Monday, September 28, 2009

Mangenius??? More Like MangIdiot...

Another Sunday of Browns Football, Another Monday of being embarrassed because of the Sunday of Browns Football, or whatever you want to call the display that the Browns put on yesterday in Baltimore. What a letdown this year already is. Many, myself included, expected for Mangini to come in, make the necessary changes in the locker-room and on the field, only to have it all blow up in our optimistic faces. The Browns organization was so eager to make a change that it may have made things ten times worse then they were before.

When the Browns started looking to interview coaches, one name popped into my mind, and it sure as hell wasn't "Eric Mangini." I like Mangini, I really do, but his decision making, play-calling and lack of emotion are making it harder and harder to like him. No, I wanted to see a great, Super Bowl Winning coach, with REAL Head Coaching experience. Mike Shanahan, fired by the Broncos for very questionable reasons, was right there, not ready to retire from the game of football. Did they even interview the guy? Not a chance! On top of that, they hired Mangini before hiring a General Manager. Dumb, dumb, dumb. We were all dooped, sucked into the "Bill Belichick Coaching Tree" when we should have realized he just fired one of those branches!

And now, in the middle of a debacle that saw the Browns execute punt after punt, he pulls Brady Quinn, the man that HE chose to lead this team into the season, puts him on the bench and inserts Derek Anderson who, in my opinion, should have been the opening day starter. Instead, he gets thrust into a fire without so much as a squirt gun, tries to "gun sling" his team back into contention for the game only to be intercepted thrice. Granted, those interceptions guaranteed me victory in my Fantasy Football League, but it was the wrong move. If Quinn is hurt, that's one thing but from the look of disgust on his face, it's clear to me that Brady Quinn is healthy and may not be in Cleveland much longer.

Mangini said he thought that Anderson could "provide a spark" to the offense. If you look at the stats, Brady Quinn is not the one that couldn't get the offense "sparked." In the first half, Quinn was 6 of 8 passing with 34 yards. You're not going to set the world on fire with those numbers by any means, but clearly he was making good throws, save the interception that he threw in the first two minutes. The problem isn't Quinn. It's the running game, and the fact that the Browns were up against the Ravens defense. If you want Brady Quinn to be the leader of this team, you have to let him lead it whether the team is winning or losing. He's not going to learn anything sitting on the bench while Derek Anderson gets thrown to the wolves. Put him back in the fire and let him lead this team the way he was meant to when he was drafted.

It's not just the offense either. This team is bad on defense as well, which is made apparent by the 34 points they gave up to the Ravens. Kamerion Wimbley is looking so much better than he did a year ago but he is really the only bright spot. The secondary is atrocious, the linebackers look slow and the defensive line gets pushed around like little kids. Maybe bringing all those Jets players in wasn't the best idea in the world. I don't know what they should do but something has got to change.

And now, reports are arising that several players are filing grievances against Mangini due to fines he has been handing out. We're barely three weeks into the season and Mangini is already losing his locker room. Mangini claims that all the fines he has given out were addressed in a team handbook he gave to players at the beginning of the season. This is the same thing that happened in the early part of his time as the New York Jets head coach and will hopefully pass just as it did in the big apple.

In the mean-time, the Detroit Lions have ended their losing streak at 19 games and the Browns is slowly climbing towards double-digits with seemingly no end in sight. The Rams losing streak is a little bit longer but they at least have the potential to break their losing streak. The Browns, on the other hand, look like they have way too much to fix before they can even consider leaving the field with a "W" when the clock reaches 00:00. Something has to give. I just don't know when it will be.

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