The Cleveland Browns: Success Begins Off the Field

By MICHAEL HEINBACH

The upcoming NFL season is just a tiny speck on the horizon, but new Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini has already been forced to address several off-the-field issues in his first five months on the job, similar to those that plagued the team in recent seasons.

First, Mangini was forced to appease defensive lineman Shaun Rogers, arguably the best player on the Browns' roster, who felt snubbed by his new head coach at a charity event and immediately went into sulk mode through the media.

Then came the Donte' Stallworth situation. The Browns' former No. 2 receiving threat is likely out for the year as he faces DUI manslaughter charges in Florida after a car accident in Miami claimed the life of a pedestrian.

Just today, kick returner/wide receiver Josh Cribbs met with Mangini to explain his dispute with management over his current contract.

The situation has escalated to the point where Cribbs held out of Cleveland's voluntary minicamp this week, though he did attend a team meeting Thursday.

If Mangini had done his research prior to accepting Cleveland's offer to become its fourth head coach since the team's rebirth in 1999, he would have noticed that damage control has become a large part of the job description.

There are several examples of the pitfalls Browns' upper management and coaching staff have negotiated through away from the field, though several of these incidents were centered around recently-traded tight end Kellen Winslow Jr.

There was Winslow's motorcycle accident, six players in four years who contracted career-threatening staph infections and Winslow's own contract disputes to name just a few. 

It's no wonder the Browns have found little success on Sundays when much of the focus of a typical week in the life of a Browns coach is spent on mending fences and answering to the media on issues having nothing to do with the Xs and Os of football.

Not to use him as a blueprint, but Bill Belichick has been a successful coach in New England partly because his players are held accountable for their actions and don't vent their frustrations to the press.

The questions the media has had with the Patriots away from the field deal with Tom Brady's social life and the Spygate incident, which has become a thing of the past.

On the flip side of the coin are the Dallas Cowboys, who may have had the most talented team in the NFL the last three seasons, but failed to win a playoff game due in no small part to the soap opera that's surrounded the club of late. 

Winning consistently in the NFL comes when a team rids itself of concerns that take away from the game of football. It doesn't matter the players who fill the roster, a team can't win if its focus is on anything other than the next game.

If Mangini is to turn around this franchise, it is imperative that these off-field distractions don't just decrease in number, they must disappear all together. That should be priority No. 1 for the club's new coach and its general manager.