Why I'm Happy Mangini is Back

[ClevelandFanForLife]

Many of you know that I was very against the hiring of Mangini from the start. I thought that Lerner rushed into this decision and that there was a reason why only one team interviewed him. Throughout the off season I was even more upset with this hire as the days went on but nothing enraged me more than seeing Mangini draft the way he did. Trading down that much to draft 2 receivers and a linebacker no one heard of only to pass on Rey Mauluga was the tip of the iceberg. I was against every decision he made after that and had nothing but flat out blind hate for the man. In every decision he made, whether it was good or not, i would go against it because I wanted him to fail. I wanted Eric Mangini gone the first day possible.

 

Then something strange happened: we beat the Steelers. I was at that game and can honestly say that I have never been happier to freeze my ass off in my life. That was the day that my attitude had changed about Mangini. It wasn't just so much that we won that changed my mind, it was how the players had played. THEY HADN'T GIVEN UP ON HIM. We've seen the Browns give up in games that late in the season before but under Mangini, they still fought hard. Under Davis and Romeo we had seen this team blow leads, sometimes double digit ones in fact, but Mangini and his crew kept the pressure on the Steelers and were victorious.

 

They finished the season by winning four straight: something that no Browns team had done since 1992 but here's the thing that I will remember about those four games: the players played hard FOR HIM. They knew that their coach was in danger of losing his job and they went out there saved him his job. This team has heart. There is no other way to say it. THIS TEAM CARES. They were tired of being the laughing stock of football. When was the last time a Browns coach got his players to play this hard in December and January?

 

Although I am still upset about the way that Mangini ran the draft last year, but am very excited for the upcoming draft. We have 11 picks and there is a ton of talent out there. In all honesty, another thing that I am happy about is that Mangini won't be able to call the shots in this draft because Holmgren won't let him. I'm sorry, but I still don't fully trust Mangini as a drafter. However I do now trust him with my football team.

 

So there it is guys: I am a changed man. I went from hating Mangini to wanting him back for another season or two all because of the last four weeks. I honestly think that this team is in the right hands and that we will be in the playoffs or possible even more in two or three years. Let's have a great off season and look forward to 2010 and beyond. And as always: GO BROWNS!

 

[BrownB499]

Nice post Andy

 

I was a little more willing to let EM fix the mess he inherited before RL canned his a$$

 

But what I started to notice early on was that he was building this thing the correct way,

the way it should have been done back in 99....build with "Character" as your foundation

start with heart, and you win those games in Nov & Dec.Find guy's that want to be Cleveland Browns

not just NFL players

 

You have to feel good about the Mangini plan,if he was able to sell it to Holmgren who admittedly

had his own system "and I know it works"

[sisky fringo]

love this news.

 

it turned my stomach thinking about another complete teardown/rebuild year when it's obvious to me EM has made strides. that 5-11 record doesn't count CIN1 or the Lions game...we were a millimeter from 7-9 acknowledging those games.

 

although we may not have made much QB progress i still saw a lot of progress on both sides of the ball. also i'll admit i miss K2 and BE and still think we're a better team w/ them and the 7 draft picks we'd still have, i respect the decisions and realize i wasn't there to see everything they saw--in other words i don't have to work with them.

 

we had the defensive-minded EM and Ryan, now adding Holmgren for offense...talk about dream team.

i'm absolutely stoked EM is returning and MH is willing to stay the course and respects EM's vision--like i do (truth be told, i was only happy about the MH hiring if EM was staying).

 

if those no-names could accomplish what they did on scheme alone, just wait until they develop more and they add more personnel (!).

HERE WE GO BROWNIES, HERE WE GO!!!

[tempest25]

i feel basicly the same way you do cleveland fan for life. I started out hating EM, RL, and at one point the team to change the name and colors, so i wouldnt have to see them drag the name cleveland browns through the mud anymore. but with the way the team responded the last 4 weeks, it changed my mind. The team was playing as a team.