Four Issues the Browns Face Going into Pittsburgh

Five weeks into the season, the Browns have way too much drama and far too few wins.

The Browns' only victory didn’t really feel like one, the fanbase remains horribly split on who should be the quarterback, and everyone seems to hate head coach Eric Mangini.

The sad thing is that’s just scratching the surface, and now the team is headed to Pittsburgh to play the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers.

The Steelers have been the traditional rival of the Browns. Ever since the Browns returned to the league in 1999, though, they’ve been nothing more than a punching bag. It’s not much of a rivalry if one of the teams constantly loses.

There’s nothing more aggravating to a Browns fan than seeing the Steelers win, because Steeler fans are among the worst winners on the face of the planet. When the Steelers win, the fans all dress up in their black and gold, hoot and holler, and generally become as obnoxious as they possibly can be.

The flipside of that is it’s very difficult to find a Steeler fan after they lose. They don’t like to talk about the game when they don’t come out of it with a victory.

The Steelers have become a model NFL organization, and the results on the field prove it. Conversely, the Browns have had no consistency in their front office since their return to the league, and the results speak for themselves.

The questions that need answering are many, and Mangini isn’t the talking type.

Fan outcry has been loud. In some cases, their howls are justified, in other cases, groupthink has brought out the worst in Cleveland. Losing will do that. The constant losing definitely has made Cleveland fans shrill.

If the Browns are going to silence the hordes of Steelers fans out there and bring their own fans back to life, they have to rise above the drama of the last few weeks and build on what little promise they’ve shown since the season started.

Here are four issues, good and bad, the Browns need to focus on going into Sunday.

Eric Mangini Must Be a Leader, Not a Drama Queen

Eric Mangini has been a polarizing figure since the moment he was hired. Like most everything else regarding the Browns in the last few years, fans are split on what to do and how to handle Mangini.

Part of the problem is that Mangini brings a lot of this stuff on himself. Over the last few years, Mangini has somehow made a lot of enemies at the league offices and burned quite a few bridges with people and entities he should be courting.

Turning in Bill Belichik for cheating was the beginning of his downfall with the NFL insiders.

Actions speak louder than words, and while many people around the league remained silent, the Brett Favre debacle is proof there is a double standard when it comes to reporting injuries.

We now know Tony Sparano and Bill Parcells probably fudged Chad Pennington's injury report, but there's been no league investigation.

Why?

Because Parcells is an untouchable.

It makes you wonder: Is the James Davis injury investigation just a vendetta by someone at the league office?

Mangini needs to do whatever he has to in order to mend fences behind the scenes in New York. He'll never be left alone as long as the people above him working for commissioner Roger Goodell are convinced he's a no good jerk.

True or not, Mangini created this particular mess partially through the persona he presents to the media, who went from dubbing him the "Mangenius" to calling him the worst NFL hire in 25 years.

While his attitude toward the media really is meaningless when it comes to doing his job, he's arrogant and heavy-handed at times he should be extending an olive branch.

That's not to excuse the media in general for being vindictive and never giving Mangini the benefit of the doubt, but given Mangini's obtuse nature with sports writers, it's hard drudge up any sympathy for him.

Either way, his off-field mistakes have caused far too many distractions and it's time he started making amends.

Solidify the Offensive Line

While the right side of the offensive line has been weak so far this season, it showed improvement last week in Buffalo. However, it was Buffalo and it's probably best to just move on.

Alex Mack is starting to prove he’s worth the first-round pick. Mangini is trying to hit the lottery two times in a row by drafting a center with his first-round pick.

Nick Mangold was the object of his affection in New York, and now Mack takes up that love affair in Cleveland. While many complained Mangini didn't get enough from the Jets in the trade on draft day, if Mack continues to improve like he has so far, his value becomes priceless.

An offensive line that protects its quarterback is a line that can turn an average quarterback into a superstar.

In addition to Mack, left tackle Joe Thomas is an unmovable wall. Thomas is quietly having another Pro Bowl caliber year. Nobody is getting past the guy. If you watch game tape closely, you'll see Derek Anderson drifting to the same area of the pocket.

In fact, the only sack Thomas has given up since Anderson became the starter is a play where Anderson wandered right into Thomas.

The line as a whole will face a tough test this week in Pittsburgh, and it will be a testament to good coaching if they can keep Anderson from eating a lot of dirt.

This line is looking coached up and that’s a good thing. A few more good draft picks and maybe a free agent signing could very well make the Browns' offensive line one to be respected next year.

Brian Daboll Needs to Start Coaching

Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has a bit of a problem: His offense doesn't score points.

If you look around the league and watch other games, you can see other teams running some of the very same plays the Browns run, but with different results.

They score touchdowns.

There obviously is a talent gap, but how Daboll has handled that is very suspect. The wildcat formation, run very successfully in Miami, has been a dud in Cleveland.

Daboll seems to have given up on the wildcat, yet decided faking to Joshua Cribbs is a play that will work wonders, even though it hasn't.

To call the Browns' offense "conservative" is an understatement. Calling it "afraid to come out of the closet" would be more appropriate.

Anderson was 2-for-17 last week. While he was victimized by eight or nine drops (depending on who you talk to) the fact that he only threw the ball 17 times is disturbing.

The fact that the running game worked well is a good thing and shouldn't be discounted, but the running game only works if the opposing team thinks you're going to throw the ball on occasion.

Daboll has not handled his lack of offensive talent well, he's done very little to develop the rookies we've received, and he generally looks like he's in over his head.

If the Browns are going to win this Sunday, Mangini needs to take action and get everything he possibly can from Daboll and his offense.

The Quarterback Drama

The argument over who should be behind center, Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson, is an argument everyone is tired of having.

Apparently, so is Quinn. He put his house up for sale on Tuesday. Whether it's because he anticipates being traded or if he's downsizing because he's about to lose $11 million in salary for not being the starter is unknown at this time.

All Browns fans know is neither quarterback looked great in the preseason and Quinn got benched 10 quarters into the regular season.

Anderson hasn't set the world on fire, but he hasn't been as awful as feared. Going into Pittsburgh, that could change for the worse. Pittsburgh's defense is good, in case you hadn't heard.

The only thing anyone seems to be certain about when it comes to the Cleveland quarterback situation is that nothing is certain. Brett Ratliff could be the starter in a few weeks for all anyone knows, and that could happen without anyone getting injured.

Browns fans already are paying closer attention to the college quarterback draft situation, because it seems likely we'll be drafting our third quarterback in 11 years.

Why Quinn came out of the gate so poorly is a mystery not easily solved, although you can point to coaching and poor decision-making as the main factors.

Anderson's inconsistency prohibits him from being the long-term solution, but he seems to be all the Browns have right now.

Quinn probably won't be traded before the deadline due to his value being at an all-time low, but stranger things have happened. I wouldn't bet on him being here next year.

In the end, it doesn't matter who is quarterback for Cleveland as long as they get a win, especially in Pittsburgh.