eric-mangini-cleveland-browns-worstderek-anderson-is-terrible-browns-drilled-clevelandPatience, Cleveland fans. The Dallas Cowboys of the 90s weren’t built in a day.

1. The Browns must announce that coach Eric Mangini and GM George Kokinis will stay with the team through 2009 and 2010. Nobody can come in and turn a franchise around in a handful of games. Everyone cleans house and brings in their personnel guys and their players. Plus, as Peter King noted on NBC last night, the Browns still owe Romeo and Phil big bucks for terminating them last year.

2. Name Brady Quinn the starter for the rest of the season. He’s much more the future of the team than Derek Anderson is. (This doesn’t mean, as Rodney Harrison hinted last night, that the Browns should make a statement and “cut” Anderson.) We’re still in a tiny minority, but we think Quinn can be the QB of the future in Cleveland. It won’t help if Jamal Lewis is serious about retiring. For Quinn’s safety, it might be best to have him operate exclusively out of the shotgun vs. Baltimore in two weeks.

3. Bolster the weak defense (allowing 26 ppg and 409 yards per game – both are in the bottom five in the league) first in the draft, and then make sure to grab a sure-handed receiver in the 2nd or 3rd round (Jordan Shipley, Golden Tate, and Eric Decker should all be around). Cleveland is in desperate need of a possession receiver.

4. Try like hell to convince the commish to rearrange the divisions so that the Browns don’t have to deal with Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco for the next five years.

Go Dallas!

Wait for the last replay to see a textbook stiff arm … albeit delivered to a punter. For another week, there won’t be any “Tony Romo isn’t an NFL QB” reactions. The kid is playing well. The NFC West does wonders for confidence. Next up: The hot-and-cold Eagles. That’s the best game of week nine.

ted-ginn-killed-the-jets-and-that-made-me-sadThe Jets

Promise there will be no more playoff talk in regards to the Jets. Swear. Came into the season thinking 4-8 wins was likely. Deceived by the 3-0 start. Yesterday’s devastating loss – gave up only 104 yards and nine first downs to Miami – ends all playoff hope.

“They’re a great team,” Bart Scott said. “They’ll probably contend for the Super Bowl. They have a tremendous offense, great running backs, a great quarterback, a great tight end. They are stacked across the board. I’m serious. They are great. Like I said, they have a great team. They have a tremendous offense and they showed it today. They are Super Bowl contenders and they will probably take it all the way.”

Have no issues with those Bart Scott quotes. Like the sarcasm. There’s no way the Jets catch New England in the AFC East (no shot at winning in Foxborough), and the AFC North has three teams that are likely playoff-bound (Cincinnati, Baltimore, Pittsburgh), so there’s no room for another Wild Card team. It’d take a season-changing injury to Carson Palmer or Joe Flacco. And even then, the Chargers and Texas (who the Jets have a tiebreaker over) will be in the mix.

So with the playoffs out of the question, we’re starting to turn our attention to the 2010 draft. Our initial thought is defense. We’re thinking the line (heir apparent to Jenkins or a pass-rushing end) or cornerback.

The Worst

Vince Young and Chris Johnson led the Titans to their first victory of the season. Steven Jackson and the Rams registered their first win Sunday, too. That leaves the Tampa Bay Bucs as the only winless team in the league (0-7). The schedule is unforgiving – Miami is their only opponent in the next four games that has a losing record.

First pick in the draft? Tampa has the inside track (closely followed by Cleveland, St. Louis, Detroit, and Kansas City). It won’t be a QB. It won’t be a RB. Nobody takes a WR first. Which leaves a few options: offensive line (probably how KC and Oakland are leaning; those two are 2nd and 3rd respectively in sacks allowed this season) or defensive line (Suh!). Darkhorse: Tennessee safety Eric Berry.

Gus Johnson on Chris Johnson.