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Mangini setting tone of physical practice not known for a while
By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Tuesday, Aug 04, 2009
BEREA: Early in training camp last season, Browns running back Jamal Lewis looked miffed when a young, eager defender popped him after he caught a pass. Defensive lineman Shaun Smith noticed Lewis' dismay and loudly proclaimed, ''Nobody touch 31!'' as the next session began.
In the past four years under coach Romeo Crennel, assistants were always yelling at players to ''Stay up.'' That could have been motivated by fear of injury, the memory of prized free-agent center LeCharles Bentley going down on the first contact drill in 2006 too fresh in everyone's minds.
But three days into coach Eric Mangini's first Browns camp, action is down and dirty again, with hitting not seen since the days of Marty Schottenheimer.
''It's a lot more contact than I've ever done before in my 10 years in the league,'' Lewis said Monday. ''It gets you ready for the physical game that we play. You just buy in and do your job and do what you have to do.''
Mangini isn't running Schottenheimer's Oklahoma drill, but practice includes a one-on-one tackling drill in which an offensive and defensive player run at each other. Even some of the best Browns' defenders have muffed their chances, but defensive lineman Robaire Smith, coming off a torn Achilles, had an impressive takedown Sunday.
''He's not only challenging linebackers, but d-linemen,'' linebacker D'Qwell Jackson said. ''You've got Robaire Smith, he made a tackle. There were a lot of DBs who didn't come close to making tackles. It speaks volumes. It puts you one-on-one and shows your athletic ability.''
Mangini said the tackling drill can be run three different ways. There's live, ''thud,'' where the player is wrapped up but not taken down and ''tagging off.''
''It's a contact sport and we have to practice contact,'' Mangini said. ''You have to practice the right fits at that tempo. You try to do as much of it as you can without getting to the point where you're adding risk and also try to maintain the guys' bodies. It's a delicate balance that you're always trying to adjust.''
Jackson was enthused about the hitting, but he led the NFL's unofficial tackling list in 2008 with 154. The Browns have been one of the league's poorest tackling teams for years, especially during last season's 4-12 season, and many speculated that avoiding it in practice was the main reason.
''You have to put yourself in a position where you're ready to play football,'' Jackson said. ''I haven't gone live in four years. That was something different to me. We understand coach is trying to simulate game situations and he wants us to tackle in game situations. It was fun, I actually got up for it. And when we finished I went up to [Mangini], 'Are we going to keep doing this?' and he was like, 'yeah.' ''
Linebacker David Bowens, starting his 11th season, spent the past two years with Mangini with the New York Jets. He said the amount of hitting is typical.
Asked about the risk, Bowens said, ''Any time you go into a situation skeptical like that, sometimes it will happen. You just let the boys go out there and play ball and if injuries do happen, just take care of it as soon as possible.''
The offensive linemen seem to be in favor of it, but as Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas observed, ''We're full-go inside hitting, anyway.''
Left guard Eric Steinbach also embraced the thumping.
''That's a good thing,'' Steinbach said. ''Once the regular season rolls around, we'll be that much more physical than other teams. We're in a physical conference. The more we bang heads around now, we'll be used to it by the time the first game starts.''
Jackson acknowledge the pounding might get old.
''Probably,'' he said. ''Right now I'm excited about it and trying to dust some rust off my tackling. As long as we're doing it I'm going to have fun with it. Mangini's a smart guy, he knows we can't do this all year long.''
Bowens believes Mangini will ease up eventually.
''We haven't had pads on since Dec. 31,'' Bowens said. ''They want to get it under you. If we come out in the first preseason game and we're not missing a bunch of tackles, then we get off the pads and lay off a little bit.''
Jackson said there are ''going to be certain things you don't agree with,'' but he doesn't question Mangini's methods because Mangini led the Jets to a 10-6 record and a wild-card berth in 2006. Jackson was drafted in 2006; the Browns haven't made the playoffs since 2002.
''He's won, he's been on winning teams. At this point we haven't earned the ability to say, 'We should do this,' '' Jackson said. ''I'm pretty sure he'll throw us a bone sooner or later. . . . I hope so.''
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her Browns blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/browns/. Follow the Browns on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ABJ_Browns
BEREA: Early in training camp last season, Browns running back Jamal Lewis looked miffed when a young, eager defender popped him after he caught a pass. Defensive lineman Shaun Smith noticed Lewis' dismay and loudly proclaimed, ''Nobody touch 31!'' as the next session began.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 09:09 AM, 08/04/2009
HECK YES!! Time to bring "football" back to NE Ohio and get rid of that "take it easy" approach!
HERE WE GO BROWNIES HERE WE GO!!!
Canton, OH
Posted 10:42 AM, 08/04/2009
I LOVE The ManGenius !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted 10:55 AM, 08/04/2009
He should bring back the best tackling drill ever... ball carrier and defender start on their backs and on the whistle get up as fast as they can with the defender trying to make the tackle.
Can't remember the name but it teaches you how to get off your arse and get the job done.
Mentor, OH
Posted 12:35 PM, 08/04/2009
What no more Country Club camp like under Romeo?
Those that survive without injury should be better for it.
We may even win half our games!
New Franklin, OH
Posted 01:10 PM, 08/04/2009
~GO!!! STEELERS!!!!~
Highland Square, OH
Posted 03:00 PM, 08/04/2009
Thatta baby. We just might win four games this year. Maybe.
Rome, OH
Posted 07:21 PM, 08/04/2009
intensity in practice = intensity in games, nice to see some discipline imposed the head coach, this guy has some fire/emotion!
Rome, OH
Posted 07:22 PM, 08/04/2009
woops, "by" the head coach that is.
KOOKville, oh
Posted 09:22 PM, 08/04/2009
I'll tell ya what....Renegade1222 is GAY !!!!!
KOOKville, oh
Posted 09:23 PM, 08/04/2009
UAengineering...we did that with countryclubromeo.
New Franklin, OH
Posted 03:45 PM, 08/05/2009
I'm not GAY;I'm just HAPPY with the 6 SUPER BOWL WINS
