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December 28, 2010I am breaking my own moratorium. I never did a good enough job explaining myself the first time around when I attempted to put a moratorium on the Mangini conversation. It wasn’t really that I didn’t want to talk about it or want anyone else to talk about it. I just hated to devolve into the “black vs. white,” “up vs. down,” “red vs. blue” conversation that it almost inevitably becomes. I just can’t stand the clichés. I was wrong though. We should talk about it because it is a complex topic, believe it or not.
I know a lot of you want to reduce it because it is easier. “Mangini hasn’t won enough games, so he has to go.” “Mangini can’t survive with superstars on his teams, so he has to go.” On the other side, “Mangini’s teams play hard from the beginning to the end even after the playoffs are gone, so he needs to stay.” “Mangini’s team has consistently improved despite a lack of depth and talent on the roster, so he needs another year.”
Each of these is generally spouted with the confidence and assuredness of a person telling an elementary school child definitively that two times two equals four.
The only truth that can’t seem to be acknowledged is that nobody knows for sure. Anyone who says they do is someone to be avoided. Benjamin Franklin said it in a letter to Jean Baptiste Leroy. “Our Constitution is in actual operation. Everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” It has become one of those sayings that people say and hardly ever think about. The maxim still applies though. Remember this the next time you listen to sports talk radio, read a blog, or just hear your barber spouting off the “truth.”
Certainty as a concept only truly exists in the past tense. Even then it only exists sometimes. It is all in the phrasing. I can say with certainty that the World Trade Center was knocked down on September 11th. But if I stretch it even a little bit to say that “terrorists knocked down the World Trade Center on September 11th” there are some who will come out of the woodwork to disagree. This isn’t a topic we will discuss on this site, but the conspiracy theorists or “truthers,” no matter what you think of them, work to prove Ben Franklin’s point in a twisted, extrapolated way.
So what does this have to do with Eric Mangini and the Browns?
Eric Mangini might never be a good enough coach to take the Browns to the Super Bowl and win it. He hasn’t done it before with any team, and hasn’t gotten even close here in Cleveland. So, how apparent could it possibly be, really? Add on other suspicions that we have regarding his talent evaluation, in-game coaching and clock management, and it is reasonable to assume Mangini should be fired after this Sunday’s game.
Then again, Eric Mangini is a man. Not in the Mike Gundy “I’m a man. I’m 40!” kind of way. More that he is a human and humans aren’t static beings. Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you had to be held accountable for all the stupid things you have done on the way to wherever you are? Presumably you have changed and evolved into the person that you are. Maybe some of you have devolved. That can happen too, of course.
Eric Mangini is a living, breathing, growing, learning individual. He gains experience and changes every year. The amount of change we have seen out of him from last year to this year with Mike Holmgren in town is vast and undeniable. Some things haven’t changed though. The team still plays hard almost without fail. On top of that, even though the win total isn’t impressive, Mangini’s team has had some highlights this year that make it easy to make the case that Mangini is still improving with this team. He could eventually be the guy to help get this Browns team to a Super Bowl.
Because Mangini hasn’t done it before he isn’t good enough for a lot of people. Sometimes guys who have done it before aren’t good enough either, though. You won’t hear that come up ever. How did Joe Gibbs work out in his second run with the Washington Redskins? There is no guarantee that guys like Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden and Mike Shanahan, who have won Super Bowls, will ever find themselves capable enough coaches to win them again. It isn’t a certainty by any means.
The point is that I am tired of people speaking definitively about a topic that should involve healthy amounts of speculation with very little certainty. I know that might raise the level of discourse in sports above that of politics, but shouldn’t that be what we strive for? Sports are supposed to be something of an escape from things like death, taxes, and politics. The hope of every season is great because despite the supposed curses, jinxes and superstitions, absolutely nothing is certain.
So please avoid anybody who is 100% positive of anything. I already know the first few comments are going to jokingly tell me definitively what should happen. Seriously, though. Anyone who isn’t willing to acknowledge they could be wrong should be avoided at all costs. And anyone who thinks Mike Holmgren has an easy decision to make after this week’s game against Pittsburgh is definitively crazy. There won’t be anything easy about it.
I can say this with absolute certainty.
36 Comments
One thing we can say with absolute certainty is no Super Bowl-winning coach has ever gone to another team and won a Super Bowl.
Why that would change if Bill Cowher or Jon Gruden were to come here is uncertain.
I’m 100% positive Mangini has no idea how to manage the clock at the end of the first half.
Nice write up Craig. I agree with most of what you said. There is absolutely no certainty with Mangini or anyone else either. I think it’s worthy to note that sometimes championship experience can be an X factor in all of this.
I suppose being a HC anywhere is about getting guys to buy into a system and a set of ideals. It honestly seems like Mangini has this team doing that and it’s forced me to change my tune about him a bit. I’d like to see him stick around with most of the coaching staff (outside of a new OC) and see what they can do with some talent depth down the road. I have a feeling he is going to be meat at the end of the year though.
Good piece, Craig, and worth breaking the moratorium for.
One of my favorite quotes by Nietzsche is “Convictions are a greater enemy of truth than lies”. When you look at the arc of work that someone like Frowns (and others like him on the “fire Mangini” side, of course) has produced this season, it’s easy to understand how dogmatically arguing a position over and over causes you to see what you want to see and ultimately leads you further afield from the “truth”.
I’ve been complimentary of Mangini this season for his obvious improvements, and think he’s probably a genuinely good man with the potential to be an average-to-above-average coach in the NFL. But for all the sound and fury, the Browns are basically where they were last year, and there is no compelling reason to believe Mangini is a coach who can take this team to the Super Bowl.
Well done. I’m all for healthy discourse, which is what I’ve been attempting to accomplish thru the Twitternets lately. And to end the countless cases of Douchery that exist on that front. I am here to completely acknowledge I could be wrong, which comes off as convenient in light of your article, I know. What I’ve been spouting off about is all about the dots I’ve been able to connect much like the days leading up to ‘The Decision’. I will say that, while I’m far from certain, I am much more confident in what will happen here than what happened then. But again, find the dots and connect them. Unless you are Mike Holmgren, that’s all anyone can do. I really enjoy reading your stuff Craig.
First off, no coaching move should be made after this season until the labor dispute is resolved. Otherwise, the new coach of the Browns will end up coaching replacement players while Mangini is still on the payroll…and that’s just bad business.
So, with that in mind and assuming next season goes off without a hitch, here’s my humble opinion.
The only skill anyone seems to point to that Mangini has as a coach is the ability to get the most “heart” and effort out of his players. However, I’m not sure how much this ability is worth. Afterall, you can run on the highest setting on a treadmill with the most effort, but you still travel zero miles.
To me, what this comes down to is decision-making. Specifically in-game decision-making. I nearly punched a hole in my television during the first Ravens game when, instead of going for it on 4th and 2, with under 3 or 4 minutes to go, Mangini punted. This decision to play for an unlikely positive outcome rather than just take your chances with only 2 yards to gain on one play sums it up perfectly for me.
Throughout this season, it seems like the coaching staff is unwilling to go for the agressive play to gain an advantage. This is especially apparent when the team tries to sit on a 7-point lead with 3.5 quarters to go as they did against the Bills.
When you watch good and great teams, you start to realize something. You realize that a team can only be really good or great at a limited number of aspects of the game…but that’s OK.
This year’s Pats have a suspect run defense, but it doesn’t matter, because they score enough to make sure that their opponents aren’t in a position to run in the second half as they attempt to come from behind.
The Saints that won it all last year had a marginal defense at best. They were takeaway specialists, but they were by no means a dominant defense that shut people out.
Put this in contrast with the style of play that Mangini encourages. He wants the team to be great in all phases so that no matter what unit is on the field, the team can eek out a win when it’s close at the end. When you play that way, you live and die by the good and bad breaks (Stuckey fumble, missed tackles on MJD, scrambles on broken plays by Pittsburgh’s #7, etc.).
Don’t let anyone fool you. It takes a lot of luck to avoid injuries, bad calls from refs, and bad untimely bounces to reach and win the Super Bowl.
However, if this team wants to make it there someday, they better find something they do right and really emphasize it. Perhaps they should be the team that has 3 or 4 Peyton Hillis sized players and does nothing but run. Or, they could stockpile star defensive linemen and become sack and turnover specialists like last year’s Vikings or the Giants that ended the Pats’ perfect season.
One things for sure though. They need a coach that can give them that identity, and right now, I just don’t think Mangini is the guy. But hey…like I said…they shouldn’t fire anyone until they know what’s going on with the labor issue.
Ah, the demand drops from silence to nuance.
“And anyone who thinks Mike Holmgren has an easy decision to make after this week’s game against Pittsburgh is definitively crazy.”
And you are certain of this … how? This could be the easiest, most obvious decision of Big Show’s career, as he finds junior high-level game management hilarious and the guy an insufferable poseur way over his head.
Sports chat about emotionally charged subjects goes black and white sometimes, Craig. Precision will be sacrificed for the need to vent. This is one of those subjects where we vent. No one complained about lack of subtlety discussing the Hillis-Quinn trade, or last year’s Quinn/Anderson competition, or even about the last year of Romeo and Savage. People will say one thing Sunday at 5:00, and reverse by Wednesday at noon. No need to micromanage this and it’s fruitless anyway. Just keep writing your good stuff and let it go, man.
I like it Craig, nice work.
I’ll readily admit I’ve been writing my pieces in the “Mangini has to stay camp”. However, whether I’ve done a good job at explaining it or not, I’m more on the level that it’s really hard to tell what kind of coach we have until we get a couple of good drafts under our belt, regardless of what certain beat writers will have us think. My argument remains that an unprecedented, necessary rebuild took place, and to fire a guy who shows this kind of promise with the level of progress that has taken place this year cannot be good for a franchise, for a myriad of reasons.
It would be really difficult for me to deal with Mangini getting run without really getting a solid chance to develop this team a little further. It seems very reasonable to think that having this year’s rookies mature another year, and having another solid draft should have this team in a great spot.
The thing about Mangini’s status that bugs me the most is I like the guy. He’s bright, become much better at communicating and seems convinced he’s doing the right things. This isn’t Chris Palmer and the “runaway train”, Butch Davis and his “gut feelings” or Romeo Crennel and his deer in the headlights look. Put yourself in Mangini’s shoes and think about how it must feel to have the shadow of Holmgren looming over you. Ultimately, I think that’s going to be what it comes down to…Holmgren. Does he think Mangini can succeed with his plan or does he need a new offensive coordinator? Will Holmgren determine progress based on wins and losses or that the team has been in every game this year?
Since Holmgren won’t return my calls or allow me to read his mind I have no idea what his thought process is. If Mangini stays, I’m fine with that and if he goes, based on wins and losses, I understand that too. The plus side for the Browns is unlike every other coaching change, the front office stays intact so it’s not like the whole thing gets blown up again. The only thing that seems certain is we’ll know in the next couple weeks who the Browns coach is in 2011.
My take on it: Whether or not Mangini can get us to the Super Bowl, what we actually need right now is a coach that gets his players to work hard, creates a culture where losing and mistakes aren’t acceptable, and develops what young talent we’ve managed to acquire, and Mangini is doing a fairly good job of that.
If you want to get to the top, you need to attract great talent. If you want to attract great talent, you either need to draft it (which Holmgren is doing a much better job of managing) or you need good free agents. If you want to get good free agents, you need to either pay more than the FA’s are actually worth, or you need to convince them that the team they’re joining is good enough that the FA will be able to push them to the top. That means that the Browns (and their fans) need to be thinking more long-term than “I wanna Super Bowl win now!”
Also, I have been one of the biggest proponents of the idea that this team has improved greatly this year from last year, despite the fact that the record is likely going to end up being the same.
However, I think the improvement is mostly due to the infusion of better talent, and for that we can thank H&H. For crying out loud…the Browns had a WR playing DB last year, and he’s not even in the league this season.
With better talent, Mangini has led the team to another double-digit loss season. Even with less talent than other teams, this team should be around .500 at least, and they are not. You can point to strenght of schedule if you want, but your schedule strength can be inflated by the fact that you lose to 2 out of 3 division opponents twice in the same season.
It’s the in-game strategy people. How many 4th quarter leads did this team have this year when they couldn’t shut the door?
All that being said, I wouldn’t be mad if Mangini stays. I don’t want to deal in absolutes either, as I may have sounded above. However, since he can’t “kind of sort of be the head coach,” I say, if you forced me to choose, he goes.
@C-Bus:
Ok. Let’s be 100% honest here. I’m going to be totally blunt and not pull any punches.
I love my Brownies, but they are a pretty crappy (I hope I can say that) team. We have a couple stand-outs, sure, but a couple doesn’t do it in this league. We’re not playing basketball. You need a team full of good players all the way down to your third string corps if you want to make it in this game. Straight up, we do not have that, many of our guys seem like they wouldn’t even make most other teams practice squads a lot of the time.
Am I being a Mangini apologist here? I guess I might be, but I cannot see how anyone could be in a rush to judge a coach who consistently gets the best out of mediocre talent and says “he’s not the guy, cuz he hasn’t gotten us to the playoffs with 2 years and a roster full of 2nd and 3rd stringers pretending to be starters”.
Now, let me say this: I’m not saying Mangini is the guy. It’s just that it’s an awfully tough thing to judge.
When it comes to clock managment, I think Mangini may be right to be fearful of giving teams an extra possession. We’ve seen how even the simple screen pass can gouge the defense for a huge gain with regular basis. Certainly, I think he’s justified in playing to minimize mistakes. That’s what he told us he was trying for at the beginning of the season, and I think he has done reasonably well at that goal.
“The only skill anyone seems to point to that Mangini has as a coach is the ability to get the most “heart” and effort out of his players.”
This is essentially the key role of a Head Coach. Prepare your team to play to the best of their ability. It is the job of the coordinators to put those players in a position to succeed once the game starts, which is why Daboll should be doneski.
The only thing I think I’m certain about at this point is that blowing-up the team over-and-over gets them nowhere, fast. If Mangini is cut loose, Holmgren better stick with whoever he picks for the duration of his tenure with the team, which INCLUDES Holmgren himself not bailing-out to go coach somewhere else. If he does the latter, he’ll join the ranks of some of the most despised sports figures in my mind.
In San Francisco, they’re drooling over the thought of Holmgren coming back to his home town. Any chance Mangini stays and Holmgren goes? That would really stink. Not sure what kind of deal he signed.
@15… what if the niners provided compensation for holmgren? there is precedent for this. going rate for a non-SB proven HC is a 1st rd pick. one would think a proven SB winning HC would demand greater compensation.
i think my disappointment at losing mike holmgren could be mitigated with nick fairley.
Mangini is not the problem but he’s proven that he can be a huge part of the solution.
Mangini came to the Browns when they had no legitimate QB (the most important position in all team sports) in house or on the horizon. Many other positions were in horrible shape (CB, Safety, LB, r-OT, WR, D-line). Savage had literally savaged the roster. The few talented players on the roster were head cases of the first order that had to be removed before they metastasized.
He was given a broken down jalopy without an engine (QB) and asked to win the Indy 500. It wasn’t going to happen.
Under his leadership, and now with Heckert on board, we are beginning to see real progress. We possibly have a winning QB on the roster (jury’s still out). The CB & safety situation has been significantly upgraded. LB is better when Fujita’s healthy but still needs upgrading. WR’s are beginning to come around which is really right on schedule (2-3 yrs) for this position. R-OT remains a huge problem & D line needs major upgrades. We have a sane and excellent tight end. On the field they play hard and are competitive each week which is really all you can ask at this stage of development.
He’s made great progress in a short time (2 years) with what he’s had to work with.
Going forward the biggest question is QB – is McCoy the real deal? No team wins in this league with a lousy QB & even with an elite QB its a major struggle (witness Chargers, Colts).
So lets ignore the PD, quit whining about Mangini, get that elite QB (or develop him if he’s already here), make the necessary upgrades at the other positions and sit back and enjoy the success.
Blake Costanzo #TheProcess
Best idea I’ve ever heard.
Take a look at the other top teams/coaches in the NFL.
Pats – Belicheck
Steelers – Tomlin/Cowher
Ravens – Harbough/Billick
Giants – Coughlin
Eagles – Reid
Jets – Ryan
Saints – Peyton
Falcons – Smith
Colts – Caldwell/Dungy
Titans – Fischer
Other than one obvious exception, which of these guys runs a loose team? Seems to me like this is pretty good evidence that the way to win consistently in the NFL is to run a tight ship/no nonsense/disciplined team, and the head coach is the one that sets the tone for that.
I think this would be one of my main arguments for keeping Mangini, and probably the 2nd thing he has going for him other than “his players play hard for him”. Which as Brian pointed out in comment 13, is no small thing, and perhaps the most important job of a head coach.
I also agree with Robbie in 14, that at this point, I feel starved for patience. I am sick of coaching turnover rates that are way too high. At some point, if you always have the quick trigger, you will never allow a “super bowl” coach the time he needs to develop a team. At this point, I’d almost rather fail with 1 head coach for at least a 5 year period, knowing full well that he was given every opportunity to succeed and that moving on is the right decision, rather than going through 3-4 coaches in that same time period.
The same goes for the coordinators. I feel that we need a better O Coordinator than Daboll… but if Holmgren does indeed choose to replace him, the organization needs to pick a guy and stick with him. And if he succeeds so much that he becomes a head coaching candidate, then we need to have someone waiting in the wings to continue the same system. I can think of nothing that would stunt McCoy’s growth as a QB than switching systems a million times during his first few years in the league.
Finally, some sanity. Also, nice subtle digs sprinkled throughout. No reason to start a war, I suppose.
So basically we have a coach that in two years with a crappy team has shown dramatic improvement (mostly by using the rare talent he’s been given to work with) and has kept just about every game close.
Someone above criticized them for being in situations where lucky breaks can win or lose games – but isn’t that a GOOD thing when you’re the worse team? Imagine if they had talent – they’d be winning those games.
Give this guy more talent to work with, let’s see if he can make this team a winning one. I don’t understand the argument that “even if there’s no talent, they should be .500” – why!? If there’s no talent, they should be a 3- or 4-win team with a lot of bad losses.
They’ve still never given up 30 points in a game this year, the only team in the NFL to do that. Imagine if they kept that up, but also had an offense – think they’d be winning 10 games? I do.
I’ve read comments saying the Browns haven’t made any progress this year. What short memories these people have. While our record may be the same, we actually played like a real football team this year. Mr. Lerner hasn’t had to meet with fans to find out why they’re upset (duh), we’ve scored offensive touchdowns (even through the air!), and Mangini appears to have given up his Napoleonic tendencies (maybe because they’re no longer needed). Mangini isn’t just a good motivator, he’s also a smart guy who knows a lot about football. I think having a young, smart, motivating coach who’s still hungry to prove himself is a good fit for this team.
If he must be fired, would anyone else like to see Rob Ryan given the head coaching job? He’s made it known that he wants a HC job, and I’d hate to see him leave for another team.
Mangini can have another year in my book. We have improved, he usually has an excellent game strategy going into the game, and as other posters noted, the team plays hard for him. However, while the players need to get better, Mangini does too. Clock management, half-time adjustments.
The whole team needs to learn to not play to the level of their opponent as well. THere is no reason we can compete with the best (or beat them), and then lose to the worst. Im not sure who that falls on between players and coaches.
Bottomline, if 2 years ago someone had said, “Im only giving this Mangini guy 2 years to turn it around”, you’d have thought that person was nuts and way too demanding. So, here we are. Why is it any different now?
I think Foghorn makes some good points. This is probably the nuanced debate Craig was hoping for. I agree that the team has improved, but Mangini must improve as well.
Yes, it is obvious that the team is much better than last year. They have shown some real flashes at times. However, let’s try to stay logically connected though.
I’ve heard a lot of people make the argument that the team has made “dramatic improvement” while saying the team has “no talent” in the same breath. Well, which is it?
The browns have a great left 3/5ths of an offensive line. They have a great return man (if they’d let him return kicks and quit the mediocre WR routine). They have a 1,000+ yard RB. They have a mountain of a D-lineman in Rogers and an up and coming lineman in Ahtyba Rubin. They have a beast in TJ Ward and possibly the defensive rookie of the year in Haden. And even though he had a bad game last week, McCoy has looked good in limited playing time, and he comes into the organization as the winningest, and one of the most accurate college QB’s of all time.
In the end though, this comments section may have swayed me a bit. Do I want Mangini out? Not necessarily. Do I hold him responsible for much of the Browns inability to win tight ball games? Yes. Honestly, I just hope next season moves forward without a lockout. If it does, the Browns should be .500 at minimum or bust. Otherwise, Mangini is out of work.
If I was Holmgren, and I want to keep Mangini, I’d let him decide whether or not to keep Daboll next season. In the end, Mangini will probably be the beneficiary of the potential lockout, because it makes no sense to fire him and pay two coaches next season to coach a group of replacement players.
The author must have been looking in the mirror when he wrote this little piece. Btw last time I checked this was a BLOG! Oh and I’m 100% sure it’s going to be a long time before any Cleveland sports (baseball, football and basketball) team competes for a championship. And it’ll probably be even longer before one wins!
@26
comments like this really baffle me.
The product on the field is without a doubt better. Somebody recently posted a link that showed measurable stats from this year vs. last year that demonstrate that.
Again, I think back to the beginning of the year where most of us said we were going to have patience and let things develop. We said that blowing it up every 2 to 3 years wasn’t working. Beating the Saints and Pats for some reason made us forget that and revert back to impatient Super Bowl lust.
I’m sorry but this column and most of the discussion are depressingly wishy-washy. I guess if you don’t take a position you never have to be wrong, but there is a right and a wrong here.
There’s a presumption against firing people (which the part about living breathing learning human beings sort of gets to), which goes double when they’re doing a good job. Look no further than the Steelers here. And anyone who doesn’t see this Browns team as dramatically improved from last year’s just isn’t watching. Everything that Terry O. said above.
Sorry you’re tired of people speaking definitively, Craig. Just rest assured that there are plenty out there who are tired of people speaking not definitively enough. “Whatever Holmgren does is fineDERP.”
Mangini is not the coach that will take the browns to the next level. In his last 2 out of 3 seasons his teams have collapsed down the stretch. In New York Th jets were 9-3 with 4 games left and lost 4 in a row. This year with the browns the team is 5-7 with a chance to improve on last year and once again a late season collapse. Losing to Buffalo and Cincinnati was unacceptable. That alone is the reason he should be gone. Holgrem had to be very unhappy with those 2 losses. When I see this team not win those kind of games. I see a terrible in game coach which is what I see with Mangini. he can’t adjust to the opponent. he is not a good head coach if he was this team should have gone 8-8 or 7-9. Not 5-11 or 6-10. Other teams have turned it around in two seasons and are heading to the playoffs. How much longer do we wait in Cleveland?
Frowns…errrrr…Titus Pollo hit the nail on the head.
I know with 100% certainty that Brian Daboll will continue to call run run pass in the 4th quarter when it hasn’t worked all game.
I’m 100% positive this team blows on offense.
I’m certain this team has improved since last year, but the wins and losses might not necessarily show it (pending Sunday’s outcome).
And I love how people say “Mangini isn’t the guy to get this team to the Super Bowl.” Who is? Name a coach who could get this year’s Browns team to the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl.
I’d personally keep Mangini, but that’s just my $0.02. Certainly doesn’t mean it’s the correct decision. That’s why I’m a fan.
A day late and a dollar short but……..
There are some great contributors to these boards. Great conversations but I am lost to how anyone cannot see the huge gains made in the past year.
We lost 7 games by over 10 points last year and were blown out bad in several of those. Look at it, it was embarrassing.
This year we have lost only 3 games by more than 7 points, 3 games. Our schedule was much harder and we did it by playing as a team. We lost several games this season that we should have won:
KC by 2
Tampa by 3
Jets by 6 in overtime
Jags by 4
not to mention the late season losses to:
Buffalo by 7
Cincy by 2
If you don’t think a better off cordinator would have had us winning those games and giving us a 11 – 4 record, you are crazy. The last 2 losses were directly related to the poor offensive play that has kept the defense on the field more than only 5 other teams in the NFL. They were beat up, injured and playing against 2 teams with something to prove.
Don’t forget that the Falcons were up by 3 points before Doofholm threw a pick to a d-lineman that got ran in for a TD, resulting in a 10 point loss and the raven’s beat us by 7 points the first time around for the only reason of Eric Wright getting burnt over and over.
Mangini’s Jets fell apart at the end of the 2008 season for quite a few reasons, including Farve taking a nose dive.
We may not have the super stars but we have a good group of players who play together and make the most of it. Adding more talent on the defensive and offensive line in the draft and picking up some skill players in FA will make the Browns one of the best teams next year.
Ryan needs to stay, he brings that defense together well.
Mangini deserves another shot, to see if he can get us over the hump. If we were to stay the same or go backwards, he deserves to go.
Daboll needs to go and go fast.
Time will tell, the clock is ticking…………
I will do the work for you:
Last years results for Browns
vikings loss 34 – 20
denver loss 27 – 6
ravens loss 34 – 3
pitt loss 27 – 14
green bay loss 31 – 3
chicago loss 30 – 6
ravens loss 16 – 0
cincy loss 16 – 7
charges loss 30 – 23
detroit we lost to by 1 point and cincy by 3
we were hardly in any games last year for more than a few possessions. this year, we are neck and neck for the win in almost all of our games. big difference.
If the Browns played in either the AFC or NFC West, we all would be talking about what a great job Mangini did in getting us to the playoffs in two short years. Sadly, we don’t play in the West. We play where we have always played, in the toughest conference in football. Unlike other places, we can’t just wave a voodoo-stick and magically make the playoffs. Instead, we have to grind against two dynasties that are perennial powerhouses and have 7 Lombardis between them. Comparing our situation with other teams that play against pansies is apples and oranges.
Even if the final record remains the same as last year’s, two things are different. Our schedule was much tougher than last year’s, and the scores have been much closer. The team is visibly and substantially improved. Sadly, it still has weaknesses. Chief among them is its paper-thin depth. Turnstile St Clair wouldn’t be starting on any other team. MoMass and Robiskie wouldn’t be trying to figure out how to play at the NFL level on their own, they’d be coming up behind a veteran or two. Shaun Rogers wouldn’t be spending more time in an oxygen mask than Jacques Cousteau. We wouldn’t be looking at the Browns’ IR report and being reduced to tears. Sunday will be the first time in two years that a Browns QB will face a divisional opponent in consecutive games. Does anybody else think this is weird?
Given what Mangini has to work with, and more importantly what he doesn’t have, he has done a decent job. He has coached tough, conservative games because that’s what this team was capable of doing. A wide open aerial attack with rotating and hobbled quarterbacks throwing to nonexistant wide receivers would have been stupid. Let Heckert and Holmgren continue to improve the roster and give Mangini the chance to show what he can do with a full complement of weapons.