Give Mangini Time

Lets all just sit back and relax for a minute. Lets really try to digest what is going on with this Browns team. I know it’s hard to do but we have to give them a chance.

The first thing we as fans must realize is Mangini and Kokinis walked into a huge mess, this team is terrible and it’s going to take a lot more than 5 games to turn things around.

No matter how you look at it, all of the people in charge of the team since 99’ have failed miserably. The one easy way to tell? There are only 2 players left on the roster that were drafted before 2006. Ryan Pontbriand (2003) and Brodney Pool (2005).

What’s the first thing that needs to be done when rebuilding a team? Get rid of the head cases. Get rid of the players that are going to make your job harder than it already is and get rid of the players that take on a me first attitude.

Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards. Two potentially really good players, but two players that are impossible to deal with. These are players that don’t know how to put the team first, players that only care about themselves.

As good as Braylon could be at times and for all the circus catches he made, they will never make up for the inconsistency and lack of concentration he had on the field 90% of the time, or for the distractions he caused off the field. This team will be better off with out him in the long run.

I’m just glad we could get something for him instead of just losing him when the season was over.
Is Derek Anderson the long-term solution at QB? I don’t think so but it could be worse, and at best he could be a 2-year solution.

At least we know he can move the ball, true he may get intercepted more than he gets the ball in the end zone but at least he gives us a chance to get there.

Unlike some other QB I won’t mention because he’s a gun shy pretty boy that completely blew his chances to be an NFL starter unless Derek gets hurt this year and he can redeem himself before he demands a trade in the offseason.

Mangini is rebuilding this team from the inside out. He is stacking this team with depth and lots of young talent. I for one am not of the thinking that building a team through free agency is the way to go (Phil Savage) but by drafting talented quality players in the draft.

Sure, once you have that solid core of players you can bring in your Randy Moss or Jay Cutler via free agency, but you must have a solid core of guys before you bring in your veteran pro-bowler.

Mangini, so far has 11 draft picks next year and he managed to collect 8 last year. We have to give this coach 4 or 5 years to see what he can build. If we throw him out of here before the rebuilding process is complete, the next coach will start the rebuilding all over again. We fans cannot afford that. We need a winner and the quickest way that will happen is if we stick with Mangini, even if that means suffering for 2 or 3 more years.

I believe this coach can get it done. I like his style and I like his attitude. Go Browns.

Braylon's Gone, is Brady Quinn Next?

With Braylon Edwards headed for Broadway it's obvious that Eric Mangini is planning for the future in Cleveland and if you wear the Brown and Orange and you're not in the future plans for the Cleveland Browns you may soon find yourself with a boarding pass to your new NFL destination. That includes you, Brady Quinn. Yes, you won us over with your Hollywood smile and toned physique and you melted our hearts with your Bernie Kosar replica jersey and helmet as a child but you let us down when we gave you the keys to the castle.

Without getting into what Brady Quinn's trade value could be at this point in his career, lets take a look at a few teams that might be interested in trading for the former first rounder...

Washington Redskins

Washington has spent more money on free agents than any other team in the last few years but for some reason they still think that Jason Campbell is a franchise quarterback. I'm not convinced. Quinn might not be a franchise QB yet either but his contract is affordable and most of the incentives are based on playing time so the financial aspects shouldn't scare Washington away. There's little risk in bringing him in to compete with Campbell for the starting job in 2010. There could be a new head coach in Washington before the end of the season and there is always the possibility that the new coach will want to start fresh with a young QB like Brady Quinn.

Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins made what appeared to be a very questionable decision at the 2007 NFL Draft when they passed on Brady Quinn and instead drafted Buckeye Ted Ginn Jr. and brought in veteran Chad Pennington. The result was a trip to the playoffs. Chad has since been bitten by the injury bug like he was for much of his tenure in New York. Chad Henne is the back up QB and may prove himself to be a quality starter in the NFL but I wouldn't put any money on it. Brady Quinn's athleticism would give the Dolphins' hyped Wildcat formation yet another wrinkle because he's not exactly wearing cement shoes out there. Would it make sense to trade for Quinn if your Bill Parcells and your sitting on South Beach sipping drinks with umbrellas? I guess time will tell.

Seattle Seahawks

Seattle has been sitting on Seneca Wallace for a few years while Matt Hasselbeck slowly got older and less effective. That tells me that they are not 100% sold on Wallace as a starter in the NFL. Instead of testing the waters in the 2010 draft, Seattle may be willing to call Eric Mangini to test the waters about Quinn. Don't forget that the Seahawks gave Cleveland a 7th round pick for Charlie Frye after the debacle in Pittsburgh in 2007. This trade would cost them more than that but it may be worth it.

St. Louis Rams

Let's face it, the Rams are a bad team. The talent level is down and the owners are looking to sell the team. Marc Bulger got hurt so Kyle Boller will be manning the ship this week. Kyle-freakin'-Boller. I don't expect the current GM to make any bold moves but if somebody does buy the Rams and move them to LA there's a good chance that a roster turnover would begin soon after and Brady Quinn would definitely be a possibility but I think he'll be traded before the Rams are in position to make such a deal.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jags are only a few years removed from beating Pittsburgh on the road in the playoffs. That's a heck of an accomplishment but it's not 2007 anymore and the Jags are in trouble. Much like with the Marlins and Rays there just isn't enough of a fan base to justify keeping the team in Jacksonville. The Jags are flirting with the idea of playing a few home games in Orlando to see if it might make sense to stay in Florida. While attendance is way down and home games are being blacked out here comes Brady Quinn, shirtless and riding a white horse ready to save the Jags from eternal damnation.

Carolina Panthers

I really wanted the Browns to trade Derek Anderson to the Panthers after 2007 but it never happened. I'm not sure if they would be interested in Brady Quinn but Jake Delhomme is 34 and just is not getting it done this year. He failed miserably in their playoff game last year against the underdog Cardinals and for some reason they rewarded him with a fat raise. As I said earlier, Brady Quinn doesn't have a huge price tag so Carolina could come calling before this thing gets out of control. There is plenty of talent on this offense with Steve Smith, DeAngelo Williams and Jonathon Stewart so it's not as if Brady would be asked to win games single-handedly. Brady Quinn has shown that he can manage the game and make smart decisions with the football, which could be enough to make this team a contender again in 2010. If the Browns could somehow get Stewart in this deal I would do it yesterday.

MELT DOWN #1

I am running out of reasons to follow this team, and am questioning why I put so much time, passion and loyalty into Cleveland Browns football. I have never really questioned my loyalty, at any point in time before. When the Browns were taken away from Cleveland I boycotted football until they came back, and now this.

I almost want to turn my loyalty over to tOSU football and follow the Browns less intently. True the Buckeye’s blow every big game they play in, but at least they give us a winner most of the time. At least they give us the thought that they can win any game they play in. Truth be told I have always been a Browns fan first, but that could slowly be changing.

I have three huge problems with the Browns right now that need to be taken care of quickly.

First. Brady Quinn. I’m fine with him getting off to a slow start, I’m fine with him struggling a bit, but the kid needs to throw the damn ball. He’s not going to have a wide open receiver every play, especially when the teams second receiver is Josh Cribbs. Brady will never be a good quarterback if he’s afraid to throw the ball. Its one thing to be safe but its another thing to be gun shy. Being safe means don’t throw the ball up for grabs in double coverage, being safe means don’t try to throw a left handed pass when your being sacked, hold on to the ball. Brady is gun shy and its killing the offense.

Second. Jamal Lewis. I’ve wanted him replaced since last year and nothing has changed. He’s done. I’m tired of watching him shuffle his feet like he’s a wiener dog. Is James Davis or Harrison the answer? I don’t know, but they cant be much worse, at least they have the chance of breaking a long run from time to time.

Third. St. Clair. Get this scrub out of the game. If he’s not getting called for a false start or holding he’s letting the defense run right past him. He alone is the biggest weakness this team has and something needs to be done about it. How many times can one man get beat before he is pulled out of the game? If he starts next week I will throw a hissy fit like a 10 year old girl….again.

All in all I refuse to give up on Brady or Mangini before they get a fair chance. Two games is not enough for me to throw in the towel. Hell I would love to give them 3 or 4 years. What do we have to lose? Another losing season. It will happen regardless of the coach or QB here in Cleveland. The only way we can become a winner is to stick with what we have. Starting over every 3 or 4 years doesn’t work, this is obvious, we’ve been trying that method since 99’.

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.

Browns vs Packers (what i saw)

Positives.

Brady Quinn – His pocket presence was excellent. He dropped back in the pocket and planted his feet, something he didn’t do last year. Last year he was bouncing around and had happy feet. If his first receiver was covered he moved on to the next receiver and so on. He made a good showing that he should be the starter, but it was only one game, I’m not going to hand him the keys yet.

Josh Cribbs – He is one of the best players on this team. To see him actually make a couple plays on the offensive side of the ball is very encouraging. If he can become a receiving threat, everything else that he brings to the table on offensive will fall into place.

Blitz – True, the Browns didn’t get to the QB very much against Green Bay but the fact that I saw them actually trying was something I haven’t seen from them in quite a few years. I could tell Kam Wimbley is benefiting from the new coaches, I saw him use a couple of new moves that he hasn’t perfected yet but he’s getting close.

Negatives.

Running Game – Terrible. What is the problem here, by the end of last season it was my number 1 goal to get a new running back. We didn’t, unless James Davis is truly a star and I doubt it. Jamal doesn’t have it anymore and until he does something to prove me wrong I’m standing by my Jamal Lewis is washed up attitude.

Rush Defense – What happened to Zeus? I keep hearing how he’s a tremendous run stopper. When your team gives up over 200 rushing yards rushing nobody on the defensive line should be dubbed “ZEUS”.

Derek Anderson – He didn’t do anything to help his chances of being the Browns starting QB. Zero completions and 1 interception. He locks onto one receiver and holds the ball until the receiver gets open or until he gets sacked. He better get his act together in the next pre-season game or else everybody is going to write him off completely.

F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L

Just two more days until a meaningful sporting event for Cleveland sports fans. Football season is finally here. This is what we Cleveland fans live for, football, win or lose, we love our football. And even though it is only a pre-season game, for those fans that aren’t die hard enough to follow training camp, this is a sign that football season is back.

I am excited to see the new additions to this team take the field. From the new starters like Abe Elam to the third string quarterbacks like Brett Ratliff. I for one enjoy every minute of Cleveland Browns pre-season football. I love trying to spot the “out of no where guy” like Alex Hall last year, a guy that exceeds every expectation you have of him or a guy you’ve never heard of that comes out and makes a name for himself. Who will it be this year? Wide receiver Lance Leggett? Or maybe running back James Davis? Time will tell.

Who will be the QB this year? It is my impression that Derek Anderson is having a slightly better training camp than Brady. He has really improved his short passing game, but we all know that can change on game day. As good as Derek may be throwing the ball, I really don’t think he has the leadership skills or attitude to run this team. I think he folds under pressure and can’t recoup from bad play. Derek seems to let his emotions get in the way of the sport, and it hurts him more than his great throwing arm helps him. Brady on the other hand seems to have those intangibles to run the team and keep not only his head in the game but the rest of his teams. Brady has great touch on his pass and despite what people say, he can throw the long ball just fine.

I have my own theory on why Derek was with the starters for the Brown and White scrimmage. Coach Mangini figured he would be able to start Brady in the first pre-season game and his reason for picking Quinn could be that Derek played with the first team in the scrimmage so its Quinn’s turn with the starters. I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but if he rotates the QB’s in the pre-season games, guess who will be starting in the all-important 3rd game. That’s right, Brady, and he won’t even have to explain why. He’s rotating them with the starters.

I think Brady will be the starter when the regular season starts but I won’t be surprised at all if Derek wins the job.

It was just announced that Donte Stallworth is suspended for the entire season.