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02-13-2009, 01:19 PM
Will Eric Mangini turn the Browns around?
Here is an article taken from the Browns website.
Zac Jackson, Staff Writer 02.09.2009
The Super Bowl is fading from the headlines. The Pro Bowl is over.
It's now officially 2009 in the NFL.
Though the Browns have a new coaching staff and new general manager, every team is starting with a clean slate. And the Browns are working to build a team that's ready to compete with anyone in 2009, regardless of what's happened in the recent past.
"The one thing that I really believe in is that every year is its own year," Browns coach Eric Mangini said last week. "After going to the playoffs in my first year in New York, one of the things I said in my press conference was it was a great year and there were a lot of things I was proud of, but you don't get to start at 10-6. You're 0-0 just like every other team."
After going 10-6 and making the playoffs in 2006, Mangini's second Jets team went 4-12 before posting a 9-7 season last fall and narrowly missing the playoffs. The 2006 Browns went 4-12, improved to 10-6 in 2007 and slipped back to 4-12 last year, and Mangini plans to use that unpredictability in selling to his new players that they can win immediately.
"You don't start at 4-12, you don't start at 5-11," Mangini said. "Everybody starts at the same level and what you do that year, the decisions that you make, the way that you work, that controls what happens that year.
"Teams that were down are up. Teams that historically haven't won win, and teams that were up were down because it's what that group of guys did that season to dictate what the results were, not what happened in the past."
It's almost time for Mangini and new general manager George Kokinis to start shaping the 2009 Browns. Next week, they'll leave for the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. They'll return just in time for the start of the veteran free agency period Feb. 27.
Though there are always changes on every roster from season to season -- and sometimes more when the decision-makers change -- Mangini said the Browns are operating with an open mind.
"There is nothing pre-set where we have to turnover 20 percent of the roster, 30 percent of the roster, or 40 percent of the roster," he said. "Sometimes opportunities come up, sometimes they don't. Sometimes you have big turnover. It's hard to find a pattern.
"Any of those decisions (on roster moves), any of those opportunities any of those areas will be discussed by George and I and we'll make that decision."
Kokinis has said he believes there are "always" opportunities to improve and shape the roster, not just in the spring. While the process of building and rebuilding the Browns will be ongoing, it will be done with the goal of making the Browns as ready as possible to win in 2009 and leave the past behind.
"I believe in what I said before where each year is unique and you have the opportunity to define what that year is," Mangini said. "It's going to be a collective decision, it's going to be a combination of what everybody does each day. I've talked about that multiple times in the past and how each year is its own year and each week is its own week.
"The most important thing is to focus on what you are doing at that point, do it the best that you can and cumulatively, that creates the Browns."
Here is an article taken from the Browns website.
Zac Jackson, Staff Writer 02.09.2009
The Super Bowl is fading from the headlines. The Pro Bowl is over.
It's now officially 2009 in the NFL.
Though the Browns have a new coaching staff and new general manager, every team is starting with a clean slate. And the Browns are working to build a team that's ready to compete with anyone in 2009, regardless of what's happened in the recent past.
"The one thing that I really believe in is that every year is its own year," Browns coach Eric Mangini said last week. "After going to the playoffs in my first year in New York, one of the things I said in my press conference was it was a great year and there were a lot of things I was proud of, but you don't get to start at 10-6. You're 0-0 just like every other team."
After going 10-6 and making the playoffs in 2006, Mangini's second Jets team went 4-12 before posting a 9-7 season last fall and narrowly missing the playoffs. The 2006 Browns went 4-12, improved to 10-6 in 2007 and slipped back to 4-12 last year, and Mangini plans to use that unpredictability in selling to his new players that they can win immediately.
"You don't start at 4-12, you don't start at 5-11," Mangini said. "Everybody starts at the same level and what you do that year, the decisions that you make, the way that you work, that controls what happens that year.
"Teams that were down are up. Teams that historically haven't won win, and teams that were up were down because it's what that group of guys did that season to dictate what the results were, not what happened in the past."
It's almost time for Mangini and new general manager George Kokinis to start shaping the 2009 Browns. Next week, they'll leave for the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. They'll return just in time for the start of the veteran free agency period Feb. 27.
Though there are always changes on every roster from season to season -- and sometimes more when the decision-makers change -- Mangini said the Browns are operating with an open mind.
"There is nothing pre-set where we have to turnover 20 percent of the roster, 30 percent of the roster, or 40 percent of the roster," he said. "Sometimes opportunities come up, sometimes they don't. Sometimes you have big turnover. It's hard to find a pattern.
"Any of those decisions (on roster moves), any of those opportunities any of those areas will be discussed by George and I and we'll make that decision."
Kokinis has said he believes there are "always" opportunities to improve and shape the roster, not just in the spring. While the process of building and rebuilding the Browns will be ongoing, it will be done with the goal of making the Browns as ready as possible to win in 2009 and leave the past behind.
"I believe in what I said before where each year is unique and you have the opportunity to define what that year is," Mangini said. "It's going to be a collective decision, it's going to be a combination of what everybody does each day. I've talked about that multiple times in the past and how each year is its own year and each week is its own week.
"The most important thing is to focus on what you are doing at that point, do it the best that you can and cumulatively, that creates the Browns."