Some Thoughts on the Browns’ 13-6 Win Over the Steelers
– For starters, I had to mentally stop myself from typing “loss” in the title of this post. Self-pity aside, that title might be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever written.
– Many people would say that this win helped head coach Eric Mangini keep his job. It’s surprising that so many sportswriters were calling for Mangini to be canned after this season, because the biggest thing that this organization lacks is stability. Firing a coach after only one year would be a major mistake, and despite everything that has happened this season, here is the biggest reason to keep Mangini: this is a team he inherited. I’m not sure Jesus could have made the Browns winners this season, so why not give Mangini at least a few seasons to try and turn it around, especially with the 11 picks stored up for the 2010 draft?
Gobucks1 feels just a bit different about Mangini:
"Now as for this win saving Mangini’s job??? I don’t think so. It is still a 2 win team to this point. And one win shouldn’t earn him another year. His coaching decisions last night wasn’t the best. Who would accept a penalty to give a team 3rd and 19 over 4th and 8??? What if there was an interferance call, or they picked if up? You can’t risk that. Even the commentators where questioning that call."
– If there was ever a player that actually deserved the new contract he is asking for, it is Josh Cribbs. It was mostly Cribbs and the defense that won that game for the Browns.
– 8 sacks? With this ragtag defense? Despite this team only having 2 wins to this point, these guys play hard for the coaching staff, which is encouraging to see.
– In the comments to this post, Clayton said:
"…we won in spite of Brady, not because of him. He could have put the game away well before the fourth quarter but could not complete any passes. His accuracy was terrible. He overthrew Moore twice; he threw behind Massaquoi (which MM actually caught and turned into a huge gain); he overthrew Vickers on a for-sure TD; etc. Although Quinn did not turn the football over, he was less than impressive."
But hey, once again Brady Quinn did not turn the ball over. It wasn’t always pretty, but the Steelers are still a good team and the bottom line is that Quinn is the first quarterback to help beat them in a long time.
– Speaking of Brady Quinn, hasn’t he done enough yet to warrant being the starter next season?
– Chris Jennings had a good game, even if 73 yards on 20 carries does not exactly stand out as amazing. This is keeping in mind where the offense has been this season and where this guy has come from. Besides, he deserves a shout-out for getting the team’s first rushing touchdown by a running back since last November against the Bills.
– This win still feels great. As moker23 says:
"When’s the parade?? I feel like we just won the f*in Superbowl!!! …Kinda sad in a way, but I’ll take the big W. Thank you Browns for not letting this season be a TOTAL loss."