No story helps to explain the media’s mischaracterization of the accomplishments of Browns coach Eric Mangini in 2009 better than “bottlegate.” With recent reports confirming that Braylon Edwards was the player famously fined $1,701 for failing to pay for a bottle of water at a hotel, it’s worth considering what the story reveals about just what a cancer Braylon was in the Browns locker room, and just what a mess was there for Mangini when he arrived.
“Bottlegate” was reported to make Mangini appear as a flailing tyrant. The coach explained that the player who was fined was a repeat offender, and anyone might have appreciated the team’s right to levy the maximum fine on a multi-millionaire who broke a rule as simple and seemingly useful as “no stealing from hotels.” But that explanation was buried in a storm of media-fueled negativity that took fodder from complaints of veterans who’d grown accustomed to the luxury of Camp Romeo.
How much of the negativity in the locker room, how much of Eric Mangini’s bad rap came directly from Braylon Edwards?
Consider that Bottlegate wouldn’t have hit the press at all if Braylon himself didn’t want it to. There’s no question that Hollywood Bray viewed himself as too big of a star for Cleveland, and that he’d be a goner as soon as his free agency tolled in 2010. How much better for the image-obsessed wide receiver if he could play the victim on his departure? Why would a player as obviously self-obsessed as Edwards buckle down for Mangini’s culture change under those circumstances? Why would Braylon have resisted the opportunity to light a few fires from the inside? Certainly not because he was concerned about the future of the Cleveland Browns or Eric Mangini.
Here it’s worth remembering that we’re talking about a guy who: Publicly railed against Browns fans for not appreciating his efforts in a 4-12 Browns season that started with playoff expectations in which Edwards himself led the league in dropped passes; Announced to the local press that he wasn’t worried about uncertainty surrounding the teams’ quarterback situation because he’s “in the fifth year of a five-year deal”; Chirped to an ESPN reporter about “shaking hands with the right people” to get “roles” in Hollywood, wanting to “be the King of Cleveland because [he's] doing the exact same things consistently, like [LeBron has] been doing,” and that he wears a certain “war cologne” “when [he's] trying to show confidence or be dominant;” and asked Texans cornerback Will Demps “between plays [of a Texans win over the Browns] if [they] could talk after the game about modeling and acting.”
The same guy who couldn’t resist bashing Browns fans via Twitter after he was traded, and told New York reporters that Cleveland is “the pits,” “the baddest of the bad.”
Now remember that two of the six core criteria that Mangini seeks out in his players are “selflessness,” and “guys to whom football is important,” and consider that the highest paid and most physically talented player in the locker room when Mangini arrived was the ultimate “me-first” guy who cared about anything but football.
It only takes one guy to be a “league source,” or a “source inside the Browns locker room,” and when that one guy is the richest and most famous player in the locker room, it’s easy to understand how his influence can spread.
We know that Braylon filed a grievance with the players association before he left Cleveland. How many of his teammates did he urge to do the same? What’s that do to a locker room and a coach’s ability to get individuals to play as a team?
It makes one wonder about the source of the travesty that was the reporting of the James Davis injury, which occurred while Braylon was still in town. Look at the breathless outrage contained in the initial reports of “the story,” then note how conclusively the Browns were cleared of any wrongdoing (it was easy enough for the NFL to look at the videotape of practice), and consider the absurd incongruity.
It makes one wonder about how upset anyone really was about a bus ride for charity as well.
And it really makes one wonder how much different this season would have been if Braylon would have been traded on draft day instead of in the season’s fourth week.
It probably shouldn’t be a surprise at all that all five of this season’s wins came after Braylon was sent to New York. And it definitely shouldn’t be a surprise that the Browns offense came to a standstill in the weeks following Braylon’s departure. Whatever else about him, his speed created space on the football field that was sorely missed. The same space that allowed then number-two receiver Mohamed Massaquoi to make a season-best eight catches for 148 yards against the Bengals in Braylon’s last game as a Brown.
It’s hard to replace that kind of talent, the kind that went for 1,300 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2007. It’s easy to understand why Mangini would have given that kind of talent the benefit of the doubt* by not trading it away before going through as much as a training camp with Edwards. And it’s easy to understand, after “bottlegate” and everything that came with it, that Braylon had to go.
In this light, the most interesting quote from new Browns team president Mike Holmgren’s press conference of yesterday was when, in addressing Mangini’s own recent statement about “the mess” he inherited in Cleveland, Holmgren mentioned in Mangini’s defense that “sometimes frustration sets in . . . [when] you count on this player and something happens.”
“You count on this player and something happens.” Doesn’t it, though? Holmgren might have been referring quite specifically to Braylon Edwards here. But even if not, any credible leader would account for how the combination of Braylon’s singular physical talent with his singular self-obsession impacted Mangini’s “full body of work,” and what a mess it really was in Cleveland when Mangini arrived such a short time ago.
UPDATE: Some background we didn’t know at the time that helps explain why it was so easy for Braylon to make the mess that he did: When Eric met Tony: Exclusive Report on Origins of Plain Dealer Beat Writer’s Vendetta against Former Browns Coach.
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*We gave Braylon the benefit of the doubt at the beginning of the season too, despite so many reasons not to. Had Braylon either been only half of a flaming sociopath, or had he been traded on draft day giving the team ample time to adjust to his absence, our prediction of seven wins for these Browns is probably right on. You count on a player and something happens …
Probably a parallel to be drawn between our own willingness to give the benefit of the doubt to the guy that’s here, and that of folks in New York who’ve found it so easy to let Jets owner Woody Johnson make Mangini the scapegoat for his own failed Brett Favre experiment.
**Here’s a great read from the folks at Read and React, on Holmgren, Mangini, and the decision that a credible leader might make:
“Brought in to be in charge, the obvious choice, the ego choice is to let go of Mangini and his coaching staff. Who could blame him if he wants to bring in his own coaches, his own staff?*** A cupboard that was bare and full of poison rattraps is now full of disciplined players, some talented, mostly journeymen that know the value of team football. A cupboard once bare of flexibility and possibility is now stocked with picks, cap room and hope. How easy would it be for him to come into that kitchen, sack the chef, and take ownership, to take full credit for a team that seems poised to start winning, a team that after years of mismanagement looks to be actually be what it has pretended to be all of these years, a NFL franchise a city can be proud of.
“I hope though Holmgren makes the hard choice, a choice that is not about credit, or about one person, a choice the requires him to set aside his own ego, and agenda. A choice that will in the end take the spotlight away from him, it’s a choice that will not make him the savior of the Browns, because that person is already in place. It’s a choice that will reward a hard working coach and not the poison pens of bitter reporters, a choice that will show us all if Holmgren can put aside personal glory, and to do what is right, to be a man of principle, keep Mangini and let him finish what he started.”
Read the whole thing.
***Who could blame him? Anyone could. We’ll be back later with a pick for the LeFevour Bowl. Who who who will we pick in the LeFevour Bowl?
