Under Eric Mangini, the Cleveland Browns have seemed to have a philosophy of having hard working players who were all on the same page, and tried to scheme their way to victory.
It’s kind of the same idea Bill Belichick had when he first took over the Browns in the early 1990’s. It was Belichick’s first head coaching job and he learned over the years that you need talent as well as good coaching to win games in the NFL.
Mangini needs to learn the same lesson, and quickly for the sake of this football team.
Professional sports are talent based. More often than not, the team with the better talent wins the game. The Browns have some players who can play, just not enough of them.
One thing Mangini has demonstrated during his tenure here is that he has had trouble with some talented players.
Some of those guys were jerks, like WR Braylon Edwards, who recently was miffed with Joe Namath after the latter mentioned his problems holding on to the ball. It’s pretty clear that Edwards was a me-first type of player. However, what about Kellen Winslow?
At some point in time, you need to add talented players to the roster, and the coach needs to be able to handle them.
Former Browns’ coach Sam Rutigliano likes to tell the story about how he told then defensive coordinator Marty Schottenheimer that anyone can coach Clay Matthews, but he got paid to coach Chip Banks.
Rutigliano’s message is clear. Being able to handle the talented, somewhat difficult player is part of the challenge of coaching. No coach gets the opportunity that all the players he has are self-motivated hard working talented guys. Sometimes, you have to coax the performance out of these guys.
Right now, it appears that Mangini is unwilling to put the time in to do exactly that.
Former Indians’ manager Eric Wedge was the same way. He had problems with a guy like Brandon Phillips, who is a very talented player, but didn’t fit the mold Wedge was looking for in a player. He preferred the Casey Blake type of player, a grinder who played the game the “right” way.
Blake was a solid player, but Phillips is an all-star. And ultimately, games are won and lost by talent, not grit and determination. It always helped Wedge that his best player, Grady Sizemore, worked very hard.
This is not to say that Phillips doesn’t try, in fact, if he didn’t he wouldn’t be an all-star, but he had a different personality, and his manager couldn’t handle it.
Mangini seems to have the same type of attitude toward his players.
Josh Cribbs is the Sizemore type of player for the Browns. He is the team’s best player and has a tremendous work ethic. In addition to being an All Pro kick returner, he’s the best coverage guy on special teams.
Eventually, Mike Holmgren and GM Tom Heckert are going to bring in talented, playmaking players on both offense and defense because they understand that’s what wins in the NFL. If the head coach can’t demonstrate an ability to get along with these types of players, that will be a contributing factor in whether or not he remains coach of the Browns.
Coaches need to be flexible in handling players. Belichick learned that from his experience in Cleveland. Hopefully, Eric Mangini can figure it out quickly.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 