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Lerner stands behind Mangini

JSchudel@News-Herald.com

Eric Mangini's job as head coach of the Browns is safe, team owner Randy Lerner wrote Tuesday in an e-mail response.

There has been speculation in some circles Mangini would be fired next Monday if the Browns lose to the 1-8 Lions in Detroit, but Lerner said that will not happen.

"I plan on sticking with Eric," Lerner wrote in his response.

The Browns are 1-8, their worst record since the expansion year of 1999, when they were also 1-8. They won in their 10th game that year when Phil Dawson kicked the game-winning field goal at Three Rivers Stadium to beat the Steelers, 16-15.

Lerner's support comes at a time when Mangini is being challenged and second-guessed from all sides, including the NFL players' union. And now he is coming under scrutiny for not only his coaching habits, but also his on-field coaching decisions.

The Browns were trailing the Ravens, 16-0, Monday night when Brady Quinn threw a pass to Joshua Cribbs near midfield on the final play. Cribbs lateraled the ball to Robert Royal.

Cribbs was flattened on the play with a forearm to the chin by Ravens defensive lineman Dwan Edwards. Cribbs was taken off the field strapped to a body board and on the back of an equipment cart. He was taken by ambulance to the Cleveland Clinic, treated and released early Tuesday morning.

Cribbs' agent, J.R. Rickert, was more furious about the play call than about the hit Edwards delivered. Edwards could be fined, particularly since Cribbs did not have the ball.

"It was a competitive moment," Mangini said Tuesday in a teleconference. "In retrospect, I probably would have done it differently if I had to do it again. But it was competitive. I though Josh could make something happen.

"I talked to Josh for a while today. Josh felt like he could have gotten up at that point, but he didn't want to disregard what the medical people were saying. He's moving around fine today, a little stiff and tired. In typical Josh style, he's focused on Detroit."

Mangini said if he called the play again, he would have Quinn simply hand off.

The Cribbs distraction could fade away more quickly because of another one looming.

Today, the NFLPA plans to visit the training complex in Berea and interview players about statements made last week by Jamal Lewis.

The 10-year veteran said the Browns' practices are so long and physical, sometimes 2 1/2 to three hours according to Lewis, the players are not fresh on game day.

Last Friday, Mangini responded to those allegations by saying practice lasts two hours after a 30-minute walkthrough. He conceded practices could run longer if mistakes have to be corrected.

Jay Glazer of FOX Sports added fuel to the fire by saying he talked to unnamed players following Lewis going public and was told one practice last week lasted three hours and 25 minutes.

"I'm comfortable with how much we practice, our schedule and our routine," Mangini said Tuesday. "The union can come in and take a look at whatever they want to look at. There's nothing being hidden here. That's not the case. There's transparency.

"We practice the amount of time I told you we practice. I don't think it's different than a lot of other teams. I'm sure it's less than some teams."

All this comes at a time when Mangini has to figure a way to pump life into an offense that has failed to score a touchdown in six of nine games. He said Quinn will start against the Lions despite a 23.5 passer rating against the Ravens. The Browns were in the Ravens' territory only once and did not cross their 45.

The start by Quinn was his first after replacing Derek Anderson, who was given five starts after replacing Quinn at halftime of the first Baltimore game. The offense looked the same under both quarterbacks, particularly recently.

Anderson passed for 99 yards against the Packers on Oct. 25 and 76 yards against the Bears on Nov. 1. Quinn passed for 99 yards against the Ravens.

A call was made to Elias Sports Bureau in New York to discover the last time a team played three straight games in which its quarterback failed to pass for at least 100 yards. It has happened only once — now twice — since 1990. The 2005 San Francisco 49ers, with rookie Alex Smith at quarterback in two of them, went three straight games with sub-100 passing yards and lost them all.

Anderson's passer rating against the Bears was 10.5. His rating against the Packers was 36.4. Prior to that, it was 51.0 against the Packers and 15.1 against the Bills.

Mangini said he was encouraged by the way the Quinn moved the team. The Browns were 5 of 16 on third down, which was an improvement from the first time Quinn started. Under Quinn, the Browns were 6 of 30 on third down in the 10 quarters he played before being benched in Week 3.

"I've tried a lot of different things (to get the offense going), and obviously it's not been successful enough," Mangini said. "We're going to have to keep trying things until we get to the point where we need to be. Running the ball as efficiently as we possibly can, but also to me, it comes down to third down, being able to sustain the drives on third down. We just haven't done that effectively enough."

My guess is that's what he has to say when asked directly. Until a VPFO/Czar is hired, he has to go with that response. He wants the new guy to make all the decisions. Probably a smart move to wait until that hire is completed. Bottom line, no way in hell Mangini is here next year. At least I hope.

What else is he going to say "if we lose to the Lions I am going to fire Mangini"? First. that would almost guarantee a loss (since I doubt most of the team wants to play for this jerk) and two it would make Lerner look bad. Lerner is going to let his new football guy do the firing and is going to have lots of documentation against Mangini to terminate the contract.

I agree Raleigh. I mean, I really don't expect Lerner to say anything differently. "Yes, I'm going to be firing him soon, but don't tell him!"

Then again, saying that might get the players excited.

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"I plan on sticking with Eric,"

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There is no other choice at this point, regardless of what is written and said by the media and fans.

I'm sure that Lerner would like to leave it up to whomever he hires as his football czar, which means, a decision on Mangini's status may not come until after the season is over.

My concern is Lerner will not be able to hire someone to take the czar position as fast as everyone expects. It could take longer than expected and it may not be the #1 choice on Lerner's list.

I haven't seen any evidence that Lerner isn't willing to pay big bucks, and I hope that's the case here.

Because think about it. If he hires the right guy and they start winning and we turn into a Colts or Patriots or even Steelers type team, imagine the money he'll have coming in.

They could charge $900/seat and the place would sell out (you get what I'm saying).

I think that Lerner would be willing to spend money now knowing that if he gets it right, he'll be raking in ridiculous amounts of money in the future.

Yeah, He's standing behind Mangini....... with a big ole AXE

Seriously, what else is he supposed to say.. To say he's not standing behind him,,, well, he may as well can him now..

Lerner will not fire mangini, he will allow his new Pres to have the pleasure of canning him.

Thats the way it should be..just like thats the way it should have been structured before he hired Manpolen..

If we get hammered by the Lions....I say all bets are off.

Say we lose 33-6. To the Lions. Featuring the same embarrassing futility that we've shown all year?

You better believe Lerner considers it. He'd have to.

kiss of death.

I think Detroit will prolly beat us.....seeing as though they actually score TOUCHDOWNS!!!!!

We don't---so we aren't going to win.

Our only shot is against the Raiders. Unless Frye starts....then we are toast.

Eric Wright vs. Calvin Johnson will be an interesting matchup. Wright has done well this year, but Johnson is a true beast.

The key is going to be pressure on Stafford. Make him get rid of the ball fast.

Also, if our offense can put up its normal stellar stats, we could end up winning this game 2-0.

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Re-read that sentence carefully and think about it...."I plan"....is as close to saying "goodbye" as it gets at this time and situation....you pick stronger words if you're 100% backing the guy

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Yup,, at the presser where he announces Mangini is gone, he will say, 'I planned on sticking with Eric" But I just couldn't do it...

I agree,,,, it's a left handed jab....

Rough translation:

"I plan on sticking with Mangini, now what my new czar who I give full control to plans on... I couldn't tell you."

Personally, I think Lerner means what he says. I believe that when Lerner and EM first talked last year, EM sold him on his vision and his plan. I firmly believe that EM told Randy that this was going to be a long process, that it was going to be ugly before it was pretty. I very much believe that Randy bought what EM was selling including EM's pick of Kokinis.

I think that there is something we do not know about with respect to the canning of Erin and George.

I further believe that RL intends to bring on a strong GM with the instructions to help EM make the changes that need to be made. I think the Jets he brought in are just stop gaps and merely the first parts of the plan

Having said that, I'm not a big EM fan, and I really wish RL had done this right and gotten a big, competent GM / Czar from the get go. I'm hoping that with advice from Accorsi and Kosar and whoever else RL is listening to, he will make some better decisions.

Anything is possible Saint,,, I just don't believe that Mangini has a future here..

Not because the team is 1-8,,, but because of bone headed calls like the one with Cribbs getting injured.. Also because of the unwanted attention that the team and Mangini are getting over the practice schedule.. which if you listen to all the reports, he's saying they were about 2 hours and the players are quietly saying off the record that they were longer..

I think mangini is lying to everyone including Lerner and I'm sure that lerner will figure it out and can him or have his new VP/GM do so..


Besides, what GM/VP coming into this situation would want to be saddled with the baggage that Mangini brought this year?

It's the dreaded "vote of confidence".

Equates to, just enough rope to hang yourself so there is cause to file 13 your butt.

Agreed. Anything is possible. One thing is for sure, we do NOT have all the information. As usual whatever we say on here is speculation and our opinion...

There are times that I think this board should be named

"Opinions R Us."

I don't think Mangini gets fired after this game no matter what. The first thing that needs to be done is to bring in a GM/Pres.

EM won't get fired before that happens.

If all talked only from a factual position, there would be damn few posts on this site.

You know it's only a bone headed call because someone got hurt...had we scored or almost scored some would have aplauded the fact that they kept fighting or were trying to the end...

Right now I see the play as something people will try to use to hang Mangini out to dry on...and it is ridiculous...They called the play...it is a dangerous sport...and unfortunately for us Cribbs got cheap shotted with an elbow to the throat...

Do you see Cribbs complaining about the call???(of course with this media blackout I don't think we would see him complain if we is...LOL)

Was the call a good one...probably not...but was it a "bonehead" call...no, it wasn't...it just is what it was...a play that didn't turn out well ....much like all the rest of the offensive plays...

exactly. it's why i'm not saying much on this subject. flip it around. if mangini simply handed the ball off or even kneeled like some have suggested, everyone would be blasting him "giving up."

too bad we couldn't just take a deep shot down the field. then again, it might end up out of bounds,

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You know it's only a bone headed call because someone got hurt...had we scored or almost scored some would have aplauded the fact that they kept fighting or were trying to the end...

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It was bone headed, injury or not. we're down 16 to nuttin with 5 seconds left in the game.. Unless there is a way to score 17 points on that play, which there isn't, it's useless. And doing it runs the risk of getting a player injured.. any player and for what?

I understand playing for the full 60 minutes.. But your supposed to start that from the first minute,, not the last freakin 5 seconds...

It WAS boneheaded...

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too bad we couldn't just take a deep shot down the field. then again, it might end up out of bounds,

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They couldn't get the ballboy ready and in place in time...so they had to go with Plan B...LOL

I can't fault most of Mangini's player personnel moves.

Elam for Jones = wash
Barton for Davis = wash
Bowens for McGinest = wash
Coleman and Mosely for I forget who = better
Womack for I forget who = wash
St. Clair for Shaffer = well, I like Shaffer better but the salary for Shaff was an issue
KW2 and BE for draft picks and Royal = something is bettter than nothing

If our receivers were better so would the offense IMO.

I can't fault EM for the player moves he did what any reasonable person would do.

It's his managemant style that has me wondering and the Veikune pick too??

NO it is NOT useless...because you set the precedent that regardless of the score...no matter what the situation...we are going to continue to play. That is a quality you WANT in players...

People have to get past the Wins and Losses for this year....This year is not about Wins and loses...If we scored it is true we would not have won the game.....But trying to finish is important to this team regardless of how desparate. Lets not forget...if we do score on the last play be it a trick play or whatever.....we avoid a shutout and that has positives in it's own right.

IT WAS NOT USELESS. A bad call or the wrong call possibly.....but useless or boneheaded for it's intent.....absolutely not.

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It's his managemant style that has me wondering

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I think that was one of the more fair statements I have seen.

let's just say again, if you don't like someone, any decision/outcome can be your support.

that said, my point is simply the media would bash him regardless of his decision on that last play.

well i don't remmeber who said it (it was one of our sages) but i agreed. they hypothesized, if we were to fire mangini (and speculation is if we were to do so, we'd want to do it for cause meaning research needs to be done anyways), our interim head coach would likely be rob ryan which could ruin ryan for our football czar because 1) the output will not be good and ryan's name will be even slightly attached to that and 2) ryan will get a taste of the power and might not be willing to go back to just a DC, though leverage would play into that one.

other than that, who'd be the interim? daboll?

What else can he do? Put Dumboll in as an interim coach?