According to a report by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Browns owner Randy Lerner said that Eric Mangini’s job is safe heading into the team’s bye week, but also noted that he was sick about their 1-7 record. Lerner also said that the Browns’ quarterback situation “doesn’t seem sensible” and that he may bring in a team president to overlook Mangini and GM George Kokonis.

Considering Mangini only has one offseason under his belt in Cleveland, he deserves more time. He’s essentially not working with the roster that he wants yet, so it makes sense that Lerner won’t pull the plug on him after only eight games.

That said, Mangini has to get this team to at least be competitive or else nobody will blame Lerner for scrapping the whole thing and starting from scratch again in the offseason. That might sound nauseating to Browns fans, but if Mangini is in over his head, then why waste one or two more years?

The Browns are a putrid 1-7. After giving a good Cincinnati team a run for its money in Week 4, Cleveland has scored a combined 29 points in four games. That’s barely a touchdown a game, which is staggering. Making matters worse, Mangini has already made one quarterback change this year switching from Brady Quinn to Derek Anderson, and may have to make another as Anderson continues to drive the Browns further into NFL purgatory. (He has failed to throw for over 100 yards in four of the six games he’s played in this season.)

Cleveland isn’t going to even sniff the playoffs this season, but what Lerner needs to see is a team that competes. If the players quit on Mangini, he may never get them back and then it’ll be time to make a change. He deserves another offseason to build the roster he wants, but at the same time he better earn it over the next eight games.

Following the Browns’ ugly 30-6 loss to the Bears on Sunday, running back Jamal Lewis said that he plans to retire after the season.

While he claims it wasn’t just a statement made in the heat of the moment, nobody would blame Lewis if it were. Lewis is 30, has seen his play drop quite a bit this year and he’s stuck on a morbid franchise. So why stick around?

I honestly don’t know how the Browns have won a game this year. Their defense is bad, but it pails in comparison to how atrocious Derek Anderson and the offense is, which turned the ball over five times on Sunday. Chicago’s secondary has been shredded at times this season, yet Anderson found a way to only complete 6-of-17 pass attempts for a measly 76 yards. Oh, and he also threw two interceptions and fumbled once.

I’m sure someone will raise the question of whether or not Brady Quinn should resume the starting spot over Anderson next week. But Quinn has already shown that he’s just as incapable of running the offense as Anderson is, so does it really matter? If I were a Cleveland fan (and I just threw up a little at the mere thought of that), I’d rather see Brett Ratliff given a chance to start before Quinn is given a second opportunity.

About the only reason to watch the Browns these days is to see whether or not defensive coordinator Rob Ryan will get in a fight with anyone on the sidelines. He and Jay Cutler went at it (verbally, of course) on Sunday and it was the only entertainment Cleveland provided all day.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Cleveland Browns are not considering a change at quarterback, which means Derek Anderson will remain the team’s starter.

The Browns are damned if they do, damned if they don’t in this situation. In Brady Quinn, they had a quarterback that didn’t make wise decisions, couldn’t throw the ball vertically, couldn’t hit receivers in stride and couldn’t lead the offense. In Anderson, they have a quarterback that doesn’t make wise decisions, can’t lead the offense and is completely turnover prone. But hey, at least he can throw the ball vertically; sometimes it’s directly to the other team, but vertical nonetheless.

Even though Anderson is incapable of moving the offense, Eric Mangini has to stick with him at this point because if he goes back to Quinn than it’s going to look like he has less of a handle on the situation than he already does. The bottom line is that Cleveland has one of the most inept offenses in the NFL and they don’t have a quarterback on the roster that can guide them out of the muck.

Unless…Brett Ratliff anyone?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are far from perfect, in fact, they might be the best imperfect team in the NFL, if that makes any sense. But as long as they have Ben Roethlisberger under center, they’re going to have a chance to win most on most Sundays.

The Steelers beat the Browns 27-14 on Sunday in a sloppy game that had little to no flow to it. Both teams combined for eight turnovers and Cleveland didn’t even total 200 yards of offense. Yet through all the muck, Big Ben was 23-of-35 for 417 yards and two touchdowns while helping Pittsburgh gain 543 yards of total offense.

Rothlisberger absolutely shredded the Browns’ secondary, connecting with Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Heath Miller and Mike Wallace with regularity on plays that gained 25-yards or more. He also rushed six times for 11 yards and once again kept plays alive with his mobility in the pocket. I realize shredding a Browns secondary that is susceptible to giving up big plays isn’t a monumental event for a quarterback, but it’s hard not to appreciate how good Big Ben looked on Sunday.

Tom Brady and Petyon Manning are known for putting their teams on their shoulders and leading them to victory. He’s usually not brought up in the same discussion, but Roethlisberger is definitely on Brady and Manning’s level when it comes to that ability. Granted, he’s often aided by how good Pittsburgh’s defense is, but there’s no denying that he’s an exceptional quarterback. And more times than not, he covers up how flawed the Steelers truly are.

Cleveland Scores reports (via NFL.com) that several teams are calling the Browns inquiring about Josh Cribbs. But Profootballtalk.com reports that Cleveland has no interest in dealing the explosive receiver/return man.

This offseason, Cribbs threatened to hold out if he didn’t receive a new contract, but he never made good on his threats. He’s set to make $620,00 in 2009, $635,000 in 2010, $650,000 in 2011 and $790,00 in 2012. Considering his increased role in the offense, he’s highly underpaid and it’s understandable why he would want a new contract.

But the Browns aren’t ready to re-work his deal, which is why teams are calling about his services. The Dolphins seem to be the team that is pursuing him the most, although the Chiefs, Raiders and even the Colts have reportedly shown interest as well.

Cribbs wants to remain a Brown for the rest of his career, but if the team were unwilling to extend his contract, he’d welcome a trade out of Cleveland. Considering the Browns just traded Braylon Edwards to the Jets, one would think that they would pony up to keep a player of Cribbs’ talent. But Eric Mangini and GM George Kokinis have already shown the willingness to trade players from the previous regime, so nobody should be surprised if Cribbs is eventually dealt.

- CLEVELAND SCORES writes that Peter King has handed out some bad advice to Browns head coach Eric Mangini and GM George Kokinis regarding how the team should go to great lengths to draft either Sam Bradford or Colt McCoy next year.

- THE BLEACHER REPORT writes that the fuss over the Dodgers and Phillies’ bullpens is complete bull.

- SPORTSbyBROOKS downloads the message by Braylon Edwards to all Browns fans: Go Tweet Josh Cribbs.

- DRAFT ZOO breaks down the best matchups on the Week 7 schedule in college football.

- YARDBARKER (via Deadspin) put together a list of athletes that are going to hell for their off-field actions.

Per Cleveland.com…

WKNR staffer questioned: Sabrina Parr, a contributor to WKNR AM/850, is being questioned by police after giving her eyewitness account of the Edwards incident outside The View Wednesday morning on the station’s morning show with Tony Rizzo and Aaron Goldhammer.

“I’ve just been told it’s a police matter and they’re investigating further,” said station general manager Keith Williams.

Parr, who has discussed on air her on-off relationship with cornerback Brandon McDonald, said she saw Edwards punch Edward Givens after the bar closed. She said Edwards eavesdropped on Givens’ conversation with someone about James, and that he went over voluntarily and began telling Givens he would be nothing without James.

She said Edwards’ agent tried to get him in his car to leave. Instead, Edwards punched Givens.

Parr said she talked to Edwards earlier in the evening at the club and that he said disparaging things about the coaching staff and the quarterbacks. She said Edwards said he had no room for improvement and didn’t take any blame for his drops. She said she got into a disagreement with him about his views of how he was playing. Parr was the first eyewitness of the event to go on record.

All right, so let me get this straight — Ms. Parr (who is/was dating Brandon McDonald) argued with Edwards inside a bar about whether or not he was to blame for his drops. Then, after the bar closed, she saw Edwards go over to LeBron’s friend (Givens) and tell him he’d be nothing without LeBron. Then she claims she saw Edwards punch Givens.

All due respect to Ms. Parr, but I’ve been outside my fair share of bars at closing time and no one’s word should be trusted implicitly. If she’s admitting to arguing with Edwards inside the bar about his play, then it would appear that her eyewitness account outside of the bar could be called into question.

One thing is for sure — Braylon Edwards has to be happy to be out of Cleveland. He’s playing for a much better team and has an up-and-coming quarterback to work with. He is out of excuses. If he doesn’t make it with the Jets, then he’s probably a lost cause.

Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer lists some of the many reasons why the Browns eventually decided to trade troubled receiver Braylon Edwards.

I do it because my team is 0-4 with Edwards, whose 10 catches are actually one fewer than what Stuckey has with the Jets. I do it because when the Browns tried to deal Edwards around the draft, the highest pick they could receive was a third-rounder along with some journeymen veterans.

I do it because Edwards never wanted to play here — he was hoping to be the No. 2 pick in the 2005 draft to Miami. Instead, he went No. 3 to the Browns. And then he believed Browns fans soured on him because he played for Michigan — as if dropping more passes than any NFL receiver over the last two seasons had nothing to do with that discontent.

I do it because Edwards too often ran the wrong pass patterns, making his quarterbacks look bad by throwing to the wrong spots. And because Edwards spent much of Sunday’s 23-20 overtime loss to Cincinnati talking into the ear of quarterback Derek Anderson. He wanted the ball thrown in his direction when the coaches were calling plays to deliver the ball to rookie receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, who was in the process of catching eight passes.

I do it because Edwards seemed far more upset about not catching a pass in a game for the first time in his five-year career then the team losing a game they could have won.

I do it knowing that some people won’t like the trade, but at this point, it doesn’t matter. For the Browns, Edwards has been durable in terms of playing on Sunday and practicing, but unreliable in so many other areas — and he is no longer worth the trouble to me or the Browns.

To read Pluto’s entire column, click here.

It’s always easier to say this after the fact, but Edwards should have never been a top 5 pick to begin with. Too many times while at Michigan he would let the ball get into his pads and not catch it with his hands. So his problems with drops aren’t surprising and when you factor in his lackluster work ethic, you get a guy who wastes a lot of natural athletic ability.

Pluto hit the nail on the head several times throughout his piece, but none more then when he writes that Edwards just didn’t want to be a Brown. He was disappointed from the start and his attitude only continued to sour as his play flat lined. With a fresh start, maybe he can turn his career around in New York.

The Newark Star-Ledger reports that Braylon Edwards wasn’t the person who threw the punch at Cleveland nightclub promoter Edward Givens in an incident that occurred early Monday morning.

Edwards appeared to reach a breaking point under the first-year Browns coach Eric Mangini. He has been fined several times by Mangini and is one of several players to have filed a grievance with the league over the fines handed down to players, according to someone with knowledge of the situation but who is not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

Also, there’s speculation that Edwards is the player who was fined $1,701 for drinking a bottle of water in his hotel room without paying for it.

As for the incident on Sunday, a member of Edwards’ entourage — not him — threw the punch, according to someone with knowledge of the situation but who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the incident.

Okay, so who’s lying then? Givens said it was Edwards that specifically punched him. So unless it was a scrum and multiple punches were being thrown (which doesn’t sound like it was the case), then it would have been easy for Givens to single out Edwards as the puncher.

That means either someone is covering up for Edwards or Givens is lying for whatever reason. (Maybe to make Edwards look bad since he’s a friend of LeBron?)

Where are the Hardy Boys? We need a mystery solved…

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the NFL is investigating the actions of Browns receiver Braylon Edwards, who allegedly punched an entertainment promoter early Monday morning outside a nightclub.

First-offenders of the policy generally do not receive discipline until the legal process plays out. But Goodell has been strict in dealing with repeat offenders.

The question is whether Edwards is considered a repeat offender.

Last November, he was found guilty of driving 120 mph on Interstate 90 and was fined $150 and sentenced to 30 hours community service.

Goodell also is aware that Edwards was drinking with teammate Donte Stallworth the night of Stallworth’s tragic car accident in Miami Beach, which resulted in the death of pedestrian Mario Reyes. Edwards was not charged with anything. Goodell came down hard on Stallworth and suspended him for one year.

If Edwards were suspended, the Browns would have the opportunity to take a closer look at some of their young wideouts, namely rookie Mohamed Massaquoi, who had a breakout game against the Bengals on Sunday. Also, playmaker Joshua Cribbs would likely get more touches in the offense, so losing Braylon “Drops McGee” Edwards might not be a bad thing.

If Massaquoi and Cribbs step up, there’s zero chance the Browns re-sign Edwards this offseason when he becomes a free agent. Outside of one good season, he’s done nothing to warrant a long-term extension.

Maybe the Browns should see if LeBron is interested in playing the Z position in their offense.