Bellichick's Real Protege

[MorrisDay]

In two years in Cleveland Romeo Crennel has won 1 game against the AFC East. In his first year in NYJ Eric Mangini not only has his team in the playoff hunt but has them in a position where they can win the AFC East from the Pats, altho it's not likely they will.

Now in terms of personnell both teams have playmakers in the passing game and neither team has a RB that scares you. Defensively I think the Browns have better personell on their front 7 and really don't think either team has a secondary that is much to talk about but I still give the edge to the Jets.

The difference in the two is that Chad Pennington is better than what Cleveland has and that should go without saying. I find the struggles of Cleveland to be funny because he interviewed and took that job the same time/year that Nolan interviewed and took the Niners job. I also know that there were Niner fans that covetted Crennel and were disappoitned with Nolan.

So to me if you have to give one of them the Bellichik protege title it seems that it is Mangini and he showed it by the way he out coached Bellichik when they played them the last time.

[49ers1]

In two years in Cleveland Romeo Crennel has won 1 game against the AFC East. In his first year in NYJ Eric Mangini not only has his team in the playoff hunt but has them in a position where they can win the AFC East from the Pats, altho it's not likely they will.

Now in terms of personnell both teams have playmakers in the passing game and neither team has a RB that scares you. Defensively I think the Browns have better personell on their front 7 and really don't think either team has a secondary that is much to talk about but I still give the edge to the Jets.

The difference in the two is that Chad Pennington is better than what Cleveland has and that should go without saying. I find the struggles of Cleveland to be funny because he interviewed and took that job the same time/year that Nolan interviewed and took the Niners job. I also know that there were Niner fans that covetted Crennel and were disappoitned with Nolan.

So to me if you have to give one of them the Bellichik protege title it seems that it is Mangini and he showed it by the way he out coached Bellichik when they played them the last time.
Let's mait until Mangini beats more than 1 winning team in a season before we call him a protege. Jets have lost to every winning team they've played this season except for 1 of their games against New England and I think the Buffalo lost at home cancels that out, the rest of their wins have come against the worst teams in the NFL. They have the easiest schedule in the NFL by far. We actualy beat more winning teams than them.

[BrentJones84]

Overall, I think Mangini inherited a better team.

The Jets have made the playoffs as a wild card in seasons that Pennington has stayed healthy, and fallen flat when Pennington was injured.

The Browns have draft bust after draft bust, and then this year, they lost significant players to IR before they even played a game.

I agree not many people thought Mangini would do as well as he is doing, but I can't say the Browns problems all fall on Crennel.

[DraconisRex]

Overall, I think Mangini inherited a better team.

The Jets have made the playoffs as a wild card in seasons that Pennington has stayed healthy, and fallen flat when Pennington was injured.

The Browns have draft bust after draft bust, and then this year, they lost significant players to IR before they even played a game.

I agree not many people thought Mangini would do as well as he is doing, but I can't say the Browns problems all fall on Crennel.

I agree. Crennell has a worse team and had worse luck with a worse team.

[BrentJones84]

While I definately agree and didn't quite understand people being so down on the Jets knowing they would get Chad back I just never felt confident in Romeo as a head coach.

Well, it was up in the air if Chad would come back healthy enough to be effective.

As for Crennel, I don't have much of an opinion one way or another as to his coaching ability, but much like Nolan in SF, Crennel inherited a lousy roster with a long history of bad drafting.

[AndyLeeMVP]

I actually wanted Mike Holmgren. I thought he was going to quit/ be fired and i wanted him to coach us. When i heard we hired some guy named "Mike Nolan" i had no idea who he was. I was a little disspointed, but i cant say i feel the same now. Hes a good coach and good at personnel decisions.

I personally never thought of romeo. At that time i knew we would need a new coach but crennel never entered my mind.

[Optimus Moo]

For what it's worth, I listened to the Cleveland Browns postgame show on the way home yesterday. They went over every single draft the team has had from 1999 through 2003. Hardly any players are still on the team.

The Browns are a complete mess, and people are seriously questioning the moves of the brain trust up there -- a group that is above Crennel, meaning anyone in Crennel's shoes would be struggling.

[Optimus Moo]

Yeah I know the problem was there even before Butch Davis was.

They're starting to call for Phil Savage's head. He was brought in to make things better and the fans aren't seeing it.

But the thing is, how much of Cleveland's problem is it being in the AFC North more than anything else? Baltimore has a tough defense, Cincy has the offense, and Pittsburgh is usually respectable at worse.

Like many struggling teams in the AFC, if you put the Browns in the NFC, would they fare somewhat better?

[Optimus Moo]

I don't wanna play anymore. :fishing:

I can't really say they would succeed there either as they don't have a very strong win-loss record against NFC opponents either.

Guess that means there's only one way to fix the Mistake by the Lake then: Blow it up, level the city and start over. :laugh:

(Especially if LeBron ever left via free agency, but that's for discussion elsewhere...)