Jamal Lewis says team is too exhausted from Mangini's practices to be effective

CLEVELandMILIDH

Anybody listen to Eric's press conference yesterday? Thought it was pretty funny about 3/4's of the way through he gets smart with mary kay cabot saying "our practices are 2 hours long, that's 2 hours, 2 hours, that's the facts our practice is 2 hrs long not 2 1/2 not 3 they're 2 hrs long, on wednesday, thursday and less on friday." Really liked to see him fight back a little

CLEVELandMILIDH

When a group of Browns players chanted J-Lew! J-Lew! while Jamal Lewis was being interviewed in the Browns locker room on Friday, did it mean they were supporting Jamal Lewis' criticisim of Eric Mangini for tough practices?
It's possible, but no one knows for sure except for the players.

Here's why:

* At the time of the chants, Lewis was in the middle of blasting the media -- not Mangini -- for blowing his remarks out of proportion. The players may have been cheering Lewis for throwing the media under the bus. In my 20 years of covering the NFL, I've seen plenty of instances where players band together to denigrate the media. I've never seen them take a public stance against their head coach.

* The chants were started by tight end Robert Royal, who's a fun-loving, boisterous player who spends every Friday hooting and hollering in the locker room to keep things light. Even after the J-Lew chants, the players spent the next 30 minutes whooping it up, including Shaun Rogers yelling that new linebacker Josh Stamers -- who's ripped like a bodybuilder -- looks like a Calvin Klein model. That was the atmosphere. It's Frisky Friday. Even Royal said afterwards that the players had a good practice and they were just having some fun with J-Lew.

* Not one player who chanted said he was doing so to support Lewis' anti-Mangini rant. Yes, there are probably others who feel the same way about the practices, but the locker room is monitered very closely by members of the media relations staff. Would players really risk their jobs to support a guy who will be gone after this year?

* If Lewis claims he didn't really say those things and the media got a lot of it wrong, what's there to chant about? Of course, Lewis did say all of those things, and they were reported verbatim. It's the oldest trick in the book to go public with your beef and then blame it on the media. He did the same thing last year when he claimed players quit on Romeo Crennel in the Denver game and then backtracked the next day.

* Only a handful of players chanted and many others looked over to see what the fuss was about. At least one veteran was shaking his head with a boys-will-be-boys expression on his face. Lewis remarked that “I got support. Does this look like a divided locker room to y’all? Huh? Does it? No.” But no one ever said the locker room was divided in the first place. And if they'd cheer a player -- a team captain -- for going to the media before going to his coach and then not standing by his remarks, then it's a sad statement on them.

* Could the players have been backing Lewis for blasting his coach? Yes. Could they have been inciting him to blast the media? Yes. Could they have just been horsing around like they do every Friday? Entirely possible.

Imagine that, the media throwing misleading information out to the public to substanciate there one sided views of Mangini.

Flugel

nmills said:
Anybody listen to Eric's press conference yesterday? Thought it was pretty funny about 3/4's of the way through he gets smart with mary kay cabot saying "our practices are 2 hours long, that's 2 hours, 2 hours, that's the facts our practice is 2 hrs long not 2 1/2 not 3 they're 2 hrs long, on wednesday, thursday and less on friday." Really liked to see him fight back a little

Not only that - but it was very very very very very very evident our defense needed PRACTICE tackling people so the hitting was necessary. I've never played football or coached it where one could learn the art of tackling without practicing it because 1 of our RBs was complaining football was too tough on him. This is new. It seems like the only mistake Mangini is making here is keeping the overpaid stiff employed. Ozzie knew enough to say this guy's better days are in the rear view mirror 3 years ago. With the exception of 2007, he's been dancing on the tip toes ever since. Yuck!

Today, Jerome Harrison runs with more power regardless of the book cover people think they see. Jamal can't LEAN anymore so he runs straight up with zero leverage. THERE is your reason why the screen pass looked like his best play all preseason. The shotso ankles don't allow Lewis to get to the line of scrimmage like a starting NFL back needs to these days. That being the case, all those muscles people get illusioned by are completely worthless. He doesn't push a pile because he can't. Frankly, I'd prefer Vickers if we want a big back or Jennings.

I REALLY wish Lerner intervened here since he's the guy overpaying the locker-room cancer and there's no GM in-tact.

- Tom F. (We've been burned by so many FA stiffs with crappy attitudes after they got dream contracts noone else was offering them post-upside. Without a GM or a coherent owner Lewis pretty has Mangini hostage seeign our record and all)

JoeSixPat

nmills said:
Anybody listen to Eric's press conference yesterday? Thought it was pretty funny about 3/4's of the way through he gets smart with mary kay cabot saying "our practices are 2 hours long, that's 2 hours, 2 hours, that's the facts our practice is 2 hrs long not 2 1/2 not 3 they're 2 hrs long, on wednesday, thursday and less on friday." Really liked to see him fight back a little

Apparently some of the players didn't think it was funny... or accurate, and have called in the NFL Players Association to look into Mangini's practice protocol.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/...g-to-cleveland/

Surely, if it turns out they are more than 2 hours long, Mangini can't say he misspoke or was misunderstood.

Amid a season-long flurry of fines and public complaints from running back Jamal Lewis regarding the extent to which coach Eric Mangini allegedly is overworking the team, the NFL Players Association has decided to find out precisely what is happening in Cleveland.
Jay Glazer of FOX reports that the NFLPA will be heading to town this week to meet with players away from the team facility.

As to Mangini's recent contention that practices last only two hours, Glazer says that players reacted by asking, "What practices is he talking about?" (He's talkin' about practice.)

Glazer also reports that the torn patellar tendon recently suffered by defensive end Keith Grennan during a post-practice "opportunity drill" could be career ending.

So stay tuned. The union is definitely talking a close look at the situation in Cleveland, and it could end up causing even more problems for a franchise under siege.

I'm sure the Ravens and Steelers fans agree with those of you who want Lerner to stay the course with Mangini... but the rest of the NFL owners who know that a strong Browns organization is good for football in general might at some point share their views with Lerner and suggest a fresh start might be worthwhile.

Since Lerner and Mangini himself have established the precedent of trying to get out of their contract with Kokinis, perhaps Lerner can save a bit of money and attract more free agents by using all of this, and Mangini's admission he didn't know about Quinn's contract escalators, to get out of Mangini's contract too.

DieHardBrownsFan

Don't you (SixPat) have a team to support? Do you stalk Mangini also? Get a life.

professor_g

I'm seriously doubtful that this story about practices can gain any real purchase on fans or on the league generally. Most people just aren't sympathetic with second-rate players complaining about working hard. The idea that you could appeal to arduous practice against Mangini so as not to have to pay him-- that's crazy talk.