Bingo. That's leadership. Let a guy know he screwed up, then pat him on the back and tell him to get back to work. Tell a guy to his face, like a man, what you expect of him and how he let you down, and chances are, he's going to respect you more than enough to want to prove himself to you. If he doesn't, you gave him his chance and he let it slip. Good riddance. Mangini was/is a douche, and deserves the end of his career he'll be thinking about over turkey in two months.
Mike and Mike were ripping Mangini this morning, I mean tearing him to shreds. Couldn't figure out which team was worse, the Redskins or the Browns, finally said the Browns are beyond terrible. "No end in sight." Mentioned the $1701 and the QB situation, all horrible decisions, and now he hasn't even named who is going to start again this week. I mean, the same old secretive nonsense, meanwhile 5 players on the Browns have filed formal grievences against Mangini, including the $1701 waterbottle guy. You talk about losing the locker room. They're saying Mangini won't last the season. The press is ripping him a new one in Cleveland and so are all the radio talk shows. He's finished in that job, just a matter of time. They were laughing about the fact that he could set a record for the shortest coaching job ever.
QFT. Not excusing/condoning Mangini, but in an attempt to understand why he disciplines and treats his players the way he does... maybe it's because he's young and inexperienced, which makes him too timid to confront these players face-to-face. I remember when he was hired here, there were a couple of players who were the same age - if not older - than him. Maybe he's aware of this and is afraid to command the respect of his players by looking them in the eyes. And I'm not saying that's the case with every young coach (I'm sure Tomlin is directly fierce with his players, despite his young age), but maybe that's the case with Manmoron. Again, not excusing him for anything because, frankly, I think he's a cold cowardly asshole; but I'm trying to figure out why he is the way he is.
I think this is all part of it. I seriously think there's an inferiority complex running around inside... part of it is the age. Part of it is that he knows he's never been anywhere near the level that his players are and was a copy-machine boy and gopher under Belichick that just happened to luck into some defensive experience under his belt and was able to land the HC job with the Jets by osmosis, really... on BB coat tails and thru his association with Tannenbaum. He was over his head from Day One and knew it. But whatever, he lacks the ability to be a one-on-one person and would rather retreat to his robitics where he doesn't have to be direct but rather mechanical. Excersizing team discipline by having one of his assistant coaches show you the way to the rookie dorm or by informing you in your paycheck that $1710 was deducted as a fine for a $3 water bottle makes him a flat out punk in the eyes of his players. "We don't take water bottles from hotel refrigerators and not pay for them, just like we don't park in unauthorizdd parking places. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is." It's mindless. Just like the constant harping on the 3 phases and the pop quizzes and the emphasis on "consisency." After awhile, the players are like, "WTF is wrong with this guy?"
The fact that Rex made a public issue of saying that Clowney was benched indicates to me that it really wasn?t Clowney. Clowney probably wasn?t going to play anyhow. I think the Rhodes exchange the week before was the catalyst. Clowney happened to be the next player that made a stupid Tweet, it was more directed at the team in general. Lets face it, it?s much harder to bench Rhodes then Clowney to send a message to the team.
Funny you mention that, when I first heard about twitter being involved with Clowney's benching I thought of Rhodes. Yea, it sends a message. Not sure if that's what Rex was really up to, but it sounds plausible.
Also, probably more the nature of the tweet. Rhodes' twit was about beating (humiliating) the Pats and being confident. Clowney's tweet was about playing time and being aggrivated with the coach. Clowney should have just manned up and walked in and had a heart to heart with Rex. Rex would have appreciated it. Clowney just made the mistake of going about it the wrong way.
He probably didn't think it through that long. A young guy who is always on that thing, seems kind of impulsive to me. Sounds like he will emerge a little smarter after the whole thing, part of growing older and smarter.
All of the above a very good points. Bottom line is that Clowney, whether he's the scapegoat and recipient of any messages that Ryan wanted to send to the entire team in general, is a very young player and will make contributions to this team for years to come, IMO. We'll soon all forget this ever even happened. Let's hope he can remain healthy and get some playing time in, because somebody may go down and we're going to need him.
Honestly, I think they've been holding him back on purpose. Like a caged animal. Maybe even for this week. I have no proof, nor evidence to support that, but I just feel it in my gut. (And I wasn't a big Clowney fan coming out of camp.) I just have a feeling he's another piece of Rex's "we only show vanilla" puzzle. Every week Rex unloads new things. Stuff that no one has film of. It's hard to gameplan against the unknown. Clowney is unknown right now. Someone already said it, but I'm going to repeat it, expect a big week from Clowney in New Orleans.
As I said, I was never a Clowney fan. I never felt he showed anything that would translate at the A-level. I just have a feeling, as I've had with Gholston (which I know people will still insist I'm wrong about, but whatever.)
