Browns President Mike Holmgren is hoping for a better home opener.
"Turnovers are killing us right now," Browns President Mike Holmgren said Monday. "I want them to start feeling like good things are going to happen instead of, you know. And they will, they will." CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns President Mike Holmgren lamented Sunday's loss in Tampa, but is confident better times are ahead.
"It was a shame," he said of the 17-14 loss while speaking at a Ring of Honor press conference at Cleveland Browns Stadium. "We can't turn the ball over like we did, but the guys played hard. I liked their enthusiasm. Just take some time. Get rid of the bad things."
As for his expectations for Sunday's home opener against the Chiefs, Holmgren said, "You know what, we just have to keep improving. Eliminate the bad things. Turnovers are killing us right now. I want them to start feeling like good things are going to happen instead of, you know.
"And they will, they will."
He said his door is open to Eric Mangini and his staff, but he isn't necessarily offering suggestions.
"Sure, that's the way it is," he said. "It has to be that way. It's nor fair doing it the other way."
Not here we go again: Mangini said he doesn't have to worry about the "here we go again" syndrome with this team.
"This isn't that type of group," he said. "There is nobody in there that I even have the sense feels that way. A lot of guys are new. A lot of guys don't know what 'here we go again' means because they weren't part of that in the past.
"As you look at the tape and even after the game, everybody understood what happened and what needs to be fixed to prevent it from happening again. I'm talking about game-specific things, not any bigger picture-type thing. A lot of veteran guys understand how to fix problems. I don't think anybody feels that way, from top to bottom."
Chris Gocong, who came from the Eagles, thinks the team will respond well.
"This team has seen its turmoil, but we've brought in a lot of guys who won at different teams," he said. "No matter what your history is, you're going to go into a game expecting to win. I think we prepared to do that. Four, five key plays we needed, we didn't get. I think next [week] we're going to be optimistic and we're going to get those plays."
Unlucky 13: The Browns have fumbled 13 times in five games, including the preseason. They fumbled three times in Tampa, losing one. Replays showed that Peyton Hillis may have lost the fumble at the Bucs' 14 when teammate Robert Royal's elbow struck the ball.
"[Even] one fumble for me in five games is a lot," said Mangini. "There's a certain way that you have to carry the ball. Yeah, it's way too many and it's something that we work on.
"We're constantly having the defense pressure the football. You're trying to simulate that as much as you can. What you can't simulate are the collisions -- the helmet on the ball-type collisions -- or going down when a guy's getting tackled. There's really no way to do that during the week. But we talk about the five points of pressure, how to keep the ball as tight to your body as you can. That's the starting point. That's way too many."
Barton slipped: Mangini explained that Eric Barton didn't get up and run with the ball after he recovered a fourth-quarter fumble because he slipped.
"As he was coming forward, he slipped and fell onto the ball and then [Jason] Trusnik saw him laying on the ball and he tried to cover him up," said Mangini. "If he had been able to maintain his footing at that point, he probably would've done that."
Not so special: Mangini lamented the play of the return game, which did little to help the cause. Josh Cribbs fumbled once on a punt return (the Browns recovered), and averaged 9.7 yards on punt returns and 15.3 on kickoffs.
"Our return game was not where it needed to be," Mangini said. "In terms of punt return, we put it on the ground once and did not field a plus-50 punt. We had a punt partially blocked by a guy who we identified as being their core guy in terms of that type of thing."
New faces in the offensive line? Mangini indicated that the right side of the offensive line could change in the coming weeks. Floyd Womack, coming off arthroscopic knee procedure, started at right guard and John St. Clair at right tackle. Rookie guard Shawn Lauvao is still in a walking boot and right tackle Tony Pashos is coming back from a shoulder injury.
"I thought Floyd actually played really well, especially this being his first game back," said Mangini. "And I thought John, for the most part, played well. I'd say it's fluid in the sense that I have a lot of faith in Tony and Shaun."
Staff writer Bill Lubinger contributed to this report.