The Mangini question

The Brown Log has often been critical of Eric Mangini, who, at 39 years old, has too often made mistakes that a more mature coach would avoid. Today's clock mismanagement at the end of the first half was a prime example. Mangini often lacks what I refer to as "the intuition of experience.".

That said, Mangini's weaknesses are all flaws that will get better with time as he lives through this school of hard knocks. His weaknesses are in game management where he makes misjudgements under pressure. Decide not to call a timeout because maybe just maybe the other team will have too much time left and might score??? Oh yeah, the Browns need time to score too...

Leave an injured QB on the field?? We lost 2 games we should have won because of this misjudgement. Tampa Bay could see that Delhomme was useless due to his injury as did Jacksonville with McCoy. As a matter fact it was so obvious in those cases fans like myself watching on TV could see that the QB was hurt. So while Tampa and Jacksonville blitzed on passing downs and defended the run on running downs, the Browns went down the drain in games they should have won. Why couldn't Mangini decide to pull the QB? Fear and indecision, in other words inexperience.

Mangini's strengths on the other hand are that he has shown a genius for game strategy and he has demonstrated the ability to create formations and gameplans that are ahead of the rest of the NFL pack. Strengths, if you may, that one does not easily find in a coach. Ask the New Orleans Saints if Mangini can put a fantastic gameplan together. Ask Tom Brady if Mangini can confuse an all-pro quarterback with previously never seen defensive formations.

Mangini has shown himself to be well organised and on player personnel decisions where he has a few days to reflect, he shown shown himself able to stand on principle even in the face of pressure. He is an innovator. In 2010 the Browns often fielded defensive formations never before tried in the NFL such as a zero man defensive line. This permitted the Browns to field a dramatically improved Defense in 2010 and allowed the team to compete in every game. Credit Rob Ryan you say? Sure but the buck stops with the head coach and that gentlemen's name is Eric Mangini.

The offense stunk right? Yes but the Browns bet that Jake Delhomme was the mature presence needed to carry a weak offensive team. That bet failed and Mangini was left to manage the aftermath. The offense was bad but Hillis emerged as a force and our mediocre receiving crew was contributing at seasons end. That's a credit to coaching. Too conservative, maybe but if you don't have The firepower playing it safe is actually the right plan. Mangini has shown on D that if he has the talent, he has the moxie to innovate.

So should the Browns fire Mangini? I'm going to go out on a limb and state uneqivicably "no".

My estimation is that Mangini, who turns 40 next month, will start to trust his gut more in 2011 and avoid some of the bonehead decisions caused by outthinking himself under pressure. All that remains will be his strategic genius, a quality that is most often found in Super Bowl coaches.

In the end we've invested 2 years in building Mangini's experience. My vote is don't dump the guy right when he and the team are ready to repay that investment.

Merry Christmas from the NCAA

A Terrelle Pryor jersey on sale today for "only" $80.00!

"This is Cleveland"

Has any Browns player ever embodied the spirit of Ohio football more than Josh Cribbs?

Well if you have any doubts, read Tony Grossi's article from today's Plain Dealer.

On November 14th, Josh Cribbs sustained a serious foot injury against the Jets. Most players would have sat. Why does Cribbs keep playing? Read on:

The injury caused soft tissue damage to the plantar plate, or beneath the ball of the foot. He feels pain when putting pressure on that area. It limits his ability to cut and change direction. His kick returns are limited to running straight ahead.

The question is why doesn't Cribbs just sit and let the injury heal? The answer embodies the essence of Cribbs as a football player:

"I could easily sit down and be like, 'Coach, I'm gonna try to take care of myself for next year.' But I love football too much," Cribbs said. "Even one of my teammates said, 'If you're not good, sit down.' I can't sit down.

"This is football. This is what it's all about, pushing through injuries, going to work when you don't have to, and battling. This is Cleveland. What would I be, having a foot injury and not going to work? And make the money I'm supposed to make. People have to work with worse circumstances than me. So the least I can do is push through the injuries and try to do as much as I can for the team."

The Cleveland work ethic is part of what makes this town great. Countless working men and women in this town get up every day and have at it. Josh Cribbs is one of us and deserves this town's support, through good and bad.

BL Predicts: Game 15 vs Ravens

Injuries to numerous key players leave the Browns weakened and renders predicting results of games quite a bit easier.

BL Predicts

Browns 13
Ravens 27

The Brown Log are 6-8 year to date on the prediction front.

NCAA defends slavery system

Yesterday Terrelle Pryor and 4 other Ohio State football players were punished by the NCAA for selling their own personal property. Let's see if I have this right. If I own something and I sell it, last time I checked it is not a crime. Why instead does the NCAA treat its "players" like criminals when they profit? Because the NCAA does not appreciate when it's slaves take from the hand of their master, even if they do so by perfectly legal means. This article starts to explain, I include a portion:

So much money gets made off these players and they can't even resell their own bowl jersey and championship ring? Look, I wouldn't sell something that meaningful to my team's success. But let's stop being naive and look at what the players see.

Consider Newton's impact. Some of the hottest sellers on Auburn's official online store are Heisman Trophy shirts with Newton's No. 2 -- but not his name, of course, as forbidden by the NCAA.

I counted 20 long-sleeve and short-sleeve shirts with No. 2 prominently displayed; home and away No. 2 jerseys; a 2010 season DVD with Newton on the cover; and a wall decal with a superhero-looking Auburn player wearing No. 2.

"You don't want to push the envelope too much, but you certainly want to try and meet that demand of, hey, we want to buy a No. 2 jersey (Cam Newton) or a No. 17 jersey (Josh Bynes) or a No. 89 jersey (Darvin Adams)," Auburn Senior Associate Athletics Director Scott Carr said.

"It's that fine line of do you just stick to a jersey that says No. 1 or a jersey that represents the year you're playing in? Or do you do more that's more player-specific? A lot of it is the fans want to wear the jerseys of the popular players. It's a tight balance."

Under Armour, which provides $27.45 million over seven years in cash and product to Auburn, estimates Newton wears six to 10 of the company's logos during games.

"When you sign a school like Auburn, you hope to get this kind of exposure and catch lightning in a bottle with this type of special player," said Matt Mirchin, Under Armour senior vice president of sports marketing.

The NCAA and it's universities make well over a billion dollars a year in profits on the back of their players, most of whom will never play in the pros. A common sense solution should exist to share this wealth with players, many of whom come from poor families and struggle to get by even if the university pays room and board.

The hypocricy of the NCAA and it's treatment of athletes has one answer, just look to Major League Baseball. Pro baseball has a professional minor league system and regularly drafts 18 year olds who skip college to play professionally. If the NCAA insists on continuation of the indefensible policy of player slavery, perhaps the best solution is to let the market rule. The NFL or some independent entreprenuer should establish a football minor league. Players not ready for the NFL would have a home and a paying job, and the NCAA could return to it's real mission: supporting student athletes.

Coach Brian Sipe

Here is a great article about Brown's legend Brian Sipe. Sipe is now the Quarterbacks coach at San Diego State University. Today he will be on the field as his alumni play Navy in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.

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

BL Predicts: game 13 vs the Bills

As a long time Browns fan the 2010 season has been very difficult to predict. A lifetime of losing certainly has tempered our ability to recognize that our Browns have a world class D that gives them a shot at winning every Sunday. Our offense however assures that almost no game will be a blowout, unless of course the defense scores a few times.

On paper Buffalo should be an easy win but nothing comes easy to our Browns and this week will be no different. Look for Jake Delhomme to move the team and just when we seem to have the Bills by the neck he'll make a mistake to put them back in the game. Look for Rob Ryan's D to dominate and keep the Browns on top all afternoon in spite of the offense.

What will happen ? Close game but Cleveland should win.

BL Predicts

Browns 17
Bills 10

The Brown Log won loss now matches our Brownies. We are 5-7 on predictions year to date

BL Live Blog: defense wins the game

I'm glad yet again to be wrong on the game prediction. Huge pro bowl level performance by Joe Haden and the Browns D was huge. It's hard not to say "what if" right now. The Browns are 5-7 but could easily be 8-4.

BL Live Blog: tight game!

Standout first half for Joe Haden and the Browns D

BL Predicts: week twelve vs Dolphins

On the road vs a Dolphins team playing well. The Browns are banged up, and starting to show it. It all points to a loss.

BL Predicts

Browns 15
Dolphins 27

The Brown Log after practically nailing last weeks final score, are 5-6 year to date

BL Predicts: Week Eleven vs Carolina

On the upside.
The Browns are at home.
Browns face 1-9 Carolina that will be led by a rookie QB who is 0-4 as a starter while completing 48% of his passes.
Jake Delhomme played for Carolina last year and therefore should have some ideas about how to attack that offense.

On the downside:
The Browns are banged up with McCoy and Fujita out, and key players Josh Cribbs, Shaun Rogers, Ben Watson being doubtful. Furthermore the Browns are coming off a devastating loss last week vs Jacksonville and could be ripe for a major emotional letdown.

Even considering the injuries and a potential letdown, the Browns should pull this one out

BL Predicts

Browns 24
Carolina 21

The Brown Log is 4-6 year to date in predicting the winner.

A Thanksgiving tribute: Rocky Belk

Holidays are a great moment to put life into perspective. We Browns fans can get pretty wrapped up in wins and losses, our Ohio heritage demands it.

Yesterday however, after noticing a spike over these last months in "Rocky Belk" google searches landing on this blog, I decided to do a google search myself on Belk. Unfortunately what I discovered is that ex-Browns receiver Rocky Belk tragically passed away last July at the age of 50 years old. For fans who followed the Browns in the 80's, Belk was a sort of comet who flashed across Cleveland. In one year he got very little playing time, but many Clevelanders noticed him because he scored two big touchdowns including one long TD pass from Brian Sipe against the despised Pittsburgh Steelers. Belk's NFL career lasted only one year with a total 5 catches and 2 touchdowns.   By comparison to other pro football players, his career can reasonably be labeled as average.

Reading Belk's obituary however it's clear that Rocky Belk went on to achieve true hero status as a school teacher and social worker. Read what the citizens of Arlington, Virigina had to say about Belk after his untimely passing:

Can we summarize a man's legacy, his life's work, in a memorial plaque? It would be kind of cool for students that knew him to tell those coming in that ask who was this Rocky Belk and what did he do? Those that knew him could tell them that Rocky Belk from Gum Springs followed his dreams and made it all the way to the NFL working every step of the way and after he got there he never stopped giving back. What motivated him was simply his love for the children he taught.
In the end, for those that knew him, it really doesn't really matter whether a plaque with Rocky Belk's name inscribed on it is put out at the horseshoe kiss and drop where the Longbranch students start their morning; because in the end every child and parent that Rocky touched will remember him at that horseshoe full of hale and with a big,easy,giving smile.

Football players bring great joy to us fans by their magnificent feats of athleticism and courage, however let us not forget on this Thanksgiving day, that as great as it is to have witnessed Brian Sipe, Greg Pruitt, Bill Nelson, Marion Motley, Jim Brown, Doug Dieken or countless others fill our Sundays with memories, that the real heroes in our world are the people who go out without recognition day after day and help others.

So on this Thanksgiving Day, let's thank God that folks like Rocky Belk touch our world and remember, they are the heroes.