Team fully behind Jamal Lewis and his criticisms, locker room chants his name
Rick first documented the story on Thursday when Jamal Lewis came out in the media and directly took on Coach Eric Mangini and his practice habits and schedule. Rick wrote that Jamal could well have been the voice of reason as opposed to your average disgruntled player trying to fight through a horrible season under a new coach with an extremely different approach. He also finished his piece with “it is safe to say Jamal isn’t the only one in the locker room who is fed up.” Lewis is a respected veteran and leader on the team and it was expected that he was simply not a lone ranger in the locker room speaking out. Well, that is officially confirmed now and it appears his statements are receiving significant backing from the rest of the team to the point where they began chanting “J-Lew, J-Lew!” in the open locker room yesterday as Lewis answered more questions from the media.
The comments this week simply added to the public turmoil of what has been a disastrous season. Cleveland Frowns argued that Lewis was a frustrated and washed-up player who should not have piled on with his comments in the public. Lewis now feels that his comments have been blown out of proportion by the media but that is to be expected. With the season being such a disaster and Mangini under the microscope, he had to expect that any voice of dissension would immediately create headlines. But now we have certain members of the team in the locker room chanting his name and indirectly and subtly supporting his complaints in a public forum. I do not buy the contention that Lewis was not expecting this to create headlines but I do think Lewis has earned the right to voice his opinion on certain matters and the team certainly supports him. Lewis emphasized the team support in his comments to the media yesterday:
I got support,” Lewis said. “Does this look like a divided locker room to y’all? Huh, does it? No.”
Coach Mangini spent the day addressing the comments from Lewis and talking about his practice schedule and habits. Lewis said that he and Mangini talked Thursday evening and settled things “in-house.” Lewis admitted some fault when he said that he should have kept it in-house from the beginning, but as he says this you have team chanting his name in the background. I know he is not controlling that but it adds fuel to the fire. Jamal said he and Mangini agreed to disagree on some things but seemed satisfied that he was able to meet with the Coach and voice his complaints and exchange ideas.
Meanwhile, Mangini reiterated that his practices are not extreme or too hard on the players to the point where their ability to perform come gameday is negatively influenced:
For the record, it’s two hours…We have a half-hour walk-through. That’s the facts, that’s the reality of it. It’s two hours a day. Two hours a day. On Wednesday, on Thursday and less on Friday…I’ve done all different combinations of practice. I’ve practiced in shells the whole week, shoulder pads and shorts on Thursday, multiple weeks in shells. There have been teams where we’ve had full pads on Friday. There are different approaches. You’re always trying to find one that best fits. I think the two hours of work on the field is a very reasonable time…Some of the things that have happened on game days are things that we can control by protecting the football better, by communicating better, by all those different things that you try to improve week in and week out…In terms of volume of practice, it’s significantly less than my first year in New York and we went 10-6 there.”
Mangini said he was not considering fining Lewis for his comments being “detrimental to the team.” Lewis is a respected veteran and no matter how much of a tyrant Mangini seems to be, I think he realized based on how this season has gone that he did not have a lot of leverage to take a heavy handed approach with Lewis. He would not say if he was disappointed in Lewis but simply that he wants open communication with all members of the team – quite a different approach than the one he takes with the media.
A team that is horrible on the field typically leads to turmoil off the field. It seems that we have been reading and dissecting stories like this every week for ten years and you never hear this stuff coming out of Foxboro or Pittsburgh. It is such a different culture and I realize the losing creates the off-the-field chaos. Braylon shouted “welcome to the Browns locker room!” earlier this year after members of the defensive backfield came to blows in a team brawl in an open locker room. Well, this week we have the locker room chanting “J-Lew!” in support of a teammate who, whether you think it was right or wrong, openly questioned his coach’s approach.
November 14th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Nope. He’s not losing his team at all. Not one bit.
/starts countdown to firing
November 14th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Oh for the love of Christ…
Either this team is THAT mentally weak/bunch of whiners or Mangini is THAT much of a tyrant.
I want to believe the former but I think the latter is the real truth.
November 14th, 2009 at 11:53 am
I’m not sure what Tim Tebow has to do with the Cleveland Football Browns?
I have a feeling it’s mostly the latter, but also a good amount of the former. I’m sure errbody misses Club Romeo.
November 14th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Brendan – good referencing of Braylon’s “Browns locker room” comment, which I had forgotten about, but which is one of those gem comments that just says so much with so little. The culture in Berea is septic and probably past the point of remediation. I actually am embarrassed about the Browns being in the natl spotlight on monday.
November 14th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Anyone else notice how much Mangini references New York and New England? I think that speaks to how highly he thinks of himself and his styles in all aspects if it continually comes out in interviews. He thinks he should be respected purely on where he came from or something. I don’t know.
What a joke…and an even bigger mess.
November 14th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Rini, I think he’s making comparisons because New England was a pretty bad team when Belichick and Mangini got there in 2000. However, this team is miles upon miles worse than that team, but he’s trying to tell people that it will get better.
I’m not saying whether or not I believe him, but I believe this is his point.
November 14th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Mangini’s referencing NE and NY is kind of like all those Ivy-league douches who go out of their way to remind you about when they were at Harvard.
November 14th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
That was worded terribly.
“This team is miles upon miles worse than that team, and he’s trying to tell everyone that it will get better.”
somewhat better.
November 14th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
This situation reminds me of Scott Linehan in St. Louis. Respected veterans were arguing with him, it wasn’t long after before he got the ax.
Just stop the bleeding now and pull the plug on Mangini. It sucks because I think his philosophy is 100% gold, but his execution of that philosophy has been garbage.
I want to give the man the benefit of the doubt and think he’s misunderstood, but man, the evidence is stacked against him.
November 14th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
So his Jets would be like bragging about going to SUNY Oswego?
November 14th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
I DRIVE A DODGE STRATUS!!!
November 14th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
haha, Denny, reminds me of noted Cornell grad Andy Bernard from The Office.
November 14th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Is it me or is this a scene straight out of Varsity Blues? I mean I half expect James vanderbeek to pop out and tell Mangini “I don’t want your life!”
will “J-Lew” take over as Coach next at halftime of the Ravens game when Mangini refuses to come out of the tunnel??
November 14th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
#13 – completely agree – I thought about that as I was writing. I try to picture the chaos of our locker room and it conjures up various movie scenes of an out of control mob from Any Given Sunday, Varsity Blues, The Program, Playmakers etc.
November 14th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Could you imagine getting payed millions of dollars to work a few months a year? And during those few months, you had to work 2 hour days. I feel soooo sorry for these players. (said Marc sarcastically)
November 14th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Marc, if you think it is just two hours a day you’re sorry mistaken. Proper nutrition, sleep patterns, massage, etc take up countless hours per week. Football is physical and I promise you, two hours of being smacked around is far more difficult than a desk job, pushing buttons. These guys are te BEST one-percent at what they do on earth. If you were that good as a stockbroker you’d be making 10-times what tear guys make.
November 14th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Darn iPhone. I meant “sorely mistaken”, and “what these guys make”
November 14th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Aaaaaand I still have no sympathy. If I could work out all day every day and get paid like 100k a year I’d do it.
I’d rather be a professional runner. Maybe it’s because I’m 5′8 and white and that’s really the only sport I’m built for, but still – ‘proper nutrition, sleep patterns, massage, etc’ = wake up, eat, 2 hour run + plyo, eat, 3 hour nap, eat, 1 hour run ON GRAVITY LESSENED TREADMILL + eat + massage + eat all while hydrating. At altitude in Northern California.
I. Want. That. Life.
November 14th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Cut Lewis now. He’s a cancer on the team. Also, get rid of the chanters. I’ll do 2 hours of work every other day for for a half a year for a million bucks. Paul Brown would have cut them all.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Wow, you guys are missing the point big time. Lewis isn’t complaining about the workload in and of itself (the guy is a beast and puts himself through physical hell to be ready every season). He is saying that the rigors Mangini puts the team through don’t put individuals in position to be physically at their peaks on Sunday.
I think we can all agree that pro athletes are paid too much but come on, these sorts of arguments have been ground into the dirt over and over again.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Soooooo embarrassing. Monday night will be like driving past a wreck on the freeway.
Unreal to have an NFL coach spending his time at mid-season explaining the length of his practices and whether the players are wearing pads.
Next controversy: How much Gatorade are the players drinking?
November 15th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Yeah, but Denny can you do 100 push-ups in 20 minutes?
November 16th, 2009 at 8:06 am
Interesting question. In 20 minutes? Most likely. Im’a try it out tonight.