When Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner briefly emerged from seclusion to hire Mike Holmgren to reverse the franchise's decade-long sagging fortunes, no one could have imagined that the initial step in that process would be to retain first year coach Eric Mangini; the Browns started the season 1-11 and could easily have been 0-12 if the Buffalo Bills had not gift-wrapped a win for the Browns by fumbling in field goal range late in Cleveland's 6-3 week five victory (Cleveland's game-winning "drive" traversed 15 yards in seven plays, culminating in a chip shot 18 yard field goal). Lerner clearly brought Holmgren aboard to do yet another "reboot" of the Browns' malfunctioning operating system after previous attempts to create "49ers East" (with Carmen Policy and Dwight Clark), "Miami Hurricanes North" (with Butch Davis) and "New England Patriots West" (first with Romeo Crennel, then with Mangini) all failed dismally, resulting in just two winning seasons and one playoff berth since the Browns returned to the NFL in 1999. Then, Mangini's Browns--who spent the first three fourths of the 2009 season redefining offensive ineptitude--suddenly discovered a winning formula that involved heavy doses of running back Jerome Harrison, kick returner/wide receiver/"wild cat" formation quarterback Joshua Cribbs and an improving defense: the Browns closed the season with four straight wins, the team's first such streak since Bill Belichick coached the franchise's original incarnation back in 1994 (which is also the last season that the Browns won a playoff game). The Browns' strong finish raised the possibility that Holmgren would not clean house but instead give Mangini the opportunity to continue to coach the team.
Although respected Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Terry Pluto asserts that "the easiest move would have been to fire coach Eric Mangini," a more in depth analysis of the situation proves that the opposite is true: while firing Mangini would have been "the easiest move" to make a month ago, Holmgren would have had little to gain and much to lose by firing Mangini right now. If Holmgren canned Mangini and the Browns started out slowly next season then the heat would be on Holmgren for not giving Mangini a fair chance. Mangini has made an improbable transformation from the coach who fans wanted to run out of town to the coach that many fans feel has earned the right the right to keep his job. The only reasons for Holmgren to get rid of Mangini now are (1) if his long range plans are completely incompatible with Mangini's coaching philosophy and/or (2) if Holmgren has a top notch, proven winner lined up to succeed Mangini.
Regarding the first reason, by keeping Mangini around so soon after Mangini had been a dead man walking, Holmgren has all but assured Mangini's loyalty: if Holmgren offers input--say, about how to handle the quarterback position--and Mangini balks then Holmgren can justify getting rid of Mangini by referring back to what Holmgren said in his introductory press conference, namely that a team can only be successful if the owner, executives, coaches and players are all on the same page. So, Mangini has little choice now but to do things Holmgren's way; the four game winning streak saved Mangini's job but it did not give him carte blanche to do whatever he wants to do. With noted quarterback guru Holmgren running the franchise the Browns will hopefully enjoy some stability at the quarterback position by either firmly establishing one of the two incumbent signal callers as the definite starter or by acquiring a better player to fill that spot.
As for the second reason to dismiss Mangini, there is no way of knowing whether or not whoever Holmgren may have wanted to bring in to coach the team is even available but coaching the Browns is hardly a dream job at this point for any coach who has established himself as a winner and therefore can pick and choose where he lands.
Then consider that even with that final four game push the Browns still finished dead last in the NFL in net yards gained (4163) and 31st (next to last) in net yards allowed (6229); the Browns gained nearly 2300 fewer yards than the top ranked offensive team did (New Orleans Saints, 6461) and they allowed nearly 2000 yards more than the top ranked defensive team did (New York Jets, 4037). In other words, the Browns must not only find a way to maintain their late season performances in the running game, defense and special teams but they must also upgrade themselves in other areas (most notably the passing game) in order to contend for a playoff spot. If Harrison is not cranking out 100 yard rushing games and/or if the Browns do not placate Cribbs' demands to renegotiate his contract then the team could get off to a miserable start next season. In that case, Holmgren can fire Mangini with no negative repercussions from the media or fan base and Holmgren will have a bit of a grace period to find a new coach and turn the team around.
Of course, if the Browns race out of the gates next season and become the latest team to vault from last place to playoff contention then Holmgren will receive a lot of praise for being flexible and patient and resisting the urge to fire Mangini. I don't know what kind of season the Browns will have in 2010 but whatever they do Holmgren has ensured that he will not face serious scrutiny until at least 2011.
Showing posts with label Eric Mangini. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eric Mangini. Show all posts
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Curious Start to Mangini Era in Cleveland
The Cleveland Browns have only had winning records twice in the 10 seasons since the franchise's rebirth in 1999 and they have only made the playoffs once, as a 9-7 Wild Card in 2002. It is certainly understandable if newly hired Coach Eric Mangini looked at that track record and decided that the organization and the roster need to be completely overhauled. However, some of the early moves of the Mangini regime look puzzling on the surface.
The Browns have not exactly been stuffing the Pro Bowl roster in recent years, so one would think that retaining Pro Bowl quality players would be an organizational priority. Instead, during this offseason the Browns have already traded one Pro Bowler and may have irrevocably damaged their relationship with another Pro Bowler.
Tight end Kellen Winslow--a 2007 Pro Bowler after tying the franchise single season record with 89 receptions--has literally been injured for half of his pro career but no one can deny that he has great hands and that he always plays hard. The Browns shipped him to Tampa Bay for a second round pick this year and a fifth round pick in 2010. Maybe he has already seen his best days; maybe he will never be healthy for long enough stretches to be productive--but he is a 25 year old who was the sixth overall selection in the draft just five years ago: what if he plays 10 more years and makes the Pro Bowl several times? The Browns are unlikely to get players who are that productive with the two draft picks that they acquired. Mangini deserves the benefit of the doubt and must be given an opportunity to build a team the way that he thinks it must be constructed to be successful but watching the Browns the past few years I did not get the impression that Winslow was the big problem. Put it this way: without shaming anyone by naming names, there are more than a few other players I would have gotten rid of before shipping off Winslow. The Browns have a long history of giving up on players who become productive elsewhere, which reflects poorly not only on the people who are evaluating those players but also the people who are coaching them. Of course, Mangini is not responsible for those past failures but Browns fans have to hope that he has not added one more name to that list.
Whether or not this seems petty, Pro Bowl defensive tackle Shaun Rogers is convinced that Mangini snubbed him at a Cleveland awards banquet. Rogers is upset that Mangini has not reached out to contact him personally and that the Browns apparently have questioned his conditioning even though that was not a problem at all last season. Rogers has indicated that he no longer wants to play for the Browns, though his options in that regard are limited and the team is attempting to smooth things over with him. Rogers had a questionable reputation in Detroit but he seemed to completely turn his career around last year. He is the kind of player who you build a playoff team around. What kind of message does it send--to players on the team as well as players who the Browns might try to sign--when the new coach gets off to such a rocky start with arguably the team's most productive player? Maybe Rogers is overreacting, maybe he is simply posturing to try to get a bigger contract but a big part of being a leader is forming solid relationships and this situation does not reflect well on Mangini in that sense.
As a Browns fan, I have no problem whatsoever with Mangini cleaning house--but I expected him to start with the underperforming players on the roster, not the Pro Bowl tight end and the Pro Bowl defensive tackle.
The Browns have not exactly been stuffing the Pro Bowl roster in recent years, so one would think that retaining Pro Bowl quality players would be an organizational priority. Instead, during this offseason the Browns have already traded one Pro Bowler and may have irrevocably damaged their relationship with another Pro Bowler.
Tight end Kellen Winslow--a 2007 Pro Bowler after tying the franchise single season record with 89 receptions--has literally been injured for half of his pro career but no one can deny that he has great hands and that he always plays hard. The Browns shipped him to Tampa Bay for a second round pick this year and a fifth round pick in 2010. Maybe he has already seen his best days; maybe he will never be healthy for long enough stretches to be productive--but he is a 25 year old who was the sixth overall selection in the draft just five years ago: what if he plays 10 more years and makes the Pro Bowl several times? The Browns are unlikely to get players who are that productive with the two draft picks that they acquired. Mangini deserves the benefit of the doubt and must be given an opportunity to build a team the way that he thinks it must be constructed to be successful but watching the Browns the past few years I did not get the impression that Winslow was the big problem. Put it this way: without shaming anyone by naming names, there are more than a few other players I would have gotten rid of before shipping off Winslow. The Browns have a long history of giving up on players who become productive elsewhere, which reflects poorly not only on the people who are evaluating those players but also the people who are coaching them. Of course, Mangini is not responsible for those past failures but Browns fans have to hope that he has not added one more name to that list.
Whether or not this seems petty, Pro Bowl defensive tackle Shaun Rogers is convinced that Mangini snubbed him at a Cleveland awards banquet. Rogers is upset that Mangini has not reached out to contact him personally and that the Browns apparently have questioned his conditioning even though that was not a problem at all last season. Rogers has indicated that he no longer wants to play for the Browns, though his options in that regard are limited and the team is attempting to smooth things over with him. Rogers had a questionable reputation in Detroit but he seemed to completely turn his career around last year. He is the kind of player who you build a playoff team around. What kind of message does it send--to players on the team as well as players who the Browns might try to sign--when the new coach gets off to such a rocky start with arguably the team's most productive player? Maybe Rogers is overreacting, maybe he is simply posturing to try to get a bigger contract but a big part of being a leader is forming solid relationships and this situation does not reflect well on Mangini in that sense.
As a Browns fan, I have no problem whatsoever with Mangini cleaning house--but I expected him to start with the underperforming players on the roster, not the Pro Bowl tight end and the Pro Bowl defensive tackle.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Will Mangini be Able to Turn the Browns Around?
The Cleveland Browns have hired Eric Mangini, the franchise's fifth head coach since rejoining the NFL in 1999. Like his predecessor Romeo Crennel, Mangini is a former Bill Belichick assistant coach who helped the New England Patriots win Super Bowl titles and has previous ties to the Browns franchise. Unlike Crennel, Mangini is a young coach who had previous NFL head coaching experience prior to becoming Cleveland's head coach. Mangini went 23-25 in three years with the New York Jets, leading the team to two winning records and one playoff berth. The Jets fired him last week in the wake of the team's collapse to 9-7 from an 8-3 start.
Cleveland owner Randy Lerner apparently felt love at first sight with Mangini, because as soon as he became available Lerner scarcely considered anyone else before offering Mangini the job. On the other hand, it does not seem like former Super Bowl winning coaches Bill Cowher or Mike Shanahan intend to take head coaching jobs right now so Mangini may in fact be the best available coach. Although Crennel and Mangini both worked for Belichick they have different personalities and coaching styles. Crennel is a laid back "player's coach" but that style backfired this year when his players took advantage of Crennel's easy going ways and played without much discipline; in contrast, Mangini is much more like Belichick and Bill Parcells, a hard driving, no nonsense coach. It certainly seems like that is exactly what the Browns need but just as important as changing the style will be to change the substance: the Browns must continue to add talent to the roster, so it will be critically important that Mangini and whoever becomes the team's new general manager are on the same page and that they don't make as many mistakes as the Browns' previous talent evaluators have.
The team that the Browns need to surpass and should be trying to emulate is their division rival Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers have had three head coaches since 1969--Chuck Noll (four-time Super Bowl winner), Bill Cowher (one-time Super Bowl winner) and Mike Tomlin (two playoff appearances in two seasons on the job). Noll, Cowher and Tomlin were each young, defensive-minded coaches when the Steelers hired them. Noll and Cowher enjoyed long, successful careers and Tomlin appears to be on that same track. The best case scenario for Cleveland is that Mangini will turn out to be a similar success story; the worst case scenario is that, like Crennel, he will be revealed to be a very good assistant coach who thrived under the watchful eye of Belichick but is not equipped to run his own program.
It is ironic that each time Belichick's staff has been raided by teams seeking to steal some of his "magic" there have been critics who suggested that the Patriots would not be the same because that particular assistant coach played such a key role in their success--but the Patriots have kept right on rolling as Belichick continues to find and develop talented assistants. Also, while it is true that none of Belichick's proteges have yet had great success as NFL head coaches, a number of them have been successful as collegiate head coaches, including Nick Saban (who won a national championship with LSU in 2003), Kirk Ferentz (two Big 10 titles at Iowa) and Pat Hill (92-61 record at Fresno State). Belichick arrived in Cleveland in 1991 after a depleted Browns team went 3-13 and three years later he had transformed the Browns into an 11-5 playoff team. While in Cleveland, Belichick hired and mentored a number of talented people who have gone on to be successful in other locations, including not only Saban, Ferentz and Hill but also Ozzie Newsome (architect of the 2000 Super Bowl champion Ravens).
It is also worth noting that for many years some people said that Belichick had done nothing more than ride Bill Parcells' coattails but Belichick has now won three Super Bowls as a head coach while Parcells has yet to win a playoff game as a head coach or team executive without having Belichick on his coaching staff; Belichick won two Super Bowls as a Parcells assistant coach (1986, 1990 New York Giants) and his Browns beat Parcells' Patriots the only time the two coaches met head to head in the playoffs (1994).
If Mangini does not do well in Cleveland, the false rap that was once applied to Belichick about riding Parcells' coattails may in fact be more accurately said of guys like Crennel, Notre Dame's Charlie Weis and other Belichick aides who built big names for themselves with Belichick's Patriots but have yet to make a mark on their own.
Cleveland owner Randy Lerner apparently felt love at first sight with Mangini, because as soon as he became available Lerner scarcely considered anyone else before offering Mangini the job. On the other hand, it does not seem like former Super Bowl winning coaches Bill Cowher or Mike Shanahan intend to take head coaching jobs right now so Mangini may in fact be the best available coach. Although Crennel and Mangini both worked for Belichick they have different personalities and coaching styles. Crennel is a laid back "player's coach" but that style backfired this year when his players took advantage of Crennel's easy going ways and played without much discipline; in contrast, Mangini is much more like Belichick and Bill Parcells, a hard driving, no nonsense coach. It certainly seems like that is exactly what the Browns need but just as important as changing the style will be to change the substance: the Browns must continue to add talent to the roster, so it will be critically important that Mangini and whoever becomes the team's new general manager are on the same page and that they don't make as many mistakes as the Browns' previous talent evaluators have.
The team that the Browns need to surpass and should be trying to emulate is their division rival Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers have had three head coaches since 1969--Chuck Noll (four-time Super Bowl winner), Bill Cowher (one-time Super Bowl winner) and Mike Tomlin (two playoff appearances in two seasons on the job). Noll, Cowher and Tomlin were each young, defensive-minded coaches when the Steelers hired them. Noll and Cowher enjoyed long, successful careers and Tomlin appears to be on that same track. The best case scenario for Cleveland is that Mangini will turn out to be a similar success story; the worst case scenario is that, like Crennel, he will be revealed to be a very good assistant coach who thrived under the watchful eye of Belichick but is not equipped to run his own program.
It is ironic that each time Belichick's staff has been raided by teams seeking to steal some of his "magic" there have been critics who suggested that the Patriots would not be the same because that particular assistant coach played such a key role in their success--but the Patriots have kept right on rolling as Belichick continues to find and develop talented assistants. Also, while it is true that none of Belichick's proteges have yet had great success as NFL head coaches, a number of them have been successful as collegiate head coaches, including Nick Saban (who won a national championship with LSU in 2003), Kirk Ferentz (two Big 10 titles at Iowa) and Pat Hill (92-61 record at Fresno State). Belichick arrived in Cleveland in 1991 after a depleted Browns team went 3-13 and three years later he had transformed the Browns into an 11-5 playoff team. While in Cleveland, Belichick hired and mentored a number of talented people who have gone on to be successful in other locations, including not only Saban, Ferentz and Hill but also Ozzie Newsome (architect of the 2000 Super Bowl champion Ravens).
It is also worth noting that for many years some people said that Belichick had done nothing more than ride Bill Parcells' coattails but Belichick has now won three Super Bowls as a head coach while Parcells has yet to win a playoff game as a head coach or team executive without having Belichick on his coaching staff; Belichick won two Super Bowls as a Parcells assistant coach (1986, 1990 New York Giants) and his Browns beat Parcells' Patriots the only time the two coaches met head to head in the playoffs (1994).
If Mangini does not do well in Cleveland, the false rap that was once applied to Belichick about riding Parcells' coattails may in fact be more accurately said of guys like Crennel, Notre Dame's Charlie Weis and other Belichick aides who built big names for themselves with Belichick's Patriots but have yet to make a mark on their own.
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