Week 11 NFL Picks: Time for a New Story

As the college football regular season fades, the NFL takes on increased prominence in the Nation's football focus.  Maybe it's that; that the mere act of observing changes the phenomenon that's being observed that's what makes today's NFL picture seem so foggy.  But whether that's true or not, Week 11 seems like a new beginning, and that we're due for some new storylines to emerge. 

Nowhere could we use some new storylines than here in Cleveland with respect to our Browns.   And to be clear, what's going on on the field doesn't bother us nearly as much as the lack of good faith displayed by local media here in Northeast Ohio toward Eric Mangini's rebuilding efforts. 

What depresses us the most about Mangini's treatment here is how easily Cleveland bought into what New York was selling the nation, seemingly at the expense of Cleveland Browns football.  It's easy to understand that the New York Jets and New York media had reasons to conspire to create negative storylines to help run Mangini out of town, and then to keep those lines going to justify the decision in the wake of his departure (and how much more fun for them that they get to pile on Cleveland in the process).  But we didn't have to buy these lines here.  There were good reasons not to.  And these same good reasons are surely the same ones that led Randy Lerner to snap Coach Mangini up so quickly in the first place.  Yet these reasons are never discussed, their mere existence never so much as hinted at in the repeated questions regarding what Lerner might have been thinking at the time.  

It's hard not to wonder if Mangini wouldn't have had a better deal here so far than he has if we didn't have to contend with so much self-interested noise about him from New York.  That maybe folks in this town would have adopted a more patient posture regarding things having to get worse before they ever get better with the Browns.  It hardly bears repeating that a deliberate roster cleaning occurred this season, that cap space has been cleared, and draft picks stockpiled.  When we offered $100 to anyone who could find an offense in NFL history that's done more for its team with arguably less talent, no one could legitimately claim the prize. 

Yet, another poor performance by the Browns offense today, and/or next week, and/or the week after that, and we'll hear the same feigned outrage, as if the coaching staff could so obviously be expected to do better with such a deliberately-stripped roster. 

It's depressing.  It's depressing because without any of the good faith defenses of what's happened on Mangini's watch here having been honestly made a part of the dialogue (with a few spotty exceptions), it leaves us to ask depressing questions about our local press.  It leaves us to wonder if it's because Mangini isn't a "good interview," and isn't as cozy with the local media as they'd prefer, that it's become so easy for them to buy the New York line.  Or because it takes more creativity and effort to take the more-forward looking approach than it is to fan the flames of the Cleveland fan's impatience. 

While we hope that Randy Lerner and whoever he brings in to run the football operations will understand this, the point today is that Mangini and his regime seem to have more to play for than the Lions do today in Detroit. 

It's not that we necessarily expect the offense to do so much more (it was nice to see Terry Pluto, and Ravens linebacker Bart Scott* acknowledge this week that the expectations for this offense are rightfully low), but if the 1-8 Lions are chomping at the bit to get a win today against another 1-8 team, the Browns should be doubly so.  It's worth noting that the Plain Dealer staff has unanimously picked the Lions to win today, with only Bud Shaw having the Browns meeting the spread with a push.  Browns +3 over the Lions (4 units). 

As for the rest:

Chiefs +11 over the Steelers (4 units): Continuing with the ideas that the Chiefs are on the up since deposing Johnson, and more importantly the ones regarding how singular Troy Polamalu's talent is and how much he means to the Steeler defense. 

Bucs +10.5 over the Saints (4 units):  Just a feeling about these resurgent Bucs, partially based on the fact that K2 was being refreshingly honest this week when he said that Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma couldn't cover him in college.  There's no doubt that's true, and that Florida is a great place for a guy like Winslow to be.   

Jets +11 over the Patriots (4 units):  No doubt the Jets have the talent to win this game.  But what this really comes down to is who you think was right about Belichick's infamous 4th and 2 call last week.  Posnanski or Simmons?  We think Simmons nailed it.

That's all for the day.  We're staying away from that mess of a night game, content to let some new stories develop as we gird up for the stretch run.  Enjoy Sunday, everyone!

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Jets linebacker Bart Scott to the New York Times on the Jets hard times since Braylon Edwards joined the team:   

“This has to hurt even worse [than the losing in Cleveland]. There, other teams are just better than you. Here, we’ve got the talent but not the results.”

This quote is particularly interesting considering that Mangini is thought to be on a hot seat, while Jets coach Rex Ryan is generally not.