Mangini at Football Hall of Fame

[CLEVELandMILIDH]

 

By Steve Doerschuk

CantonRep.com staff writer

Posted May 10, 2010 @ 06:11 PM

Last update May 10, 2010 @ 06:16 PM

CANTON TWP. —

Does Seneca Wallace have a shot at beating out Jake Delhomme as the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback?

 

A few days out from spring practice, Browns Head Coach Eric Mangini avoided a direct answer.

 

Mangini did get a mischievous look, though, suggesting something is up his sleeve.

 

 

“Regardless of how it works,” Mangini said, “Seneca’s going to have plays in there where he’ll be involved, and maybe he’ll be involved with Josh (Cribbs), and we can have some fun with that.”

 

During and after a speech Monday at the Hall of Fame Luncheon Club, Mangini gave what passed for a state-of-the-quarterbacks report.

 

Delhomme, who has passed for 19,892 yards and 123 NFL touchdowns, signed a two-year contract thinking he will be the Browns starter. He must prove, at age 35, that a collapse in Carolina was a mirage.

 

“When you bring someone in, you look at their body of work,” Mangini said. “He has an outstanding body of work. Brett Favre didn’t play very well for us at the end in New York. Brett came back and played pretty well the next season.”

 

The Jets fired Mangini after his 2008 team, quarterbacked by Favre, slipped from 8-3 to 9-7. As a 2009 Viking, Favre improved in passing yards (3,472 to 4,202), touchdowns-to-interceptions (22-22 to 33-7) and passer rating (81.0 to 107.2).

 

As a second-year Browns skipper, Mangini has a much different set of quarterback questions than he did last year with Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson. The big one: What if Delhomme doesn’t look good in the preseason?

 

Might Wallace become the man?

 

“They’re different types of quarterbacks,” Mangini said. “Jake definitely has a larger body of work, although I’ve played against Seneca, and he was tough.”

 

That was Dec. 21, 2008: Mangini’s Jets vs. Mike Holmgren’s Seahawks. Favre threw two interceptions for the Jets. Wallace had a TD pass and no interceptions in a 13-3 Seattle win that arguably cost Mangini his job.

 

Mangini recalls that Wallace, short and elusive, hurt the Jets with “the things he could do differently than what we had prepared for.”

 

Holmgren, now the Browns president, has lauded Wallace’s work from that stretch in 2008.

 

“For a block of about six games,” Mangini said, “he played really well.”

 

During draft weekend, Holmgren said point blank that rookie third-round draft pick Colt McCoy will not play in 2010. Holmgren backed off that position a bit. Mangini never assumed it at all.

 

On Monday, Mangini repeated something he learned from Ted Marchibroda in Baltimore in 1996: “Never say never, and never say always.”

 

Still, Holmgren’s “won’t-play-in-2010” statement seems plausible for McCoy.

 

“(McCoy) had a good rookie camp,” Mangini said.

 

But ...

 

Mangini also said McCoy must make his way through the change many rookies endure, going from being “the big fish (to) being a much smaller fish.”

 

“Nobody’s gonna let you come in and take their job.”

 

On the other hand, Mangini said McCoy is getting a crash course, and consults with Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll by phone or by computer “a couple hours each night,” in advance of next week’s start of spring practice.

 

Brett Ratliff, who shapes up as the fourth quarterback, has a chance to make the team, although Mangini said, “He didn’t play as well as I’d hoped last season.”

[mopaji]

I'm sorry but I just love this Mangini guy. And I actually hated him in NY because I thought the spygate tattle tail was a poosy move. But he came here and I gave him a chance. It took 2 visits to training camp and a few condecsending remarks to dumb-ass reporters and I was hooked. He had me at "run a lap".

[MudratDetector]

i think that mangini is great. it's amazing how much my outlook on the team and him both changed after kokinis was booted.

[Gips]

I am glad that mangini gets the chance to build on what he started late last season..he isnt the monster he was made out to be but he does lack balls and guts in tough game situations but hey thats why gil and mike are there...i believe mangini has the right idea about the afcn and pounding the ball hard into the face of opposing teams...and with MH around mangini can afford to relax some now and be a real coach and learn to trust and build trust in his players and staff to get it done when they are called on to do so...and hopefully daboll gets it now and can contribute instead of inflaming the whole sideline and the fanbase everytime his shitty schemes backfired due to poor design and or predictability..

 

Im sick of the musical chairs of regime change and hope everything works out but i will remain cautiously skeptical of daboll until he proves he deserves the job he has or until he gets canned whichever comes first..our defense should be very solid this year and only get better and better but the offense is just full of questionmarks starting with daboll and moving right on down to the WR corp and jake delhomme...jake could be the best thing since our return or he could be mangini's doom if he isnt working out and the coach mishandles the situation..

 

Either way im excited and ready for some browns football!

[Icemann778]

“Nobody’s gonna let you come in and take their job.”