Check that: Mangini embraces Steelers game
Groans and gnashing of teeth could be heard on Jan. 8 from Browns fans everywhere when newly hired coach Eric Mangini answered a question about how he would approach the rivalry with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
"You've got to be able to compete in the conference and win in the conference," he said. "You're going to play spirited games regardless of what conference you're in."
Mangini in essence was saying a game against the Steelers is no more important than one against, say, the Houston Texans or Kansas City Chiefs. It is not the message fans want to hear.
Former coach Romeo Crennel got it. In March, he prophetically said: "Until we can beat the Steelers, we probably won't win the division." And on a day in 2005 when describing the players he would replenish the roster with, former general manager Phil Savage said he wanted players who can help the Browns beat Pittsburgh.
Crennel and Savage never did beat the Steelers. The Browns have lost 11 straight to Pittsburgh dating back to 2003. The Steelers have won two Super Bowls during the drought, and the Browns are on their third head coach.
As it turns out, Mangini really does understand how important games against the Steelers are, as he clarified in a news conference Wednesday. He just doesn't want to be perceived as genuflecting before Ben Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu.
"I appreciate the rivalry and I appreciate the tradition and I appreciate the excitement behind those games," he said. "I was here before. I remember that. I get that, and we love that aspect of it.
"I got all that stuff and it was fun, but you're always trying to balance that with the fact you don't want to create so much mystique with the opponent that you go into the game with a competitive disadvantage."
Mangini has a point, because there have been games when the Browns seemed defeated before the opening kickoff, such as the final game of 2008 in Pittsburgh, a game the Browns lost, 31-0. And who could forget the Christmas Eve Massacre of 2005 in Cleveland, when the Browns lost, 41-0? By the start of the fourth quarter, Steelers fans outnumbered Browns fans two to one.
The Browns played the Steelers in the second game of 2008. On the Thursday before, Savage said it was the biggest game for the franchise since the Browns were reborn in 1999. Whether Savage's remarks were a factor, no one can say, but the Browns stumbled and made error on top of error in a 10-6 loss.
"What do you have to do to beat that team?" Mangini asked. "I don't think it's even a function of approaching it any differently. It's understood that you can't play in one of the Pittsburgh games without feeling it between the cities.
"What we need to do is make sure we're improving each day and make sure that we're making progress, make sure that every single day we're collectively making the decisions we need to make to get better. It starts there and when you get to that week, you need to understand what you have to do to win that game that week. There's nothing more important than that."
Mangini started with the Browns as a ballboy in 1994. Coincidentally, that is also the year the Steelers began to dominate the Browns like they never did before. The Browns and Steelers have met 27 times starting with the opener in 1994. The Browns are 3-24 in those games.
Offensive philosophy
The offense the Browns run under Mangini and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll might not look much different than what the Browns ran the last two years with Rob Chudzinski as offensive coordinator. The offense, known as "the digit system," produced 402 points in 2007 but only 232 last year.
"I like a lot of elements of that offense," Mangini said. "I like the multiple personnel groups, the shifting, the motion, the no-huddle and the problems that you can create formation-wise with that.
"And then one of the reasons I really wanted to get Brian Daboll was to bring an element of the New England offense, which I thought was extremely valuable. I don't know if that offense has a name."
Daboll was the Jets' quarterbacks coach the last two years. Prior to that, he was the receivers coach at New England when Charlie Weis was the Patriots' offensive coordinator from 2002-2004. Weis took that offense to Notre Dame in 2005 and turned Brady Quinn into a star. Running backs are not often used as receivers in the offense the Patriots use. The run sets up the pass. Play-action is a key element of the offense. Significantly, Quinn is very good on play fakes.
It can be an explosive offense but also a ball-control offense. In 2004, Weis' last year in New England, the Patriots scored 29 passing touchdowns and 15 rushing touchdowns.
Mangini also wants to mix in some West Coast offense, but he was unable to pry Bill Callahan away from the Jets. Callahan, the Jets' offensive line coach, used the West Coast offense when he was head coach in Oakland.
The West Coast offense involves throwing short, high-percentage slant passes to a designated spot.
Running backs are more involved as receivers. The offense the Browns used the last two years and the offense the Patriots use involves more downfield passing.
Mangini wants to blend the offenses to better attack a particular opponent's weaknesses on a given Sunday.
Bengals gear up
Free agency begins Feb. 27. The Bengals, normally quiet in free agency, plan to be aggressive because 10 of their own players will be unrestricted free agents, including wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, running back Cedric Benson and kicker Shayne Graham.
"We're going to have to be active because we have some guys who are currently free agents and we don't know that we can sign those guys back," Coach Marvin Lewis told reporters.
"We're going to try to be proactive and fill some of the holes we need to fill in our football team."
Houshmandzadeh would look good in a Browns uniform. He says he wants to play for the Eagles.
Ryan will be missed
Rex Ryan, the Jets' new head coach after 10 years with the Ravens, the last six as defensive coordinator, will be missed in Baltimore.
"I think it's a gain for them and a loss for us, but it's well deserved," linebacker Bart Scott said. "It was a long time coming."
Steelers look ahead
The Super Bowl parade was five days ago, so the Steelers are already looking ahead to 2009. Their top priority is re-signing cornerback Bryant McFadden before McFadden has the chance to strike gold in free agency.
Picking last in the first round means picking the best player available. It works out for the Steelers that one of those players might be 6-foot-4, 310-pound center Alex Mack from Cal. Center is a definite area of need for the Steelers. The Steelers would like an upgrade over Justin Hartwig.
(c) Copyright 2009 The News-Herald
Former Lions OL, NFL union chief John Gordy dies
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- John Gordy, a former offensive lineman for the Detroit Lions and University of Tennessee who helped form the NFL Players' Association, has died. He was 73.
The university said in a statement Saturday that Gordy died Friday in Orange, Calif., after a long battle with cancer.
He was a three-time Pro Bowler with the Detroit Lions before a knee injury led to his retirement in 1967.
The Nashville native was named All-Southeastern Conference in 1956 while captain of the Volunteers.
Gordy served as president and executive director of the NFL Players' Association and was instrumental in negotiating the first collective bargaining agreement in major professional sports.
A memorial service was planned for Feb. 7 in Irvine, Calif.
(c) Copyright 2009 The Morning Sun
Ryan Clark Hits Hard, Doesn't Play Dirty
Troy Polamalu is arguably the best safety in the NFL, but the guy who plays next to him -- Ryan Clark -- is the hardest hitting. At least according to teammate Larry Foote. And I suspect Willis McGahee, Wes Welker and Matt Jones all might agree.
Still, in a league filled with hard hitters (LaRon Landry, Brian Dawkins and Chris Hope immediately come to mind) it's surprising to think that Clark -- all 190 pounds of him -- tops the list. Of course, labels don't really mean much. Ultimately, it comes down to making plays.
And despite the notoriety Clark's received for his concussion-inducing tackles, he's also a very important cog in Pittsburgh's top-ranked defense. Despite football's violent nature, though, Clark insists that he doesn't think about the worst-case scenario when he's on the field.
"I don't think about [getting seriously injured]," Clark said. "Once you start thinking about it and you start playing tentatively, that's when those 230-pounders run you over and you don't get up ...
"My whole thing is getting to the ball as fast as I can to make a play. Most times, as soon as I see a quarterback looking at a guy, I'm full speed. Once you decide to go, you go. You can't pull the bullet back. Then, once you get there, it's him or you.
"I just figure we're going to hit and then we'll both get up. I don't worry about one of us not getting up. My wife does, but I tell her, 'As long as I'm the one doing the hitting, I should be OK.' "
This mentality rubs some fans the wrong way, but I have yet to hear one person associated with the NFL call Clark a dirty player. In fact, Ravens coach John Harbaugh described Clark's collision with McGahee as "... a heck of a hit, for one thing." And when Welker was asked about nearly having his head separated from his body, he offered this: "It's a football play. It is what it is. No sense in crying or whining about it."
The point: football's a dangerous endeavor. And when the biggest, fastest, strongest athletes on the planet run full speed into each other, bad things can sometimes happen. But unlike, say, a guy who's minding his own business and gets shot, football players know what they're getting into. That doesn't make career-ending injuries any less tragic, just less random.
(c) 2009 AOL LLC
Former Cat Graham punts Cardinals into Super Bowl
Graham's Arizona Cardinals booked a berth in the biggest event on the American sports calendar with a thrilling 32-25 comeback win against the Philadelphia Eagles in the National Football Conference final in Phoenix yesterday.
A nagging groin injury is hanging over Graham ahead of the decider against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Tampa Bay on February 1.
But the 35-year-old, who played 219 games for the Cats between 1993-2004 and won the club's best and fairest in 1999, has declared the injury won't prevent a fairytale end to his tumultuous season where he was sacked twice by the New York Jets and once by the New Orleans Saints before being signed by the Cardinals as a free agent last month.
"Hell no," Graham said.
"I just cannot believe how it's turned out.
"If someone asked me six or seven weeks ago if I would be in this position, I would have paid them a million dollars."
While Graham celebrated on the field with wife Katie and daughters Sophie and Rosie, the result left fellow Aussie punter and former AFL star Sav Rocca shattered.
Rocca's Eagles had staged a remarkable second-half comeback after trailing 24-6 at half-time to lead 25-24 late in the final quarter.
Graham had five punts in yesterday's match and at times appeared to be in pain, kicking well below his season average distance.
Several of Graham's former Geelong teammates were glued to the TV inside the players' room at Skilled Stadium after delaying a team meeting so they could watch the match.
The Geelong Advertiser Pty. Ltd. Copyright (c) January 2006
NFL playoff underdogs bite back
Wow! We haven't seen dogs with this much bite since, Cujo.
As opposed to the Wild-Card round, where we saw all the road teams as favorites, last weekend's Divisional playoff round set up with all four home teams laying the points.
But, as bettors who played the favorites found out, sometimes it's best to take the path less traveled, or at least it was this past Saturday and Sunday.
The weekend's biggest underdog, the Arizona Cardinals, played those 9.5-point favorite Panthers in Carolina on Saturday night (they were -10 at many places as well).
The Cards were champions of arguably the NFL's weakest division, the NFC West, with a 9-7 record straight up, while the Panthers won the NFC South with a 12-4 mark SU.
Fortunately for Arizona bettors, and unfortunately for Carolina's, Panthers' birthday boy Jake Delhomme threw five picks in an awful performance. The resulting 33-13 loss dealt a blow to the betting public, as the Panthers were heavily backed to cover the spread, but as well the straight up loss killed a lot of teaser and moneyline parlay tickets on Saturday.
Arizona is now 6-1 ATS when underdogs of 8-points or more and advances to its first ever NFC championship. Who knows, that trend might come in handy if the Cards meet Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl (although the line probably wouldn't get that high).
- Remember that semi-quarterback controversy in Philadelphia earlier in the season, where Donovan McNabb was benched in favor of Kevin Kolb?
Remember how the New York Giants won the Super Bowl last year?
Both are distant memories now as the Philadelphia Eagles ensured that the Giants won't defend their Super Bowl title, covering as +4 road favorite in a 23-11 win on Sunday.
The Under had cashed in 10 of Philadelphia's last 12 visits to play the New York Giants and now you can make it 11 of the last 13, as the Total fell below the 39.5 line.
The Eagles are now a 3-point road favorite heading out to Arizona.
- There have been rumblings about how this season's Baltimore Ravens resemble the championship team that won Super Bowl XXXV and those rumblings have become even louder after this Saturday's game against the Tennessee Titans.
Listed as field goal underdogs going into Tennessee, the Ravens defeated the Titans by a final of 13-10, earning a spot in the AFC championship game. How they won is a different story as the Titans outplayed them in almost every area, but not where it counts most - on the scoreboard. Turnovers and penalties torpedoed Tennessee's day as they couldn't score points despite decent success moving the ball.
The Under prevailed again when these two meet, as it has now in 12 of their last 16 meetings (Total of 34). The betting public liked the Under, cashing in there, but a straight up dog win resulted in bettors taking another hit overall.
- Only one of the favored home teams stepped up and won a game last weekend. The Pittsburgh Steelers beat a Charger team without LaDainian Tomlinson in the lineup.
Underdogs of 6.5-points, the San Diego Chargers looked like they might cover and pull the upset early on, scoring a TD within the first three minutes of the game but the Steelers clamped down and ensured that Pittsburgh bettors would profit from an eventual 35-24 playoff victory.
Online sportsbooks reported that Pittsburgh was a nice win for the betting public, as they had 75% of the volume on the Steelers in the last matchup of the weekend.
Now Pittsburgh hosts the Ravens with an early line of the Steelers -5.
The NFL's final four is set. Conference Championship weekend is teed up and ready to go. You can check out all the lines, prop wagers, future odds and more here
NCAA Hoops - I love college basketball, but it gets so little of my attention on the NFL playoff weekends. However, I did see that the former No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels (now No. 3) dropped another game SU and ATS, as the No. 4 Wake Forest Demon Deacons pulled of the upset on Sunday.
The Tar Heels were 7-point favorites at tip-off but lost outright, 92-89.
Sunday also saw the new No. 1 Pittsburgh Panthers justifying top spot, covering as a 20-point favorite in a 90-67 win over the St. John's Red Storm.
With the football season in the waning weeks, I'm definitely going to be spending more time watching college b-ball.
Have a great week.
Copyright (c) 1995-2009 SportsDirect Inc
Rivera getting latest laugh on Bears after playoff win
The NFL's wild-card weekend was a wonderful time for defensive coordinators. Each winning team had a sound game plan contrived by a coach with an excellent reputation: Arizona's Clancy Pendergast, San Diego's Ron Rivera, Baltimore's Rex Ryan and Philadelphia's Jim Johnson.
Three of them have Chicago connections: Johnson was born in Maywood and grew up in the area; Ryan is the son of former Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan; and Rivera is a former Bears linebacker and was their defensive coordinator during the 2006 Super Bowl season.
Watching cut-away shots of Rivera on the San Diego sideline should have been difficult for Bears fans because it served as a reminder of one of the reasons the team is on the outside looking in at the playoffs for the second straight season. Would the Bears have been a playoff team with Rivera still here? There is no way of knowing for sure, but one thing is certain: The Bears haven't been a playoff team since Rivera was sent on his way and Bob Babich was promoted to defensive coordinator.
In fact, the defense has fallen from a No. 5 league ranking in 2006 to No. 28 last year and No. 21 this past season. That's not quite what the Bears had in mind when they invested more salary-cap space than any team other than Baltimore in their 2008 defense.
Babich, it would seem, has made his position untenable, yet the response so far from Halas Hall has been to send defensive backs coach Steve Wilks packing. Word is defensive line coach Brick Haley has accepted the same position with LSU and will follow Wilks out the door, albeit with a raise and arguably a better job.
Where's the accountability?
The Bears replaced Rivera when they were having success and now won't do the same with Babich despite not having success. Where is the accountability? Babich is a close friend of coach Lovie Smith and the only coach Smith brought with him from St. Louis in 2004. Babich has received two promotions, first adding the assistant head coach title to his job as linebackers coach, then to defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. He has received a bump in pay with each promotion and is believed to be the highest-paid assistant on Smith's staff.
The Bears have built their program on continuity in the starting lineup, losing only wide receiver Bernard Berrian during Smith's tenure in terms of starters they wanted to bring back. Pity they haven't been able to do the same with their coaching staff. Smith now will look for his fourth defensive line coach, presumably Rod Marinelli, and is looking for his fourth defensive backs coach.
Don't forget Rivera wanted to bring Leslie Frazier to Chicago, but the move was rejected by Smith. Frazier, another former Bears player, is now the defensive coordinator in Minnesota and will be interviewing for head-coaching jobs.
Here are a few other observations from wild-card weekend:
- You need two running backs to win. Everybody left in the playoffs has more than one player to turn to in the running game. Take the Cardinals, who failed to run the ball effectively all year. Edgerrin James, who had been talking about his final days in Arizona, got a surprise start against Atlanta and wound up outrushing Michael Turner 73-42. ''The Edge'' lost his starting job at midseason to rookie Tim Hightower and has a lot of miles on his legs, but he looked pretty fresh Saturday. Can he do it again at Carolina? It will be a huge key for the Cardinals, who always look outmatched away from home.
San Diego rolls with Sproles
- San Diego's Darren Sproles likely made himself some money in the Chargers' overtime victory against Indianapolis. A soon-to-be free agent, the 5-6 Sproles came in for LaDainian Tomlinson -- who was limited to five carries by a groin injury -- and finished with 328 all-purpose yards, including 105 rushing with two touchdowns. Tomlinson is a great player, but he has broken down at the end of the year in two straight seasons. The Chargers won without their two best players: Tomlinson and linebacker Shawn Merriman, who was lost to a knee injury early in the season.
- Two road teams won Sunday, and they had something in common -- great defense and a defensive touchdown. Asante Samuel scored on an interception return for Philadelphia, and Ed Reed did the same for Baltimore. ''Defense travels'' is the old adage of playoff football. That's why Eagles at Giants and Ravens at Steelers should be great games in next week's divisional round.
(c)Copyright 2009 Digital Chicago, Inc
Dolphins Splash into Playoffs
A number of teams - namely, the Eagles, Chargers, Ravens and Vikings - rose up and earned playoff-clinching wins on Sunday. Still others - the Raiders and Texans - denied teams a spot in the playoffs with spirited performances, and the Raiders did so in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium with a 31-24 upset of the Bucs.
But none of these teams rose from the ashes of a 1-15 season in 2007 to earn a division title and playoff berth in 2008. None plucked a quarterback off the scrap heap and rode his suspect right arm to the playoffs. None approached the 2008 season like an expansion team would, drafting an offensive lineman first overall and shopping in the free agent bargain bin.
The Miami Dolphins did all those things, and for that reason, they're our final team of the week for the 2008 season after a 24-17 win over the Jets in New York produced the most unlikely division championship in football this season.
There are a number of heroes in Miami's rags-to-riches saga, most of them recent arrivals in South Florida. Head of football operations Bill Parcells brought the winning aura and player personnel savvy that the franchise desperately needed. Head coach Tony Sparano brought the pride and passion that had eroded during years of futility. Quarterback Chad Pennington, a Jets castoff after eight seasons in New York, brought experience and a surprisingly lively arm that produced a passer rating of 97.4, second in the NFL. Over the team's 9-1 stretch run, Pennington tossed 13 TD passes and only four interceptions, including eight touchdowns and only one interception in the season's final four games.
"It's always a sweet feeling to be a champion," said Pennington, who produced his best season as a pro in 2008 and capped a season of vindication by beating the team that discarded him. "That's what we are: AFC East champions. It's a great feeling. This organization has been unbelievable. They accepted me from the get-go. This has been an unbelievable ride."
Against the Jets, Pennington was typically efficient and mistake-free, throwing for 200 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions and making a final compelling case for MVP. Meanwhile, the Dolphin defense was harassing Pennington's high-profile replacement, Brett Favre, into three interceptions in what might have been his NFL swan song. A lumbering Phillip Merling returned one of those picks 25 yards for a touchdown.
Pennington was quick to downplay any element of payback in the win. "It's not a revenge factor," Pennington said. "This week, being the 17th week, it was strictly focused on winning the championship, knowing that we controlled our own destiny. It just so happened that it had to come through New York. That's the only way fate would have it."
So how did a team essentially comprised of rejects and castoffs coalesce into a division champion and post a 10-win improvement over 2007, tying the 1999 Colts for the best one-season turnaround in NFL history? An MVP-caliber season from Pennington is one obvious answer, but the real answer may lie in the team's intangibles.
"They love football," GM Jeff Ireland told ESPN about his players. "What we did when we came here was find the guys that love football. You really found that out about his team pretty early on. They want to be around football. They wanted to take ownership of something, and they absolutely did that. It's a great cast, and our coaches did a hell of a job of putting them in positions to be successful. That's why Coach Sparano is coach of the year, in my opinion."
This week, in one final bit of irony, the Dolphins will host the one team that they beat in 2007 - the Baltimore Ravens, another unlikely 2008 success story. "Around this time last year, we were going home with no return," said receiver Ted Ginn, who caught one of Pennington's TD passes on Sunday.
Even if they go home after this week, it's been the journey of a lifetime for the Dolphins.
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