Peyton Hillis leads the NFL with eight fumbles, which will prompt a few drills this week, says Eric Mangini.
View full sizeThe Browns have lost possession on five of Peyton Hillis' eight fumbles this season. Eric Mangini said Hillis needs to "heighten awareness of 'this is where the red light comes on and that's when the ball's at risk.'"BEREA, Ohio -- Peyton Hillis, who fumbled three times in Buffalo, leads the NFL with eight fumbles -- something Eric Mangini wants corrected as soon as possible.
"This is a tough thing, because he does fight for so many extra yards and he makes so many yards after contact," said Mangini of Hillis, whose five lost fumbles are second-most in the league. "You don't want to take away what he does so well, but there's also that consciousness of as you're going for those yards, that's when you're most likely to get fumbles.
"We'll work on some things. It's something we've worked on consistently throughout the season. We'll continue to work on it and heighten awareness of 'this is where the red light comes on and that's when the ball's at risk.'"
Bills safety Jairus Byrd, who forced two of Hillis' fumbles, said Buffalo knew of Hillis' tendency to put the ball on the ground. He baited Hillis into a vintage hurdle, grabbing him by the legs and forcing the ball out just after the Browns got the ball back on a fumble recovery.
Will Mangini ask Hillis to halt the hurdle?
"He's done it a lot of times successfully," said Mangini. "I thought they did a nice job when they hit him. It's always hard with that running back to say 'This is okay to hurdle. This is not good to hurdle.'
"A lot of that stuff comes from instinct and feel, so you try to have him make good decisions without having him be so tight, so robotic that he loses what he's done so well through the course of the season. ... Just don't press it too much where you're at risk or the ball is at risk."
A strange trip indeed: While coaching the Jets, Mangini hired strength coach Sal Alosi, who was suspended for the rest of the season and fined $25,000 for tripping the Dolphins' Nolan Carroll as Carroll ran down the Jets sideline while attempting to cover a punt.
"I know Sal," said Mangini. "He really is a good person. He made a dumb mistake. I'm sure if he could take it back, he would take it back."
Mangini said he's never seen that happen before. "Um, no, not really. Maybe it has. I've seen a variation of that.
"Look, I don't want to make light of it, but there are times when someone's running down the sideline and you know they're going to score on it and you'd love to somehow be able to stop it," he said. "It's a sick feeling that comes over you. But you can't. You just can't."
Injury updates: Mangini said he thinks cornerback Sheldon Brown (shoulder) and linebacker David Bowens (head) should "both be okay for Sunday. Whether there's any missed time, maybe a little bit practice-wise, but that's my initial reaction."
Brown underwent an MRI on his right rotator cuff, but results were not released.
No arguing fumble call: Mangini didn't object to the officials awarding the ball to the Bills after Jake Delhomme's fourth-quarter fumble, even though no one had the ball when the whistle originally blew. It was first ruled an incompletion and then reversed after a Bills challenge.
"The Bills came up with it at the end of the day," he said. "The whistle blows, the whistle doesn't blow. You can't tell when it blew, when it didn't blow. The best thing is to not have it on the ground. When it's on the ground, fall on it."
Calls it as he sees it: Cornerback Joe Haden said Monday's message from Mangini was that the Bills wanted the game more. "He just didn't feel like we gave it all out, he didn't feel like we gave it all up," said Haden. "He just wants us to keep going, keep pushing, stay how we were the weeks prior."