Browns look to end season with a win

CLEVELAND - It's always good to end a bad football season with a win.

It's even better when a bad season ends with four straight wins, which is something the Browns will try to accomplish today at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The season began badly for the Browns and then got worse. At midseason there was reason to believe that an uninspiring 6-3 win over the Buffalo Bills might be their only victory. At the same time it was assumed that coach Eric Mangini's chances of returning next season were slim, and that was before Mike Holmgren was named president.

It's amazing what three straight wins can do for a team and a coach. Even if Mangini doesn't return next season, a fourth straight win would do wonders for the morale of the players that will remain with the team.

"I think it's something that you can draw on if you experience it, if you were a part of the group that did it," Mangini said when asked if there could be a carryover effect into next season. "I think it's a good thing to be able to point back to and talk about. When you have a group of guys that share that experience, it resonates when you talk about, 'Remember when this happened.' There are a lot of different lessons from this season that you'd be able to point back to and talk about and draw on."

While the Browns will try to finish with a 5-11 record, the 7-8 Jaguars need plenty of help to capture an AFC wild card. It's likely that the Jaguars will join the Browns among the 20 teams that won't qualify for the postseason.

The game could hinge on how the teams handle what's supposed to be a cold day (the game-time temperature is expected to be in the low 20s). Another factor will be the amount of effort put in by both teams. No player wants to get hurt in the last game, especially when there's no incentive gained from winning.

Mangini is confident that the Browns will play with the determination exhibited in the last three games. In what might be his biggest accomplishment, Mangini has been able to keep the players focused on the task ahead while avoiding a locker-room revolt.

"I mean this sincerely. These guys have worked," Mangini said. "There hasn't been any time during the year where I thought, 'They're not trying to improve. They're not giving their all. They're not doing the things that we're asking them to do.'

"It's not easy to do when you're losing games. It's much easier to give a half-hearted effort so that if you get beat the next game you're not as disappointed. It just doesn't mean as much. It doesn't hurt as much. I've never felt that from this group. If anything, I've felt a hardened resolve when things were tough. Where they dug in and were determined to get out of it. To get another one, I think would be great."

The game is more important to some players, most notably Browns quarterback Derek Anderson. It's doubtful that Holmgren will retain both Anderson and Brady Quinn. A good effort today could help Anderson's cause.

"It's an important game to all of us because it's our last opportunity to play this season," Mangini said. "When you look at the quarterback position or any of these positions, you're not going to evaluate it off of one game. You're going to look at the games that they played this year and probably last year.

"You can look at training camp. You can look at OTAs. You don't like to make a decision without looking at all of the different things that go into it. I know we're all committed to keep moving forward. That's where the importance comes."

The game is expected to be a battle of ground attacks. The Jaguars have one of the best running backs in the NFL in Maurice Jones-Drew, who has 1,309 yards and 15 touchdowns on 296 carries. Jerome Harrison has a combined 434 yards and four touchdowns in the last two games for the Browns.

"The running game has been pretty good," Browns offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said. "It's hard when you're consistently losing and over and over you're getting preached to about consistency and effort. They're taking it, they're believing in it, but when you don't get those wins it's tough."

A win today would make the season a little easier to take for the Browns.

mmclain@tribtoday.com