Will Cleveland pull a Sherman and burn Atlanta, will it be the other way around?
View full sizeAtlanta receivers Harry Douglas (83) and Roddy White (84) celebrate a first-half touchdown in the Falcons' win over San Francisco last week. Now just imagine the hyperbole if those same Hutto Hippos were 3-1 and playing pretty well overall. The ol' coach's praise might be downright effusive.
Ladies and gentlemen, let us introduce you to Browns coach Eric Mangini's conference call to the opposition media, as reported by D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Falcons, who visit Cleveland Browns Stadium on Sunday, are indeed 3-1 and playing pretty well overall. They have a hot young quarterback in Matt Ryan and a running back who can carry the load in Michael Turner. But it's receiver Roddy White who drew the most praise from the Browns coach.
“I think Roddy White is a really good player. There is not much that he can’t do. I’ve seen him catch a short one and run it for 90 (yards). I’ve seen him beat corners one-on-one and catch the fades. I’ve seen him catch under thrown fades. What I love, is that it’s two years in a row now, that after interceptions he stripped the ball out. To me that shows his character. You talk about huge plays, those are huge, huge plays. And the other place that you see his character is the way that he blocks in the run game. Some receivers, especially as talented as he, the running game is an afterthought. But he’s thinking it out. That tells me from a head coaching perspective that he’s a team guy.”Mangini also likes the tenacity of the Falcons' defense.
Or as an ol' coach in Texas might drawl, "Lemme tell you, son, they're the best 3-1 team we'll face all year."“They play with tremendous effort defensively. Most of the time at the end of the play you’ll see four, five or six hats on the ball. That’s effort. That’s intensity. That has nothing to do with athletic ability. That’s want to. I really like the style of football that the Falcons play.”
The hits just keep coming
T.J. Ward's hit on Bengals receiver Jordan Shipley, and the $15,000 fine it generated, was the talk of the NFL this week, at least until former Browns coach Bill Belichick dealt Randy Moss to the Minnesota Vikings (more on that later). Maria Ridenour of the Akron Beacon-Journal weighs in on the hit and its repercussions:
Bengals receiver Terrell Owens did not back down (from calling Ward's hit a cheap shot), reiterating that accusation during The T.Ocho Show on Versus.
''I do think it was a cheap shot considering where the defensive back was and the time between him missing the ball, him visually seeing that he didn't catch the ball, then he hit him,'' Owens said. ''He definitely had time enough to pull off. In certain situations you can kind of gauge if the guy is already in the act or he's already launched himself or left his feet, then it's a little ticky tacky.''
When teammate Chad Ochocinco mentioned to Owens that Browns coach Eric Mangini said Ward wasn't a dirty player, Owens said: ''Look who it's coming from. Probably 90 percent of his players don't even like him, anyway, speaking of Eric Mangini. I don't like him. We've got to see him again. We'll see if we're going to do some cheap shots the next game. Hit me like that. Hit him [Ochocinco] like that. Stay off me.''
T.O. caught 10 balls for 220 yards, including a 78-yarder that went for a score. The Browns might hit him like that ... but first they'd have to catch him.
A bit of realism
Linebacker Scott Fujita, whose block of a field goal was the difference, at least scorewise, in the Browns win over the Bengals, put things in perspective in a preview of this weekend's game for cbssports.com.
"This does nothing but guarantee that we are not going 0-16," linebacker Scott Fujita said. "It feels great to get the first win. We put a lot of time to get that win, but you can't blow it out of proportion.
"We should've won the first three games. That's the bottom line. Now we have to find a way to build on this and get things moving in the right direction."
'Nuff said.
From The Plain Dealer
Browns beat writer Tony Grossi also covered the Ward hit and subsequent fine, and in doing so, recounted some of the bigger hits in Browns history.
At least Shipley was able to walk off the field, although whether he remembers the trip is up for debate.In a 2006 game, Brian Russell rammed his helmet into the facemask of Chad Johnson (now Ochocinco) while defending a pass, drawing plenty of blood from the receiver's chin. Russell wasn't penalized. His own teammate, Braylon Edwards, later criticized Russell for the hit.
In his first Browns game as a rookie in 1991, Eric Turner's first tackle dented the facemask of Cincinnati running back James Brooks.
In a 1989 playoff game, Felix Wright upended Buffalo receiver Don Beebe soaring for a pass, sending Beebe head over heels. Beebe landed perpendicular to the ground. His head bounced off the semi-frozen ground with his legs straight up in the air.
The most vicious hit by a Browns safety might have been delivered by Thom Darden in a 1980 game against -- naturally -- the Bengals. Darden speared Pat McInally helmet-to-helmet, leaving the receiver unconscious briefly. McInally was taken off the field on a stretcher.
Brett Favre wanted Randy Moss back when he was still quarterbacking the Green Bay Packers. Now that he's with the Minnesota Vikings, he's got him. Patriots coach Bill Belichick dealt the disgruntled receiver to the Vikes in exchange for a third-round draft pick in 2011 and a seventh round in 2012.
By NFL standards, it's a pretty cheap rental for a Hall of Fame receiver if he only stays for the final year remaining on the three-year deal for about $27 million he signed with the Pats. He's looking for $10 million a year for an extension, and just might get it if he can put Favre and the Vikings where they want to be: in Dallas in February for the Super Bowl.
There are rumors that the Browns, whose "top two receivers on their depth chart have six receptions in four games,'' according to an account by Grossi, were after Moss.
"Not that I'm aware of" is how coach Eric Mangini answered a question about whether the Browns did, in fact, pursue Moss. Which isn't exactly no ... and it isn't exactly yes.