With our attention slowly turning from Sunday’s carnage to tonight’s game, we thought it was a good time to revisit some recent comments made by Browns coach Eric Mangini.
We wrote one week ago about the “remarkable similarities” Mangini saw between his situation in Cleveland and the one Bill Belichick inherited in New England.
It turns out that Mangini has made this comparison more than once since. In an article for ESPNBoston, Mike Reiss points out that Mangini made similar remarks during his bye week to CBSSports, concerning the media coverage he’s received.
“I look back at some of the articles from 2000 in New England, and they were pretty brutal. There are a lot of things said then . . . well, history has sort of been rewritten in the recent past. But that’s the way it is when you’re losing. Not much looks very good,” Mangini said.
When Mangini came under fire last week for working his players too hard, his reflex was again to compare himself to his old mentor.
“Bill [Belichick]'s a pretty intense guy,” Mangini said. “I don’t think there is a dramatic difference in approach.”
A Patriots official chose not to comment when asked by Reiss about Mangini’s comments. (Shocker. Does Mangini really want to use the Patriots as a reference?) The Browns coach conveniently ignores one giant difference in the situations: Belichick didn’t have his hand-picked G.M. removed halfway through his first season.
Whether Mangini likes it or not, he doesn’t appear to have the luxury to wait until midway through year two for his “program” to turn around, like Belichick did. The Browns need to win soon, starting tonight.