Will Mangini's "Process" fit in the U-HAUL?

For the past year the Browns and their fans have been pounded with Eric Mangini's "process". Early in the season as the losses piled up we were told that "this is a process and it's not going to happen overnight". When the Browns beat arch rival Pittsburgh on a frigid Thursday night we were told that "the process is coming together".

The "process" might be leaving on a U-HAUL soon.

He's not Santa Claus but Mike Holmgren is coming to town and he's making a list and you can bet your dawgbones that he will check it at least twice.

Browns owner Randy Lerner did what he said he was going to do and hired a "serious, credible leader" to finally bring the Cleveland Browns back to respectability. Call it a year too late or better late than never but Randy Lerner has used the resources around him to figure this thing out. You can't build a font office by first hiring a head coach and then letting said coach hand pick the GM.

Unless Eric Mangini can sell Mike Holmgren on his "process" there's going to be a new leadership and a new vision for the Cleveland Browns in 2010 and its got nothing to do with $1,200 water bottle fines or not naming a starting QB.

There are people out there trying to make a case that Holmgren should absolutely keep Eric Mangini. These are the same people that have been making excuses for Mangini all season so this comes as no surprise. Mangini made his bed in Cleveland and now he will have to sleep in it for two more weeks.

A legend like Mike Holmgren doesn't come out of retirement to become the President of the Cleveland Browns so he can move out of the way and let Eric Mangini's "process" continue to play out after one of the worst seasons in franchise history.

Call me crazy, but don't call me late for dinner.

Browns Delivering Apathy to Die-Hard Fans

I can honestly say I've had a lot of fun following the Browns since they came back in 1999. Even though I knew they were probably going to lose I was always excited to wake up on Sunday mornings to throw my Browns jersey on and wait for the pre-game shows to start. The team wasn't always good but it didn't matter to me because they were the Browns. My Browns.

I rearranged my entire weekends to guarantee Sunday afternoons would be free to watch the team that I love. At first that was met with a little resistance but eventually my wife grew to enjoy our Sunday routine of watching the Browns game followed by a home cooked dinner and usually a movie of her choice.

While watching the games I would often find myself loudly cheering when anything positive would happen. I couldn't control it, I had to stand up and cheer as if I was at the stadium watching the game in person. Sometimes I actually was at the stadium and sometimes it felt somewhat like a religious experience entering the stadium and seeing the greenest grass I've ever laid my eyes on.

As Browns fans we've all been through some really tough times and endured a lot of pain and disappointment. Many of us have grown numb to the constant losing but have found some solace in the fact that the future looked bright as young players with loads of potential were sure to break out and become superstars.

Some of those young players eventually did live up to their potential and made us proud but the majority of them are gone for whatever reasons and that hopeful feeling has seemingly disappeared in their wake. The future of this team has evaporated into the negativity that has now surrounded the present situation. The "we'll be better next year" mentality that Browns fans for so long claimed ownership of has been traded in for a new attitude of "things are going to get much worse before they even start to get better".

It's hard to imagine this team getting much worse than it is today but we all know that it's coming. Teams like the Browns that lack players with raw talent and God-given ability will only be successful if they are unified under a strong, passionate leader who pushes them to believe not only in themselves but also in each other. Teams like that play with an "us against the world" mentality that doesn't require raw talent but instead guts and the willingness to sacrifice their own bodies for the sake of their teammates and their leader.

I was hopeful heading into this season that Eric Mangini was going to be the kind of leader who would inspire the players to play for each other and to leave everything they had on the field each week. I knew he didn't have the best record of success in his previous employment but I was confident that the players would at least respond positively to his disciplined approach. Clearly that has not been the case and what has ensued this season has become unwatchable and gut wrenching at the same time.

I have never been a season ticket holder so the value of my investment in the Browns can only be measured in the time I've spent in front of my TV, listening to the radio, attending training camp, attending random games when tickets fell into my lap, purchasing apparel and wearing it proudly and spending an entire month last summer hand-painting a corn hole set with an animated Dawg Pound theme.

All of this brought me joy as I often went to great lengths to express my "fan hood" for the Browns. Unfortunately that joy has quickly evaporated and I've become somewhat apathetic towards my beloved Browns. For the sake of accuracy, I looked up the word "apathetic" in the dictionary to make sure that's how I was feeling and I found the definition to be very, very accurate:

ap⋅a⋅thet⋅ic, [ap-uh-thet-ik]
1. having or showing little or no emotion: apathetic behavior.
2. not interested or concerned; indifferent or unresponsive: an apathetic audience.

Bingo. That's exactly how I feel about this team when I watch them play and I know that I'm not alone. Eric Mangini has succeeded in making a once passionate, loyal and die-hard fan lose interest and have little or no emotion while watching the Browns.

There are some people who believe that Eric Mangini may still be successful as the head coach in Cleveland but I'm just not a believer. I want to be supportive and passionate about this team again but I simply cannot do it while he is still employed as the Head Coach. It is remarkable how quickly Eric Mangini was able to suck the life out of this entire organization and how after only 8 games into his tenure there is absolutely nothing fun about being a Browns fan anymore and nothing to look forward to on Sundays.

It pains me beyond belief to write this but if Eric Mangini is still the head coach on opening day in 2010 I will not watch a single snap of Cleveland Browns football for the entire season.

(Good)Bye Week in Berea: Kokinis Fired

When Eric Mangini was hired he hand-picked George Kokinis to be the new GM and essentially his own boss. Randy Lerner took Mangini's word that Kokinis would be the best choice for GM. Now that Kokinis has been fired, things are starting to become more visible in Eric Mangini's world of secrecy.

Mangini knew that Kokinis would allow him to do whatever he wanted to do with the roster, including bringing in several backups who played for him in New York. Kokinis stayed quiet and toed the company line while Mangini put his stamp all over the 53-man roster by trading away disgruntled talent for backups and draft picks.

Sadly, it took bringing in a special consultant before Randy Lerner finally realized what was going on in Berea. Lerner bought what Mangini was selling and he trusted that Mangini's "process" would bring the Browns back to respectability. This week might be the end of Mangini's "process" as he knows it. It appears that there is a different process underway in Berea now and the facts are starting to become more and more clear as each hour passes.

Frustrated Fan Responds to Randy Lerner's Email

Dawg Pound Mike, formerly of "Charlie Frye-Guys" fame is organizing what is being called a "Brown Out" for the nationally televised Monday Night Football home game on November 16 against the Ravens. The plan is to keep the stadium as empty as possible for the opening kickoff and then to have the fans take their seats immediately following. This is not meant to be a show of disrespect to the Browns but rather a reminder that we're still supporting them but we deserve much better than what we're getting.

I love this idea. The current regime needs to know that the fans are no longer going to sit by quietly as this franchise continues to embarrass us and get worse on an almost daily basis. In Washington they are trying to silence the fans by taking away their right to hold signs that contain negative comments about the team and management. I dare Randy Lerner or Eric Mangini to try that here in Cleveland. The fans of this franchise have already proven that their voices will be heard and things will get done when they unite for one cause. Ten years of backlash and frustration has been quietly building on the shores of Lake Erie and this might just be the year that the fans have finally had enough.

Instead of holding a press conference today and facing us frustrated fans, Browns owner Randy Lerner chose email (of course) as his means to responding to the fans and our frustration with the Browns.

Here is the message that Randy Lerner has sent to us Browns fans, in it's entirety:

''On the grounds of frustration and irritation with performance, then that's the medicine I [we] are going to take, and I accept that. The goal this year was to rebuild the culture at the Browns. We felt at the end of last year that we lacked any overall philosophy, approach or direction regarding recruiting, drafting, coaching, preparation or training. As a result, each season was feeling like starting over and 4-12 following 10-6 felt painfully not all that surprising.

''It's been way too long since the Browns have had anything to feel good about or invest in, and it's clear that the doubt and negativity are taking on a life of their own.

''What I can say is that we, and I, have remained open to new and fresh ideas and thinking and people with passion for the Browns and football experience getting involved and with hope and luck and support, making a difference. We won't become entrenched or stubborn and despite my allergy to be more conspicuous, I do remain eager to seek help and guidance from any and all corners.''

As a frustrated fan who wants some answers, I decided it was important to respond to Mr. Lerner's message with a few thoughts and questions of my own. My responses can be found below in red.

''On the grounds of frustration and irritation with performance, then that's the medicine I [we] are going to take, and I accept that. The goal this year was to rebuild the culture at the Browns."

It's already halfway through this season and the Browns currently have less of an identity than they did all of last season. At what point does it become apparent that the culture of the Browns is actually becoming more damaged by Eric Mangini than improved?

"We felt at the end of last year that we lacked any overall philosophy, approach or direction regarding recruiting, drafting, coaching, preparation or training. As a result, each season was feeling like starting over and 4-12 following 10-6 felt painfully not all that surprising."

If that was how you felt at the end of last year then how do you feel at the halfway point this year with the overall philosophy, approach in recruiting, drafting, coaching, preparation and training of Eric Mangini? These facets were all intended to be improved and they clearly are not. Do you have faith that they will eventually be improved under the current coaching staff?

''It's been way too long since the Browns have had anything to feel good about or invest in, and it's clear that the doubt and negativity are taking on a life of their own."

By "Browns" I really hope you meant to say "Browns fans". If that's the case then I agree. It really has been way too long since we've had anything to get excited about and invest in. Isn't it fair to say that your "investment" in the Browns has been the one consistent element throughout all of the coaching changes that have yet to yield any real success? I also believe it's fair to say that your head coach is responsible for much of the "doubt and negativity" that is now surrounding this franchise. Do you agree?

''What I can say is that we, and I, have remained open to new and fresh ideas and thinking and people with passion for the Browns and football experience getting involved and with hope and luck and support, making a difference."

Randy, we like the idea that you are open to new and fresh ideas but you shouldn't need to rely on "luck" to find somebody that can make a difference with this franchise. I don't think many employers rely on luck to find quality employees who can step in and make a difference. I believe they rely instead on their own ability to identify good candidates who can contribute to the overall success of the organization. Is it time to admit that you made a mistake in hiring Eric Mangini? Or did you just not get lucky, again?

"We won't become entrenched or stubborn and despite my allergy to be more conspicuous, I do remain eager to seek help and guidance from any and all corners.''

Ok, so you won't become "entrenched or stubborn". That's a curious statement especially considering the fact that your current head coach is both "entrenched and stubborn" regarding the current Quarterback situation surrounding the Cleveland Browns. You also claim that you have an "allergy to be more conspicuous". We've come accept that but what we won't accept is an owner who is unwilling to admit he made a mistake and not taking any action with the current state of this franchise. It's good to hear that you are eager to seek help and guidance for any any and all corners. Don't you think that's what you should have done last year while identifying candidates for the vacated head coaching position? I like the fact that you brought in Bernie Kosar to help you as a personal consultant. Hopefully he will be in the corner that you seek guidance from when you start the process of identifying your next head coach. Sooner rather than later, if you don't mind.

Suffering Browns Fans Won't Wait For Mangini

With the 5th pick in the 2009 NFL Draft the Cleveland Browns traded any chance of competing this season.

On Draft day last April when a desperately needed talent upgrade was there for the taking Eric Mangini decided it was worth it to cash in all of 2008's losses - and there were plenty - for even more losses in 2009. Trading down again and again, all the way down to pick 22 only to take a center? Wouldn't there be a talented center available sometime after the first round?

I didn't want to have to remind myself about the Browns 2009 Draft but I think it's important to realize that the Draft was actually the beginning of this self-funded tank job that has become the 2009-2010 Browns season.

This brings us to today: October 28, 2009.

The fact that the Eric Mangini Cleveland Browns are worse statistically than the Chris Palmer 1999 expansion Cleveland Browns completely defies all sensible logic and blows my mind. If you recall, the Browns were screwed by the NFL in 1998 when they were given a fraction of the time needed to put together a respectable NFL roster heading into the 1999 season. So a team that was mostly made up of rag-tag castoffs that nobody else wanted played with more heart and determination than a team of supposedly legitimate NFL-caliber players making millions more than those 1999 expansion players? Hate to say it, but yes.

It's not hard to realize that much of the 2009 Browns roster is made up of players who were hand-picked by Mangini because they either played for him in New York and bought into his "system" or are guys who he believes will buy into his system eventually. Throughout all of the dismantling of an already talent starved roster, Mangini seems to have already forgotten what makes the Cleveland Browns a semi-relevant NFL franchise in the first place:

The fans.

We've been dragged through the mud for the better part of the last decade and it's safe to say that many of us have become completely numb to most things Browns. Randy Lerner had a golden opportunity to hire somebody with the vision and passion to turn this thing around and give the fans a renewed hope that respectability would be restored and the sun would once again shine on this struggling franchise.

Instead he picked Mangini.

I can't figure out why it made sense to standby and watch his own tenure with the Browns get off to such a bad start. Then again, maybe Eric Mangini didn't do this on purpose. Maybe he actually thought the moves he made during the draft and his antics leading up to the season opener would actually result in some kind of success. I just can't believe that. No way, no how. He never cared about this season or what it meant to the fans and he set the 2009 Browns up to fail with the sole intention of collecting draft picks and "system guys" while torturing the fans with a product that is not NFL caliber by any means.

The only thing more questionable than Eric Mangini's antics is the assumption in Berea that the fans would be willing to suffer through this any longer. We've suffered enough. Thanks, but no thanks.

Benching Quinn Is the Right Move

I've read a few fan blogs from around the NFL lately and something thing that jumps out at me is the assumption that Brady Quinn is getting screwed by the Browns and that's why he put his house up for sale and that he obviously wants out of Cleveland. After all, he was benched for a guy that just went 2 for 17 against Buffalo, right?

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that these "experts" didn't have the "pleasure" of watching Brady Quinn's performances in those first 3 games of the season. It's awfully easy for an outsider to say that Brady Quinn didn't get a fair shake while Derek Anderson can complete just two passes in a game and somehow keep his job. Obviously Brady Quinn should still be the Browns starter, right?

Wrong.

With the exception of the first half of the season opener at home vs. Minnesota the Browns offense under Brady Quinn was quite possibly the worst offense of all time. He held on to the ball too long, checked down too fast, didn't allow his WR's to run their routes and took too many sacks. There were times during the Denver and Baltimore games when the Browns weren't even threatening to complete a first down. Comparisons to the Tim Couch Era in Cleveland were drawn up but the conclusion was "at least the Browns could score with Tim Couch and a cast of nobodies". Leaving Brady Quinn in at that point would have been very damaging to his confidence, the entire organization and a fan base that was quickly losing hope that the Browns would improve under Mangini this season.

Say what you will about Derek Anderson but he has given the offense the spark they were looking for. He looked somewhat good against Cincy in a game the Browns could have won. Everybody is quick to jump on Anderson after the Buffalo game but keep in mind he was throwing into 40 mph winds for most of the game. The last time he played in a game with those kinds of gusts was in Cincy in 2007 and he threw 5 INT's and cost the Browns a playoff berth. Jamal Lewis went for over 100 yards in Buffalo so that tells you how much the Browns tried to throw the ball. They played conservative on offense and managed the game without committing a bunch of stupid turnovers and that's why they won the game. It wasn't pretty but it was something to build on moving forward.

Speaking of stupid turnovers, the Bills were flagged for more false starts in that game than some teams commit in an entire month. Much criticism has been thrown at the Browns this week but for the first time in a while they weren't the team that played undisciplined, careless football. That could bode well heading into Pittsburgh.

As a Browns fan I'm very disappointed because I had high hopes for Brady Quinn going into this season and I'm sad to see him go down like this but starting Derek Anderson is the right move, right now. What that said, if Derek Anderson is the opening day starter next season then we're probably in trouble.

Coach Mangini, WTF?

I really hope the Browns players already know who the starting QB is.

The fans already know. That's for sure. We've seen enough to make an educated selection. Even a wanna-be sports blogger like myself who never played a down of football in high school but follows this team religiously knows that Brady Quinn will be the starter.

That's not the secret.

The secret is why in the hell hasn't Eric Mangini announced his starting QB? There are only 9 days left until the season opener, so his mind has to be already made up. You can't see these guys play everyday for this long without picking your guy. About a month ago when this thing was just starting to get annoying, I assumed that if both guys appear to be "neck and neck" than it could be a tactic to boost Quinn or Anderson's trade value (most likely Anderson's). Well, I'm over that.

I think the "all things will remain a secret" way of doing things that Mangini apparently learned while dog sniffing Mr. Hoodie in New England has manifested itself to a whole new level. It's one thing to not disclose information about injuries. I'd like to know why our best player has been on a stationary bike since early August but I'm not pulling my hair out over it.

Is it possible that Mangini is becoming obsessed with secrecy?

A quick look into the Cleveland Sports Flow Crystal Ball reveals the following...

Media: Coach, what color socks are you planning to
wear tomorrow?

Coach: We're going to continue to evaluate and analyze
the possibilities and make an internal decision and go with it.

Coach, seriously...WTF?

Mangini is Wasting Reps on Anderson

Like a 6 year old with a Sharpie, Eric Mangini has written his name all over the Cleveland Browns. He's "moved" murals, traded Pro Bowl talent and traded the #5 overall pick to the Jets for a group of former employees who he thought would help him preach the gospel in Cleveland. That was just in the first few months!

I'm not knocking any of those moves because I think they were all smart and cleared the way for a re-building effort that will (hopefully) see this team become more competitive and fundamentally sound in the new few years. I'm ok with that. I know the Browns aren't going to the playoffs this season and I won't be disappointed when that becomes a fact.

What I am disappointed in is the idea that Eric Mangini is giving Derek Anderson snaps in pre-season and training camp with the notion that he might actually win the starting job over Brady Quinn. Look, I'm not 100% sold on either guy as a "franchise QB" but even a casual fan knows that Brady Quinn should be the starter when the Browns open the regular season on September 13 at home against the Minnesota Favrekings. So why is Coach Mangini torturing us with his homemade Quarterback Derby 2009 Edition?

Seriously, is it really necessary?

Speaking of unnecessary, how about waiting until an hour before the first pre-season game to announce the starter? Was that a strategy to try to force Green Bay into having to be prepared for both QBs? I hope not because the Packers came out and looked like the best defense in the world while Coach Mangini was rotating Quinn and Anderson like they were trying out for his Yahoo! Fantasy Football Team. Great "sneaky" tactic to start the season of games that don't even count.

We won't even get into the specifics of the game. Check Ben's recap in the previous post for that info. All I'm going to say is the fact that Quinn didn't pull ahead in this battle was a bigger disappointment than our defense all of a sudden forgetting how to tackle.

So now it's Thursday and we still don't have a confirmation on who will be starting Saturday against Detroit in the (in)famous "Great Lakes Classic" (that almost got blacked out). Why is it taking so long to name a starter this week? Is this forcing the Lions, coming off the league's first ever 0-16 season, to prepare for both guys? Detroit's first team defense is going to see both guys anyway so why not just announce that D.A. will start the second game since apparently it's too early to tell who's leading the race for the starting job and Mangini is hell bent on getting them equal reps? Doesn't that make sense?

Apparently not.

Not a lot of what Mangini is doing with these quarterbacks makes sense to me right now and I have no reason to believe that anything will be cleared up anytime soon either. In my opinion, the logical thing to do would be to name Quinn the starter as soon as possible since he's the guy we gave up a #1 pick for to be our future quarterback and give him all of the reps with the first team in the 3rd pre-season game. Derek Anderson might want to be traded because he believes he can still start in the NFL for another team or he might want to take his chances here as the backup since we're in Cleveland and with our luck there's always the possibility Quinn's arm could fall right off . If I were George Kokinis, I would test the trade market to see what we could get for D.A., but unless somebody gets hurt and a team is desperate it's probably not going to be much especially after the forgettable season he had in 2008. If we can get something of moderate value then pull the trigger and go into the season with Quinn as the starter and Brett Ratliff as the backup. That seems logical, at least to me anyway. Do I expect Mangini to do the logical thing in this case? Hell no.

Here's what I expect Mangini to do....

Keep both quarterbacks and keep this open competition going as long as he possibly can without having to commit one way or the other. Then Go through the rest of the pre-season letting DA and Quinn share reps but without naming a starter or even hinting at who the favorite is. Once the regular season starts, he'll go with Quinn because that's what he was planning on doing all along. So many of us fans will ask "why didn't he just say that from the beginning?"

Because he's Eric Mangini and that's not how he rolls! Next question, please.

Eric Mangini Compares Choosing a Starting QB to Proposing Marriage

Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer published a beautiful quote from new Browns headcoach Eric Mangini in Thursday's edition of the PD.

When asked if he has yet to set a timetable for when he will decide on a starting Quarterback, Mangini offered up this golden nugget of a quote:

"It's like popping the question . . . you just know."

You just know?

You just know that it's the right time choose a quarterback, or you just know it's the right time to ask somebody to share the rest of their life with you?

Because those two things are pretty much the same, right Coach Mangini?

Maybe he meant to say this:

"It's like when Bret Michaels gets down to the last two girls on Rock of Love.....you just know."

Surely that's a more realistic comparison, right Coach Mangini?

I wonder how his wife feels knowing that he uses the same strategy to pick his quarterbacks as he did deciding that it was time to make her "The One".

Hopefully Mangini makes the right decisions and the Browns become a successful franchise. If not, his relationship with the city of Cleveland may just end in divorce.

Joshua Cribbs Statement

Here is the statement Josh Cribbs made to jocklife.com in its entirety.

"I humbly and respectfully come to Browns’ fans and the Browns letting all know that I have given my all to this team, on and off the field for 4 complete years selflessly without regard to myself and my own family. I have sat by while good players came and went, either due to contracts or injury. I have witnessed a lot of families uprooted from their stable homes and forced to move wherever the money came in from. I realize that this is not a fair sport for the players, it is a business and we are products.

Contracts are one-sided in favor of the team, yet we as players are told to honor our contracts without the team honoring them. We are not doctors and lawyers, we don’t get paid for 25 years of work. If we are lucky, we get 10 years at best to make all the money we can to last the rest of our life. We sacrifice our bodies and our health to make our owners wealthy. I am not asking for nothing that I have not already earned and will continue to earn. This is not personal, but I have to be a man and take care of my family for not just a year or two, but for as long as I am walking this earth.

I have always given the Browns’ team and its fans respect and my loyalty. I have stepped into many different roles for the betterment of my team and have brought honor toCleveland, in the way that I play on the field, and serve in the community.

I have been blessed with this opportunity to be somebody and ask that I be treated and compensated on the level of my peers, fairly, according to my work completed, and on the promise that my future will brightly upheld in a manner gracious of this team and its fans.

I want nothing more but to wear the Browns’ logo on my chest until my career has come to an end, and I am deeply disappointed that the team I put my hard work, blood, sweat and tears in will just write me off as though I am collateral damage. I maintain that this is not personal to Coach Mangini, Mr. Kokinis, or Mr. Lerner, for this is a situation that I could not keep in any longer."