Mangini questions Lions injuries
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 6:27 pm
BEREA, Ohio (AP) - Browns coach Eric Mangini is questioning whether the Detroit Lions faked injuries to slow down Cleveland's no-huddle offense.
Mangini, who bemoaned the final, chaotic seconds of Cleveland's 38-37 loss Sunday, noted the Lions had several players leave the field injured, only to return. Mangini was asked if he was accusing the Lions and coach Jim Schwartz, whom he worked with previously in Cleveland, of faking injuries.
"I'm just saying there were a lot of them," Mangini said Monday.
Schwartz disputed Mangini's claims.
"He's way out of bounds on that," countered Detroit's first-year coach. "That couldn't be further from the truth. Both teams were running no huddle, and the officials did a very good job of standing over the ball, so there was no need to do that."
Browns wide receiver Chansi Stuckey supported Mangini's theory that the Lions were faking.
"Definitely," he said. "I knew that. That's what their coach does. If someone tries to do that to us, I would expect our guys to do the same thing. Unless it gets into that under two-minute situation where that causes a timeout, any other time it's fine and I would do the same thing."
Mangini first raised the possibility that the Lions were pretending to be hurt during his postgame news conference.
"There were multiple, multiple, multiple injuries throughout our no-huddle process," Mangini said Sunday.
Mangini said he has not spoken to Schwartz about whether some Lions were acting hurt. He was asked if the NFL's competition committee should look into stopping the practice.
"It's subjective," he said. "How do you know what is and isn't an injury?"
According to the official play-by-play, there were six different instances when the Lions had players leave the game with injuries — all of them returned.
Mangini also feels the officials made an incorrect pass interference call at the end of the game, which gave the Lions an untimed down on the Cleveland 1-yard line. On the extra snap, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford threw his fifth touchdown pass.
Browns (1-9) defensive back Hank Poteat was called for interference on the jump-ball play, which began with Stafford scrambling far to the left and cutting back right. Cleveland's coaches and players felt that because Stafford was out of the pocket that contact downfield was permitted.
"I can't control that call," Mangini said. "I haven't been a part of any calls like that, I haven't seen it called, where it affected the outcome of a game like it did, but I have absolutely no control over what they call. It's really not illegal contact when the guy's out of the pocket or scrambling. But they called it."
Mangini was asked if Poteat was flagged because the ball was in the air.
"Yeah, I guess that's what they called it for," he said. "I haven't seen it, haven't been a part of it. It's their call. We'll live with it."
In addition, Mangini thought the Lions should have been called for excessive celebration on Stafford's TD toss and that Detroit (2-8) should have been assessed a 15-yard penalty before kicking the game-winning extra point. After the score, Lions tight ends coach Tim Lappano ran across the field to hug players.
"There was a lot of celebrating going on after the play, coaches out on the field ... excessive celebration," Mangini said. "I thought that was a penalty, too, but that they didn't called. That's a 15-yard penalty, there's a big difference in the extra point."
Mangini, who bemoaned the final, chaotic seconds of Cleveland's 38-37 loss Sunday, noted the Lions had several players leave the field injured, only to return. Mangini was asked if he was accusing the Lions and coach Jim Schwartz, whom he worked with previously in Cleveland, of faking injuries.
"I'm just saying there were a lot of them," Mangini said Monday.
Schwartz disputed Mangini's claims.
"He's way out of bounds on that," countered Detroit's first-year coach. "That couldn't be further from the truth. Both teams were running no huddle, and the officials did a very good job of standing over the ball, so there was no need to do that."
Browns wide receiver Chansi Stuckey supported Mangini's theory that the Lions were faking.
"Definitely," he said. "I knew that. That's what their coach does. If someone tries to do that to us, I would expect our guys to do the same thing. Unless it gets into that under two-minute situation where that causes a timeout, any other time it's fine and I would do the same thing."
Mangini first raised the possibility that the Lions were pretending to be hurt during his postgame news conference.
"There were multiple, multiple, multiple injuries throughout our no-huddle process," Mangini said Sunday.
Mangini said he has not spoken to Schwartz about whether some Lions were acting hurt. He was asked if the NFL's competition committee should look into stopping the practice.
"It's subjective," he said. "How do you know what is and isn't an injury?"
According to the official play-by-play, there were six different instances when the Lions had players leave the game with injuries — all of them returned.
Mangini also feels the officials made an incorrect pass interference call at the end of the game, which gave the Lions an untimed down on the Cleveland 1-yard line. On the extra snap, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford threw his fifth touchdown pass.
Browns (1-9) defensive back Hank Poteat was called for interference on the jump-ball play, which began with Stafford scrambling far to the left and cutting back right. Cleveland's coaches and players felt that because Stafford was out of the pocket that contact downfield was permitted.
"I can't control that call," Mangini said. "I haven't been a part of any calls like that, I haven't seen it called, where it affected the outcome of a game like it did, but I have absolutely no control over what they call. It's really not illegal contact when the guy's out of the pocket or scrambling. But they called it."
Mangini was asked if Poteat was flagged because the ball was in the air.
"Yeah, I guess that's what they called it for," he said. "I haven't seen it, haven't been a part of it. It's their call. We'll live with it."
In addition, Mangini thought the Lions should have been called for excessive celebration on Stafford's TD toss and that Detroit (2-8) should have been assessed a 15-yard penalty before kicking the game-winning extra point. After the score, Lions tight ends coach Tim Lappano ran across the field to hug players.
"There was a lot of celebrating going on after the play, coaches out on the field ... excessive celebration," Mangini said. "I thought that was a penalty, too, but that they didn't called. That's a 15-yard penalty, there's a big difference in the extra point."
