If it weren’t for the NFL’s new Twitter policy that has, for the time being, silenced even Chad Ochocinco, we’d probably know for sure by now the question that has transfixed the NFL: Who will line up under center on Sunday for the Cleveland Browns?
We might even know who is lining up at center for the hapless Browns, yet another state secret new coach Eric Mangini is trying to keep until kickoff time.
Ochocinco would have tweeted about it, just as he broke news that Tom Brady wasn’t really hurt after being slammed to the turf during a preseason game. But No. 85 has been largely incommunicado in recent days, even as he promises to find a way to once again deliver his deepest thoughts in 140 characters or less.
In his absence, Browns fans scrambled for clues after Mangini revealed he told his quarterbacks who would start. They weren’t terribly concerned whether Hank Fraley or Alex Mack would be doing the snapping because a center is, after all, just a center. But the choice at quarterback offered some hope and, if there’s one thing people in Cleveland need right now, it’s some hope.
Like amateur Kremlinologists, they studied the carefully chosen words of the two quarterback contenders. They listened to the even more carefully chosen words uttered by Mangini.
They weighed the legitimacy of a tweet by Ochocinco’s online rival, T.O.
And they pondered what it all meant. Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson, with the season hanging in the balance.
Not to worry. The Minnesota Vikings certainly aren’t.
If anything, the Browns’ opening opponents had to be laughing at the silliness of Mangini taking NFL secrecy to levels even his mentor of paranoia, Bill Belichick, probably hadn’t considered.
“I think the big thing is that we’re getting ready for a scheme, and I can’t imagine that they’re going to get rid of all their plays and their system,” Vikings coach Brad Childress said.
Indeed, the Vikings could probably care less who takes the snaps Sunday in Cleveland. With their dominating defense, Brady may be the only quarterback who concerns them and they don’t have to worry about seeing him until the Super Bowl at the earliest.
For those who do care, Quinn is looking more and more like the man. Terrell Owens said so while apparently taking a break in his own preparations for the season in Buffalo.
“Congrats 2 Brady Quinn 4 starting job w/Cleveland Browns!!” T.O. tweeted.
Just why Mangini waited until days before the opening game to tell his quarterbacks who was starting may have been nothing more than wanting one of them to win the job in practice. Not making that decision public, though, has more to do with the insecurities of being a head coach in the NFL than it does with gaining any real competitive advantage.
Mangini didn’t even tell the rest of the team who would be leading them on the field, saying they would figure it out themselves. Then again, leaving players guessing is nothing new for a coach who was celebrated as “Mangenius” when he led the New York Jets to 10 wins in his rookie year only to be derided by the same fans later as “Manidiot” before finally being canned.
Some might remember two years ago when Chad Pennington injured his ankle in the season opener and Mangini refused to announce the Jets starter for the second game at Baltimore. Both Pennington and Kellen Clemens went out in warmups for the game, as if they would both start, but neither was quite sure.
Clemens ended up taking matters into his own hands when the Jets went on offense after forcing the Ravens to punt.
“As soon as our defense forced that first punt, I just kind of jogged out on the field and nobody told me not to,” Clemens said after the game.
That’s not to say Mangini isn’t forthcoming about some things. On Wednesday, he allowed as to how he thought the Vikings were a very good team, Adrian Peterson was a very good running back, and Percy Harvin has the potential to be a very good player.
He didn’t stop there. We may not know who his quarterback is going to be until Sunday, but we now know he gave all three of his sons football-related middle names.
The latest is Zack Brett, named after Mangini’s quarterback in New York last year. Even better, Zack was born on Brett Favre’s birthday.
“Stranger than fiction,” Mangini said.
Not quite. But give Mangini credit.
He’s better at naming kids than he is at naming quarterbacks.
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Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org
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