Last Saturday night, the Eric Mangini Era began in Cleveland with the Browns mailing it in, taking a 17-0 pounding by Green Bay.
Mangini fumed.
This week, he’s gotten better results against the Detroit Lions.
And that’s bad news for Matt Stafford.
As of this posting, the Browns lead 27-10, late in the fourth quarter.
Through the first quarter, which featured the first units for both teams, the Browns outscored Detroit, 20-0.
Stafford, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2009 draft, made his first preseason start. And he threw his first pass of the night into the arms of Cleveland corner Eric Wright.
Stafford also fumbled the ball once (Detroit recovered), and Stafford finished with five of 13 completed passes for 34 yards in six short drives.
Veteran Daunte Culpepper took over for the Lions late in the second quarter. Culpepper completed ten of 16 passes for 86 yards.
Meanwhile, Browns quarterback Derek Anderson, locked in a duel with Brady Quinn for the starter’s role in Cleveland, is making things a little harder on Mangini. Anderson completed eight of 13 passes for 130 yards, directing a touchdown drive on Cleveland’s first possession.
But Anderson also threw a pick while running the two-minute drill at the end of the first half.
Quinn completed three of five passes for 29 yards. He was yanked late in the first half so that Anderson could return and try his hand at a beat-the-clock effort.