Eric Mangini and Rob Ryan, coach and defensive coordinator, Cleveland.

The Arctic weather (minus-5 wind chill) helped in a 13-6 beatdown of the Steelers, certainly, because the Steeler receivers were neutralized by the deep freeze and the slippery field. But give lots of credit to Mangini, who has steadfastly maintained he is building a program, cleaning up the salary cap and adding draft choices for future Browns teams he plans to build in his image. (Whether he gets to do that, time will tell, but this game did help his Cleveland longevity.)

The Cleveland team Mangini put on the field Thursday was a battling, hustling, never-say-die group that wanted to win about five times more than did the defending Super Bowl champs. Ryan choreographed an aggressive and schematically imaginative game plan that had corners, tackles and linebackers rushing from all over the map, like one of those classic Ravens' jail-break defenses his brother Rex made famous. Rob Ryan showed he knew the way to get to a plodding quarterback was to send rushers from different slots on almost every passing down, and it resulted in an eight-sack game ... and holding the Steelers to a measly 3.5 yards per play, Pittsburgh's lowest in the last 25 games.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writ...l#ixzz0ZhWTgOEz

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