Cleveland Browns' Jamal Lewis tees off on Eric Mangini's practice regimen
By Tony Grossi
November 13, 2009, 5:25AM
Thomas Ondrey / The Plain DealerBrowns running back Jamal Lewis, above, said Thursday he believes coach Eric Mangini works the team too hard in practice. BEREA, Ohio -- Everybody says the Browns work hard under coach Eric Mangini. Jamal Lewis is the first player to say they work too hard to win.
"The talent is there. There's talent all over this room, young and old," Lewis said of the 1-7 team. "At the same time, that talent's got to be able to be ready for Sunday and to be fresh for Sunday and be ready to go out and be efficient on Sunday.
"You can work hard as you want. You can work all day, seven days a week all the way up to Sunday in practice. But at the same time, if you're going to work like that, then maybe on Sunday you're probably not going to get what you want out of your players."
Lewis' comments were a stinging indictment of Mangini's handling of the Browns in his first season as coach. Prior to the open locker room period, Mangini talked of his willingness to "adjust" his approach during a dismal season such as this one.
When Lewis was relayed the comment and asked if Mangini needs to adjust it more, Lewis shot back, "Next question."
Lewis' rant began when asked about comments he made to Baltimore media in a conference call Wednesday. He said he's retiring after this season because he's tired. He didn't mean physically tired.
On Thursday, he said, "I'm tired of dealing with politics, tired of dealing with the whole organizational thing, just how things go. It's just tiresome. When you don't have to deal with it, why deal with it?
"[if] I'm going come out here and work the way I work, then I want results. I want to be able to go out to work. Right now, that's not what's going on. And I feel it's just a waste of time for me.
"I know we have a lot of young players. But two things, I'm not a babysitter. I come here every day to work to get my job done so I can lead and I lead by example. [And] . . . if you notice . . . I think this offense is built more as a pass-type offense. You know what system it is, where it came from. I don't think I'm built for that."
Lewis is mired in his worst season of 10 in the NFL. He has rushed for 349 yards and no touchdowns. His average run is 3.6 yards. He has six catches for 70 yards. Lewis missed two games with a hamstring injury.
Lewis first talked about retiring out of frustration following the Browns' last game before their bye, a loss in Chicago. The more he talks about it, the more pointed he gets about Mangini's handling of the team.
"The way we work in two-a-days in camp, the way we work every day for two and a half to three hours, hey, you want a W on Sunday when you work like that," Lewis said.
Mangini professes to have an open-door policy to allow players to stop in and vent. He also has weekly meetings with the team captains. Lewis is one of the captains. But Lewis said he won't take his complaints directly to Mangini.
"This is his show. It's not mine. It's not anybody else around here's show," he said. "We're just a crop. You've got to take care of your crop. If you don't take care of your crop, when it comes time to harvest, you're not gonna make no money because the crop ain't no good."
He also said, "You've got a lot of guys around here that are big-time players and can make big-time plays, but at the same time you've got to be ready on Sunday, or Monday."
Lewis is no slacker. His grueling off-season conditioning workouts in Atlanta are legendary. At the same time, he grew up in the NFL under former coach Brian Billick, who believed in taking it light on his players during the season.
"That's when you get your work in, in the off-season," Lewis said. "That's when you get in shape to get ready to go through a 16-week season. There's no possible way I can come in here and do what I do in the off-season and do it every day right here. No way possible. Because I wouldn't be ready for Sunday."
Lewis said he's practiced in full pads in this half-season "probably more than I have in three or four seasons in Baltimore."
So why not vent to the coach?
"That's not my role," he said. "That hasn't been my role with any coach I've ever been with. You have to evaluate your situation. You have to look at your players. You have to figure out why. That's not my job to figure out.
"My job is to run the football and block and do what I'm asked to do. My job is not to evaluate and see what's going on around here and try to fix it. I'm not a babysitter. I just expect everybody to do their job, whether it's upstairs or down here. It's called accountability. I'm accountable for my job."
Efforts to get a response from Mangini through the Browns' public relations department were not immediately successful.
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