May 27, 2010-Berea, Ohio

Browns Head Coach Eric Mangini press conference 5-27-10

(Opening statement)- “Good morning everybody.  Today, what we are doing is, we are in our second round of installs, so today is our third down day.  What I like about this progression is you go through the first set, first and second down, third down, red zone and review.  Then you have your second set and you get the majority of your install is in place after this round.  What we are trying to do is give them all of the information.  It’s not as much time as we would get necessarily during training camp, but it is a nice amount of time, a nice amount of reps and it’s an introduction for a lot of guys who haven’t been here with it.  The rookies, the free agents, this is their first exposure and chance to understand it.  Then you come back in mandatory mini-camp, you hit it at a faster pace, but it’s the same information so that’s their second round of hearing it. Ideally, some more sticks at that point and then you go into training camp and you start the process over again and hopefully what you are getting is a lot of review and you can start at a higher point.  But, there is some consistency with how they are given the offense and defense and special teams and how it’s practiced.  That routine ideally will lead to greater retention.

“I think there have been some guys having a really good camp.  I thought so far Brian Robiskie has had an outstanding camp. He’s showed up quite a bit.  I think the quarterbacks are doing a really nice job with what we are asking them to do.  Ben Watson has been doing a really nice job with the things that we are asking him to do.  Really there are a lot of guys that I have been happy with, especially when you consider that it is a new environment.  It is a lot of new material, but it has been fun to watch the progression as we go.  They guys that have been out, are still out.  Robaire (Smith) is not here, he had some things that he had to take care of and I talked to him.  Jerome (Harrison) is not here, he had some things that he had to take care of.  I talked to him, it’s nothing that’s related to his contract or anything like that.  I expect him to be back next week.  In terms of the restricted guys, there’s really no update along those lines.”

(On if Harrison has been at the facility)- “Yes, he was here.  At the start of this week, he came in.  He was here on the field.  He hasn’t signed his tender, but there’s another way they can do it.  I think it’s a waiver.  You would have to talk to Matt (Thomas) and Tom (Heckert) about the exact document, but he is allowed to practice and participate and he had been the previous two days.”

(On the improvement of Robiskie)- “I think it’s a lot like quite a few of the younger guys.  It’s not, ‘Where am I?  What am I doing?’  It’s, ‘I remember this.  I remember the technique that I have to do.’  You can start to develop it more and you can start to play faster because you’re not thinking and processing, so that helps.  He’s running good routes and made some big plays pretty much every day.  David Veikune has gotten a lot of reps working inside.  I think he has looked better as well.  All of those guys have shown some really positive things early on.  We have a long way to go, but it is encouraging to see.”

(On what he learned about Robiskie last year)- “Tony (Grossi) a lot of it is and I know you hear me say this all of the time, but there is no one formula for these guys.  You try a lot of different things to get them to contribute as quickly as possible.  We spend a lot of time with the rookies to help do that, but it just sometimes hits at different spots.  I know we were talking about the receiver from Jacksonville when we played them who had the first two years, with I think, 16 catches.  Then came back and had last season 70-plus catches.  So a couple years there, but it started to hit.  You don’t know and I’ve seen it with a lot of players and pretty much every team I’ve been with.  You always try and get that magical combination of installs, meetings, the way to handle it and you work at it, but each person is a little different.”

(On having to add a wide receiver)- “In terms of having to go out and get somebody, I think we are open to that.  What is nice is that these guys are getting a lot of reps, they are getting a lot of chances to work the system, not just in the classroom, but on the field and I think that helps.  We are open to all different positions if it came up and made sense, but it really would have to.”

(On if there are any restricted free agents practicing besides Harrison)- “No, he’s the only one.”

(On if any of the injured players from last week will be practicing today)- “They’re all on the same program.  Nobody’s been added on right now.  I don’t think we will see them through OTAs.  Don’t anticipate it, but they are on their rehab program and it is set up with different milestones and things.  I don’t anticipate them participating right now in that aspect.  They are doing all of the other things.”

(On sticking with Veikune at inside linebacker)- “Yes, that’s what we will do, have him focus in that area.  You forget how, and I have to keep reminding myself and the coaches, it’s hard for those guys.  The young guys are going through what all of those guys went through last week.  I know when Shawn (Lauvao) was running his laps, I think you guys were there for that. Alex Mack was like, ‘Hey, I’ve been there.’  Hopefully, and what I look for from the group of second-year guys now is to help the new guys through the process.  To give them some things that they may have used to improve and they become teachers in their own right.”

(On Veikune)- “With end conversions, you don’t know necessarily where the best spot is going to be.  Sometimes those guys are better outside and that’s where they naturally fit.  A guy like Marcus Bernard, it made sense.  Sometimes guys have the flexibility to do a couple different spots.  You’re going through a trial and error to figure out, where is the best spot for him?  Where is the best spot for us?  You don’t know right away because they have never done it.  There is a lot that you have to see and they have to experience to figure out where the best spot is.”

(On the right side of the offensive line)- “George (Warhop) spends a lot of the time on the rotations, so we mix those guys.  Tony (Pashos) has played both spots, so has Floyd (Womack), so has John (St. Clair).  Shawn (Lauvao) has worked at guard primarily, so there have been a lot of different combinations over there.  That’s what you’d want to do because whoever isn’t the fifth is probably going to be the sixth.  You’d like to have the position flexibility with that group to where if one is a better guard than tackle, you plug him in at guard and the other guy moves to tackle, depending on how the injuries go or how you need them.”

(On which spot Pashos is better at)- “They’re all pretty confident guys, so they feel like they are pretty good at both.  He’s played both, he has worked at both.  He probably has worked more at tackle than he has at guard historically, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t work at both.”

(On if Lauvao has played any left guard yet)- “He hasn’t to this point.  That’s something that we will probably do in the next round. Really let him get his feet wet, let him hear the terms, let him work at a consistent spot. Then we will work him in some other spots and see how the retention goes, see how it transfers.  We wanted to give him a base first.”

(On Sheldon Brown)- “Sheldon, he’s a pro and that’s probably the highest compliment I can pay a guy.  He’s very mature in his approach, working diligently to get the information down.  He has been in one system for a long time, so he can associate things, but there is a lot of stuff that he needs to get down and it is really important for him to get it right.  I think as he continues to grow in the system and understand the system, he will work with the younger guys to help them get it right and I think he will provide some leadership in that room.”

(On if he was surprised that Brown was available through trade)- “I don’t know surprised.  Tom (Heckert) and his connections, he had a pretty good beat on what some possibilities were.  When we had the opportunity, we went with it.”

(On how the rookie class is coming along)- “They’re coming along like all of the rookie classes that I’ve been a part of.  Do you remember Steve Crosby back in the day?  He said, ‘Like a ball in tall grass: lost.’  There’s a little bit of Lost going on.  We haven’t seen that season finale here.”

(On the importance of Brown’s physical style of play)- “The criteria for evaluating any defensive back is, can they play man to man, can they play in the deep part of the field and can they tackle?  You want to have all three of those elements in order to bring somebody in.  Sometimes you hear cover corner and usually that’s a nice thing in a lot of ways, but it also means run at him.  You want the complete corner that can do all of those things and Sheldon is a good tackler and a good run support player.”

(On the idea of playing a Super Bowl in cold weather)- “I really like it.  I like it more if we are playing in it.  We are all going to be able to see how it goes in New York, but I think it’s exciting.  You have the elements and elements play such a huge part in the regular season.  They play a huge part in the postseason, depending on where the game is located.  To mix that in, I think it’s great.”

(On if he thinks cold weather locations should be in the regular rotation of sites)- “It’s a little above my pay grade, but I think it would be fun.  You add the component that you deal with all of the time into it and it can dramatically affect games.”

(On expecting early results from rookies)- “I don’t think you ever really can tell if a draft class works out for two to three years down the road or whether a player works out necessarily because it’s not defined by one year, it’s defined by a body work.  Believe me, I’ve coached a lot of guys that had to play right away that really shouldn’t have played.  Sometimes that can be detrimental too because their confidence gets shot.  I don’t think you can say it worked out or did not work out until you see the body of work over time and then you make your assessment.”

(On how he tried to develop Robiskie last year)- “I wouldn’t classify it as pushing or backing off, it’s just helping.  How can you help the development?  That’s really what you’re trying to do as a coach and a coaching staff is, how can I help this player get better?  You can’t approach each player the same way because they’re radically different.  They respond to things differently, they retain information differently.  Ideally, you have a lot of different way to help them improve and you expose them to all those different ways.  They learn what helps them the most as well and tend to focus their energy in those areas.  But, it takes some time and some experience to get to that point.”

(On Seneca Wallace)- “I think Seneca has had a really nice camp.  Obviously, he’s learning a lot of new things.  It’s a different style than Jake is, which is good because it puts some different pressures on the defense.  I don’t think you could rule out the possibility of having them both play.  Seneca gives you some flexibility to do some things, just like Jake has certain things that they do.  If you can incorporate them both in a plan that makes sense, that works, then that could be a good thing.  Then you have a guy like Josh Cribbs, he presents different problems.  Now you put Josh Cribbs and Seneca in the game together, they can present different problems.  Ideally, it’s easy for you, but hard for them.  That chews up a lot of preparation time for your opponent that they need to deal with it, you have to deal with it because it could come up and you better have good answers and you better have practiced it.  Ideally, it’s part of your routine so that it doesn’t chew up a lot of time from your perspective.”

(On the additions in the defensive backfield)- “I think one thing that’s really good is that you add competition and competition makes everybody better.  I think that’s a good thing.  It gives you some flexibility with the type of packages that you can run.  How it will unfold though, I couldn’t say definitively because I don’t understand exactly what (Joe) Haden’s strengths are going to be, what the weaknesses potentially could be.  Same thing with Sheldon, learning about him as a player.  T.J. Ward, Larry (Asante), seeing how their development works, strengths and weaknesses.  You have more information obviously than you had before because they are working with you now, but there are a lot of things that we have to see before I can give you any kind of definitive comment.”

(On Harrison working out at the facility this week)- “I think it’s good for everybody to be here.  Really, Mary Kay (Cabot), this is the second round of install and it helps the players when we go to camp.  It helps us when we go to camp because there are some new things, there are some different things.  When you come in and you’re not overwhelmed by information or you’re not thinking all the time, you’re playing and you’re acting.  It gives them the best chance to put a true picture of what they can do forward.  I think it’s valuable for everybody to be here.  Jerome and I didn’t talk about it very much.  I was happy he was here and I anticipate him being back next week.”

(On Alex Mack’s progress)- “I think that the experience that he got last year is fantastic.  To be able to start 16 games as a rookie is really hard to do, especially at that spot.  Center is often underrated in terms of how much information they have to process and how important they are to setting the whole protection, the front, the running game.  It’s critical.  He did a good job with it and I think he got better as the year went on.  Now, what you’re looking for is to avoid a sophomore slump, to build on the lessons of last season.  He’s a lot more comfortable, it’s just different.  They’re all more comfortable now.”

(On if Mack has ran any lap)- “I don’t want to black cat him here, but he has not as of yet.”

(On Mack’s previous snapping issues)- “We’d snap it early or snap it late or we’d snap it right or we’d snap it left.  He was snapping it all over the place.”

(On snapping being difficult)- “I think it’s a lot harder than it looks.  You’re a young kid and, ‘Here you go.’  It’s tough.  Nick (Mangold) was the same way.  Nick also couldn’t come until a lot later because of the graduation format, so that made it even harder on Nick as he missed a ton of time.  It’s a good thing, he was finishing college, but it was tough for him.”

(On if he has empathy for Mike Brown losing his job)- “I like Mike Brown and I sent him a text the other day.  I can relate to the things he is going through and it’s difficult.  I really hope things work out for him and I really hope things work out for the Cavs as well.  I like Danny Ferry a lot and this sometimes happens.  You just want to see ideally everyone move forward in a positive way.”

(On if there is more pressure to win a championship in Cleveland because of the title drought)- “Tougher to coach in this town?  It’s a passionate town, it’s a passionate town.  You get it though.  You understand and you appreciate it.  Believe me, you’re consumed with trying to achieve what we all want to achieve.  It would be amazing, fantastic and deserved.”

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