Mangini's character gestapo

I recently heard a story, from a reliable friend, about a current Browns player who will remain unnamed. This key star very recently took part in a rather wild party and engaged in party animal behavior that bordered the limits of good character.

Look for the Browns current management team to be a bit less naive than Eric Mangini when it comes to using character to filter out bad apples. Mangini went too far when he got rid of players like Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow because of character issues, and this lack of playmaker talent in the end, cost Mangini his job. The final irony is that one need not put his ear too close to the ground to hear stories like the above about some of the current Browns. There were numerous players that were on Mangini's team that in fact "passed" his character test but are, like all the rest of us, just human beings with some of the same character flaws that drove Mangini to cut others. In reality therefore, Mangini didn't filter out all of the players with bad character, he simply got rid of the guys he did not like. Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow are most certainly jerks, but some of those close losses in 2010 could have been wins had we had some more talent in the receiving corps last year. My guess is that Mangini himself is already starting to realize the significance of the fact that his "character gestapo" was in fact both stupid and naive.

Meet Pat Shurmur

here is an in depth article that presents Pat Shurmur. One conclusion is already certain, Shurmur is a convinced disciple of the West Coast Offense and a conventional thinker. The Browns are going to use a traditional West Coast offense and a standard 4-3 defense. They will try to beat opponents by putting a better team on the field and by outplaying their opponents.

My worry is the Browns may now be in another 5 year plan that neither the fans nor the front office have patience for. Perhaps it was false hope, but there were moments last season in which Rob Ryan's crazy defensive formations or Eric Mangini's trick plays made one wonder if the Browns were ahead of the NFL in tactical innovation. I think one could reasonably argue that in 2010, especially on defense, that the Browns schemes allowed them to get far more results than the talent they had should have allowed. In particular, the use of 0, 1 or 2 man defensive lines allowed the Browns to mask the fact that they had no depth on the defensive front and in many cases, using up to 7 linebackers at a time, created massive confusion for the opposing QB. Just ask Drew Brees or Tom Brady. Moving forward, the Browns are clearly going to simply seek better players and play conventional football and that will require that the Browns make a major upgrade, especially on the defensive line.

On offense the Browns will go with the West Coast offense together with young QB Colt McCoy. The book on McCoy is out in the NFL, and we saw the results in the last two games this season: 6 intercepts in 2 games. I believe in McCoy but he still has to gain some experience and the West Coast offense needs strong wideouts for it to work. The Browns have the weakest receiver corps in the NFL so that is another position that requires major upgrade. Look for the Browns to work the free agent market aggresively and to draft to fill those position needs.

Pat Shurmur is going to have to clean house on talent to find new players to fit his approach and that likely means one step back to take two steps forward. Problem is that the Browns are about 5 steps from a Super Bowl. We believe Mike Holmgren but if Holmgren truly wanted to use his West Coast offense and a traditional 4-3, would it not have been better to cut the ties to Mangini one year ago?

Coach Holmgren?

One of the reasons I think it would be a mistake to replace Eric Mangini is that an owners lockout of NFL players in almost a certainty. A new coach would be severely disadvantaged should the lockout last months, as he would not be able to work with new players and implement his approach.

Therefore if Mike Holmgren decides to replace Mangini, look for the new Browns head coach to be... "Mike Holmgren".

There is no mistaking that the Browns are on the right path since Holmgren took over. We have competed all year long thanks to players brought in under Holmgren. If Holmgren decides he is tired of waiting for Mangini to mature, he will have the full support of all long suffering Browns fans as long as he names himself the new head coach.

BL Predicts: Game 14 vs The Bengals

The end of the season is near and many important decisions will be taken by Mike Holmgren based on the performance of the Browns over these last 3 games. Will the Browns come together as a team and perform well or will they ride out the string.

The 2010 campaign has been one of many ups and downs and looking back, after the disaster of 2009, the fact is that the Browns competed all season long in every game. That stated, I think only Mike Holmgren can judge if Coach Mangini will merit another year. If Holmgren fires Mangini, the likely reason is that while the Browns have in fact competed in 2010, it is primarily due to the innovations introduced by Rob Ryan on defense. The Browns defense took Dick Lebeau's zone blitz schemes to the next level, often substituting linebackers for defensive linemen, a strategy that infinitely complicated the opposing quarterbacks reads. Instead of having to account for 4 linebackers, opposing QBs often found themselves having to evaluate the positioning of up to 6 or even 7 linebackers. On 3rd and long the Browns have dared opponents to run, and one only need recall Tom Brady's awful showing against the Browns to realize that Ryan's schemes confused even the best quarterback in the game.

So the question is "does Mangini deserve credit for Rob Ryan's innovation?" My inclination is to say that Mangini does in fact deserve credit for the Browns defensive success in 2010. Everything on a team starts and finishes with the head coach. However only those persons associated with the Browns day to day truly can evaluate Mangini's role in putting this innovative defense on the field every Sunday. This is important because it is very likely that Rob Ryan will be lured away by some NFL team next year to be their head coach so next year Mangini will not have Rob Ryan' support.

Mike Holmgren's decision on whether to retain Mangini will tell us the inside story.

On to the Bengals game. When the Bengals and Browns played in game four earlier this season, the Bengals were still viewed as a one of the better teams in the NFL. The Browns were 0-3 at the time of that game and badly needed a W. The Browns led by Seneca Wallace got the win that Sunday in Cleveland and the Bengals have since stumbled to only 2 wins.

One point I clearly recall from that match up earlier this year is that the Bengals were one of few teams this year to come into the game with a good plan to counter Rob Ryan's innovative defense. At one point in the game for example, Ryan threw his zero down lineman scheme at Carson Palmer, the Bengals immediately went into a no-huddle and drove the ball down near to the goal line over the next few plays. Palmer passed for nearly 400 yards that day.

Pundits are getting wrapped in the fact that the Bengals have only 2 wins this year but a closer look shows that the Bengals have competed in nearly every game this year. Add in the following factors and I think today's outcome becomes clear:

- Bengals are at home.
- Colt will play but he still is not 100%
- Browns morale is down after a demoralizing defeat

I think it all adds up to a clear and solid loss. For the first time this year, we may see a game in which our Browns are soundly defeated


BL Predicts

Browns 17
Bengals 33

The Brown Log are 5-8 is our predictions this season

Coach Mangini

This blog is one of many that has had a hard time accepting Coach Mangini. We've taken more than our share of shots at him. Paradoxically, yesterday left me feeling that perhaps Mangini will prove us wrong.

What is there to like from yesterday:

- His team never gave up.

- His staff had the courage to put the safety of key players like Cribbs and Massaquoi, above one game.

- Colt McCoy was prepared for a very tough game.

- The Browns have competed every game this season.

Don't get us wrong, we are likely going to slam Mangini again, but notwithstanding the loss yesterday, it appears that Mangini and his team are maturing.

BL Predicts: Week Four vs the Bengals

Predicting NFL games is a mechanical exercise. Each week we consider and add up the following factors:

- the home team wins 57% of the games in the NFL, that's worth about 3 points

- compare the talent of the team's healthy players and their ability to play and execute the game as a team.

- Look for emotional factors that might give advantage to one team or the other.

Week 4 against Cincinnati stacks up as follows

- Browns are at home so they start with 3 points in the bag
- The Bengals are a balanced and talented team, capable of executing well at each position. The Browns have no talent at WR, a weak right side of the offensive line, a good TE, good QB's and average running backs. On D, the Browns appear highly motivated behind the creative leadership of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, albeit the Browns lack depth and talent on the defensive line. On talent let's give the Bengals a 7 point advantage on the Brownies.
- Emotionally, there is a bad sign for Cleveland. This week, Running back Jerome Harrison publicly expressed displeasure with Coach Mangini. A veteran player like Harrison won't normally openly rebel against the coach unless other players on the team share his opinion. Harrison's complaint may indeed be indicative of internal dissension in the Browns clubhouse. So far the Browns have played well in 2010 every game, right up until the moment that they have a gut check, and then they fall apart. Teams have a collective character, and the Browns offensive character is, well, offensive. Gauging this factor is very difficult and that's why not too many people get rich betting on NFL games. The best we can do is look at the clues and this week it looks gloomy. In football more than any sport, one man can lift an entire team out of the abyss with great effort, but the Browns only playmaker is Josh Cribbs and so far this season teams are doing everything they can to assure that Cribbs doesn't have the opportunity to lift the Browns spirits. Give the Bengals another 5 points for the emotional edge factor.

I hate to say it, but all signs point to an 0-4 start for the Browns. Once again I hope we are wrong.......

BL Predicts:
Bengals 21
Browns 12

Recap: Another Sunday, another loss

Coach Mangini had nobody to blame but himself for Sunday's loss vs the Ravens. The Browns did not turn over the ball the entire game, no interceptions, no fumbles.

We lost anyways.

BL predicts: Week Three vs Baltimore

The Brown Log have two predictions this week:

- First prediction is that if the Browns arrive to 0-4, Holmgren will fire Mangini and replace him with Rob Ryan

- Second prediction is relative to this Sunday's matchup at Baltimore. Ryan's defense is coming together as a group. TJ Ward gets better every week and Ryan always has a variation up his sleeve that forces opponents to make adjustments.

On the other side of the ball however, our offense will have to face the Ravens who have yet to give up a touchdown all season. Seneca Wallace will likely once again take the reigns but the Browns simply don't have any playmakers that can step up and help Wallace move the ball. Frustratingly, Mangini puts Josh Cribbs on the field with the offense about 5 plays per game while our regular wideouts simply are unable to get open. It's hard to imagine fumble prone Peyton Hillis doing much, while Jerome Harrison is fighting an injury.

I think both teams will struggle to score, but the Ravens in the end, should get past the Browns. The bad news with a loss would be a horrible 0-3 start, the good news would be that we would be one step closer to ending the Mangini era in Cleveland.

In any case, here's hoping Rob Ryan's crew dominate the Ravens and our Browns sneak out of Baltimore with a W.

BL Predicts

Ravens 19
Browns 13

One game into the season and the Browns are in crisis

Bottom line is that we would have won the game if Jake Delhomme doesn't make one incredibly stupid pass at the end of the first half. Delhomme didn't play like a veteran when the pressure was on.

That said, other hall of shame moments include

- Mangini's bad decision not to call time late in the 4th quarter on 4th and 3, which led to confusion and a penalty.
- Peyton Hillis fumbling in the red zone
- Mangini leaving an obviously injured Delhomme in the game in the 2nd half
- The right side of the Browns line couldn't handle Gerald McCoy

No reason to be 0-1, but 0-1 we are.......................

Bring on Tampa Bay!!

Why, you ask, is the Brown Log optimistic about the 2010 season? While we don't see the Browns getting into the playoffs this year, a team that competes every Sunday, and 7 or 8 wins are well within reach. Such a major step forward would be great compared to the humiliation we had to endure last year.

It is true that Coach Mangini is still learning and hopefully growing as a head coach, but the jury is still out as to whether or not Mangini can lead a team to a Super Bowl win, so, why all the optimism?? There is one major reason, Mike Holmgren. In contrast to last year, what our Browns do have now is steady leadership at the top. Holmgren's first major move was the signing of Jake Delhomme, and this move should be the key to our turnaround. The quarterback is the key to a team's offensive success in the NFL. A successful QB understands what the opponent's defense is trying to do, and is able to make the right decisions, play after play. By moving the ball, avoiding turnovers, grinding down the clock and scoring some points, the QB controls the pace and outcome. It was clear all preseason long that the Browns are in good hands with Jake Delhomme and that should make a huge difference this year, especially if "Coach" can stay out of the way.

"My own belief is this team needs an aging veteran," Mike Holmgren told reporters earlier this year with reference to Delhomme. "They need a guy who's going to grab everybody by the throat and say, 'Follow me through that door.' That's what we need."

Breaking news: Mangini to reveal 1-6-4 defensive scheme vs Tampa

Eric Mangini, who protected 11, yes that's 11 Linebackers on his 45 man active roster, announced today that the Browns will line up in a 1-6-4 defensive formation to start the game against the Bucs this Sunday.

Coach Mangini was quoted as saying that a 270 pound linebacker is almost as big as a 310 pound defensive end and almost as little as a 220 pound defensive back. Therefore why bother to collect anything other than linebackers. Rumor is that if the 1-6-4 works out, Mangini eventually plans to unleash the 0-11-0 defensive scheme.

Go Browns!

Did Brandon McDonald Tweet himself out of a job?

Well, the Browns cut down their roster over the weekend and indeed there were some surprises, the biggest of which was the cutting of Brandon McDonald, an experienced cornerback, who was immediately picked up by Arizona.

Was McDonald punished by Eric Mangini for his offensive tweet about Terrell Owens? At the time, Mangini made no secret of his disgust about the tweet, and since McDonald is more than talented enough to contribute to the Browns success... it would seem to be the case that Mangini continues his use of "cultural cleansing" as a key criteria in selecting players to fill out his roster.

The Brown Log remains unconvinced that Eric Mangini can achieve success where Ted Stepien didn't. A football team has to be made up of 53 of the best football players you can find. Watering down the secondary because a young man has fun on Twitter is pretty damn stupid if you ask me.

time will tell....

Browns poll

Here is an interesting poll in the Plain Dealer assessing the Browns off season moves. Vote while you have a chance. I voted good, and would have voted excellent had the Browns rid themselves of Coach Mangini. Only time will tell if Holmgren is able to raise the youthful Eric Mangini's performance to Super Bowl caliber. One thing is for sure, the player personnel decisions made in the last 4 months will leave no excuses for Mangini. if he doesn't win, it will be 100% his responsibility as the players the Browns have drafted, signed and traded for are excellent.

Who is the Brown's QB??

Why is it that Eric Mangini loves to have QB controversies???

And let the hyperbole begin!

Coach Mangini says in USA Today that Jake Delhomme reminds him of Brett Favre.... Yes indeed Coach Eric, let the hyperbole fly!

It's a bit difficult to agree with Eric Mangini that Jake Delhomme is on par with one of the greatest QBs in the history of the entire NFL. But that stated, the Brown Log does not count themselves among the Delhomme sceptics. Delhomme is a proven QB, with Super Bowl experience, coming off of one tough year. I think the odds are very good that Delhomme will be successful. Cleveland is a working man's town where people don't expect a pat on the back for a hard day's work. In that sense, the unassuming Delhomme fits right in and more importantly, he's also a pretty damn good QB.

Fans lawsuit against the NFL and New England Pats moves forward

Many believe that there was more than meets the eye to the New England Patroits cheating scandal. The NFL would like to erase this episode from our memories but it apparently won't go away. A fan lawsuit that the NFL desperately tried to get dismissed, is going to be heard by a Pennsylvania Appeals Court.

New England head coach Bill Belichick's staff for several of the cheating years in question included our own coach Eric Mangini. The NFL clearly found Belichick did cheat but once they fined him they also worked to sweep the issue under the rug. But the public thank goodness won't let the issue disappear.

I've always felt that if the NFL were truly interested in defending the integrity of their game, considering that they believed that Belichick cheated, they should have stripped the Patroits of at least one Super Bowl title and suspended Belichick and possibly some of his coaching staff for life. Instead the NFL took what in retrospect was clearly a public relations driven action. It's now up to the American justice system to defend the integrity of the game.

here are a few excerpts from the article which you fully review by clicking on this link.

The NFL fined Belichick $500,000, and the Patriots were ordered to pay $250,000. Mayer wants ticket holders to get a triple refund for all eight games played between the Patriots and the Jets in Giants stadium from 2000 through 2007.

The Pats and the NFL, through their attorneys, have begged the court to toss the case. Their opinion?

"Frivolous." "Mockery of the judicial process." "The NFL respectfully submits that allowing this case to continue any longer would only waste more time, money and judicial resources," the lawyers said in court filings.

Even when Mayer and colleague Bruce Afran, both Princeton lawyers, twice missed filing deadlines - technically a reason to toss the case - the appeals court rejected pleas for a dismissal.

"We're like Lazarus. We won't go away," said Mayer.

Apparently someone on the court finds the legal issues intriguing.

Is Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid in the Browns future?

By clicking on this link, you will find a very interesting article by sportswriter Mark Eckel in the Times of Trenton NJ. The article speculates that Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid, will eventually replace Browns head coach Eric Mangini, and it gives quite a reasonable set of rationale to support that hypothesis. Here's an excerpt

All right, let's review our beliefs and speculate a bit on the 2010 season.

The Eagles, with a first-time starter at quarterback, a new-look offensive line (hopefully) and a rebuilt defense, playing in a very-tough NFC East go 8-8 or so and miss the playoffs.

That's not a stretch by any means. Could the Eagles be good next year? Sure, anything is possible. But it is not outlandish to suggest with all the changes the team has made there are going to be struggles.

Cleveland, also undergoing some change, finishes 5-11 or 6-10 and remains mired behind Baltimore, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh in an also very difficult NFC North.

Now, the fun starts.
Holmgren and Heckert decide head coach Eric Mangini, whom they inherited, is not the right man to turn around the Browns' fortunes and fire him.

Again, that is not so hard to imagine.

As Cleveland's brain trust searches for a replacement, their guy is not getting along so well in Philadelphia.

Let's backtrack a bit here for a second.

Reid's mentor and best friend in the league is Holmgren. He gave him his first job in Green Bay, taught him the right way to do things, and the two have remained close in the now 11 years they have been apart.

Anyone who regularly follows The Brown Log knows that this blog has no love lost for Eric Mangini. We think he is simply not capable to lead a team to the Super Bowl. It's also an obvious fact that the Brown Log strongly support our new President Mike Holmgren in spite of the fact that he decided to hang onto Mangini for the time being. While we accept the premise that Mangini, a young coach, might mature under the guidance of Holmgren, it would be a lot easier to digest the idea that Holmgren is simply biding time, waiting for his man.

CUT

Why? Playing ability? Reading the quotes from Eric Mangini and Jamal Lewis it would appear that the real reason Lewis has been cut is that he didn't kiss Mangini's ass.

NFL History: How to win a Super Bowl

The choice to retain Eric Mangini as Head Coach has puzzled legions of Brown's fans. Our disappointment is driven by the fact that Mangini has yet to show the first signs that he is a coach capable to lead the Browns to a Super Bowl championship.

When searching for answers, The Brown Log likes to study history and NFL history is filled with lessons on how to win the ultimate contest so let's dig into Super Bowl history.

Analyzing how teams managed to win Super Bowls in the past, three distinctive approaches emerge:

1. Competence: The most common way to win a Super Bowl is competence. Simply stated, pick the best players and drive them to a Championship using standard strategies of that era. This approach requires judgement, leadership skills, planning and execution. The Green Bay Packers of the 1960's are a great example. Vince Lombardi filled his team with great athletes, and lead them to two Super Bowl wins.

2. Technical innovation: As the NFL has evolved the rule book over the last 40 years, a select few coaches deeply studied those changes and designed innovative new schemes that created additional advantages versus the rest of the league. Joe Gibb's Ace formation in Washington is one example of a new innovation. The Skins won 3 Super Bowls under Gibbs thanks in much part to this simple but innovative formation. Perhaps the best example of technical innovation is when Bill Walsh took Don Coryell's passing system and evolved it to what is today called the "West Coast Offense". Walsh's 49ers racked up three Super Bowl wins while the rest of the league caught up to them. Yet another example would be Bill Cowher, who recognized the potential in Dick Lebeau's innovative zone blitz scheme and unleashed it to counter the era's seemingly unstoppable passing games, bringing yet another Super Bowl win to our hated rivals in Pittsburgh.

3. Cheating: Bill Belichick proved dishonesty pays by implementing what many believe to be the most sophisticated cheating scheme in NFL history and leading the New England Patroits to 3 Super Bowl wins. Some NFL fans believe that "everyone cheats" thus the Pats cheating was justified, however rumor has it that New England went well beyond the normal gamesmanship of stealing signals. Some believe that the Patroits systematically filmed and studied opponents signals and used their knowledge of those signals in gameplans and playcalling, including the Super Bowl wins. The New York Times was alarmed and reported on the fact that the NFL destroyed all the film evidence of the Patroits cheating. The Times article clearly implies an NFL coverup, and in fact since their cheating was uncovered, the Patriots have not won another Super Bowl. No more talk of dynasty surrounds New England but they do get to retain their three Super Bowl rings.

Why does the Brown Log believe Mangini is the wrong man to coach our Browns? Simply stated, Mangini has not demonstrated competence in any area that NFL history shows will lead to a Super Bowl win.

Has Mangini chosen the right players? Hardly. His first move with the Browns was to trade key players because he did not like them personally. Maybe Braylon Edwards or Kellen Winslow are immmature kids, but they are playmakers. Mangini showed poor judgement in moving these talents out of Cleveland and those personel decisions stifled the Browns offense all season.

Has Mangini come up with innovative schemes? Running the ball 80% of the time was standard practice back when Red Grange and Jim Thorpe played in the NFL.

Has Mangini managed to successfully cheat, building on lessons learned working for Bill Belichick? Thankfully no although Mangini did rat out Belichick after he left the Patriots.

So what the hell was Mike Holmgren thinking when he retained Mangini?

We have to acknowledge that Mike Holmgren has won a Super Bowl and that accomplishment merits our respect.......... BUT WHY CHOOSE MANGINI????

The only conclusion The Brown Log can muster is that the young Mangini has not had the benefit of a senior mentor to guide him thus far in his career and Holmgren must have been impressed enough with Mangini to believe that under his guidance, Mangini can lead the Browns to a Super Bowl win. Based on Super Bowl history, Mangini however has yet to provide even the first clue that he is up to the challenge so unless Holmgren is planning to lead Mangini around by the nose, it's hard to imagine a Super Bowl win during the Mangini era.

We Don't Get Fooled Again

Mangini still the coach? Josh Cribbs demanding a trade? The Who sum it up the best with slightly revised lyrics.

We'll be dancing in the stands
With our beers in our hands
And the stiffs that we worship will be gone
And the men who brought us shame
Now play in UFL games
They really sucked and hated us fans

I'll tip my hat to the new czar of football
Take heed next year, we will surely win ‘em all
Smile and grin at the change all around
Raise my foam finger and cheer
Just like yesteryear
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from 4 wins, that's all
And the standings look the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause Coach Mangini’s still here

I'll tip my hat to the new czar of football
Take heed next year, we will surely win ‘em all
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my beer and drink
Browns in the playoffs, I think
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
No, no!

I hope Josh Cribbs will still be on our side
He gets his cash and smiles at the sky
If the Browns happened not to lie
I know you can pay the man, yes you can
Can’t ya?

There's nothing on the field
Looks any different to me
And the stiffs are replaced, by more stiffs
And the holding on the left
Is now holding on the right
And the future does not look near as bright

I'll tip my hat to the new czar of football
Take heed next year, we will win ‘em all
Smile and grin at the change all around
Raise my foam finger and cheer
Just like yesteryear
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss