The Browns' trick plays were carefully calculated risks, and their success led not only to a shocking upset victory but to a much needed lift in the spirits of Clevelanders.
Safety Darren Sharper (42) was just one of 11 New Orleans Saints who were fooled by Peyton Hillis' fourth-quarter throwback pass to rookie QB Colt McCoy on Sunday. The Browns' willingness to repeatedly try the unconventional wasn't all that surprising, Eric Mangini said on Monday.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Eric Mangini kept his job last year with plays that were drawn on cave walls. Right next to the painting of the wooly mammoth was one of Jerome Harrison, running off tackle.
The Browns coach had two quarterbacks then, and he felt absolutely, positively that neither one could play. So the whole idea was to keep Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson away from pointed objects and passing plays.
This season, Mangini's new boss, Mike Holmgren, acquired two veteran quarterbacks. They were both upgrades, and they both bruised easily.
With both Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace out, with the wide receivers falling like ten pins before the bowling ball head of Pittsburgh's James Harrison, Mangini began his latest salvage job with a Day-Glo playbook that was astonishing in what it aspired to and breath-taking in what it realized.
There was everything in there but a fumblerooski or maybe the Swinging Gate.
Perhaps the special teams coach Brad Seely and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll deserve most of the credit, but Mangini had to sign off on the plays -- a throwback on the first punt from Josh Cribbs to Eric Wright, a fake punt by Reggie Hodges, and a throwback by thunder back Peyton Hillis to rookie quarterback Colt McCoy. They all worked in a stunning 30-17 upset of the defending Super Bowl-champion New Orleans Saints.
It will be called a fluke, but these were not plays born of whimsy, but of study. They were created not by recklessness, but by calculation.
On a bigger stage, it would be called conjuring unexpected success out of aggressive coaching. New Orleans coach Sean Payton was widely applauded for ordering a successful onside kick to start the second half in the Saints' Super Bowl upset of the Indianapolis Colts.
Reggie Hodges' 68-yard dash with a fake punt proved that well-disguised deception works just fine in the NFL, says Bill Livingston."I've always liked them," Mangini said of trick plays on special teams. "I've run a lot of onside kicks over the years. When they know it's coming, the percentages are pretty low to get the ball back. Surprise onside kicks, though, have a significantly higher percentage of recovery by the kicking team. There are risks involved because of the field position. But it's something I like.
"I like fakes [punts or field goals]. But you've got to get the right look, got to be the right situation, and oftentimes you don't get exactly what you want."
The Browns used their limitations to expand the game. Cribbs is their only game-breaker? Then let him draw the Saints to him like magnets to the door of the refrigerator, then throw a cross-field lateral to Wright for a 62-yard gain.
"We've practiced that for weeks, really since training camp," Mangini said. "Haven't been able to get the right look [until Sunday]. I don't think [that play] was over-the-top risky if you have the right look. If you don't have the right look, Josh just keeps it."
The Browns had been working for weeks on a fake punt. They sprang it on the Saints like a Halloween hobgoblin in a darkened room. Hodges chugged, like a logging train on an uphill grade, 68 yards down the wide-open middle of the field.
Such plays have a carryover effect.
"Typically what happens is things slow down a little bit because you're forcing your opponent to defend the whole field," Mangini said. "That's important because every time they rush a punt there are risks involved. You've got to be able to show them you'll hit them with a play like that to slow them down."
As for the throwback to McCoy -- well, the kid is an athlete. He played his part as well as Ronald Reagan did when he was asking Rock some day to have the team win just one for the Gipper. McCoy threw his arms up in alarm, feigning a wild snap in the shotgun formation flying over his head, then he circled out of the backfield for a 12-yard gain on a pass from Hillis, the actual recipient of the snap. Had Hillis led him better, it might have been a score.
Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who had an awful game against defensive coordinator Rob Ryan's beautifully conceived defense, said teams don't take such chances unless they need them to win.
"They run trick plays quite a bit," Mangini retorted. "They do a lot of exotic stuff. To me, it's doing all you can in order to win. If you have it, let's take a shot at it."
LeBron James starts the NBA season with the Miami Heat Tuesday night vs. Boston. Cliff Lee starts for the Texas Rangers in the opener of the World Series Wednesday night. When it was most needed, Mangini's trickery gave all of Cleveland a shot in the arm.