Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the category “NFL”

13 Jan 2011

Holmgren grabs his man …

… but will Browns fans regret his decision?

The team made its move on Thursday, hiring St. Louis offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur as the Browns fifth head coach since 1999.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to join an organization with such a rich history and tradition as the Cleveland Browns,” Shurmur said in a press release. “I have the utmost respect for Coach (Mike) Holmgren and Tom Heckert and I am impressed with the direction in which they have this franchise going.”

“I am extremely excited about having Pat Shurmur as the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns,” said team president Mike Holmgren. “Pat is a bright, young man who grew up in football and around the coaching profession. I came away from our interview very impressed with him as a person, his extensive knowledge of the game and his track record of success as an assistant coach in this league. Most importantly, I feel as though he possesses the necessary qualities which make him the right man to lead our football team.”

Hopefully Shurmur will last longer than Chris Palmer (two years), Butch Davis (less than four years), Romeo Crennel (four years) and Eric Mangini (two years).

If he doesn’t, Holmgren will have a lot of explaining to do and the team will be even further away from contending than they stand right now.

So what do we know about Shurmur?

He has never been a head coach at any level. Of course Davis and Mangini came to town with head coaching experience and they both washed out without turning the Browns into winners.

He learned the West Coast offense under Andy Reid in Philadelphia for 10 years, spending seven of those years as the Eagles quarterback coach. Seems reasonable to expect the Browns to embrace that offense more fully next season.

He was QB coach in Philly when Donovan McNabb earned three trips to the Pro Bowl.

He is familiar with general manager Tom Heckert, who held various positions with the Eagles for eight years while Shurmur was there.

With such a strong connection to the Eagles and Andy Reid, Shurmur should have little trouble getting on the same page as Holmgren and Heckert, which is key to the team’s success. If the Browns have a philosophy that all three share and buy into, it will be easier for Holmgren and Heckert to give Shurmur the types of players he needs to succeed.

He has no connection to the Bill Belichick coaching tree or the Baltimore Ravens. The Browns have relied entirely too much on those two avenues (Mangini & Romeo; former general managers Phil Savage and George Kokinis) in recent years. It’s refreshing to see Holmgren break this cycle of dependency.

Under his control, the Rams offense ranked 29th and 26th the past two years.

He’s no stranger to working with young quarterbacks. Shurmur spent the 2010 season mentoring rookie Sam Bradford. Under his direction, Bradford completed 354-of-590 attempts for 3,512 yards and 18 touchdowns. His yardage total was second-most ever by a rookie, as only Peyton Manning threw for more yards in his first season, 3,739 in 1998. Bradford also set a rookie record with 174 consecutive attempts without an interception.

“This is a great opportunity for Coach Shurmur,” Bradford told The St. Louis-Post Dispatch. “I really enjoyed working with him last season and he truly helped my transition from college to the NFL game. I think he will be a really good head coach.”

He’s not a “name” coach, such as John Fox, Jon Gruden or Bill Cowher. But that’s OK, Gruden is a joke, Fox is just an average coach and Cowher is never coming to Cleveland. Throw in the fact that no Super Bowl-winning coach has ever won a Super Bowl with a second team and it’s clear there was no reason for the Browns to go down that road.

So what don’t we know?

How Shurmur will handle running the team. Can he see the big picture? Can he put together a productive practice schedule? Can he manage all the unexpected details that come up on Sundays?

St. Louis running back Stephen Jackson thinks so.

“I knew it would not be long before Coach Shurmur got a head coaching job in this league,” Jackson told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He was a good coordinator for the Rams and on Sundays, he got the most out of his players and always had us in a position to win the game.”

Who will his coordinators be? Brian Daboll is certainly out and it appears that Rob Ryan won’t be back. Who’s running the show on offense and defense?

How much can he get out of an offense that still has no quality at wide receiver, a shaky to bad right side of the offensive line and only one threat in the running game?

Most importantly, where does he stand on the field goals vs. touchdowns debate?

Seriously, though, it’s clearly too early to know if this whole thing is going to work out or not. Shurmur is a first-time head coach and there are going to be growing pains. Hopefully having Holmgren around will shorten the learning curve considerably.

Also, there is no universal right offense or right defense in the NFL. The only correct offense or defense is the one that maximizes the talents of the available players.

If Holmgren knows what type of player is needed for the West Coast offense, and if Heckert can get those players, and if Shurmur knows how to coach that offense, then it is the “right” offense for this team. What’s most important is picking an offense and defense and sticking with it so the team can be built to succeed in the particular schemes.

For now we remain optimistic. The Browns have had a lot of practice hiring coaches since 1999, maybe it is time for all that preparation to finally pay off.

***

Lot’s of opinions on this:

Shurmur not a bad pick: Terry Pluto

Is Shurmur Better than Eric Mangini? Bill Livingston

Shurmur may not catch a break from the hoople heads: Bud Shaw

Hiring Shurmur ultimate test for Mike Holmgren: Marla Ridenour

Our New Nepotistic Golden Age? Cleveland Frowns

Shurmur leaves an angry crowd behind: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Mike Holmgren, NFL, Pat Shurmur | Leave a comment
11 Jan 2011

Finally Some Good News in Browns Town

Jon Gruden saved the Browns from potentially making a horrible mistake when he announced late Monday that he will not be coaching in 2011 and will return to the network booth as a football analyst.

Fans all across Brownstown thank you for this Jon. Now we don’t have to fear that team president Mike Holmgren will lose his mind and bring in a coach who is inexplicably linked to every job opening despite having a 45-51 record in six years in Tampa after he won a Super Bowl with Tony Dungy’s players.

Seriously, did we really want this to be the face of the franchise?

And there was more good news as wide receivers coach George McDonald is leaving the team.

After the performance of the receivers this year, this move is clearly a classic case of addition by subtraction.

***

It’s never to early to start thinking Browns draft picks.

***

The Cavaliers are on pace to be the worst defenders of the three-point shot in league history.

Somewhere, someone is trying to figure out a way to blame this on Mike Brown.

***

Twenty-four years ago today this happened. You’ll excuse us if we go and bury our head in a bucket of Maker’s Mark right now.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Jon Gruden, NFL | Leave a comment
10 Jan 2011
2 Comments

What if the Browns had hired Rex Ryan?

While watching this weekend’s playoff games we decided to put on our Hindsight Hat and wonder:

What if the Browns had hired Rex Ryan as coach in 2009? Would it have made a difference?

After Saturday’s victory against Indianapolis, Ryan has now led the Jets to three road playoff wins in two seasons. By comparison, the Browns have won two road playoff games in franchise history: the 1955 NFL Championship game against the Rams and a 1969 playoff game against Dallas.

That’s it.

The Jets have also won 20 games over the past two seasons. The Browns haven’t won 20 games in a two-season span since the 1987 and 1988 seasons.

There’s no doubt his personality would have fit in here; just look at his brother Rob, the Browns defensive coordinator. And the two Ryans working together on the Browns defense certainly would have produced positive results.

Rex Ryan talks a big game and he gets his players to back it up.

But would the Browns be in a better situation than they are right now? That’s hard to say. We still would have liked to see Mangini come back for another year of working with Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert.

Even if the Browns had hired Ryan over Mangini, the team would still have had to hire a general manager. Would that have been Tom Heckert? Seems doubtful and we like what we’ve seen of his work so far.

Same with Mike Holmgren. If the Browns had played better in ’09 then owner Randy Lerner may not have felt pressure to bring in someone like Holmgren.

And they would still have needed a quarterback, wide receivers, etc. The situation was still one that couldn’t be fixed over night.

That’s the thing when you play the “what if” game, there are so many variables involved that there is really no way to come up with a definitive answer.

There’s one thing we are sure of, though: things would be a lot more interesting. Of course, not everyone would agree.

***

ESPN continues its campaign to dump on Cleveland as much as possible.

***

First came the news that Anderson Varejao will miss the rest of the Cavs season with a torn tendon in his foot; then today word comes down that Christian Eyenga is in a walking boot.

No word, though, on if Eyenga picked up one of the Browns spare boots for his injury.

***

Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell is in town to interview on Tuesday for the Browns coaching job.

***

King Kenny brings hope to Liverpool even in defeat. Dude, we could use a big shot of hope around here right about now.

***

Athletes and Twitter are always good for a laugh.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool, NFL, Rex Ryan, Ryan Babel
08 Jan 2011

Wild Card Weekend Picks

We came across this article on the National Football Post highlighting eight late covers from NFL games this year.

Of the eight games listed, we had three of them this year in the 2010 Cheddar Bay Invitational at Cleveland Frowns, which in some way helps explain why we are only a half-point out of first place heading into the playoffs.

The games we hit on from the list were:

The Browns made the list as well for their Week 5 game against Atlanta.

Interesting that all three covers came on defensive touchdowns.

That leads us to this week’s picks for the Wild Card games. We like:

New Orleans (-10) vs. Seattle, although the weather forecast for Seattle makes us a bit nervous.

Indianapolis (-2.5) vs. the Jets. No weather concerns as the game is indoors, but Rex Ryan’s Churchill-like qualities scare us in a big game.

Green Bay (+2.5) vs. Philly

Money pick: Baltimore (-3) vs. Kansas City

Posted in Cheddar Bay, NFL, point spreads | Leave a comment
08 Jan 2011

Grading the Browns Running Backs

We’re back with a look at the Browns running backs this year. This should go much smoother than the quarterback analysis.

Peyton Hillis was a huge surprise this year, especially when you realize the Browns got him from Denver for nothing more than Brady Quinn.

Hillis was 11th in the NFL in rushing yards (1,177), 18th in yards per attempt (4.4), tied for 6th with 11 rushing touchdowns and 15th in yards per game (73.6).

More importantly, he accounted for 71.5 percent of the Browns rushing yards and 84.6 percent of the team’s rushing touchdowns. If you factor in his 61 receptions for 477 yards and another two touchdowns, he was responsible for 34 percent of the team’s total offense and 50 percent of the offensive touchdowns.

Hillis slowed down as the season wore on as injuries – and the fact the Browns had no other viable option in the running game – took its toll on him. With some expected support next year, Hillis’ production should go up.

The only drawback was his fumbling, as Hillis had a league-high of eight.

Add it all up and we’re comfortable giving Hillis an A for the season.

Helping Hillis with achieve his big year was fullback Lawrence Vickers, who should be starting in the Pro Bowl.

Vickers cleared the way for Hillis this year – look at this lead block on a Hillis touchdown run against New England – and for his efforts he also gets an A.

After Hillis and Vickers things really fall off the cliff. When you consider quarterback Colt McCoy was the team’s second-leading rusher and punter Reggie Hodges was fifth, then you know things were bad.

Jerome Harrison showed his season-ending burst from last year was a mirage and he was subsequently shipped out to Philly, where he gained 208 yards in two games and 31 total yards in the other six games he played for the Eagles.

Mike Bell, who came over in the Harrison trade, was just as bad, totaling only 71 yards for the Browns. Josh Cribbs struggled all year to get anything going in the rushing game and rookie Montario Hardesty missed the season with an injury.

So, collectively, we have to give that group an F for the season.

The good news is there is reason to hope next season. Hillis should be just as productive, especially as he will have back-up, either from Hardesty or another running back the Browns draft or bring onto the roster.

Vickers is a free agent, but Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert have to understand his value and he should be back for another year.

And if/when the Browns fix the right side of the offensive line, the team should be able to pound the ball the way they will need to when the weather turns cold in the second half of the season.

***

The Browns are scheduled to interview Atlanta offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey Saturday in Atlanta and Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell next week in Cleveland, according to The Plain Dealer.

***

Should we be concerned or happy that the Browns are not considering defensive coordinator Rob Ryan as a head coach candidate, even though other teams are?

***

Joe Haden is a finalist for Rookie of the Year.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Lawrence Vickers, NFL, Peyton Hillis | Leave a comment
07 Jan 2011
3 Comments

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.”

***

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?

***

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.

***

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.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, coaching nonsense, NFL, Scott Fujita
05 Jan 2011

Grading the Browns Quarterbacks

Now that the Browns’ 2010 season is in the books, we thought we’d jump on the grading bandwagon and hand out grades to selected positions on the team.

Today we’ll start with the quarterbacks. Rather than just assign an arbitrary letter grade to Colt McCoy, Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace, we’re going to try and see how they match up against what was statistically an average NFL quarterback this season.

Thirty-two quarterbacks played enough this year to qualify for the NFL rankings – from Tom Brady at the top to Jimmy Clausen, who narrowly beat out old friend Derek Anderson as the worst quarterback in the league.

For the 2010 season, the average NFL quarterback completed 61.5 percent of his passes (282-for-458) for 3,265 yards, 7.13 yards per attempt, 21 touchdowns and 12.5 interceptions.

If we project McCoy’s statistics over a full season, he would have completed 60.8 of his passes (270-for-444), with 3,152 yards, 7.1 yards per attempt, 12 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.

Those numbers would have put him right in the middle of the pack, although his touchdowns were a bit low and his interceptions a bit high. McCoy’s yardage would have put him ahead of Matt Cassell and Michael Vick, and just right behind Jay Cutler and Mark Sanchez. And his yards per attempt were more than a yard better than highly-touted rookie Sam Bradford.

Not bad for a rookie quarterback who was not expected to play this season. A grade of C+ with promise for next year seems right.

Seneca Wallace showed us what he is this year – a capable backup who can fill in on a short-term basis without really harming the team.

Statistically he’s below average when it comes to yards (1,388) and touchdowns (8), but he doesn’t turn the ball over (a projected 4 interceptions) and completes an above-average percentage of his passes (63.4 percent).

We feel OK with giving Wallace a C and are comfortable having him return next year in a back-up role.

That brings us to Delhomme. Again, he came as advertised, completing an above average percentage of his passes (62.4) but was below average in yards (2,790), touchdowns (6) and interceptions (22).

We’ll give Delhomme some extra credit for the work he did helping McCoy this season which brings his grade to a C.

We’re not sure how valid our “analysis” is as they are just numbers; they don’t take into account any intangibles, the support of the running game, play calling or the talent void at the wide receiver position.

But they do confirm what we saw this year on the field: McCoy has shown enough that we want to see more; Wallace is capable as a back-up who won’t kill the team if he has to play in short stretches; and Delhomme is a veteran who is more valuable on the practice field during the week than on the field on Sundays.

The Browns quarterbacks pretty much were what we thought they would be back in July: certainly not Pro Bowlers by any stretch, but far from being the worse collection of quarterbacks in the league (that would be the Arizona Cardinals in case you were wondering).

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It has apparently been a good NFL season for Las Vegas.

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No matter how bad it gets in Brownstown, we can always be thankful we’re not in Cincinnati.

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And speaking of things to be thankful for, the Browns were never in consideration for Jim Harbaugh.

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Finally, ex-Indians Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame today.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Colt McCoy, Jake Delhomme, Las Vegas, NFL, Seneca Wallace | Leave a comment
04 Jan 2011
1 Comment

Wrapping up Browns vs. Steelers

There’s really not anything left to say about the Browns’ loss to Pittsburgh to end the season on Sunday.

It’s no real surprise the Browns loss, Pittsburgh is currently the better team and had something to play for. The Browns are still a work in progress and were short-handed due to injuries and a lack of talent.

The only real surprise was the final score. For the first time all season the Browns were not competitive and picked a bad time for it. If this loss had come in Week 6 it would still have been disappointing, but would have been forgotten as the season went along. But coming in the season finality made the loss seem worse to some, and that memory is what too many will probably take from this season.

***

A day later and we’re still divided over the firing of Eric Mangini.

We were ready to give Mangini another year to see if the Browns were really improving or not. But Mike Holmgren was not and, in the end, his opinion is the one that counts.

One thing we can’t shake, however, is Holmgren saying in November that “wins and losses are not the only criteria” and that “there’s more to look at.”

We’re not sure what Holmgren saw this year to make him believe the Browns should have finished with more than 5 wins. Apparently he believed the team that beat New England and New Orleans was the true Browns team and the losses to Cincy, Buffalo and Jacksonville were not acceptable.

On the flip side, it’s hard to overlook Mangini’s 10-22 record and 2-10 mark in the division and that seems to be what sealed the deal in Holmgren’s eyes.

The division record points out just how far the Browns still need to go and just how difficult it is going to be to be consistently competitive.

Until they show us otherwise, we have to assume the Steelers and the Ravens are going to have double-digit wins each season, which puts the Browns squarely in the toughest division in the league. This isn’t the NFC West (which the Browns would have owned this year) and the next coach needs to get the Browns to a point where they can compete in the division if they have any hope of being a playoff contender.

Holmgren had made his decision; while we’re not 100 percent behind it, it’s done so we need to move on.

Here’s a nice, fair take on Mangini from CBSSports.com.

***

Speaking of the next coach, the Browns are reportedly going to interview St. Louis offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur on Thursday.

Shurmur’s time in St. Louis appears to have been a mixed bag this season.

Shurmur has the requisite ties to Holmgren, having worked with Andy Reid in Philadelphia. But we have to wonder about him as the Rams ranked 26th in offense this year (21st in passing and 25th in rushing).

The team is also expected to interview Atlanta offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell and Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg.

***

Finally, today is the 30th anniversary of the Browns playoff loss to Oakland in the Red Right 88 game.

That was the day we learned what it meant to be a Browns (and Cleveland) fan. We were obviously much younger then and that was the first Browns team we fell in love with.

If only Brian Sipe had thrown the ball to Dave Logan this site would exist under a different name and would possibly have a different tone to it. But that’s not the way it worked out.

If you’re in the mood, video of the final drive is here. If you want to relive that magical season, Jonathan Knight’s book, Kardiac Kids: The Story of the 1980 Cleveland Browns, is an excellent read.

Posted in Brian Sipe, Cleveland Browns, Kardiac Kids, Mike Holmgren, NFL, Red Right 88
03 Jan 2011
2 Comments

What’s the next move Mike?

We probably shouldn’t be surprised at the news that Eric Mangini has been fired as coach of the Browns, but in some ways we are.

While we expected some kind of news to come out of Berea following the team’s 5-11 record this season, we thought it would be more along the lines of the team hiring an experienced, competent offensive coordinator. We expected Mangini to return for a third year, especially with the progress the team showed this year with the new front office structure of Mike Holmgren, Tom Heckert and Mangini.

Of course, we also thought LeBron was going to resign with the Cavs, so there you go.

“I’ve said all along and I’ve tried to be true to what I’ve told you, and certainly what I’ve told Eric all along is that this season I would make any decision I had to make once the season was concluded,” Holmgren said in his press conference announcing the firing. “Let the dust settle, let me think about it. That’s how I make decisions. That’s how I made the decision to keep Eric. And then come to some sort of conclusion. I didn’t sleep very well last night. I was up a fair amount of the night thinking about this, thinking what I might have to do and then finally trying to make the correct decision. Look, it’s difficult. I’ve never had to do this before. I like the man a lot. He is a hard working, bright, caring guy. Unfortunately this business at times and even though it wasn’t the only factor, I want to win here. We want to win here in Cleveland and we did not win enough games this year.”

In November, Holmgren said his decision would not be based solely on wins and losses. But it seems from his comments that is what he did.

“I don’t know if you can separate the two (making progress vs. winning games),” Holmgren said. “I think if you look at our season it had tremendous highs and lows for me. I think when we beat New England and New Orleans, I don’t think anybody in this room could leave this room without a smile on their face. It was really something, something very special. Then as good as we finished last year, a year ago, we finished as poor this year. If you’re talking about direction or how I felt the team was going, the finish wasn’t a feel good finish. What I tried to do is not base my decision on any one game, any one play, any two games, any stretch but the body of work. As I told the players when I met with them today after Eric had talked to them I went in and talked to them briefly. I have high expectations and I’m not going to settle, I’m just not going to settle.”

So Holmgren believes the Browns should have finished with, what … 7 or 8 wins? Apparently he believes the Browns are closer to the team that beat the Patriots and Saints, rather than the one that lost to the Bengals and Bills. It’s great that he doesn’t want to settle for the same old same, but is it realistic?

Much like when Dan Gilbert fired Mike Brown, the easy part is over for Holmgren. He must get this hiring correct because, if he doesn’t, it will be on him, not on Mangini. The good thing is Holmgren isn’t going into this alone and it sounds like he’s not in a rush to make a decision.

“I don’t want to do this again,” he said. “I think historically if you look at teams that don’t have to do this very much, they’ve been successful. They’ve been successful it’s just like which came first the chicken or the egg? Are they successful because they haven’t done it? You go through some bumps in the road if you think you have the right guy and the right system and all those things. That’s part of it. It’s very, very important that we get this right.”

One of the more interesting points Holmgren made was how people outside of Cleveland view the team, versus the way the long-suffering fanbase does.

“You guys have been here a long time, most of you and you’ve lived through the really tough things,” he said. “I think you have a tendency to view things just a little differently than perhaps I did when I came in or someone from outside coming in and looking at it. This is one of the great jobs. There are 32 jobs, this is one of the great jobs in the country. You’re a head coach in the National Football League, if you are a football coach that’s what you want to be. Another part of that is I would use the same technique that I used with Tom Heckert, Bryan Wiedmeier, Mark Schiefelbein, Jim Ross, Matt Thomas, all the guys now that are manning the offices upstairs that came from great football places but they came here to be with me to try and get something special done that hadn’t been done. There’s a challenge there that I think appeals to men in this business. That’s what I’ll be talking to the person about.”

The best part, perhaps, was Holmgren saying he won’t force a particular system on his new coach.

“I don’t think I can do that,” Holmgren said. “In what I tried to do with Eric (Mangini) this year and we talked about it this morning. I said, ‘I wish I could have helped you out more,’ and we had one of those things where we were kind of talking to each other that way. If I hire a coach, I’m hiring a coach. He’s going to run what he runs, what he’s comfortable with, what he knows. Now will it be part of the consideration in the process? Absolutely, but I am not going to interfere that way as a president. I did not do it this year, I’m not going to do it next year and I’m not going to do it ever. That’s not fair. Is it a consideration in this process? I think it is though. Maybe not the ‘system’ exactly but certainly something that I think allows the quarterback in this case in one of our quarterbacks to be successful.”

As for Mangini, on some level its hard to argue that the Browns should have kept a coach who was 10-22 with the team, and is 33-47 in five years as a head coach. After making the playoffs in his first year as Jets coach with Herm Edwards’ players, Mangini was only 23-41 in his next four years. Those numbers are hard to overlook.

And if we were told the four-game winning streak to end the 2009 season was a sign of progress, what should we make of this year’s four-game season-ending losing streak?

Having said that, we just can’t shake the feeling that another year of Mangini working with Holmgren and Heckert would have been a positive for the team. The team played hard this year; unfortunately the lasting memory will be the final loss against Pittsburgh.

Despite his record, Mangini is the best coach the Browns have had since returning in 1999. We know that’s not saying much, but it’s saying something. He’s probably the fourth-best coach we’ve seen since becoming a Browns’ fan, which dates back to the days of Forrest Gregg as coach.

“The experience coaching the Cleveland Browns the past two years has been tremendous,” Mangini said in a statement. “I appreciate the opportunity that the Lerner family gave me. I have a deep respect for the players that I have coached the past two years and how they have made a profound difference in changing the culture — a tougher, smarter, more competitive, selfless team that never gave up.

“Our goal was to build a team for long-term success. The core characteristics we were dedicated to, I believe, will help achieve that goal, and have provided a strong identity for this football team and have helped to create a positive foundation upon which the organization can continue to build.”

A new coach won’t make the defensive line younger or improve the linebackers. A new coach will still be looking at a team without a single wide receiver who would start for any other team in the league and a right side of the offensive line that is a mess.

But the new coach will be coming to a team with the No. 6 pick in the upcoming draft, young talent in Joe Haden, T.J. Ward, Colt McCoy and Peyton Hillis. Plus the new coach better be able to continue the tough, competitive nature of the team that Mangini put in over the past two years.

One additional thing we have going for us is, unlike the past coaching changes, this one doesn’t involve a complete overhaul of the front office as well. While Mangini is gone, Holmgren and Heckert remain. So the team, for once, isn’t really starting over from scratch.

But this is probably Holmgren’s one and only chance to get it right when it comes to hiring a coach.

Let’s hope he knows what his next move is.

***

No surprise that there is plenty of talk about Holmgren’s decision:

Mike Holmgren talks about Eric Mangini: Waiting for Next Year

Mike Holmgren, Eric Mangini and a Question with No Good Answers: Cleveland Frowns

And the Circle of Suck Continues: Two One Six Sports

Don’t Coach Mike: Terry Pluto

Mike Holmgren did the right thing: Bud Shaw

Holmgren needs younger version of himself: Marla Ridenour

ESPN celebrates Eric Mangini’s firing: Cleveland Leader

Mike Holmgren is best choice for Browns: James Walker

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Eric Mangini, Mike Holmgren, NFL
02 Jan 2011

Browns go out with a whimper

The Browns ended the 2010 season on Sunday in much the same way they have ended several seasons in the past decade – getting abused at the hands of the opponent.

It really isn’t a surprise the Browns lost to Pittsburgh on Sunday – the Steelers are better and healthier – but more the way they lost in the 41-9 debacle.

A Browns team that has been competitive all year long seemed to have the fight go out in them early, as Colt McCoy was intercepted on a tipped pass on the first possession and, before you knew it, the Steelers were up 14-0.

Maybe the players were following the lead of the coaching staff. After falling behind 14-0, McCoy drove the Browns 85 yards to the Pittsburgh two-yard-line. The Browns targeted Robert Royal twice in the end zone (the guy who came into the game with 5 receptions and 4 drops on the year) but both passes were incomplete.

Facing fourth down the Browns opted to kick a field goal, just like the did early in the Buffalo game. Why is anyone’s guess. Maybe coach Eric Mangini wanted to spotlight kicker Phil Dawson in what could have been his last game in a Cleveland uniform.

You are 5-10, you are on the other team’s two-yard-line, why not go for it? There is nothing to lose there. At least when they faced the Bills they were going against one of the worst defenses in the league and could expect more scoring opportunities. That clearly is not the case against the Steelers.

Obviously when you give up 41 points those lost points don’t really make a difference, but if the Browns would have punched it in who knows how things would have played out the rest of the half?

The defense had a horrible day. Coming into the game the Browns were the only team in the league that had not given up 30 points this season. The Steelers took care of that in the first half as they took a 31-3 lead into the locker room.

Pittsburgh scored on its first five possessions and rolled up 418 yards in offense.

Perhaps defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, who will reportedly interview for the head coaching job in Carolina, was already making dinner plans for The Pit and couldn’t be bothered to put together a solid defensive game plan.

“I thought we got beat in all three phases,” Mangini said in published reports. “They had a better plan than we did and when that happens against a team like this, you have a day like today. It’s difficult to feel any positives in the wake of what happened.”

We certainly echo that sentiment.

So in a season where the Browns were once 5-7 and dreaming of a .500 finish, the Browns instead finish 5-11 for the second year in a row and are now 2-10 under Mangini in the division.

Unfortunately the team had its worst performance by far in the last game of the season. Right or wrong, the memory of today’s game will linger with people more than the wins earlier in the year against New Orleans and New England.

And if the four-game winning streak to end last season was supposed to be a sign of progress under Mangini, what are we to make of the four-game losing streak to end this season? Was the losing streak a function of a tougher schedule – much like last year’s was built against teams with nothing to play for? Should one weigh more heavily than the other in determining the fate of Mangini and the coaching staff?

“I’m sure everybody thinks there is a possibility [of a coaching change],” left tackle Joe Thomas told The Plain Dealer. “We knew that was the way it was going to be coming into the season, so I don’t think anything was different.”

We’ve all seen this before. Chris Palmer’s final game was a 24-0 loss to the Titans in 2000, the last in a five-game losing streak. Romeo Crennel finished his final season with a six-game losing streak in 2008 that ended with a 31-0 loss to Pittsburgh.

As discouraging and disappointing as today’s game was, we really don’t relish the thought of starting over again with a new coach. A lot of what was wrong with this season can be fixed with improved talent and by bringing in an experienced coordinator on offense.

Just look at the Chiefs this year as an example: they brought in Charlie Weiss as offensive coordinator and the team improved from 25th to 9th in offense. Romeo took over the 30th ranked defense and improved them to 11th this year.

There’s little reason to believe the same can’t happen here in Cleveland with another strong draft, a little patience and more experience in the offensive coordinator position.

Here’s hoping Mike Holmgren sees things the same way.

We may find out soon enough.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, disappointment, Eric Mangini, frustration, NFL | Leave a comment

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