Eric Mangini Talks About Browns Win Over Oakland Raiders
(Opening Statement)- “Good evening everybody. How are we doing? I’m doing great. I’m really happy for the fellas again. I thought defensively, Rob (Ryan) did a really good job and the defense did a really good job being able to intercept that first ball, set up a score, pick off two more in the red zone, stop on the goal line stand. I thought all those things were excellent. [We were able to] keep a really good running team to under 100 yards rushing. I think there’s real progress there. A lot of different guys contributed in a lot of different ways. Offensively Jerome (Harrison), I think, has a Browns’ record now with most rush attempts in a game. He followed up the game last week with over 100 yards. We had a couple hiccups offensively, the one fumble there in the third quarter, but besides that I thought it was pretty complementary football across the board and I’m just happy for them. I think that they’ve been playing good football for a while and getting rewarded for it and finding ways to win, which is something we’ve been talking about throughout the course of the season.”
(On if the season is ending too quickly now with the way the team has been playing)- “I don’t know how to answer that. I’m happy with the way things are going. Like I’ve said throughout this, I’ve seen progress from the group and it is a process. Now they’re being rewarded for that hard work. They’re being rewarded for the good things that have been happening, that always weren’t very apparent. To see this, it’s really positive.”
(On if he has ever seen anything like the series at the end of the first half, topped off by a 61-yard field goal by the Raiders)- “No. I’m not real happy with the 61-yard field goal. We were trying to squib it past the interior guy there and didn’t get it past him. With (Sebastian) Janikowski’s leg, he can hit it from anywhere, so that wasn’t a very good job by us from a coaching perspective, to put them in a position where they could hit that field goal.”
(On what Jerome Harrison has done to make him become the featured running back)- “I think that he’s someone that’s continued to improve throughout this season. He and I talked about what I was looking for from him at practice, what I was looking for from him in pass protection and those things are really important. I’ve seen him improve in those areas and I think it’s been reflected in the way that he’s played throughout his opportunity to be the featured back.”
(On what it means for Harrison to set the Brown’s most rush attempts in a game record since he has been knocked his whole career as not being able to carry the ball many times)- “I didn’t really feel the same way, in terms of his size being an issue, just having the experience that I had with Leon Washington. They both came out the same year. They both had similar numbers in college. They both have a lot of the same traits. I saw the way that Leon picked up the blitz and the way that he improved and I knew that J.C. could be that same type of back. He’s just gotten a lot of opportunities. I really think the offensive line has improved. They’ve done a really nice job with their blocking, tight ends, Lawrence (Vickers), the wide receivers, all those guys.”
(On what kind of statement the three-game winning streak is)- “I really believe in the fact that when you get a lot of good people working towards the same goal, with no concern about individual accolades, concerned about what their role is, just the one focus on winning the game, good things happen. That’s what it’s been. We were close there in San Diego. We’ve been close at different points throughout the course of the season. You have to learn how to compete, then you have to learn how to win and then you have to learn how to deal with winning. All those things, you just can’t manufacture those lessons. It’s part of the journey. They’ve done a nice job building on the experiences that we’ve had.”
(On what he thinks led to the chippiness between the two teams)- “I don’t know. I know our guys were ready to play. Our guys weren’t going to take anything from anybody. Sometimes that leads to a little extra pushing and shoving. I just wanted to make sure we didn’t get the penalties.”
(On the Browns now allowing the chippiness of the game to affect them negatively)- “I don’t think anybody was going to let anybody else get in that situation where they got a penalty that hurt the team. It’s not good, smart football. Everybody realizes that it may make you feel good for a second, but it hurts the group. It can lead to points. It can lead to losing games. There was a good awareness across the board, not just from the coaches, but from the other players. We’re not doing that. We are not doing that.”
(On if Harrison has done enough to go into next season as the feature back)- “I think he’s shown a lot of good things. I think that’s something that we’ll have to discuss with Mike (Holmgren) and see what he feels. I think there have been a lot of positives from Jerome and a lot of growth from him in areas that just aren’t on the field, as a pro, in the classroom, at practice. It’s nice to see and I’ve been able to see it from the beginning.”
(On how much Rob Ryan’s familiarity with Oakland and their offense help in preparing the game plan for the week)- “I think it helped, but the difficulty that we had in the early part of the week was not knowing who we were going to get at quarterback. We were studying more concepts, consistent plays that they’ve shown, regardless of who was at quarterback. Then you have to piece in that last element once you get a feel or a sense of who it’s going to be. I thought the biggest difference between us, defensively, this week and last week was the communication and execution of the calls that we had. There weren’t the mental breakdowns. There wasn’t confusion as to which defense we were playing. We gave up a few plays here and there. You can live with getting beat on a play. You can’t live with giving up a play.”
