Tag: Eric Mangini (Page 4 of 6)

Mangini and Kokinis weren’t getting along

November 2, 2009 /

Tony Grossi reports that Eric Mangini and George Kokinis were not getting along as “both men became disenchanted with the other early on.”

This is pretty surprising, given that Kokinis was Mangini’s hand-picked GM. On the other hand, nothing ever seems to go smoothly in Berea under Randy Lerner. There’s been more drama at Browns’ headquarters than we typically see in a full season of Grey’s Anatomy. Remember the turf battles between Phil Savage and former team President John Collins?

It all goes back to Lerner. He’s doing all the hiring here, and then he leaves the building and expects things to run smoothly. Now he’s reportedly bringing in Ernie Accorsi and Bernie Kosar. The Accorsi move in particular would be a great one, but can we expect the drama to cease as long as Lerner’s the owner? Time will tell.

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George Kokinis out as Browns GM

November 2, 2009 /

All sorts of reports are flying around the web, but it appears that the Browns have let go General manager George Kokinis.

It’s hard to react to this without having all the facts, but the Browns under Randy Lerner are starting to rival the Oakland Raiders and the Washington Redskins as the most dysfunctional franchises in the NFL. As I discussed yesterday, it all comes down to Randy Lerner.

Why would the General Manager hand-picked by Eric Mangini be fired after only nine months? He’s not coaching the team, and frankly most of his moves have made sense. He hasn’t destroyed the cap and he traded guys like Winslow and Edwards for draft picks. His draft doesn’t look great so far, but for years Browns fans have complained about not drafting offensive linemen, and Kokinis picked up a center in the first round. He may not look like a pro-bowler now, but it’s not crazy to expect Alex Mack to anchor the line for years with Joe Thomas.

Problems must exist behind the scenes, but will Randy Lerner have the guts to face the media and explain himself here? With a control-freak like Eric Mangini, who’s going to come in and run this team?

Perhaps Bernie Kosar will take a bigger role. Also, the one positive bit of news is that Chris Mortensen is reporting that Lerner wants Ernie Accorsi to come in as a consultant. Now that would make sense. We can only hope he hands the reins over to Kosar and Accorsi to fix the mess he’s created.

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Clueless in Berea

November 1, 2009 /

No, this isn’t a column about Eric Mangini. The Browns are a disaster so far, and we’ll see if Mangini can turn this around. But as bad as things have been, Mangini and George Kokinis are obviously trying to build this team over the long haul. They aren’t going for quick fixes. Trading down in the first round to draft a center should have signaled that very clearly. Trading away Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards also made it clear that they were willing to sacrifice this season to stockpile draft picks. They’re also very mindful of the salary cap as well.

That doesn’t excuse this terrible start and I have no idea if this will work, but it’s way too early to give up on Mangini.

The real problem in Berea, however, is ownership. Today we were blessed with another handful of quotes from Randy Lerner. Most of them made little sense, as he’s distraught over the performance of the team and really doesn’t know what to do. But this quote stood out:

During Sunday’s 30-6 loss to the Bears, Lerner stood watching from the tunnel between the field and the locker room with equal parts disgust and anger written on his face.

He admitted that the whole quarterback fiasco “doesn’t look sensible.” As to why the Browns have been so reluctant to play Brady Quinn, he said “I haven’t been told about anything.”

This is beyond embarrassing. He hasn’t been told anything? He owns the damn team!

It’s obvious that Randy Lerner has never managed anything in his entire life. He seems to think that the secret to creating a great football organization is to pick qualified people and get out of the way, and with Lerner that means getting completely out of the way.

But life isn’t that simple, and management certainly isn’t that simple. Problems always arise. Sometimes they have to do with personalities, other times they have to do with flawed strategies. In the end you need a strong person at the top who can oversee what’s going on and ask the tough questions. The person at the top has to be willing to get his hands dirty. He has to be a problem solver, and he has to demand accountability from the GM and the head coach. That has never happened in Berea under Lerner’s watch.

You don’t have to get involved like a Daniel Snyder. Rather, you have to stay on top of what Mangini and Kokinis are doing, and grill them about things that don’t seem to make sense.

The quarterback situation is a prime example. I was willing to give Mangini the benefit of the doubt, but it’s obvious now that the process he used to select and then announce a starter only days before the opener blew up in his face. As the owner, Lerner should be on top of this situation. What’s the plan? Instead, Lerner has no clue what’s going on. That’s a stunning admission.

At least Lerner seems to realize that he’s utterly incompetent to oversee the Browns, as he made vague references to needing help. But, his statements are complete gibberish:

He indicated that he wasn’t ready to give up on Mangini despite being obviously distraught about the state of the team. But he did strongly indicate that it’s time for him to bring in a football authority who can help straighten out this mess.

“There’s absolutely no question about that,” he said. “The highest priority that I have is a strong, credible, serious leader within the building to guide decisions in a far more conspicuous, open transparent way. I can maybe defend decisions by saying I’ve sought advice and I’ve brought people in, and we’ve gone to see people — and I think my highest priority is to have a stable figure that represents the voice that explains the decisions.

Huh? It’s not a matter of explaining decisions. Sure, the Browns could use that, but before that happens you need someone who understands the long-term strategy.

Here’s another gem:

“We need as many credible, serious eyes and ears assessing this situation as is possible,” he said.

No, you need to take control a be a leader and manage the situation. You don’t need a bunch of other “experts” telling you what to do. You’ll get all sorts of different opinions and that will just confuse the situation. Sit Mangini and Kokinis down and grill them about what’s being done now and what’s the long-term plan. If you buy into their long-term approach, then have the guts to go out in public and defend it.

The Browns are pitiful right now, but they have added draft picks and have managed the cap well. These performances would be much more problematic had the Browns gone out and spent a ton of money on free agents. In that respect last season was a much bigger disappointment. Rookie wide receivers rarely make an impact, so the Browns should benefit from having Robiskie and Massaquoi getting experience this year, as painful as that has been to watch. Alex Mack is also learning on the job but should be an anchor on the line for years. Today we also saw some inspired play from the defense. Few good teams are built overnight.

As for the current situation, it’s obvious that Brian Daboll and Mangini have no idea what to do on offense. Long-term, the Browns will likely have new quarterbacks next season, but we need to see some progress with the offense to get this season under control. Perhaps some changes need to be made with the offensive staff? Perhaps they need to commit more to Cribbs and the running game? Perhaps running a couple of screen passes or roll-outs would help slow down all the blitzes that are killing the Browns? A good manager would be grilling Mangini about these things and demanding some changes.

Perhaps the only solution is to hand the reins to Bernie Kosar. Hell, why not pay him $5 million per year to run things and handle the management issues? Bernie can certainly use the money, and Lerner hands out money like candy.

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More whining about the Browns

October 15, 2009 /

None of us should be happy with the slow start by the Browns, but it’s boring as hell listening to the constant whining about the “negativity” surrounding the Browns and Eric Mangini. Chris Rose from the “Best Damn Sports Show” was just on Rizzo, and all he could focus on was the stream of negative stories, as if the James Davis situation is some sort of high crime that could bring down the Mangini regime. Good grief. Somehow, the fact that we don’t see George Kokinis is a “problem.” Who cares if we see the GM? He’s obviously busy doing his job, like dumping Braylon Edwards and ridding the team of a malcontent who was never going to re-sign with the team.

These guys love the “soap opera” angle on the Browns – how about focusing on football instead? That’s probably too much to ask.

Cleveland Browns

Peter King offers up some bad advice

October 14, 2009 /

Peter King was down on the Browns before the season started, and given the terrible start, he looks pretty smart. Now he’s revisiting the topic, and his opinion hasn’t changed much, though he focuses on some irrelevant points like the 6-3 score of the Browns victory over Buffalo and Derek Anderson’s 2-17 performance. As stated on this blog, anyone who watched the football game knows that Anderson was not the problem on offense.

To his credit, King speaks with George Kokinis and Eric Mangini to get their thoughts on where the roster is now, and King acknowledges that the Browns were smart to trade Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards.

So, I asked Mangini and Kokinis in separate interviews, do the Browns have a better 53-man roster than they did at the end of the 2008 season?

Kokinis: “I think so. But it’s different. To go forward, the environment here had to change. We aren’t in this to put band-aids on the problem. We’re here to solve the problem. When you establish a system, it’s all about building a disciplined program conducive to winning, and you’re going to have people at first who fight the system. But we’ll find the true Browns who buy into what we’re doing. The one thing people need to understand is this situation wasn’t like Atlanta, where you can draft Matt Ryan and sign Michael Turner in free agency and win your division. This team was a long way away. Some free-agency periods and some drafts need to happen for the right amount of change to take place.”

Mangini: “Yeah, I think the roster’s better. I think we have a much better chance of getting where we want to be with this roster moving forward. But it’s not going to be easy. What gets lost a little bit with our draft-day trade is how much money we saved over the long term by trading down — maybe $40 million. And those resources will be spent to build a better overall football team. That’s cash we’ll spend on more players.

“For now, we’re making improvements. Some of the improvements aren’t sexy — more energy at practice and in games, more intensity, playing complimentary football. But regardless of external perception, we have guys who care. And next year, we’ll have 11 draft picks instead of the four we had this year. That’s when you can do some building.”

My take: The roster is absolutely not better because no player of the skill level of Edwards or Winslow has been added. But I would have done all three deals that ManKinis did, because Winslow and Edwards were never going to buy into any long-term rebuilding program, which this has to be. There comes a time when team and player have to divorce, and if player has great success after the trade (Roger Clemens when he left Boston), it doesn’t mean he’d have had the same success in his original place.

Mangini’s point is critical here, and it displays the winning philosophy employed in places like New England. You judge a player not just by his talent and contributions, but also by the cost of keeping him on the roster. The Browns are building the team from the bottom up, with players who don’t have big names (or big salaries) but who play within the system. We’re seeing some of that displayed on the defense and on special teams. Also, the offensive line is starting to come together. The roster is better.

Also, King ignores the biggest issue that Mangini and Kokinis had to face – the collapse of Brady Quinn as the possible franchise quarterback of the future. They inherited Quinn, and Quinn worked hard and earned the chance to start, but he was beyond terrible. He didn’t make stupid mistakes, but he was unable to move the offense. Defenses dared him to throw downfield, and that also hurt the running game. Despite that, the Browns were competitive for most of their games, despite facing teams with a combined 14-2 record in the first four weeks.

That said, it was still an informative article, until of course King decide to dispense some advice – advice that Kokinis and Mangini will hopefully ignore after having a good laugh.

Because of the startup nature of the program, Kokinis said he’s been spending time in and around the team this fall, instead of concentrating his efforts on on-campus scouting. He said he’d do that after the college season. If I were him, I’d accelerate the process. I’d be spending three days at Texas turning over every stone on Colt McCoy, and three in Norman looking at Sam Bradford — as well as extensive time looking at the other quarterbacks in the 2010 draft, like Tim Tebow and Jevan Snead. That’s more important than whatever’s happening in his building right now.

This is amateur hour coming from a writer whose been around the NFL for years. Picking a young quarterback in the draft is the kind of pie-in-the-sky magic bullet that know-nothing fans think about. This approach might make sense if there was a Peyton Manning waiting to be drafted, but the four guys King mentions are more in the Tim Couch mold. Now, Couch wasn’t terrible, and the Browns didn’t help him much as he took a beating for years, but Couch was not worth the #1 pick in the draft.

Regarding Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow, I doubt either of them can even start in the NFL. McCoy reminds me of Brady Quinn, too small and below-average arm, and Tebow is a battering ram, not an NFL quarterback. He might be worth a pick as a future Wildcat quarterback, or as a project on a team that has an established starter, but he’s not the answer for a rebuilding team like the Browns.

Bradford is also another bust-in-waiting. he racked up big numbers throwing to wide open receivers in a conference that doesn’t play defense as Coach Stoops ran up the score hoping for a chance to redeem himself in the BCS championship game. When Bradford faced a real defense, he looked pretty average. he’s a second-rounder at best.

Snead is another guy getting lots of buzz, but he’s having a terrible year.

Snead has completed just 65 of 139 passes (46.8 percent) for 868 yards with nine touchdowns and nine interceptions. He ranks 11th out of the league’s 12 starting quarterbacks (and 97th in the nation) in passing efficiency.

He’s no Eli Manning.

Based on what I’ve seen so far from Kokinis and Mangini, I don’t expect them to waste a high draft pick on any of these guys. There may be a quarterback they like in the draft, and we saw Kokinis draft Joe Flacco in Baltimore, but that team had everything but a good quarterback, so that made sense.

I expect the Browns to keep stockpiling workers like offensive linemen or impact players on defense – the kind of unsexy picks you see from teams who want to be good year after year. Another possibility would be a running back, as they can contribute right away.

So, I’m pretty confident they will ignore King’s advice.

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