Cleveland Browns Victory a Sign Team Has Turned a Corner

If head coach Eric Mangini were the bragging sort, he would’ve jumped on the podium after the game and shouted, “How do you like me now?”

In truth, that’s exactly what Mangini should have done so everyone who jumped on his back early in the season, including myself, could apologize. Not that Mangini didn’t dig his own holes, but every coach deserves a full season, and these last few weeks are the reason why.

I’ll defend myself here and point out that I didn’t jump on the "Fire Mangini" bandwagon until after the Detroit game, my reasons explained here. That being said, I was never very comfortable on that wagon and I’m jumping off now.

When a team that was getting blown out week after week all of a sudden strings together two victories and looks good in a close loss, that team has turned a corner and whatever changes and adjustments Mangini has made over the course of the season are finally paying dividends.

For the first time all season, let’s look at some stats in the 41-34 victory and giggle with glee:

Joshua Cribbs

All Cribbs did on Sunday was run back two kickoffs for touchdowns, raising his career total to eight and setting the new NFL record for runbacks. The runs were for 100 yards and 103 yards, respectively.

The NFL Network’s Deion Sanders kept referring to Cribbs as “Pay the Man” in his pregame comments prior to the victory over Pittsburgh. It seems to have filtered through the collective consciousness of the Internet because I saw it all over the place yesterday.

No matter my philosophical objections to re-working pro contracts, there is no doubt Cribbs has outplayed and outperformed his current contract.

PAY THE MAN!!!!

Jerome Harrison

All Harrison did was break Hall-of-Famer Jim Brown’s single-game team rushing record of 237 yards by going 286 yards on 34 carries, including a 71-yard dash for one of his three touchdowns.

If there’s one criticism I can still level at the coaching staff, it’s sticking with Jamal Lewis, an obviously-aging running back who had slowed considerably until a concussion sidelined him permanently.

Harrison always answered the call on the rare occasion his number came up earlier this season. Since Lewis went down after the Bengals game, Harrison has done nothing but break through the line and gain yardage.

I don’t know if offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has turned a corner. I know the team has; the results on the field prove it. Daboll, however, has showed such incompetence over the course of the season, including some questionable calls during yesterday’s victory, that it would be naïve to let him out of the doghouse so quickly.

To give credit where credit is due, though, Daboll probably had his finest moment yesterday, sticking with the running game when it obviously was working, and not falling into a classic (and usually fatal) "run-run-pass" scheme.

Brady Quinn did not have a good day passing, but he made two critical runs in the second half, including a nice heads-up scramble on 3rd-and-1 that kept the drive going. His numbers, 10-17 for 66 yards and two interceptions with a 27.7 QB rating aren’t good, but he played better than his numbers suggest.

Along with the two runs, Quinn showed good poise on the field and never lost his composure. While his second interception was a bit underthrown and hung up in the air too long, receiver Mohamed Massaquoi did nothing to fight for that ball. Instead Massaquoi was tossed aside by the defenders like a rag doll.

It was a rookie mistake that you hope becomes a learning experience.

The defensive stats weren’t pretty, but what’s the point of complaining about a defense that lacked talent to begin with and now has most of its first-week starters on the injured reserve list?

Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan is doing the best he can with the talent he has. His performance can be nitpicked, but his unit has shown enough flashes of brilliance throughout the course of the season that Ryan better be back next year no matter who is in charge.

As to the imminent change in the front office and Mike Holmgren, the waters got very muddy on Sunday, and that’s a good thing. If Mangini finally has cleaned out all the wrong personnel and changed the culture of the team, firing him at this point would be a huge mistake.

There are still several questions as to what went wrong with this year’s draft, especially with his second-round picks. There are also questions as to why his offseason roster moves didn’t pan out while his recent waiver wire pick-ups have all been gold.

But with the recent positive changes in Cleveland, those questions now can be dealt with without making a coaching change.

I said yesterday that Holmgren’s comments about his possible duties in Cleveland sounded like he was going to try and do everything and therefore fall into the same trap of failure Mangini, and former coach Butch Davis, fell into when they attempted to do everything.

Mangini has now proven that he should stay one more year. That means Holmgren, if hired, can stay focused on the front office and keep a solid chain of command, providing leadership and direction for this team.

That’s how you build a consistent winner in the NFL. Randy Lerner—take note.