It's difficult to pick against the Patriots' future Hall of Fame quarterback.
View full sizeNew England coach Bill Belichick has become a great NFL coach, but having future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady on the roster certainly makes his job a little easier.1. The endless talk about lame handshakes and feuds within the Bill Parcells family -- remember, Parcells is the football godfather of Bill Belichick, Eric Mangini, Scott Pioli, Romeo Crennel, etc. -- mean very little in today's game. It comes down to the players. The only way the coaches could radically change the game is if he they step way out of character, trying to outsmart the other guy.
2. Which is why I picked quarterback Tom Brady (I mean, the Patriots) to win. Belichick has become a great coach, and he does more with role players than anyone in the NFL. But Brady (a Hall of Fame quarterback) has made Belichick a Hall of Fame coach. The Browns are using quarterback Colt McCoy in his third pro start. So far, McCoy has done a very nice job. But it would be a monstrous upset if McCoy and the Browns dump the Pats.
3. The Providence, R.I., Journal wrote that Belichick (in New England) is 7-2 vs. rookie quarterbacks. Ben Roethlisberger beat him in 2004, Mark Sanchez in 2009. How about this? In the previous three games, the Browns have faced quarterbacks (Drew Brees, Roethlisberger and Brady) who have won six Super Bowls. Mangini is 3-1 after the bye week. The Browns coach is 16-26 before the bye week, 20-16 after in his 4 1/2 seasons. What do all those numbers mean? I don't know, I just threw them out.
4. I loved Browns President Mike Holmgren as a coach, but he was blessed to be hooked up with a young Brett Favre in Green Bay. But to his credit, he developed Favre ... just as Belichick did with Brady. But you need the talent upon which to build.
View full sizeColt McCoy.5. Which brings us to McCoy. Which brings me to hoping that he plays well today so the Browns will want to continue to look at him. Which brings me to my point earlier in the week that Holmgren and Mangini need to develop an organizational plan for the quarterbacks for the rest of 2010.
6. Some fans took issue with my column earlier in the week about wanting Holmgren to set the direction for the use of the quarterbacks. My critics said it should be "the coach's decision," as Holmgren sort of said. But Holmgren has been setting the direction for the QBs ever since dumping Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson, then importing Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace and McCoy -- then setting up Delhomme as the starter, Wallace the backup, McCoy the third-string watcher.
7. But injuries have changed all that. Mangini is very open to Holmgren's input on the quarterbacks, just as he was in the off-season when Holmgren set the quarterback table.
8. One e-mailer wrote, "I don't think Bill Belichick asks the team president who to play at quarterback." Of course not. He has Brady. He doesn't have Holmgren as a boss. The good news for Browns fans is Mangini has a real football front office behind him in Holmgren and General Manager Tom Heckert -- so it's silly not to ask their advice.
9. Which is why I'm hoping the Holmgren/Heckert/Mangini trinity can stay together. These guys have a lot of experience and bring more to the Browns than any front office/coaching combination since the team returned in 1999.
10. Not sure why, but I think Joshua Cribbs could have a big day today for the Browns, perhaps out of the wildcat formation or as a receiver rather than a return man.