In the past two weeks, prior to a home overtime loss to the Bengals and a road win over the Bills, Browns players have noticed something strange about coach Eric Mangini.
He has changed.
Pads are gone on Thursdays and Fridays, and not just for James Davis. Saturdays no longer feature a quiz on mundane details regarding the opponent.
And there's less of an edge to Mangini, making the overall player experience more enjoyable in a city where agents have privately said they would never send their clients.
It's unclear why or how it has happened, but maybe Mangini has seen the light.
And who knows? If he keeps it up, maybe Derek Anderson will complete three passes this week against the Steelers.
Mangini is changing
Posted by Mike Florio on October 13, 2009 8:47 AM ET
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30 Comments 
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Latest stories in: Cleveland Browns, Latest News and Rumors, NFL Mobile Exclusives - Rumors, Top Stories
Maybe he's just giving up already.
Listen up you Yinzer. I will bet you anything, Derek will complete more than three passes against the black and urine. You suck.
The only thing Mangini is changing into is The Great Pumpkin.
Mangenius knows after this season he will be out of the NFL for good.
Wow, sounds like he's becoming Romeo Crennel. He should, Romeo had a better record...
WTF Florio? Quit jabbin' at D.A. - yea, he didn't have the highest completion percentage in NFL history, but the Browns also dropped 8 or 9 balls on target. Give the guy a break!
Maybe he realized his heavy-handedness wasn't getting him anything but crushing defeats?
quit being a pod.. the browns are a lot better than some of the crap out there.. mangini is building the back end of his roster right now. if he would of kept winslow, edwards and drafted sanchez.. they would probably get killed playing in this division.. Quit being a wanker and let the man do his thing.. last time i checked.. he knows a whole hell of a lot more about football than you do.
So instead of being a general, run of the mill idiot, he's an idiot who's making changes. The sooner he goes back to being a quality control assistant, the better all the players in the NFL will be.
LeatherBalls says:
October 13, 2009 9:06 AM
WTF Florio? Quit jabbin' at D.A. - yea, he didn't have the highest completion percentage in NFL history, but the Browns also dropped 8 or 9 balls on target. Give the guy a break!
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I didn't see this game, but if the above is true, maybe the Browns REALLY need a new receivers coach. Kellen Winslow goes to Tampa and starts catching almost everything thrown at him. Braylon isn't even gone a week and he's making circus catches up and down the field with the Jets...
Mangina is a wanna be Parcells / Bellicheck. He thinks being a dictator type coach is gonna work for him. The one problem moron is that they have respect from their players because they have rings on their fingers. You are nothing more than a pretender and everyone knows it.
"# PITTSUCKS says: October 13, 2009 8:53 AM
Listen up you Yinzer. I will bet you anything, Derek will complete more than three passes against the black and urine. You suck."
Your pain is our joy.
Please, don't ever stop.
The Browns should trade for JaMarcus Russell. It would be an upgrade for them LOL
Simply the logical step to the Browns inevitable rise to the top!
"The beatings will continue until morale improves!"
Apparently that wasn't working. Wonder if he'll refund the $1700 fine to the guy who snagged the bottle of water from the hotel room?
Maybe he watched another one of Belichick's kids out in Denver smiling and having fun (and going 5-0 doing it). He has to be smart enough to know that this is the last chance for him to coach in the NFL, UFL, college and a maybe few high school programs in the country. He better change!
After watching Edwards last night, it looks like the drops are part of the city, not the player (of course it would help if DA could throw a screen pass less than 100 mph). The TE drop was ridiculous, DA couldn't have placed the ball any better. I guess that's what happens when you trade away your playmakers.
Go Browns. Superbowl 2015!!!
Reports say its a healthy diet of Lexapro, Cymbalta, Xanax, Zoloft, Effexor, Prozac, Paxil, Celexa, Valium, Ativan, Klonopin, BuSpar, Remeron, Methylphenidate, Strattera, Ritalin, Concerta, And Cigarettes.
Taking pads off and easing off the players as the season wears on has been Mangini's pattern thus far as a coach...not a revelation, not a shift. It's "unclear" because you don't know dick about the people or sport you're covering. Minus this "new" piece of information, the premise of your story is a steaming pile of poo second only to the stink of your skill as an analyst.
It's one thing to be a silent idiot. It's another to advocate your dumb-ass train of thought. Please hire someone who knows what they are doing to post topics and analyze. It's a nice vehicle this site, it would just be nice to have a driver who isn't deaf, dumb, and blind to the subject matter.
# LeatherBalls says: October 13, 2009 9:06 AM
WTF Florio? Quit jabbin' at D.A. - yea, he didn't have the highest completion percentage in NFL history, but the Browns also dropped 8 or 9 balls on target. Give the guy a break!
Yah I dont know if hes putting backspin or a little too much english on the ole' pigskin but when hes in there the Wide Droppers lay the ball on the turf a lot. I watch this crap every week and trust me when I say these wannabe pass catchers are more of a sham than Vince Shlomi. I really think Mangini knows D.A. was the best QB all along but knew they had to give "Jan" Brady on steroids a shot. He throws a better ball, hes taller, he has more composure, he looks good in a bowtie, and hes not a bitch like "Jan."
If it wasnt Brandy Edwards and his 4 drops a game D.A. would have gone into camp the starter and "Jan" would be starting for............Jan would be a backup for the Las Vegas Loco Chimichangas.
Everytime I say it I feel like a filthy liar but I really dont think Anderson is a bad QB, instead the scrubs who line up outside are making him look like horseshit.
If the criticism weren't true, you wouldn't feel the need to slide my comment down to the bottom. It was at 11, and then now it's at 18.
It's official. Florio doesn't just suck at his job. He's very aware that he sucks at his job...which is trying to criticize others' performance at their jobs. If that's not f 'ed up I don't know what is.
Hide, mikey.
I think most people tend to forget that when Belichick arrived in New England, most of his players didn't care of him that much either. He worked them to death. Once he got the guys in there he wanted, he got the veterans on his side and got everyone to buy in. After they started winning, he sort of pulled back a little bit.
Mangini inherited a team that has a lack of top end talent and little to no discipline. I think once he sees the players buy into what he's doing (and you're starting to see that with guys like D'Qwell Jackson supporting him), he'll start to pull back.
If anyone thinks that the situation in Denver would be the same if they were 2-3, they are seriously kidding themselves.
I'm not big on Mangini, but I do understand what he's trying to do. If the Browns win 6 games this year, I really think he's doing a good job with what he's got.
The Browns have been reduced to nothing by the coaching magic of Eric Mangini.
Maybe the Brownies need to suit up some of the fans who post at this site. Their fighting spirit is unbroken.
Mangini is doing the exact thing the military does. The break you down and build you up was completed during training camp. He found the guys that will stick with him and the ones who wont. He got rid of the ones that wouldn't. Now he's begun a "give and take" relationship with the team. It's a process that, in this case, the players are at their lowest. No freedoms, burdened with rules, not thinking for themselves, etc. Now Mangini is giving them a little something to be happy about, like no pads on Fridays or whatever, and the players see him giving a little, thinking he's lightening up, and now he's the most wonderful coach ever.
It may sound stupid to a lot of people, but the process works so well that people will run into battle to kill or be killed because of it. It works very well. It also builds a team concept and it brings the team closer together. The players will even shun other players that aren't functioning the way they are supposed to.
A coach cant be too buddy-buddy, but he also cant be too authoritarian. It's much easier for a iron fisted coach to loosen up a bit than for a friendly coach to tighten up a bit. Mangini is a good coach, alot of hatred out there for him for some reason.
This comment thread is beyond stupid. The game was ugly as hell, but don't criticize DA if you didn't watch it.
There were tons of drops mostly due to the crazy wind. DA threw a beautiful pass that should have been a 50 yard TD, but Robert Royal dropped it. He has a bad finger. No excuse, but DA did his job.
You build teams from the bottom up. Mangini is on his way. I wonder how many of the geniuses on this board have bet against the Browns the past couple of weeks. Those who did have less money in their pockets.
I shaved my balls for this?
Ok Florio,
typically stories like this have a source, or al least "unnamed sources". WTF?
So Mangini gets all of 5 games in Cleveland and he should be fired? For what? So another coach to come in and lose? It is the players that suck. Give the man some time to get his system and players in place before he gets the axe. Look how well hiring and firing coaches on a whim has worked out in Oakland and Washington. Also, please remember Bellicheck coached in Cleveland and was not a genius and folks said he was a task-master and unlikable (sound familiar?) Also seems like a good description of the Giants coacn. His lack of success was mostly because the players sucked. He does well in New England because he has good players that fit his system. I believe this is also how Tom Coughlin was viewed in New York. A tough coach no one liked who had unreasonable rules. But as soon as he gets his players to buy in to the system, they win a super bowl. It is all about talent on the field, which the Browns seem to have none of.
Maybe he learned something from his former New York counter point. If you remember everyone wanted Caughlin out New York in the beggining of there Super Bowl winning year. He would fine players for not being earlier to meetings he yelled and all around unlikable. But then he changed b/c he figured his career depended on it. After that he won a superbowl and is now a fixture in New York. Maybe Mangini realized if he doesnt change soon he will end up out of work without a ring.
Mangini is Rush Limbaugh's fat younger brother or his "Before" picture on a future nutrisystem commerical I am sure.