Patience is out the window in today’s NFL. 

There are no more five year plans, no time given to a young coach to put in his system.  It’s funny when people bring up the Steelers giving Chuck Noll three years before his first winning season because that was 40 years ago! 

When Noll left and was replaced by Bill Cowher, the new coaches first three seasons were 11-5, 9-7, and 12-4, with all three years making playoff appearances.  It’s easy to have continuity when that happens.  Mike Tonlin’s first three years resulted in 10-6, 12-4, and 9-7 with the second year being a Super Bowl champion year. 

The NFL today has one last place team from the year before making the playoffs the next season virtually every year.  It happened to Kansas City this season.  So, every owner and every GM, as well as every fan wants to know why that same kind of turnaround can’t happen to them. 

Heck, Marvin Lewis took Cincinnati to the playoffs just a year ago, and it looks like the Bengals will not try to negotiate a new contract with him.  The Vikings went to the NFC title game last year and Brad Childress got the gate before the current season ended. 

There is no more patience in today’s NFL. 

That’s the NFL we live in today and that’s one of the reasons Mike Holmgren fired Eric Mangini as Browns’ coach today after two straight 5-11 seasons. 

Another reason is today’s professional football is played in the air and Holmgren wanted his franchise to join the 21st century in that regard.  Mangini’s emphasis on running the ball and stopping the run is important, make no mistake about that, but today’s game is played through the air.  Look at the NFL’s elite:  New England (Tom Brady), Pittsburgh  (Ben Roethlisberger), Indianapolis (Peyton Manning), New Orleans (Drew Brees), and Atlanta (Matt Ryan).

The league’s leading rusher this season was Houston’s Arian Foster.  The Texans finished 6-10. 

The team president wants someone to come in with the same passing game as the big boys in the NFL.  Whether he is correct or not, The Big Show feels the wide receivers on the roster aren’t terrible, they are just part of an archaic offensive system.  How many crossing routes did you see the Browns run this season?  That’s a staple for many teams in the National Football League. 

Holmgren will bring in somebody he is familiar with, something perhaps he should have done last season.  However, he gave Mangini a chance and you can’t fault him for that.  Holmgren has been in the league a long time with many branches on his coaching “tree”.  No doubt, someone he has worked with before will be the new coach of the Browns. 

Speculation will run wild that Jon Gruden will be a leading candidate, but Holmgren said he is open to all candidates and wants to find the right man to make the Cleveland Browns relevant in today’s game.

It is telling that all the assistant coaches were told they still have a contract for 2011 with the Browns.  This could be because the front office wants to keep defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and special teams coach Brad Seely. 

In the end, the Browns didn’t win enough football games and Eric Mangini paid for that with his job.  A generation ago, he would have been given more time to put his plan in place.  Now, he didn’t turn it around soon enough.

JD

Apparently, many of the Cleveland Browns thought the season ended last week after the loss to the Ravens. 

That would explain today’s utter humiliation of the brown and orange by the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Browns had been the only team in the NFL not to give up 30 points in the game this season, but they allowed 31 in the first half today in route to a 41-9 drubbing by Pittsburgh.

The game was reminiscent of the 41-0 beating administered by the Steelers on Christmas Eve a few years ago.  Maybe the Browns can ask the NFL schedule maker not to play Pittsburgh around the holidays again.

In a season filled with bizarre offensive game plans, today was just another.  With RB Peyton Hillis limited with a rib injury, Cleveland decided to not run at all early in the game, as the first eight plays were passes.  This totally flies in the face of what the coaching staff has preached all year long. 

Maybe Eric Mangini was just showing team president Mike Holmgren that using the forward pass doesn’t work as well as Holmgren thinks it does.

Without any sort of running game, QB Colt McCoy was harassed all over the field by the Steelers defense, particularly after his first interception, a deflection off the hands of TE Benjamin Watson into the hands of Steeler All Pro S Troy Polamalu. 

The next play, Ben Roethlisberger hit Mike Wallace for a 56 yard touchdown pass and the rout was on.  That pass showed the difference in philosophy between the two coaching staffs.  Remember the six picks the Browns had in Jacksonville, and the reluctance to throw even a short pass after each one?

The defense had no answer for the black and gold offense as well.  Pittsburgh didn’t even punt until midway through the third quarter.  So much for the pride defensive coordinator Rob Ryan talked about early in the week.

What’s even worse is the Steelers pouring it on in the second half.  Running a gadget play up 31-3 early in the third quarter?  Yes, this is professional football and it’s up to the defense to stop the opposition, but here’s hoping every member of the Browns’ organization remembers that play when the two teams get together next season.

Unfortunately, that kind of pride doesn’t exist anymore in professional sports.

So, the watch is on in Berea, as it is expected that Mangini will be relieved of his duties. perhaps as early as tomorrow.  The four consecutive losses to end the season clinched that outcome.  For those fearing another rebuilding process, with Holmgren and GM Tom Heckert in place, it will not be that. 

It will be a continuation of what happened on draft day when Heckert picked these players:  Starters  Joe Haden, T. J. Ward, McCoy, and a guy who should start next season in G Shaun Lauvao. 

For Mangini, his team didn’t show any improvement from last season’s 5-11 mark.  And what was even more damning was this team defeated two playoff teams back to back in New Orleans and New England, and took the Jets to overtime the following week.  However, they followed that up a few weeks later with losses to woeful teams like Buffalo and Cincinnati.

A 2-10 record within the division didn’t help either.

The improvement of teams like Kansas City, Tampa Bay, and St. Louis also showed it doesn’t have to be a long process in the NFL.  Those teams all had records worse than the Browns last season and in the case of the Chiefs and Buccaneers, won 10 games this season, and the Rams could make the playoffs.

It was a sad ending to a season which showed so much promise in the middle of the season.  After the Jets game, Cleveland entered a stretch of five winnable games (Jacksonville, Miami, Carolina, Buffalo, and Cincinnati) which could have put them at 8-6 going into the last two games of the year.  They were in every game, but came up with just one victory.  A disappointment indeed.

However, we did see some talented new players and may have found a quarterback as well.  The last two games should not shake anyone’s opinion of McCoy, provided he gets some wide receiver help and decent game plans.

It’s never a good thing to see someone lose a job, but for the benefit of the franchise, Holmgren will start looking for a new coach soon.

JD

Very quietly, the Cleveland Cavaliers have started their transformation.  A couple of subtle recent moves have indicated that coach Byron Scott is looking for a little more athleticism on the roster.

This is something sorely lacking on the Cavs’ current roster, which is one of the least athletic in the league particularly at the big guard and small forward spots, where virtually every NBA team has a guy who can run the floor and hammer dunks.

The release of F Jawad Williams allowed the team to bring in the 2010 D-League Rookie of the Year in Alonzo Gee, who most recently had been playing for the Washington Wizards, playing sparingly in 16 games, averaging 2.1 points per contest. 

Gee is a big guard, at 6’6″ and 220 pounds out of Alabama, and is regarded as a guy who can get up in the air. 

Williams’ game is that of a three-point shooter, who seemed reluctant to put the ball on the floor and struggled defensively.  He hit three shots from beyond the arc in his last game as a Cav, probably his best game of the season, but he was more effective on a team with LeBron James than he was this year. 

Scott also indicated that former first round draft choice, Christian Eyenga, who has been playing in the D-League for Erie, could be brought back to Cleveland soon.  Eyenga is another guy who can flat-out jump, and is 6’5″ and 210 pounds.  There is no question the team needs size in the backcourt, where outside of Anthony Parker, who is now playing small forward, the biggest backcourt player getting any time at all is Ramon Sessions at 6’3″.

And there are rumors all over the place that the New York Knicks are interested in Sessions, who seems to still be a shoot first point guard, and hasn’t really fit in with the wine and gold.  The Cavs might be interested in getting back another athlete in 6’11” power forward Anthony Randolph, who is just 21, but has fallen out of favor with coach Mike D’Antoni. 

Randolph is regarded as a player with a whole lot of potential to be a standout player in the NBA.

The wine and gold also sent rookie F Samardo Samuels to the D-League to get some court time, which could signal an enhanced role when he returns.  Backup C Ryan Hollins’ playing time has been dwindling, and Scott needs some size in the frontcourt. 

The coach has commented that he needs a post player on offense, and that Samuels has a low post game.  Plus, he’s another guy with the dreaded “P” word–potential.

The head coach has to look at his team, which currently sits at 8-23, and realizes it’s not going to get much better using the same guys he is using now.  He is giving his starter heavy minutes since the change in the starting lineup, which brough Daniel Gibson and Antawn Jamison onto the first unit, and knows he has to get some contributions from his bench. 

Why not go with young, athletic guys to get some production?  After all, they may just get better with the experience.

The way the season has gone thus far, with 14 losses in their last 15 games, there is really nothing else to do.  Give these young guys a shot.  Perhaps they can put some life into a team is a desperate need for a jolt.

JK

Clevelanders are too soft when it comes to their sports teams. 

We should demand more of the owners of our professional teams, instead it seems like we settle for mediocrity.  All of our teams play in facilities built with our tax dollars.  Is it too much to ask the people running the teams to put a good product on the field or court. 

Not every once in a while, all the time. 

Sure we understand rebuilding, every team, outside of perhaps the New York Yankees have to go through this from time to time, but it’s been 46 years since a Cleveland team won a major professional championship. 

What’s worse, only four times in those 46 years has a team from our city played for a world championship:  the ’65 Browns lost to Green Bay, the “95 and ’97 Indians got to the World Series, and the ’07 Cavaliers went to the NBA Finals. 

However, it seems like we accept this.  There is apathy with regard to the Indians, patience when it comes to the Browns, and hope for the Cavaliers because we believe their owner, Dan Gilbert wants to win as much as we do.

The goal of every team should be a title.  Not being competitive, not hoping to catch lightning in a bottle, not a continuous rebuilding project.  A championship, nothing less should be what is strived for. 

In turn, every move a franchise makes should be done with the express goal of winning the whole thing. 

Take Eric Mangini, there is considerable debate as to whether he should stay or remain as the Browns’ head coach.  The question should be:  Can Eric Mangini get the Cleveland Browns to the Super Bowl?  That should be the only thing that matters.  He’s been the coach for two years, and it appears both seasons will end with the same record.  That’s not progress.

Also, Mangini has been a head coach in the NFL for five seasons and has had losing records in three of them.  Had he taken two teams to the Super Bowl in the past, you could give him the benefit of the doubt, but that’s not the case.

The situation at Progressive Field is a mess.  The Dolan family has owned the team for ten years and has produced two playoff teams.  The first one coming from players acquired and developed during the Jacobs’ ownership. 

The Mark Shapiro led front office has produced two good teams since 2001.  The ’07 team which got the ALCS, and the ’05 squad which missed the post-season by one game.  That’s it.  And it’s also not acceptable for fans.  The lucky thing for the Indians is they have made themselves insignificant.  No one cares any more.

Still, you have some people telling us about “the process”, and the amount of time it takes to build a competitive team.  Does anyone remember the Tribe was within one game of the World Series just three seasons ago?  It seems to me you had a good team, you decided to dismantle it.

As for the Cavs, the big hope is Gilbert, who at least says the right things about winning.  No excuses from him like you hear from Shapiro and Dolan.  However, his basketball team has lost 14 of their last 15 games, yet no roster changes have been made.  A lack of action is perceived as a lack of caring about winning.

With 2011 on the horizon, this should be our resolution as Cleveland sports fans:  Stop accepting losing!  We’ve had enough!  We need to demand positive results from our professional sports teams.  Four opportunities for a title in 46 years isn’t getting it done. 

MW

This month, the Browns games are looking like the movie “Ground Hog Day” with Bill Murray.  Each game looks remarkably like the game before.  Can’t run the ball?  Check.

Can’t stop the run?  Check.

Strange use of the clock by the coaching staff at the end of the first half?  Check. 

This is not the formula to winning football, and that was proven again today as Cleveland fell to the Baltimore Ravens, 20-10, and fall to 5-10 on the season. 

A loss to Pittsburgh next week means the Browns will end the 2010 season with the same record as last year, despite having better talent.  That can’t bode well for Eric Mangini’s future here. 

Let’s go back to the fiasco right before the intermission when the Browns scored a field goal to bring them to within three points at 13-10. 

First, they left two timeouts on the board.  Does the head coach think he can turn those in at the end of the season for coupons or something? 

Following the two minute warning, Colt McCoy hit RB Mike Bell for 24 yards, putting the ball on the Ravens’ 28 yard line with three timeouts left!  The Browns did not run another play until 1:16 was remaining, and that play was a 1 yard run by Bell.  The next play came with :31 left, and it was a pass play, but McCoy was flushed out of the pocket and ran for 7 yards. 

Cleveland then went to the wildcat formation and Josh Cribbs, who look healthy today for the first time in weeks, picked up the first down at the Baltimore 13.  It was then that the Browns used their first timeout.  So, they went 15 yards and used about a minute to do it all the while being in scoring territory. 

The Plain Dealer’s Tony Grossi said it looks like the Browns go into these situations looking for a field goal, not a touchdown.  It certainly looked like that today. 

Then, the Browns tried an onside kick to start the second half and it failed when Phil Dawson only kicked it eight yards, instead of the required 10.  Not going to blame Mangini for the aggressiveness, even though it seemed a bit forced.  However, why not go for broke inside the Ravens’ 30 at the end of the first half?

McCoy played like a rookie for the first time this season, hitting just 15 of 29 passes for 149 yards and throwing three interceptions.  The first one was excusable as WR Mohammad Massaquoi could have made a better effort to knock the ball down instead of letting Ladarius Webb pick it off.  The other two picks were by Ed Reed, who is probably going to the Hall of Fame.

By when you give up 161 rushing to the opposition and you only get 102 yourself, it makes it difficult to win.  Mix in four turnovers, and you have a recipe for defeat. 

In a statistical anomaly, the Browns actually out gained the Ravens, 280 to 258 yards on the day.  And McCoy was not sacked by the Ravens’ defense either. 

Rookie CB Joe Haden had another solid effort, intercepting his sixth pass of the year, and he also had a sack of Joe Flacco, the only one recorded by the Browns.  He looks like he can be a cornerstone on this team.

Cleveland’s only touchdown came on a trick play, a 29 yard pass from Massaquoi to Brian Robiskie, his second TD catch in as many weeks.  Massaquoi had a mixed game because he also fumbled after a catch in the first half, and didn’t break up McCoy’s first pick.

There is one more game is this season, and the Browns are ending it in an opposite manner than they did last year when they won their last four contests.  Unless they upset the Steelers, they will finish with the same record and four straight defeats. 

Also, a loss next week means a 1-5 record in the division, which is unacceptable if you intend to compete in the AFC North. 

The big news won’t be the game, it will be what follows, when we all find out Mike Holmgren’s take on the team and its coach.

JD

With a couple of losses to the lower class in the NFL, Buffalo and Cincinnati both had two wins when they played Cleveland, there is plenty of speculation on the job security of coach Eric Mangini.

Add in a narrow victory against a Carolina team that had just one win at the time, and you can see why the buzzards are circling over Berea.

If the Browns lose their last two games, both at home against divisional rivals Baltimore and Pittsburgh, they will end up with an identical record as last season, 5-11.  Given the infusion of talent from new GM Tom Heckert, having the same record doesn’t reflect well on the job the head coach has done.

This is not to say that Eric Mangini is not a good coach.  He changed this football team from kind of a finesse type team to a physical, punishing group.  This style is needed in the AFC North because there are four games every year against the Ravens and Steelers. 

Those teams no longer intimidate the Browns, and the head coach brought that mindset to the organization.

However, one gets the idea that Mangini’s style and conservative nature do not fit with team president Mike Holmgren and Heckert.  And those two have the right to want to work with someone who shares the same ideas on style of football as they do.

And that’s why the Browns will probably be looking for a new head coach in a couple of weeks.

The current state of the NFL shows that you need to be able to score points to win football games.  This seems to be a problem for the brown and orange.  Their defense has been solid for most of the year; they haven’t allowed 30 points in any game this season.  That’s why they are in virtually every game. 

However, the offensive game plan has come out of the Stone Age in recent weeks.  Some of that is talent based.  The Browns have glaring needs at wide receiver, they need a change of pace running back, and the right side of the offensive line could be beefed up.

The cynics would say Mangini drafted the wide outs, traded a scatback in Jerome Harrison, and is the guy who keeps putting John St. Clair at right tackle.  Thus, he’s creating his own problems.

It’s the lack of aggressiveness on offense that has to rankle Holmgren.  When the Browns were playing upper echelon teams, where it was thought the team would surely lose, the coaching staff opened up the attack. 

When they play teams they are on the same level as, they play with a “don’t lose” mentality.

It started with the Jacksonville game, when the defense created six turnovers, but Mangini and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll ran the ball continuously after getting the ball.  They didn’t take the opportunity to go for the throat at any time.

Think about the last two losses when the offense had the ball inside the 5-yard line and not one play action pass was used. 

Also, the time management at the end of halves is highly questionable as well.  And remember that Mangini isn’t a first time head coach; he’s been in charge of an NFL team for five years.

All of the reason listed here are why Eric Mangini isn’t a good fit for the Browns, the Browns run by Mike Holmgren.  After evaluating the situation for a year, the president is going to find someone who fits better with his philosophy, a man that can take this team to the Super Bowl.  That man might be the one he sees everyday in the mirror.

JD

It’s getting old, real old.

If you are around 50 years old, you likely do not remember 1964 when the Cleveland Browns brought this city its last professional championship.  So, you have gone your entire life without seeing a Cleveland team celebrating.

No parades down Euclid Avenue, no title banners hoisted to the rafters.

Sure, there have been some good times in all those years.  The Cavaliers brought excitement during the 1975-76 season with “The Miracle at Richfield”.

The Browns were the city’s best hope in the eighties, going to three AFC title games, but not to the Super Bowl. 

It was the Indians’ turn in the nineties, going to two World Series, but not cashing in on either of them.

And the Cavs were the team in the first decade of this century, getting to the NBA Finals in 2007, and having the NBA’s best record in 2008-09 and 2009-10, before losing early in the playoffs.

The Indians seem to make all of their decisions on a low risk – high reward mentality.  The only players they go after are people coming off injuries, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle, so they can trade them for prospects. 

Why not take interest in the recently traded Zack Greinke, who is just 27 years old, and is signing through the 2012 campaign.  The Royals traded him for four prospects, including two of the Milwaukee Brewers top prospects.  However, the players received by the Royals have proven nothing in the major leagues. 

Greinke, on the other hand, is a very good major league pitcher.  The Brewers are getting at least two years of a proven commodity, a legitimate #1 starter with a Cy Young Award on his resume.

The Indians’ front office will give you the usual mumbo-jumbo about building the farm system and player development being the way to go for a small market team.  However, Greinke didn’t get dealt to New York, Boston, or Los Angeles, he went to Milwaukee.

There is no question that prospects have to be the lifeblood of a team that cannot afford premium free agents.  However, Greinke is a proven ace, all of the minor leaguers the Tribe talk about might be good one day, but then again, they might not.

There were thoughts that perhaps the Indians would go after one of their former players this winter, possibly Manny Ramirez, since the team needed a right-handed bat. 

Well, they have signed one former Tribesman in OF Austin Kearns, who returns to the team after spending the last two months of the year with the Yankees.  Kearns had a great April and May with Cleveland, but in June and July, he hit just .253 with 5 HR and 20 RBI.  He did have a 746 OPS last season, but that was due to a .351 on base percentage. 

His slugging percentage was under .400, not exactly what you want from a corner outfielder.  In fact, Shelley Duncan, who may be designated for assignment as a result of this signing, hits southpaws better than Kearns.

The team is also interested in 37-year-old Bartolo Colon, another former Indian.  He fits the “low risk, high reward” player; the front office is famous for.  Colon, if signed, will take starts away from the Josh Tomlins, Jeanmar Gomez’s, and Alex White’s of the world, unless he is getting battered in spring training.

Cleveland has struggled early in the season lately because they are giving playing time to mediocre veterans, and then play better when young guys are brought up. 

It doesn’t appear they are learning from their mistakes.

Instead, why don’t they go after a young player who is a proven player and has cost certainty for at least two years?  That’s the kind of move that would get fans excited about the ballclub. 

It’s a kind of move that an organization that is interested in winning makes.

MW

If you can’t run the ball and can’t stop the run in the NFL, you have little chance to win. 

That’s why the Cleveland Browns now sit at 5-9 on the season following a 19-17 defeat at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals, which broke the Bengals 10 game losing streak. 

Cincinnati ran for 189 yards, Cedric Benson accounting for 150 in 31 carries as they remembered the style of football they played last season when they made the playoffs:  Run the ball and play solid defense.  The Browns had no answer all day for this formula as the defense was dominated by the Bengals’ offensive line.

The Cincinnati offense dominated so thoroughly that their punter, Kevin Huber, was needed just once on the day, and that was in the fourth quarter. 

The defense takes the brunt of the blame for this defeat. 

Because of the success of the running game, mistake prone QB Carson Palmer wasn’t needed to make plays.  The Bengals longest pass play was a wide receiver screen pass to Andre Caldwell, which went for 53 yards.  Cincy didn’t turn the ball over and didn’t allow a sack, and that usually leads to taking the victory formation at the end of the game.

Cincinnati had the ball for 38 minutes compared to just 22 for the Browns, and ran 68 play for the contest compared to just 43 for Cleveland.  In an odd statistic, the Browns actually gained more yards per play than the Bengals.  They just didn’t run enough of them.

You know there is a defensive issue when the top two tacklers on your unit play in the secondary on a day where your opponent is running the ball.  Rookies T.J. Ward and Joe Haden each had six stops to top the team.

On offense, another rookie QB Colt McCoy returned and played well, hitting 19 of 25 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns, both to unlikely targets.  On the first drive of the game, McCoy hit TE Robert Royal with a 20 yard strike, and on the last drive, he hit WR Brian Robiskie with a 46 yard throw to put the Browns within two points.

The other impressive drive for Cleveland came at the end of the third quarter, but stalled because of the stubbornness of coach Eric Mangini and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who kept running Peyton Hillis up the middle inside the 10 yard line instead of trying something out on the perimeter.  The Browns settled for three instead of seven, and they lost by two.  You do the math.

Hillis carried for just 59 yards on only 14 attempts, but the Bengals were playing the run, and Cleveland didn’t run enough offensive plays anyway to establish the ground game more.

TE Ben Watson had another good game, catching 7 aerials for 92 yards.

Besides the aforementioned drive at the end of the third quarter, a couple of other coaching decisions bear review. 

The end of the first half was a mess.  The Browns were going to go for a first down on 4th and 7 from the Bengals’ 34 yard line in an effort to get into field goal range before intermission.  After a false start penalty on OT John St. Clair, who had a terrible game, Mangini decided to punt.  There were only 16 seconds remaining.  Why not try again for the first down, and it you turn it over on downs, the Bengals probably only have ten second left anyway.

The other occurence was after the Bengals recovered the onside kick with slightly more than two minutes left.  Benson was tackled with 2:06 remaining and Mangini elected to let the clock tick down to the two-minute warning.  Why not use a timeout there, with another one to come at the 2:00 mark?

Had the defense stopped the Bengals, the Browns could have had six to ten more seconds to work with.

Anyway, the buzzard will be circling above Berea this week.  Team president Mike Holmgren cannot be happy his team lost to two 2-win teams on back to back weeks.  Despite winning games against New England and New Orleans earlier this season, you make gain in this league by beating the teams you should beat consistently.  Mangini hasn’t done that this season.

JD

There is a fine line between patience and stubbornness. 

We have seen that over the years with the coaches and managers who have passed through Cleveland over the past few years.  When it works out, it’s patience.  When it doesn’t, it’s stubbornness.  More often than not, it does not work, and the person in charge loses their job.

Being stubborn is not the trait of successful coaches.  Eric Wedge was like this when he was managing the Indians, particularly with the use of his bullpen.  In the end, it cost him his job.

Eric Mangini is doing the same thing with his quarterback, and it may come back to bite him in the behind.

Since Colt McCoy was injured in the Jacksonville game, Mangini has gone with Jake Delhomme at quarterback.  This is understandable because the veteran had a good pre-season and he lost his job because of a high ankle sprain in the season opener.

However, since the first half of his first start back against his former team, the Carolina Panthers, Delhomme has played poorly.  Perhaps it was the QB fumbling and throwing two interceptions in a span of four plays that has caused the coaching staff to severely button up the play calling, but whatever the reason, his play has been subpar.

Yet, earlier this week the head coach said he would continue to start Delhomme if McCoy is not healthy enough to go this Sunday against Cincinnati.  Based on the last 2-1/2 games, this would mean the coach would rather go with an ultra-conservative attack than play Seneca Wallace, who started for the Browns in their first victory of the season, which came against the Bengals.

What is the reason for doing this?  It is decisions like this that have conspiracy theorists going crazy. 

Is Mangini playing Delhomme because Wallace said he expected to start when he came back from his ankle injury?  Is Mangini playing Delhomme because the team is paying him $7 million?  Is Mangini playing Delhomme because he has provocative pictures of the head coach with a farm animal?

It appears that the coach trusts the rookie most in terms of running the offense.  The offense seems to have more flexibility with the rookie because he makes good decisions with the football.  Delhomme has thrown seven interceptions in 149 passes this season and 25 in 470 attempts over the past two seasons.  By contrast, Seneca Wallace has thrown 16 INTs in his career covering 656 passes.

McCoy has tossed three picks in 129 passes this season.

If Mangini values being careful with the pigskin, why wouldn’t the choice be Wallace if McCoy can’t start?

With all of these factors and statistics staring him in the face, the Browns’ head coach says Jake Delhomme would be the second option as the starter ahead of Wallace?  It just doesn’t make sense. 

You have to assume that Wallace is in the coaches’ doghouse.  When this happens, thoughts go to former Tribe skipper Pat Corrales when asked if he was going to bench Julio Franco when Franco missed a game in New York, apparently because he was out too late the night before.

Corrales said something about his team not being good enough for him to have a doghouse. 

Eric Mangini should be thinking along those lines. 

And if Wallace isn’t in good graces with the coaching staff, then Mangini’s stubbornness is getting the best of him. 

He would be another in a long line of coaches to lose their job because of it.

JD

Nobody thought it would be this bad. 

We are not talking about the play calling by the Cleveland Browns, rather this discussion is centered on the play of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have now lost eight straight contests, and their record has plummeted to 7-17 on the season. 

Good luck in the 2011 Draft Lottery. 

The wine and gold have the 7^th worst record in the league currently, and teams like New Jersey, Washington, and Detroit are closing fast.  The team has the worst point differential in the NBA at –9.7 points per night, which means you could make the point that Cleveland is the worst team in the association.

It’s not pretty, and it seems to be getting worse.

Coach Byron Scott changed the starting lineup to get more production there, and it worked.  Unfortunately, the bench, which had been one of the highest scoring units in the NBA, is now doing nothing. 

Still, the biggest problem with this team is defense, and the lack of it.  The Cavs rank 9^th from the bottom in terms of points allowed per game, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.  The only team allowing more points than the wine and gold that scores less than 100 points per game is the Washington Wizards.

The other seven teams that allow more points are all running type teams, squads like Phoenix, Golden State, Toronto, and New York.  Although Scott would like the offense to be more up-tempo, right now it isn’t and Cleveland is scoring only 93 points per night while giving up 103. 

They are fourth from the bottom in field goal percentage against, behind the Suns, Raptors, and Wizards.  However, from behind the three-point line, they are allowing more than 41% of shots worth three points. 

The only other team over 40% is the Los Angeles Clippers.

Fox Sports’ Sam Amico said the Cavaliers’ perimeter defense is the worst he has seen in the 25 years he has covered the NBA.  And yes, it is that bad.

It starts with Scott not having anyone who can stop the opponents’ point guard from getting into the paint on a consistent basis.  The failure of Mo Williams, Ramon Sessions, and Daniel Gibson to stop dribble penetration puts the rest of the defense in a position to have to help prevent a lay up parade.

Couple that with the lack of a shot blocker in the middle, and you have a situation where too many players are concentrating on stopping points in the paint, as they should be.  However, that leaves the perimeter wide open.  Ryan Hollins is a decent shot blocker, but he’s only on the floor for about 12-15 minutes per night.

In previous years, the team had guys like Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Shaquille O’Neal blocking the way to the hoop.  Although they weren’t mobile, they were big enough to alter shots.

J.J. Hickson could be a deterrent in time, but right now, he doesn’t know how or is unwilling to play solid defense inside.

And currently, the Cavs don’t have enough guys with the quickness and size needed to recover on outside shots.  Anthony Parker and Manny Harris are the only guards with size on the roster, and Parker is now playing small forward and has appeared to lose a step.

The other players who have the height to challenge shots from outside aren’t athletic enough to recover from stopping drives, outside of perhaps Jawad Williams and the recently banished Jamario Moon.  However, if the guards were doing their job, everyone else could concentrate on stopping their man.

Last year, LeBron James and Delonte West could recover much quicker than the current group.  And West could also guard the point and limit drives to the basket.

In this losing streak, nothing has worked for this basketball team, but the defense is the main problem.  Better defense would not only mean the Cavaliers would need less points to win, but they would also be able to utilize the running game their coach wants.

The Cavs need a lot to make this team better, but the first piece should be a defensive minded point guard, who makes good decisions with the basketball.  Until that happens, it will be tough to watch the Cavaliers.

JK