In a Wednesday morning conference call with Minnesota reporters in advance of Sunday’s game against the Vikings, Browns coach Eric Mangini talked candidly about the fact that he is refraining from naming a starting quarterback in order to force the Vikings to spend time preparing for both Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson.
“If you have two guys to get ready for, it adds more time to the preparation,” Mangini said, per Sean Jensen of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Mangini also addressed the possibility (reality) that one or more of his players will blab.
“I haven’t given it that much thought,” Mangini said. “I would assume the players will
maintain the competitive advantage that we’re trying to maintain.”
He assumes wrong. Players already are talking about the fact that Quinn got the bulk of the first-team reps on Monday, and the identity of the guy who gets the first-team reps on Wednesday likely will be reported by the time the sun sets on Lake Erie.
Though Mangini is doing nothing wrong by not identifying his starter, the same principles that drove the creation of an injury report also should prompt the league to require teams to identify their starting quarterbacks. The goal is to persuade gamblers that there’s no inside information to be had, and thus that there’s no reason to cozy up to club employees or players in search of it. By allowing coaches to keep the identity of their Week One starting quarterback publicly unknown until the first offensive drive of the game, a significant piece of inside information is floating around the Browns locker room like a cloud of staph germs.
What a dick.
Give me a break. The Browns SUCK. The Vikings are probably preparing for the second game already.
Hey Mangini, nobody respect you or your team.
This only proves the fact that teams need to search for any competitive advantage they can find to beat the Vikings.
On the upside, Cleveland will have a top 5 pick to trade away for basically nothing again at the end of this year.
Hey Mangina,
It will take the Vikings about ten minutes to prepare for your crappy little team.
If you can’t decide which of these guys will be your QB, it really means that neither of them is really worth *preparing* for.
What a joke of a little man you are.
By the way, how is Brett Jr.? He must be getting big by now.
wow, how far down the barrel did you have to go to make a staph connection to the story………. and as a die-hard Browns fan, I find this entire spectacle to be ridiculous. Keeping the starting QB a secret does NOT change the fact Jamal Lewis is slower than hell, it does NOT change the Vikings dominant lines on both sides of the ball, and it certainly does NOT magically break Adrian Peterson’s and Chester Taylor’s legs. I think he looks like a complete fool for doing this, and it’s so increasingly obvious he thinks he’s Bill Belichick it’s sickening.
In all honesty, does it really matter who the QB is?
It isn’t really that tough on a team to have to plan for both, it happens all the time when the Qb is “injured”.
I mean we aren’t talking going from Manning to Sorgi here. It’d be like choosing between Smith and the other guy in SF. Or even Tjax or Sage.
The goal is to persuade gamblers that WHAT ? You HAVE GOT to be kidding me.
Could be Bernie Kosar starting under center; browns will be still starting the season with a donut in the win column.
Just a pussy that knows the Vikes D will eat which ever QB he decides to play alive…
Sounds like he doesn’t have a very good handle on his team if he can’t even get them to not talk about who the starter will be.
Who really cares? Can’t we see more post about the Punt Blocking TV @ Jerry’s World?
they will still lose by 3 touchdowns…thats NO secret
Desperate measures for desperate teams. If I were a Cleveland fan….I would hope that Mangini has another plan to fall back on….just in case the Vikes are ready for the tricky QB switch-o-roony!
Does Mangini realize how stupid he looks? If the choice was between Michael Vick and Carson Palmer, then yes, defenses would have to prepare very differently depending on who the QB is. But it’s Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson. The difference is minimal. Quit being an idiot.
If Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn each actually offered something more unique than the other than it might be a wise strategy (such as the Vikings could have done if it had been a Tarvaris-Sage battle), however, considering how similar Brady and Derek are, it’s really pointless on Mangini’s part to keep it secret. I bet Brad Childress and Leslie Frazier are just laughing at Manginious in the Vikings’ office.
Well, what do you expect? He used to work for Bellichick.
That crap only works when you have 2 GOOD Qb’s with totally different styles. Like Anderson against someone like Tavaris Jackson or something like that…where the defense has to prepare for a more mobile QB. Not 2 stiff pocket QB’s…both have enough experience to not have the deer in headlights look.
But hey, this is what Lerner wanted so I will look forward to Mangini joining the other retread Belichek assistants on the firing line soon.
Oh no! The Vikes won’t know which mediocre QB to prepare for! They sure are in trouble now!
Florio, how is your hair doing? Is the Flowbee still working?
Quinn and Anderson are made of the same turd mold so it won’t matter.
You’d think he’d realize that they are, fundamentally, they same quarterback. How is the Vikings’ preparation going to change?
I miss when the game was mostly played on the field
You can’t impose upon a coach to name his starting quarterback in the media…first, what if he changes his mind Saturday night…Sunday morning??? Screw the gamblers if they don’t know who the starter is. And isn’t that threat always around…i.e. McNabb has a couple bad games and Reid knows he is going to replace him with Vick if he struggles in the first half…should he be REQUIRED to tell the putzes in the media just because if he doesn’t there COULD BE a gamlber who gets the information, and POSSIBLY makes a bet one way or the other based on that info?
Sorry, Mike, but the NFL, Gestapo-like that it is, can not make the coaches tell who they are starting based on SKILL LEVEL. Injuries are a part of the game, and should always be reported, but SKILL LEVEL CHOICES are revealed using the coach’s prerogative and rightly so.
Citizen Strange says:
What a dick
****************************************
Same post??????
Citizen Strange says:
September 9, 2009 11:43 AM
What a dick.
——————————
That’s what she said.
Does it really matter who the Browns starting QB is?
If you can’t or won’t name a starting quarterback, it’s because you don’t have one. The Vikings went through this last year. Do you think there’s going to be a surprise at QB for the Vikings this year? Or in any other city that has a QB? NO.
The Brownies need all the help they can get.
Mangini is an idiot. Does it really matter if it’s Quinn or Anderson? They both are below average pocket passers the only difference is that Anderson can chuck it alittle further than Quinn.
Given the intellectual capacity of the Viking’s coaching staff, this just might work.
I’m sure the Vikings have guessed it will be Quinn and have spent the week practicing defending the extremely short pass game. “Guys, It looks like Quinn is going to start this week- everyone move up!”
It’s a sad day when gamblers are the consideration for game rules.If gamblers have information that gives them an advantage, that’s a good reason not to gamble.
Wagering money on an outcome that has no bearing on the sun rising tomorrow is stupid. I have no sympathy for the losers.
Wow, this is a very advanced strategy here– maybe the Vikings will just forfeit the game…
it’s funny how much every talking head on espn (and every guy running a web site) get so worked up when a coach doesn’t give them every bit of information. This whole thing is so over-blown.
Mangini himself said that there’s no reason to give up any competitive advantage, even a small one like this. If the Vikings spend an hour studying DA this week, then it’s one less hour they spend studying Brady. Same if it’s the other way around
If the news gets out of who the starter is, then it gets out. It’s not going to be some big deflating thing like Florio seems to think.
If nothing else, by not naming the starter Mangini has gotten the Browns more national attention than they would have otherwise gotten.
Answer me this: what is the advantage for him in naming a starter to the media?
The Vikings should be more worried about how they are going to keep Shaun Rogers from forcing Favre into retirement #3, and how they plan to contain Cribbs.
I really think the Browns players can’t stand Mangini!
THe vikes aren’t losing sleep over facing either Dr Quinn Medicine Woman OR DA…
It seems to me that he’s probably scared of the Viking defense. Keep your big secrets all you want coach, Adrian Peterson is who you should be worried about. The Vikings don’t give a care about who you start at QB.
i think mangini is forgetting that our QB is his QB from last year. i think the vikes have pleanty of things to get them prepped.
Citizen Strange says:
September 9, 2009 11:43 AM
What a dick.
———————————————-
Why?
This IS a rule that should be changed by the league.
!!
Other than that, why do we care? It’s the Browns! IMHO, I think this kind of stupidity creates just as much (if not more) of an issue for the offense as it does for the opposing defense. Haven’t we seen enough of this Belichickism nonsense gone-wrong already?
It’s not like we’re talking Montana vs Young, this is Quinn vs Anderson for God’s sake
Really??? What does it matter? They’re still going to lose.
I agree with the above that making teams name their starters similar to injury reports and depth charts would do nothing. Keep in Mind that Mangini has been repeatedly disciplined by the league for not complying with league rules in regards to depth charts and injury reports.
This is just more evidence of Mangini living in la-la land. You don’t win games by gamesmanship but rather by by winning on the field. Something mangini has never realized.
But a better Mangini story that has been makingt eh rounds of late has been making the rounds of late has been the Mangini kicking Klecko and his make a wish terminally ill child off the jets practice field last year. I would love to hear some reporting on this story. Is it vailid? did he truly refuse to acknowledge Klecko? Did he say he really say he does not care if the kid was terminally ill to the Jets FO official? Come on Forio lets hear the dirt.
While your at it maybe we could do a Mangini bad moment compilation. from stealing items when he left NE, to pissing off players in his first training camp, to cheating against the Colts on substitutions, to stealing signals from the Pats in 2006, to Dave Ball’s comments on whats like to not have to play for Mangini, to all the Jet player comments this summer on how much better it is since Mangini left, to the all the players that said they were lied to by Mangini and Tannedumb, painting over the Jim Brown mural, the Brady Quinn signal stealing and the infamous rookie hijacking, and 20 hour bus trip. I leave so many things about but the list is so amazingly long for a guy who has only been a HC for 3 years.
The possibilities are amazing. Then you could even examine Mangini’s coaching career. Taking over a Jet team that ahs not had a losing season since 1996 except in seasons with catastrophic injuries. In 2006 the jets had the easiest schedule any team may have ever had in a season. Almost every week they had the good fortune to play a team when it was playing its worst football of the season. Whther it was the Titans in week 1 with Collins starting after a week of practice or the Dolphins with Cleo Lemon’s and Harrington’s 1st starts or the raiders in week 17 when they had given up on the season. Or maybe how the Jets the blew big leads in 8 or so games in in 2007 when they refused to run the ball when ahead. Or maybe the terrible gameplanning in 2008 that caused them to go 1-4 down the strecth and finish only 9-7 while eladingt he league with 7 pro bowl players and 5 pro bowl alternates. By far the most talented team in the league. Mangini is not a bad coach but one who will always underachieve as his players will never play with emotion or desire. He constantly trys to prove how smart he is by outsmarting himself and his team with gadget plays at the worst time. With being aggressive when he should be conservative and a refusal to run the ball when ahead in games.
When one factors in his lack of character, poor personality, the dislike by of him by his players, his ability to turn victory into defeat and 3 years of underachieving in New York it becomes apparent that Mangini is not just a bad coach but possibly the worst coach we have seen in the NFL since Lou Holtz.
This is why Brady will be the QB. DA cant think under pressure.
http://www.fox8.com/wjw-sports-browns-qb-battle-secret,0,6864258.story
Ha–Vikings are so retarded, I bet they end up preparing for
BRETT RATLIFF…
We all know how Childo gets a stiff klink/purple helmet over guys named Brett, right?
It doesn’t matter who starts. In the end the Browns will just be adding to the legend of Brett Favre.
I love how all of these “vikes” think the game is over… When Brett Farve throws 4 INTs, and Brady Quinns throws for 2TD’s and Josh Cribbs runs the openning kickoff back for a TD, I wanna see the “vikes” back on this comment board… Oh wait, he’s a Belichick coach… he must have cheated!!…. lol
The Vikes will blow this year…. the only thing they got is Adrian Peterson… Big upset week one!!! Browns 38 – Vikes 17…
GD you ppl are idiots…i wonder how many of you goons will post up when cleveland beats minny on sunday…y’all are so damn smart how come none of ya work in professional football?
i’ve never seen a larger gathering of idiots in my life
Mangenius is at it again. Now the Vikes won’t know which bad, immobile, right-handed quarterback to prepard for.
WHO?
# danwatson19 says: September 9, 2009 12:26 PM
it’s funny how much every talking head on espn (and every guy running a web site) get so worked up when a coach doesn’t give them every bit of information. This whole thing is so over-blown.
Mangini himself said that there’s no reason to give up any competitive advantage, even a small one like this. If the Vikings spend an hour studying DA this week, then it’s one less hour they spend studying Brady. Same if it’s the other way around
If the news gets out of who the starter is, then it gets out. It’s not going to be some big deflating thing like Florio seems to think.
If nothing else, by not naming the starter Mangini has gotten the Browns more national attention than they would have otherwise gotten.
Answer me this: what is the advantage for him in naming a starter to the media?
The Vikings should be more worried about how they are going to keep Shaun Rogers from forcing Favre into retirement #3, and how they plan to contain Cribbs.
Any Vikings fans here trashing Mangini really ought to take a look in the mirror at their own coach: a sniveling, groveling syncophant suck-up to a washed up, had been, geriatric QB who should be out of the league.
Vikes fans are trying (and failing miserably) to make fun of a guy who is working his ass off to do what he can for a long mis-managed and mis-coached team, and if part of that is to gain an advantage by not having the Vikes know who to prepare for, so be it. It might be a weak or stupid strategy, but it’s a strategy.
Meanwhile, Childress is gay for Favre, pissed off a bunch of his own players by pursuing an old, broken man when they could have been developing a decent (if run-of-the-mill) QB into their system (Rosenfels). Favre said “no”, Childress said “it’s over”, and STILL dropped his pants and bent over at Favre’s ever-changing whim. I’ll bet Childress would open his mouth if Brett decided he needed to pee in the middle of a game, too. Childress is that in love with him. Disgusting. Creepy.
Maybe Brett will rub Childress’s head for luck.
So there you have it. One guy who may have made a few people mad with his disciplinarian ways (just like Coughlin’s players hate him. Look where that got *them*), and one coach who has some kind of weird, near-perverted lust or fixation for an old, wishy-washy INT machine.
I’ll take the former any day.
And btw, Vikings fans, please brag some more about how you have an awesome defense, great O-line, and Adrian Peterson. You can follow that up by explaining why it never seems to amount to dick in the postseason. Ouch.
Has MN named their starter yet?????
HAHA!! how does this dude keep getting jobs?! Hey Browns! I’m available! I know football and I sure as sh!t would show the team some confidence in naming Quinn the starting QB. And I’ll work for a mere $100,00 a year!
I knew about 6 months ago Quinn would be the starter, he’s not fooling anyone. Whats going to be funny is when he thinks he’s pulling a fast one and starts Anderson. Now THAT will be funny.
“…# kramer says: September 9, 2009 1:16 PM
GD you ppl are idiots… i’ve never seen a larger gathering of idiots in my life…”
Hey Kramer, these pretzels are making me thirsty.
this guys a frikin idiot.
Watch Mangini surprise everyone as Jamal Lewis starts at quarterback.
A couple of you Browns fans aren’t alone–I’ll join your minority and call it right here:
Cleveland will beat the Queens in the home opener.
I repeat:
Cleveland will beat the Queens in the home opener.
Bratt throws at least two picks, and Peterson fumbles once.
Cribbs embarrasses the Queens truly “special” teams unit…
The league is formally introduced to James Davis and Mo Massaquoi.
And just like last year, the Queens are off to a running start (for their eventual, inevitable trainwreck).
*pulls puppet strings*
Quinn will start wearing Andersons’ Jersey.
viking and steeler fans are pussiese.
all of you. pussies.
Nice job sneaking in a staph joke, Florio. I know that all of these career and even life-threatening infections always crack me up. Nice classy humor.
Eric Mangini! This is why DorkJocks.com, named you Dork of the week on their home page!
Are you kidding me? It’s not like you have Bernie Kosar or a great QB that could actually scare a defense!
Mangini is being coy because the Vikings are hiding the fact that Favre has Swine Flu/Polio/Broken Ribs. If it wasn’t for PFT Mangini would have never known.
Hey Kramer, these pretzels are making me thirsty Florios-Lawyer says:
Giddyup!
“…# halitzor says: September 9, 2009 1:45 PM
viking and steeler fans are pussiese.
all of you. pussies…”
.. funny, coming from a Browns Fan in Losertown, USA
halitzor:
Name: Adam
Location: Columbus OH 43035
Age: 24
“…And I invite you all to come talk some football at http://www.thebrownsboard.com I post under “AdaM” …”
Actually I heard the big secret would be the starting WR’s…Reggie Langhorne and Web Slaughter, or Braylon Edwards and…and…and…something furry?
“viking and steeler fans are pussiese.”
———————————————–
Yeah, but most of us know proper spelling and grammar. And. Punctuation.
I’d be more afraid if they were starting Anderson. He’s a downfield guy who tends to get streaky. Quinn is just a dink and dunk guy who can’t go deep.
Bottom line is the Browns have little chance with Anderson, and none with Quinn.
Hey Vikes – remember -this is Cleveland. Don’t touch any door handles. Don’t touch any chicks. Wear flip flops in the shower. Heck – don’t even shower. Kick their ass – don’t get any blood on you – then get the hell out of there. Don’t touch anything in the locker room.
Not sure halitzor knows what a pussy is.
Pretty sure that he’s Dewey Axewounds “life partner”
They both get really excited at the prospect of facing 53 “purple helmets”
If I was coach Mangravy I would probably start the guy I liked least, because the starter is leaving on a cart.
As far as Childress being gay for Favre. Wow it was just a year ago Mangenius was, and it got him fired, and in two years he’ll be fired again.
If we win with Favre great, if we don’t Childress is gone. It’s a win/win situation..
It doesn’t take much to outsmart Chili, Browns win.
The Browns will wins some games this year, but no more than 6. No way they beat the Vikings week one.
Explains why the Jets had no more use for the guy.
I highly doubt this is hurting the Browns offense. They all already know who the QB is. I really wouldn’t put it past Mangini to start the game in the Flash Formation with Cribbs behind center. I think people put too much stock in the previous year’s W-L record.
it’s funny that a Vikings team led by Brad Childress and with a 40 year old QB who’s had 1 good season in the last 4 are talking shit about other team’s coaches/QBs.
mixman34 …. what would be funny is if mangini sent anderson and quinn out on the opening play in wildcat formation….
flashback 20 years …. chubby lil mangini standing at the bus stop …. waiting for the little bus …. his hockey helmet strap hanging down next to the chocolate stains on his smiley face tee shirt ….. short pants knee socks and high top generic chuck taylors …..he gazes across the street and watches the cool kids and jocks hanging out with the pretty girls as he mumbles to himself how one day he will be the cool kid ….. he will get a great job no matter how many guys he has to sleep with …… he puts his slide rule back in his pocket protector as he stumbles toward the bus …… you’ll see …. i promise, your all gunna be sorry
Carlgerbilinyourass:
Yeah cos Mccarthy is soooo much better…a whole 4 games.
You simply got to love the smack talk coming from Biqueen fans. This is a franchise that hasn’t been to the Superbowl for 30 plus years and when they were there, they promptly went 0-4. A franchise that has been to the playoffs only 2 times in the last decade and the last playoff game they had, they lost (anybody noticing a trend here?) The Vikings have played in 2 NFC championship games in the last 15 years (it goes without saying, they lost both of them but the second one was close 41-0)
You would think they would wait for their team to actually do something on the field (unlike their 1-5 record against the packers while Chilly is the head coach) before they starting talking big but remember, these are Viking fans and their lack of common sense is only surpassed by their lack of football knowledge.
halitzor says:
September 9, 2009 1:45 PM
viking and steeler fans are pussiese.
—————————–
That’s French for “pussy”.
RagnartheViking says:
September 9, 2009 2:59 PM
Carlgerbilinyourass:
Yeah cos Mccarthy is soooo much better…a whole 4 games.
—————————–
5-1 head to head, right?
jimmy smith, i’m not a viking fan …. no matter who you root for, what there record is, or how many times the team anyone is pulling for has been to a super bowl or championship game it doesn’t change the fact that mangini is an idiot
he got caught cheating in green bay long before he ratted belichek out, thats why he did it … in his sick mind that was his justification. Alot of the coaches in the nfl want nothing to do with him. He burnt bridges before they were even set up.
Belichek met him in cleveland and took him under his wing, thats how his carreer started, he in turn thanked bill by trying to burn him. don’t get me wrong i don’t condone cheating in any way shape or form but mangini is a moron for biting the pr I wish him luck everbial hand. its a good thing the higher ups in cleveland liked him because i think he would have been hard pressed to find a head coaching gig in the nfl i wish him luck over the next two years then he is gone
thats just my opinion …
good luck all my fellow football fans, i hope you all have a great season
The Mangenius is an enigma to me. When he was with the Jets, everybody loved him, it was said. When he left, there were several little niggling elliptical comments here and there that seemed to indicate he was more or less a control freak, and that, rather than inspiring players, his modus operandi resulted in inhibiting them.
When he went to the Browns, everybody loved him, we heard again, but there were more of the same types of comments, suggesting his methods might be causing a crisis of confidence in the locker room and among the coaches. Then he had that insane Superficially-Voluntary-But-Realistically-Mandatory Weekend Bus Trip To Volunteer Camp that alienated some players. Replies to reporters became laced with sarcasm. Appeared to be in over his head.
Now this silliness with the starting QB & The Press & The Opponent – I want to make the Vikings work harder. Any team worth its salt, in cases where there is any QB “situation”, e.g., competition, health status, attitude, legal problems, will prepare itself for BOTH guys anyway, so the declaration of a particular name should be moot. But in this case, where the opposing coach declares instead he’s “not gonna tell” so his opponent will have to ‘work harder”, I don’t get the picture of a professional person in charge of the fortunes of a team, but rather of a little boy, a kind of snickering instigator. Mangini seems to be the kind of person who WANTS to be inspiring and tries really hard, but ends up looking silly more than half the time.
I wish this would change. I’d like to respect him more ; I keep hearing he’s a really nice guy. But I keep hearing Wade Phillips is a nice guy too. Maybe this is, after all, just a case of nice guys finishing last.
Good, hate the Browns. Have fun rooting for the L.A. Vikings in two years guys.
Yeah Jimi,
Because all I want my team to worry about is beating the Packers head to head.
You are probably 1 of those idiots that would be fine with the Packers going 4-12 every year. As long as the wins were against the Bears and Vikes.
The overall records are quite comparable. You just can’t tell a Packer fan that though, well “we are 5-21 head to head”.
Thanks Jimi for proving my point why I generalize you packer fans. Turn the focus away from the point at hand and change the arguement. Nice job
RagnartheViking says:
September 10, 2009 8:18 AM
Yeah Jimi,
Because all I want my team to worry about is beating the Packers head to head.
You are probably 1 of those idiots that would be fine with the Packers going 4-12 every year. As long as the wins were against the Bears and Vikes.
The overall records are quite comparable. You just can’t tell a Packer fan that though, well “we are 5-21 head to head”.
Thanks Jimi for proving my point why I generalize you packer fans. Turn the focus away from the point at hand and change the arguement. Nice job
—————————–
And you are one of those idiots who… That’s all.
Jimi = epic fail. At posting and life in general.