Butch, and he was equally concerned last year when things headed south.

 

It's only a matter of time before reports of his dissatisfaction start showing up (assuming the losses keep mounting and the team looks like it has on both sides of the ball).

[Solon16]

Because (I repeat) … continuing with a mistake just for the sake of doing so only makes the mistake worse. Compounds the problem...if EM goes 0-6....is he gone?

 

[Guest Masters]

Because (I repeat) … continuing with a mistake just for the sake of doing so only makes the mistake worse. Compounds the problem...if EM goes 0-6....is he gone?

 

What is there to gain if he is fired now, after 0-6, or even if they go 0-16? The answer is nothing of substance to be gained.

[lemosley01]

What is there to gain if he is fired now, after 0-6, or even if they go 0-16? The answer is nothing of substance to be gained.

 

It gives Marty or Cowher a chance to see guys in game situations. It also gives Manginiless chance to xxxx up the players any further.

 

Dumptruck full of cash for Marty or Bill C. Let's quit xxxxing around with these 'other guys' and get people who have proven they know WTF they are doing.

 

I just can't understand how Mangini has screwed this up so badly so quickly.

[Guest Masters]

It gives Marty or Cowher a chance to see guys in game situations. It also gives Manginiless chance to xxxx up the players any further.

 

Dumptruck full of cash for Marty or Bill C. Let's quit xxxxing around with these 'other guys' and get people who have proven they know WTF they are doing.

 

I just can't understand how Mangini has screwed this up so badly so quickly.

 

Neither guy would ever come the Browns, let alone any NFL team, midseason. No HC is going to take the job until the end of the season.

[Gips]

You can just tell if a coach has it and mangini dont we need to cut the cancer out and let ryan be the coach for the rest of the year...

Mangini not only isnt smart but he is way out of his league in the nfl as far as being able to rebuild a quality team...

[Solon16]

seems the niners are doing pretty well...I'd give it to Rex's twin Brother. Let him run with it....I was excited in the beginning with EM....but after that fkn HORRIBLE bomb of a draft...I quickly jumped off the excitement train. If Mack isn't a probowler and HOF'r it wasted pick. like taking a punter in the first! Napolean complex only works if your kickn ass and taking names on the field...napolean complex with an 0-3 record = Nightmare of epic proportion.