Scott Fujita talks about Eric Mangini
Browns linebacker Scott Fujita was on Sirius NFL Radio today and he talked about Eric Mangini’s firing, Mike Holmgren’s search for a new coach, Joe Haden and Colt McCoy.
On Mangini:
“A lot of us have a lot of respect for Eric Mangini,” Fujita said. “(Eric’s) one of the best I’ve ever seen at understanding the big picture and drawing it up on the board, especially when it comes to red zone defenses.
“(But) I’m not sure a lot of us were surprised by (the firing).”
“When I came in (after signing with the Browns) there was a certain perception about Eric and I didn’t want to come in with any judgments,” Fujita said. “(It turned out that) all the things I had heard about him were totally false. All the horror stories I heard about him in the media were totally false.“
Interesting.
“In Eric’s last message (to the team) he talked about what we were trying to do,” Fujita said. “He told us how much he appreciated working with us and trying to be the best we could be every day. He told us to keep moving this thing in the right direction. He’s just a class act.”
On Holmgren’s search for a new coach:
“(Mike) is a lot more sensitive to the coaching side. All of us have the utmost confidence in Holmgren making the right decision.
On Joe Haden:
“Joe is going to be so good; he has Ed Reed and Darren Sharper-like ball skills. When he played, Joe made plays. He’s a corner who is not afraid to come down and tackle, and you don’t see that much more in the league.”
On Colt McCoy:
“Colt, for him to come in and start and grab everybody in the huddle and take charge was so impressive. He has the same type of leadership skills as Drew Brees, he plays hard and knows how to inspire the people around him.”
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First it was his son, now Jon Gruden’s dad thinks the Browns would be a good fit for his son.
And we should care why?
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Found an interesting article through Uni Watch about what might have been if Otto Graham hadn’t been benched 10 games into the 1945-46 National Basketball League season.
That’s right, Graham played basketball for the Rochester Royals but gave the sport up after being benched.
Take a look, you’ll like it.
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Holy s###! The Dolphins are reportedly ready to give Jim Harbaugh $8 million a year to coach the team. For a guy who has never coached on the NFL level and carries a 29-21 record at Stanford, built mostly on the arm of Andrew Luck.
For that the Dolphins are willing to make him the highest-paid coach in the league. Unbelievable.
Red Right 88 
fujita's opinion carries more weight (for me) than any other browns player. telling comments by him.
ironic that fujita's injury in 1st half of the jets game turned the whole season. i think they win the jets game with fujita, definitely win jax, and theyre off and running.
What might have been. The story of my Cleveland sports life.
throw in the injury to (surprisingly effective) RG billy yates and josh cribbs 4 dislocated toes.. all in the jets game.. and there's no question the season changes.
sure injuries are part or the game and yes the browns personnel was a deep as a pie plate.. but injury luck plays a part for all SB champs too.
there were a lot of decisions EM made that i didnt agree with. but if we replace him with soft a OC who doesnt emphasize power and tough and strength and discipline… then we're taking a step backward.
i was ok replacing EM provided we knew who we were replacing him with and that whatever holmgren didnt like would be addressed. thus far, based on the interviews coming in, i'm not seeing a thought-out plan.
but i'm hanging in with him. like i tweeted earlier.. if they sign FAs mankins, bailey, and sims-walker* then get two of these three in draft … ayers, watt, carimi … then probably any of these interviewees will succeed.
*the one edge lerner brings us is dough. i hope he'll spend as much on players playing for us as he does for coaches not coaching for us. 🙂