Time for Browns to admit mistake with Mangini
Might not be fair, but Mangini's time is up
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
CLEVELAND: The Browns have reached the time for a difficult decision regarding the future of Eric Mangini: There shouldn't be one.
Sunday was another humiliating loss, this one to the Green Bay Packers, at home. The 31-3 final does not do it justice.
The Browns were abysmal.
Yes, a bunch of guys had the flu during the week, and the flu stinks.
But so do the Browns — now 1-6 and playing worse.
The Packers were playing without two starters on the offensive line. They found a way to play well, to compete, to win.
Which is what mentally tough teams do.
The Browns find ways to lose, to botch games, to turn a loyal-to-a-fault fan following dispassionate and blase.
Coach Eric Mangini did not deserve the personal shots taken at him in Rolling Stone last week, but professionally, he has done nothing with this team except make it worse.
The Browns ended last season
playing their third- and fourth-string quarterbacks. This season's team has its roster, minus the normal number of injuries. It's not overly beaten up, and it's not an expansion team.
Yet it's the worst Browns team since the jubilant return in 1999.
This is Mangini's team. It's his approach, coaching staff and roster — with 23 new players on opening day (and 10 former New York Jets now on the team).
The Browns have been humiliated on the road in Baltimore and Denver, embarrassed at home by the Minnesota Vikings and the Packers. They lost by three to the Cincinnati Bengals then won by three in Buffalo.
Imagine — the highlight of the season is a three-point win over the Bills, when the starting quarterback completed two passes.
The two quarterbacks have regressed to the point that they don't resemble the guys who played the previous two seasons. All the Browns have done with Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn is destroy their trade value.
Quinn was yanked after 10 quarters. The past 12 quarters, Anderson has gone 23-for-70, yet during a blowout loss Sunday, Quinn never looked for his helmet.
Is there any clearer indication that he has absolutely no future with the Browns?
Go down the roster, especially to the places Mangini made changes. The right side of the line? No better. Neither are the other spots where Mangini brought in ''his'' guys — at receiver, tight end, safety, inside linebacker or defensive end. Not to mention offensive coordinator.
Too, consider the teams that former coaches Butch Davis and Romeo Crennel took over. None had a Shaun Rogers at nose tackle, a Josh Cribbs, a Joe Thomas, an Eric Steinbach.
Mangini did not take over a 12-win team, but he also did not take over one that should lose by 28 at home.
After the loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers eight days ago, their offensive coordinator, Bruce Arians, said the Steelers noticed the Browns like to blitz the safeties on first and second down. If you protect, Arians said, you can make big plays by running guys through the vacated area.
Guess what the Packers did in the first quarter? It saw safety Abram Elam blitz, then sent Donald Driver to Elam's area for a 71-yard touchdown that featured yet more missed tackles.
The players can say they're playing hard for their coach.
The evidence isn't there.
The Browns can keep hoping that things will get better and the ''foundation'' is being built.
If they do, they're fooling themselves.
It's difficult and painful to admit a mistake, but coaches have been replaced sooner.
The Browns and owner Randy Lerner need to start considering this possibility. Seriously.
Is it fair to Mangini? Probably not. He's trying, he's working. He doesn't want to lose. But it's not working. The Browns could win next Sunday, yes, but what does that make them? Two-and-six.
And is it any less fair than it was to Quinn to have 10 quarters to prove himself? Mangini wanted this system where he decides personnel. It's his show, and his record.
Most important, though, is perpetuating this situation fair to the fans who have to watch this nonsense week after week after week? To give them this kind of effort and play after they've spent so much of their hard-earned money?
If the Browns think they have problems now, wait until December, when it's cold, and 25,000 are in the stands and games are blacked out locally. And wait until they start selling tickets for 2010.
The only thing worse than making a mistake is not admitting it.
Continuing a mistake ''just because'' only compounds the mistake.
The Browns' defense has been terrible all season, but coordinator Rob Ryan might be able to reach the players in a way Mangini hasn't. He's done nothing to earn the job, except be the best option on the staff to be an interim.
Heck, it can't be worse.
It's a tough decision for Lerner, because he personally hired Mangini. But this team has gotten worse — in every way — and there's no evidence short of a 6-3 win in Buffalo that the team believes in what it's being told.
Nor is there a shred of evidence that it will get better.
The time has come to recognize a mistake, make a tough decision and start over again next season. It's another restart and that's one more too many, but maybe it will produce better results and some long-lost continuity.
What's taking place is simply not working.
They should have a pretty good idea what they have with DA now, and it's not a starting NFL QB. Either give Quinn or Ratliff a shot to see what they can do. Anderson is not the answer. This is beyond brutal, and has to stop.
