A few observations........
* "Jimmy"(my Browns insider) tells me that contrary to some media speculation, aside from some standard bumps and bruises("only the kicker doesn't have them")Shaun Rodgers isn't injured, and that Mangini and Rodgers' relationship has not fizzled whatsoever. He referred to the report as "laughable" and "just the media grasping for straws".
* Jimmy also told me that the apparent lack of pass rush should be taken with a grain of salt. Eric "The General" Mangini would kill them if they deviate from their assignment or gap even if they did it to make a big play. So if making a play while freelancing won't get you more playing time and reps why risk it? A lot of the stress on defense in training camp was on fundamentals such as tackling, positioning on the field and reading plays. In the games the coaches just wanted to see who can apply the fundamentals in a game setting, not who can beat up Matt Stafford and Aaron Rodgers.
* I asked Jimmy about the Quarterback situation. He would not utter a word. In fact, he wouldn't even say the names "Brady" or "Anderson" in any context. I asked him who played QB for the Pats and he said O'Connell, Walter and Gisele's husband. I asked him what Neo's last name is in the Matrix and he looked at me like I was crazy(OK, I didn't know that lifetime football guys aren't into Sci Fi). Tommy Lee's wife's last name? Nope. Pamela from Baywatch? His eyes lit up but he quickly looked away. It got uncomfortable. We had a shot. Few more beers. Nothing. This guy really has a Seinfeldian vault. I'm telling you he looked nervous and scared to talk about it. "The General" really has him by the Browns.
* On paper the cornerback situation looks pretty decent. But after going to the Lion's game I'm a little concerned. Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald are decent ball hawks but there were a lot, I mean a lot of open receivers. The safeties have a knack of letting the receivers get behind them. I'm not sure how this is going to play out. If Matt Staff didn't only look at one receiver per play it might have looked more like the Packers game.
* I don't think the Browns are ripping up Josh Cribb's contract. Adjusting it, maybe, but rip it up? He has four years left and he has no real leverage. Yes, he is an important part of the team, especially if he comes on as a receiver, but he should have listened to former Brown's WR Dennis Northcutt when he advised him not to sign his six-year $6.77 million dollar extension.The funniest part is that Cribbs is walking around saying, "Man, I should have listened to that Northcutt dude. He was one smart cat." I promise no one has ever said that before.
* It's very exciting to see some rookies, even some late round picks, making a impact. James Davis hopefully will take some of Jamal Lewis' carries, Coye Francies (cool name) is looking very solid and David Veikune looks like he's from the Teddy Bruschi/Mike Vrabel school of linebacking. Not to mention the receivers and "The Mack truck" (I know, I know, too easy, too easy). We should hold a parade for Kokinis just for that alone.
* One more tidbit from Jimmy. The most hated Smith in Browns land? Not Shaun Smith. Gene Smith(Jaguars G.M.). The front office is pissed and has vowed revenge. I love it. Yeah, I know that Gene Smith took a dump on Kokinis and the entire organization. Phil Savage wouldn't even have realized.
* Mangini if you are reading this: Please keep Blake Costanzo and force Kokinis to trade first names with him. No fan would ever doubt a trade made by a guy named "Blake" and it would be awesome to have a player named George Costanzo.This definitely has a future. I'm sure a fun-loving guy like Mangini will go for this. Please. Please comment.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
George Kokinis: Puppet or Mastermind?
Human nature is to be adverse to risk. People hate change. It's everywhere. We go through great pain and hardships to make sure that everything stays the same in our families, our jobs, even the way we get dressed. Losing weight and quitting smoking are viewed as being impossible albeit heroic undertakings. Even when it comes to determining who and what will be successful the status quo is worshipped. That's why when the Browns shunned Scott Pioli and hired the Mangini/Kokinis tandem(Ten bucks to anyone who comes up with a nickname I haven't tried to pin on them yet. Yes, even that one you sicko.) we were so disappointed. We disregarded the fact that Pioli was blessed with one of the greatest Quarterbacks of our time(O.k. fine, he drafted him)and worked with a coaching genius; we just assumed that he would waltz into Cleveland and with his magic touch Tower City would turn into Mall of America. Kokinis? Quietly people are starting to whisper about how much they like the Brown's off season moves, and contrary to popular belief(i.e. everyone besides Kokinis' mother) the new Brown's G.M. is not just a puppet in Head Coach Eric Mangini's hand. Allow me to introduce "Jimmy". "Jimmy"(i feel like Dr. Evil) is my mole(MOLE!) , my spy, my informant deep inside the Brown's organization. (Somewhere Manginis yelling, "Screw the Packers, find Brownsrant's mole!!! Get me Kokinis now! Damn Shaun Smith!) Anyway "Jimmy" told me after a few stiff ones that everyone Kokinis has amazed everyone with his understanding of how to build a football organization and his ability to assert himself while getting along with Mangini. "Don't get me wrong", Jimmy tells me in between shots, "Mangini is in charge. It's just that Kokinis has had a equal if not greater impact on free agency and the draft thus far." When he told me that I was shocked, as you probably are right now.
One could tell the strength of a football team by how much it resembles a mini baseball team/organization. Just as a baseball team is made up of stars, veterans either solid starters or dependable backups, rookies, developmental prospects,minor leagues etc., so must a football team relatively respect this makeup. Kokinis is doing exactly that. He's building a roster where the backups aren't just washed up veterans who are looking to collect one last paycheck(Big Willie, Joe Andruzzi, Jason Fisk, Oh wait,we signed them to start. My bad.) or career backups who suck and have no special teams skiils or leadership abilities whatsoever, but players with different rolls. At almost every position he has added both dependable veterans and good developmental players. Let's get something straight. The Brown's roster is decent at best. How many players would you call decent? Ten? Eleven (including Cribbs, Vickers,Dawson)? Point is that even with the absence of play makers this is the deepest Browns team in a while, with depth on both lines and in the secondary. After Phil Savage treated this roster like he was playing a video game that's definitely a step in the right direction.
Inbox
Dear Brady, Stealing signs is for little girls. If you really want something that will help you get ahead call me mon.
Sincerely,
Big Papi
Dear Mr Mangini,
Give me my playbook back.
Sincerely,
Romeo Crennel
One could tell the strength of a football team by how much it resembles a mini baseball team/organization. Just as a baseball team is made up of stars, veterans either solid starters or dependable backups, rookies, developmental prospects,minor leagues etc., so must a football team relatively respect this makeup. Kokinis is doing exactly that. He's building a roster where the backups aren't just washed up veterans who are looking to collect one last paycheck(Big Willie, Joe Andruzzi, Jason Fisk, Oh wait,we signed them to start. My bad.) or career backups who suck and have no special teams skiils or leadership abilities whatsoever, but players with different rolls. At almost every position he has added both dependable veterans and good developmental players. Let's get something straight. The Brown's roster is decent at best. How many players would you call decent? Ten? Eleven (including Cribbs, Vickers,Dawson)? Point is that even with the absence of play makers this is the deepest Browns team in a while, with depth on both lines and in the secondary. After Phil Savage treated this roster like he was playing a video game that's definitely a step in the right direction.
Inbox
Dear Brady, Stealing signs is for little girls. If you really want something that will help you get ahead call me mon.
Sincerely,
Big Papi
Dear Mr Mangini,
Give me my playbook back.
Sincerely,
Romeo Crennel
Monday, August 10, 2009
The Eric Mangini Project
When I first heard about the Brown's supposed interest in Mangini my heart skipped a beat(in a bad way), I stopped breathing(in a bad way) and was so pissed off that I had to randomly piss people off just to get back at the Football Gods. I sincerely thought it was a practical joke like the guy on YouTube who thought he won the lottery. I hated Mangini. I would've rather had Art Shell as Coach and your younger brother who builds a great team on Madden 09 as G.M.(oh wait, wasn't that what we had with Romeo and "FU" Savage? Right that was.) Wasn't there some way the good people of Cleveland could petition and boycott and somehow convince Mr. Randy Lerner that aside from Larry Dolan he was the LAST MAN who should be making that decision? "Must be a way of leveraging Scott Pioli", I kept on telling myself. They're not really going to hire this guy.
First, a disclaimer. This is not another Assistant Coach- Bill Belichik word association game. Everyone has grown tired of all the rotten apples of the proverbial "Bill Belichick coaching tree". This is different. In hindsight we know that Romeo had less to do with Belichick football than Michael Reghi has with talk radio( BRING IT! BRING IT! Seriously, Mike, don't ever say that again. Your embarrassing Cleveland. You really are.) Your going to tell me that this man really use to concoct defensive wizardry for Belichick? Come on, he was having a Krispy Kream eating contest with Big Willie. Charlie Weiss is nothing more than a incompetent arrogant man. It's obvious that these men were not cut out to be Head Coaches and to judge other people from the "tree" based on their performance would be idiotic. There was no question that he was extremely bright and eighteen hour a day guy. So why did I hate Mangini with such passion? Because having watched most of his games over the past three seasons there were times I felt he was more Herm Edwards and less Bill Belichick. It appeared at times that he was playing not to lose, and there is NOTHING in a Coach I hate more than that. He was schizo; he would try a onside kick to start the second half and than go conservative on play calling at the end of game. He didn't seem to have that Parcellian killer instinct aggressiveness we crave for all our coaches. And then it hit me. Where have we seen this before? Where have we seen a coach who was very bright and a bad communicator struggle so mightily to reconcile his latent aggressiveness with his fundamentalism about the game? You guessed it! Bill Belichik! Could you imagine the coach who sent his RB up the middle again and again as if he didn't have another running play in the book and made "Metcalf up the middle" a joke and a catchphrase to underscore his boring conservatism being the same coach who won multiple Super Bowls and is known for his cunning and sometimes omniscient aggressiveness? No one saw it coming and when Bill Belichick was hired by the New England Patriots in 2000, we all snickered, just as the New York Jet fans are snickering now. How's this for a prediction: The Browns will win a Super Bowl under Eric Mangini.
January 8, 2009 they did, and I, like so many of you, thought we were entering the dark ages of Cleveland Brown's football. Now I'm going to tell you why the exact opposite is true.
First, a disclaimer. This is not another Assistant Coach- Bill Belichik word association game. Everyone has grown tired of all the rotten apples of the proverbial "Bill Belichick coaching tree". This is different. In hindsight we know that Romeo had less to do with Belichick football than Michael Reghi has with talk radio( BRING IT! BRING IT! Seriously, Mike, don't ever say that again. Your embarrassing Cleveland. You really are.) Your going to tell me that this man really use to concoct defensive wizardry for Belichick? Come on, he was having a Krispy Kream eating contest with Big Willie. Charlie Weiss is nothing more than a incompetent arrogant man. It's obvious that these men were not cut out to be Head Coaches and to judge other people from the "tree" based on their performance would be idiotic. There was no question that he was extremely bright and eighteen hour a day guy. So why did I hate Mangini with such passion? Because having watched most of his games over the past three seasons there were times I felt he was more Herm Edwards and less Bill Belichick. It appeared at times that he was playing not to lose, and there is NOTHING in a Coach I hate more than that. He was schizo; he would try a onside kick to start the second half and than go conservative on play calling at the end of game. He didn't seem to have that Parcellian killer instinct aggressiveness we crave for all our coaches. And then it hit me. Where have we seen this before? Where have we seen a coach who was very bright and a bad communicator struggle so mightily to reconcile his latent aggressiveness with his fundamentalism about the game? You guessed it! Bill Belichik! Could you imagine the coach who sent his RB up the middle again and again as if he didn't have another running play in the book and made "Metcalf up the middle" a joke and a catchphrase to underscore his boring conservatism being the same coach who won multiple Super Bowls and is known for his cunning and sometimes omniscient aggressiveness? No one saw it coming and when Bill Belichick was hired by the New England Patriots in 2000, we all snickered, just as the New York Jet fans are snickering now. How's this for a prediction: The Browns will win a Super Bowl under Eric Mangini.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Training Camp!
Training camp! Football is back for six full months! Im sorry to my faithful readers that I took such a long hiatus but now I'm back for good, hopefully posting once a week in the off season and twice a week during. First my philosophy; 1)I will not sit here and make the same old stupid analysis you hear some other places, i.e. Derek Anderson has a gun that enamors coaches while Quinn has more touch. We all know this; there is no reason we need to hear it a thousand times a day. 2) My goal is to write this as a fan and not as a football guru that some bloggers try to be. Although luckily I do have a mole inside the Browns organization. More on "Jimmy" later. The funny thing is I didn't have one during the swinging Savage days. (By the way, rumor has it that "FU" Savage is doing color commentary on radio for the University of Alabama. Could you imagine? The guy is duller than Larry Kellner.) One more note: I created this blog primarily to interact with other fans that eat, sleep and breath Browns. I will read every comment and look forward to hearing from you.
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