Tony Grossi of the PD is reporting that the Browns may have interest in former Seattle GM Tim Ruskell who resigned last week after five seasons with the team. He presided over three playoff appearences with the Seahawks before injuries to Matt Hasselbeck led them to a 4-12 record last season and a poor start this year.

He previously worked with Rich McKay in Atlanta and was interviewed by Lerner for the Browns' GM position in 2005 before taking the Seattle job, which led to Lerner hiring Phil Savage. A source said that Lerner had a very high opinion of Ruskell, and that Ruskell wouldn't necessarily want to bring in a new coach if hired so Mangini might be able to keep his job.

Mike Holmgren said on a radio show in Seattle that he would be interested in returning to the Seahawks one year after he left the team, possibly as GM or President. The Seahawks fired their GM this week. Holmgren still lives in Seattle and obviously is very familiar with the roster so I would think that if he wants to return to the NFL then he'd choose a position in Seattle over Cleveland or anywhere else.

This isn't good news for Browns fans who wanted him to come here. Hopefully Lerner has a good backup plan.

It looks as though Stephen Jackon won't be coming to Cleveland this year, as the Warriors have agreed to trade him and guard Acie Law to the Bobcats for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic. There has been rumors about the Cavs trying to acquire him to give them more scoring in the backcourt but the team was hesitant to make a move this early in the season, choosing to wait and see how their new lineup progressed.

Brian Windhorst reports that the Cavs had talked to the Warriors and supposedly had an offer on the table. The names involved included Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Delonte West, and even a sign-and-trade with Wally Szczerbiak. The Cavs didn't want to give up an size for Jackson and would only include Z if they promised to buy him out and he'd return to the Cavs after 30 days. But the Cavs' improved play the past couple weeks made them reluctanct to improve their offer and the Warriors wanted to get rid of Jackson as soon as possible. In the end, the deal they got from Charlotte may have been better than any which the Cavs were offering, plus they got to send Jackson to a team where he didn't want to play.

The Cavs play Golden State on Tuesday night so we may see those new players in uniform then.

Tony Grossi recently interviewed Randy Lerner via email and posted the transcript at the PD website. Lerner stood firmly behind Mangini as the head coach but wouldn't comment any further on Kokinis' firing. He did elaborate about a few other topics, such as his decision to hire Mangini and Kokinis and his thoughts on why he made a change after last season. He wouldn't comment on any personnel issues, including the benching of Brady Quinn (although he did say that it had nothing to do with money).

At least he stepped forward to answer some questions but I would really like to see him get up in front of a micrphone and discuss what's happening. Because the interview was done through email there weren't any follow-up questions by Grossi which leaves many questions still unanswered.

Not surprisingly, Dave Zastudil was given Peter King's Special Teams Player of the Week in his MMQB column. We all know he had a great game, but King showed the stats from each punt to show just how great he was on Sunday. His day looks even better when you break it down like this (the formatting is better if follow the link to his article):

Punt Length Punted to Return status
1. 25 Buffalo 17 0 (fair catch)
2. 31 Buffalo 11 0 (out of bounds)
3. 54 Buffalo 25 22 yards
4. 44 Buffalo 1 0 (downed)
5. 42 Buffalo 13 0 (out of bounds)
6. 43 Buffalo 42 minus-15 yards
7. 45 Buffalo 1 0 (downed)
8. 45 Buffalo 4 0 (downed)
9. 57 Buffalo 16 0 (forced fumble leading to winning FG)

Average drive start for nine Buffalo drives on Zastudil's punts: Buffalo's 15-yard line.

Columbus Dispatch writer Michael Arace writes an article today defending Eric Mangini and says the media portraits of him are not accurate. He knows Mangini personally; they grew up in the same neighbofhood and Mangini was friends with his younger brother. He spoke with him after the Bengals game and says he could see the pain coming from the coach after the loss.

He admits that Mangini has made some mistakes but he thinks that if we give the coach time he can turn the team around. He thinks the stories we've heard from the media are overblown and Mangini is a smart guy who has a plan and hasn't lost his players. I guess we'll see if he's right.

It's nice to see someone stepping up and saying that Mangini isn't as bad as some have made him out to be. He must have some qualities as a coach to put up two winning seasons in NY and impress Lerner the way he did to get this job.

I found this link from an article on TheClevelandFan.com. The president of the Baltimore Browns Backers wrote an email to Randy Lerner expressing his frustration with the direction of the team, and Lerner (supposedly) responded. I'm not sure if the email is actually from Lerner but it sounds authentic. He expresses his confidence in Mangini, calling him a "straight-shooter and deeply decent man". He also basically throws his father under the bus by saying that the team had very little direction in the front office when he took over, and he's guilty of trying a variety of combinations (Davis, Garcia, Savage, and Crennel) in an attempt to find something positive to build on. He remarks that it usually takes many years to build a strong foundation for winning football teams.

Again, I'm not sure if the response was actually from Lerner, though if not then it was very well done. But if Lerner really did write that then I think it shows that he really does care about this team (despite what many fans believe) and he thinks that Mangini can get the team moving in the right direction. It's much too early in the season to give up on him.