UPDATED: Browns cornerback Eric Wright has been up and down this season, and now he's out -- with a knee injury for the final two games.
Cornerback Eric Wright will miss the final two games with a left knee injury.Wright, who again hurt his left knee in Cincinnati, will be placed on injured reserve and miss the final two games of the season against Baltimore and Pittsburgh.
He limped through the locker room Monday with a brace on his knee, but is not expected to undergo surgery. "We'll know more later in the week," said coach Eric Mangini.
Wright hurt his knee in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 19-17 loss. He originally hurt it in a 24-20 loss at Jacksonville, Fla., on Nov. 21 and sat out the following week against Carolina, a 24-23 Browns win. But he came back the next week in Miami "because I wanted to be out there fighting with my teammates."
Wright tweeted Monday night: "Overwhelmed by the support. Thank you. I'll be ok. Just needed more than two weeks to recover."
"I give Eric a lot of credit," Mangini said. "The last couple of weeks he's been coming back from an injury and it's been difficult. I wasn't sure whether he'd be back in that timeframe. He did a really good job of trying to get back and help out. It was important to him."
The injury capped a rough season for Wright, one in which he gave up three touchdowns to Anquan Boldin in a 24-17 loss to Baltimore on Sept. 26. Wright' has been judged by that game the rest of the season and took plenty of heat from fans and media. Ultimately, he lost his starting job to rookie Joe Haden on Dec. 5 in Miami, a 13-10 Browns win.
"He definitely had some ups and downs this season," Mangini said. "He was outstanding last season, so the person hasn't changed, the player hasn't changed. The important thing for him is to be able to come back from the injury and be as consistent as he can be at the high level that he's shown. He's played at a very high level. Last year, he was pretty much on his own all the time and he did a great job."
Question is, has he played his last down as a Brown? The four-year veteran's contract is up after this season and if Sunday was his last game, at least he went out as a part-time starter. Wright rotated with Sheldon Brown (shoulder) opposite Haden before going down.
"Sheldon was dinged up, so we were trying to give him some rest," Mangini said. "Those guys -- Sheldon and Eric -- were going to rotate through, so that really wasn't performance-based. They were both fighting through some things and we were trying to give them each a chance to contribute without the load being too heavy on either guy."
This week, Haden will get a chance to see if he fares any better against Boldin.
Gocong's take: Linebacker Chris Gocong offered this assessment of what went wrong defensively during Sunday's 19-17 loss to the Bengals, during which the Browns gave up 150 yards rushing to Cedric Benson:
"I'd say it almost felt like people were waiting for things to happen instead of making things happen," he said. "I wouldn't say that there was a lack of effort or anything like that. There was a sense of 'C'mon, somebody make a play.' "
He also felt like guys may have strayed from the scheme.
"I feel like a lot of it is guys trying to do too much and trying to make plays that aren't theirs and it becomes an opportunity for the other team," he said. "But it's not anything big."
He said he didn't watch highlights of his former team, the Eagles, pull of their fantastic finish over the Giants.
"I didn't watch any football last night," he said. "I wasn't in a very good mood."
Mangini on Colt's opinion: Mangini said he's not sure exactly what Colt McCoy meant about the Browns playing with a lack of intensity and energy at times.
"He's the quarterback, he controls a lot of the energy of the team or of the offense," Mangini said. "We all control that. So you're going to have to ask him what he meant."
Third-down run game: Mangini said the two areas the Browns obviously need to improve over the final two games are rushing offense and defense, and third-down offense and defense. Over the past two weeks, the run defense has given up 380 yards to tumble from No. 20 in the NFL to No. 25. It's not far off last year's final ranking of 28th. Also, the Browns have converted only 6 of 32 third-down opportunities over the past three games (19 percent). Conversely, the defense allowed the Bengals to convert 46 percent of their third downs, and over the past three weeks it's been 36.5 percent.
As a result, the Bengals had the ball for nearly 40 minutes. Still, Mangini doesn't think the third-down offense needs wholesale changes.
"I don't think it's other voices or other players or anything like that," he said. "You go in with the plan that you have. It's not wide-scale overhaul that you can put into this point. It's the ability to execute what we have called against that team effectively."
Easy, big fella: Mangini admitted that McCoy got away with risky throws two or three times, including one across his body to Brian Robiskie on a rollout.
"You want to have him look at the tape and say "OK, I dodged a bullet there, so the next time I'm faced with that decision, I don't make that same throw." I thought Josh [Cribbs] made a really nice play even on the fade ball, where the corner's playing high and Josh broke it up. It's a really smart play on his part. You don't want to throw that ball with the corner bailing like that. Colt's a really bright guy and does learn from his experiences, so if he's confronted with that again he'll make a different decision."
Robo too: Mangini complimented Robiskie for his first career TD, a 46-yard reception, but scolded him for holding the ball out dangerously at the end.
"I said, 'I wasn't happy with that, but I'm sure your dad [former Browns and current Falcons receivers coach Terry Robiskie] gave you an earful too,' and he said he did. But it was nice to see him get his first touchdown."
Not calling D: Mangini said he wasn't calling defensive plays when he was waving his hands on the sideline before plays. "I wouldn't do that to Rob," he said. "I have a ton of faith in him. There's run and pass keys and I felt pretty strongly, so I was more giving that. The call was the call. It was more signaling what I thought was coming."
Onside recovery: Mangini said it's hard to tell from the coaches films who actually recovered the onside kick. Browns linebacker Titus Brown thought he had it, but Browns defensive back Mike Adams said the official got it right, awarding it to the Bengals' Quan Cosby.
"I had it with one hand," Adams said. "It was the right call. It went through [Bengals linebacker] Brandon Johnson's legs, I saw it and I had it with one hand, and Cosby, he put both hands on it and he fell to the ground. I still had my hand on it, then Titus had his hand on it, but it was too late."
Sound familiar? Ravens running back Ray Rice rushed 31 times for 153 yards and a TD against the Saints -- almost the exact numbers Benson had against the Browns: 31 times for 150 yards and a TD. Rice also caught five passes for 80 yards and a TD. "He's a better back than [Benson] but we'll be up for the challenge," Adams said .
To reach this Plain Dealer Reporter: mcabot@plaind.com, 216-999-4670