More Jobs on Line Tomorrow

There's already a number of NFL head coaching jobs that could be available after Sunday's contests. Dallas, Minnesota, San Francisco, Denver and, now, Carolina. Other head coaches are feeling the hot seat as well.

Cleveland:
I know what you might be thinking. If Mike Holmgren had wanted to fire Eric Mangini, he would have done it before this season began. While I have no qualms with that statement, I can counter with a statement of my own here. Mike Holmgren was willing to give Mangini at least one season to see how the players responded to the number of changes that had taken place. And the Browns have adapted somewhat well.

Issues at the quarterback position seem to have bogged down the team more than anything. Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace and Colt McCoy have all started games this year due to a rash of injuries to Browns QBs. But here's the scary truth. NO one QB had been overly impressive. You can see a maturation in McCoy and he should be #1 on the Browns depth chart come 2011, if there is a 2011 season. Oh, and the passing game ranks 30th in the NFL.

The defense has been outstanding ranking 7th overall. There has been a very slight improvement compared to 2009 and the Browns won't finish in last place in the AFC North. That alone could save Mangini's job.

As the QBs Turn

Here we are only three weeks into the NFL season and we already have two QB changes and another in question. Of the two teams making changes, Tampa Bay and Miami, one is due to ineffectiveness and the other to injury.

Tampa Bay head coach Raheem Morris announced that the Bucs are going to go a different direction at the position. Out is Byron Leftwich. Taking a glance at the stats, it's not a big surprise but the timing is. The Bucs are in a rebuilding mode and Leftwich was thought to be the bridge to get from this process to the Bucs first round pick in this past draft Josh Freeman. Apparently, the construction of that particular bridge was scrapped. A new bridge is being constructed, for now, with Josh Johnson. Morris says that Johnson gives the Bucs more options at the position. The fact that the Bucs performed miserably on offense most likely led to this quick decision. That and an 0-3 start. Within a week, Leftwich goes from starter to third string as Freeman will be the #2 behind Johnson. To think Leftwich left Pittsburgh for this.

Leftwich's stats tell a similar story as well. Of the 33 quarterbacks that have enough attempts to qualify, Leftwich is 27th of 33 QBs in QB rating with a 71.2. The QBs behind Leftwich are the Rams Marc Bulger, Titans Kerry Collins, Browns Brady Quinn, Lions Matthew Stafford, Panthers Jake Delhomme, and Raiders JaMarcus Russell. Leftwich has thrown for 4 TD and 3 INT but had been sacked only 2 times. His completion percentage of 54.2% was fourth worst of the 33 QBs.

Their counterparts to the southeast are in a different bind. Miami Dolphins QB Chad Pennington's season is most likely over, and possibly his career. In a 23-13 loss to the Chargers on Sunday, Pennington suffered yet another shoulder injury, his third of his career. Pennington will seek a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews as Andrews has performed two other procedures to Pennington's shoulder.

The winless Dolphins will go with Chad Henne who is in his second year out of Michigan. In a substitute role against the Chargers, Henne was only 10-19 for 92 yards and a pick. His QB rating was a lowly 44.2. But Henne will get the snaps at practice this week as Miami will play host to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. The Dolphins selected Henne in the second round last year and passed on Matt Ryan to select Jake Long with last year's #1 overall pick. That move will be even more scrutinized if Henne cannot produce. Only time can tell us of that.

Here we go again with Browns head coach Eric Mangini and his QB choice. Brady Quinn was pulled at halftime of last week's drubbing at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens. His first half stats: 6-8, 34 yards, 1 INT. Derek Anderson played the second half and was 11-19, 92 yards and 3 INT. How can you compare bad to worse? On one hand, Anderson was more successful passing the ball...for yardage. On the other hand, Quinn only threw one pick. I have a headache just thinking about this...again!

Mangini will most likely announce the starter Wednesday. Whoever it is, he better be ready for the visiting Cincinnati Bengals who are just a fluke play away from being 3-0.

One other QB injury was to the St. Louis Rams Marc Bulger. He sustained a bruised rotator cuff and his status is questionable going into this weeks game against the San Francisco 49ers. If Bulger can't go, former Raven Kyle Boller will most likely get the starting nod.

Hey Coach Mangini, Stop your charade!

Exactly what is Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini thinking? Is he thinking we're all a bunch of idiots? Is he thinking that he's smarter than the rest of us? Is he thinking that nobody but him knows anything about football?

He must. We're at the end of preseason and the "Man Genius" has yet to announce who his starting quarterback will be, Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson. All we have to do is use what little brain Mangini thinks we all have and we can figure out who should be the Browns starting quarterback.

All you have to do is look at the preseason stats for Quinn and Anderson and the answer is crystal clear. Let's compare:

Completion %: Quinn - 67.7, Anderson - 57.7
TD/INT: Quinn - 1/1, Anderson - 0/2
QB Rating: Quinn - 86.1, Anderson - 51.3

Brady Quinn is the obvious choice. So why isn't Mangini telling anyone? Well, he says he knows. We don't because I suppose it's a secret.

I get it now. It's just like his old boss, Bill Belichick. There's one big problem with this whole picture Mr. Mangini...you're not Belichick. You never have been despite what you think of yourself. When you've won something, then you can act like him. Until then, quit playing games and thinking we're all too stupid to know what's going on in your head.

And you might want to pass that along to the guy in Denver.