Mangini Deserves His Shot

When coaches take over teams as crappy as this team Mangini took over, things don’t turn around immediately. In fact, if you can find me an example of long-term success from a first year turn around maybe i'll listen to why people think Mangini should be fired. I am in the minority and I know it but I want to give Eric Mangini his due time to turn this team around, and by the way it can’t be done over night.

When Belichick took over the Patriots he won 5 games his first year, hell Chuck Knoll only won 1 game his first year in Pittsburgh. You want more? Jimmy Johnson won 1 game in Dallas his first year, what about Bill Walsh in SF, 2 games. Parcells, 3 wins his first year. I could go on but I don’t see the point.

It’s not like the new regime is setting this team back. In order to be set back you had to of been going somewhere. What would set this team back is bringing in another coach that wants his own players and installs a new system. We’ve done that enough. This team needs continuity, that’s right continuity, you know, the same coaches and the same system for more than 2 years in a row. The Browns have to stop switching coaches every 4 years and coordinators every 2.

My goal is not to blame the previous regimes’ or make excuses but lets be honest, Mangini walked into a bad situation. Phil Savage mortgaged the Browns future in 07’ when he gave away all the Browns draft picks, and he failed, miserably. Mangini inherited a team that was full of talentless and diva’ish ball players that were cashing in on a free paycheck, thanks to the Romeo Crennell country club that had been taking place here in Cleveland the previous 4 years.

Mangini’s system is very complex, every play has a sub play and a decoy. A lot of these players are young or if they’ve been with the Browns for the last 4 years they’ve have had to deal with a different coordinator every year. The point is it’s going to take some time to completely understand and be able to execute the plays correctly. This is why you haven’t seen a lot of rookies out there yet, they are still learning, but once they get it they will benefit from it significantly.

I don’t know how anybody can complain about the moves Mangini has made. Maybe the way he does things is questionable but not the moves he’s made. Winslow and Edwards were both divas. Not to mention Braylon couldn't catch and Winslow has missed more games than he’s played because of injuries.

We moved down in the draft and got the guy we wanted while we picked up extra draft picks. Say what you want but Eric Mack looks like he is going to be a staple on the Browns offensive line for a long time. We won’t know about the other draft picks for a couple of years, but don’t count them out before they get a chance, even though that’s what every body is doing with Mangini, counting him out before he gets a chance. I will guarantee that 8 out of 10 people trying to run Eric Mangini out of Cleveland after only 7 games are the same people that say 7 games isn’t enough time to judge Brady Quinn. Whatever.

Bernie was brought in to let Lerner know if Mangini was making progress and if his plan is moving in the right direction. If Bernie tells Lerner that Eric is not the man I think you’ll see another change at the end of the season, but I don’t expect that to happen. The man deserves the chance to prove he can win and build a team. It makes no sense to fire him before he get’s a fair shake. He was hired to do a job, so let him do it.