THIS FROM SPORTS ILLUSTRATED WRITER ROSS TUCKER:
Please, Eric Mangini, for the sake of your locker room, your career, and your city, name a starting quarterback. I don't know what your logic is in waiting this long. You didn't even play Derek Anderson or Brady Quinn in the final preseason game, so clearly the "competition" is over.
I understand that you wanted to make it an open competition and give the keys to the guy who performed the best in your new system under offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. I get that. But have you thought about the messages you are sending to everyone involved with the organization, especially the players.
The first thing abundantly clear at this point is you don't really like either of them. You may say it is a good situation and that you have two solid choices, but if you really liked one of them and thought he was your guy for your tenure in Cleveland, you would have already named him the starter. Instead, you have given the appearance that you are picking the lesser of two evils. Now that will get the rest of the guys to rally around that signal caller. Sheesh.
When you wait this long to choose between two veterans, every player on the roster recognizes that the guy who starts Week 1 will not necessarily still be the guy in Week 4, or earlier for that matter. We know the quarterback might worry about being jerked every time he makes a bad throw, which is bad enough. But at this point you have insured that wide receivers and offensive linemen will be looking at the sidelines if your starter struggles. That's not good.
Most people assume you are holding off on naming Quinn the starter, which he should be, because you want to trade Anderson. Do you really think acting like Anderson may be the starter is increasing his trade value? Really? I highly doubt that.
Or maybe you really think keeping it quiet will give you a competitive advantage for the opener against the Vikings. That's pretty silly for a couple of reasons. One, I think it will leak out which QB is getting most of the reps in practice. Second, Minnesota is going to have to prepare for both guys anyway because, who knows, you may pull the starter at halftime if he isn't playing up to your standards.
Quinn deserves the job because it is time to find out what he can do. It is really that simple. We know Anderson is talented but inconsistent. There was no clear separation in the preseason, so let's see what the local guy can do. The excitement around the city and in the community could even help give the club a boost.
I understand you like to play mind games and see how players react. I don't blame you for that necessarily. But some guys don't play well in those uncertain circumstances, and quarterback is not the position to be increasing the uncertainty on a daily basis. If you don't believe me, ask Rod Hood, whom you cut earlier this week.
"I never really knew where I stood there on a day-to-day basis, and I had never experienced that before in Philly and Arizona," said Hood, who landed with the Bears. "I would be first string one day and play well and then the next day I would be second string with no rhyme or reason."
That is the way things are in Cleveland so far under Mangini's watch.
Read more:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writ...l#ixzz0Q9zeH6J6I PRAY MANGINI ISN'T THE POLAR OPPOSITE OF ROMEO CRENNEL BUT I FEAR HE IS. WILL CLEVELAND BROWNS FOOTBALL EVER GET IT RIGHT IN MY LIFETIME. STATISICALLY I HAVE ABOUT 30 MORE YEARS.
Edited by Gumshoe, 04 September 2009 - 12:25 PM.