If the prospect of getting pink-slipped is bothering Browns coach Eric Mangini, it didn’t show Thursday. Within his reserved personality, Mangini was friendly, upbeat and respectful as he coursed through his daily press briefing. At one point, he interrupted an answer to say “bless you” to a writer in the third row who couldn’t quite stop a sneeze. One of his longer media sessions of the season did not include any questions about his job security, unlike in most recent days. — Canton Repository

Eric Mangini’s at the mercy of president Mike Holmgren, who will decide if he returns after the season ends Jan. 2. Mangini saved his job last season with a finishing four-game winning streak. He might’ve just lost it with back-to-back losses to teams that entered with two wins. Cleveland is 5-9, and finishing with a better record than last year (5-11) looks less likely by the week. The Browns end with home games against Baltimore and Pittsburgh, co-leaders in the AFC North. — Loraine Chronicle-Telegram

Peyton Hillis, who fumbled three times in Buffalo, leads the NFL with eight fumbles — something Eric Mangini wants corrected as soon as possible. “This is a tough thing, because he does fight for so many extra yards and he makes so many yards after contact,” said Mangini of Hillis, whose five lost fumbles are second-most in the league. “You don’t want to take away what he does so well, but there’s also that consciousness of as you’re going for those yards, that’s when you’re most likely to get fumbles. “We’ll work on some things. It’s something we’ve worked on consistently throughout the season. We’ll continue to work on it and heighten awareness of ‘this is where the red light comes on and that’s when the ball’s at risk.’” — Cleveland Plain Dealer

Peyton Hillis is a virtual lock to reach 1,000 yards rushing Sunday in Buffalo. He needs just 38 and will face the Bills’ last-ranked run defense. Hillis would be the ninth Brown to hit the milestone. He’d be the NFL’s first white running back to reach 1,000 since Craig James in 1985. The Browns have never had a white rusher reach a grand. Hillis’ story doesn’t have the same gravity. His race in his place in history is just a side note. Interesting? Perhaps. Newsworthy? Debatable. Hillis thinks it’s neither. “I’m a human just like everybody else is a human,” he said. “I don’t think race really matters. Guys on this team look at me as a person, not as an image or a race.” — Loraine Chronicle-Telegram

Eric Mangini said he won’t spend time over the season’s final four games worrying about his job security and team President Mike Holmgren’s planned evaluation of the coaching staff. “If I did spend a lot of time on that I’d be a hypocrite,” said Mangini on Monday. “I’m asking all these other guys to look at one game at a time and you can’t know what’s going to happen four weeks from now. You can’t control it. Do the best you can with what’s in front of you and when you do that, that’s when the best things happen.” Mangini declined to say whether he thinks the 5-7 Browns have shown enough progress to keep the current regime intact.  — Cleveland Plain Dealer

There is no question that club president Mike Holmgren could be looking to make a move and bringing in another head coach. One name suggested has even been Mike Holmgren’s, and his name has also popped up in Dallas as a potential candidate for the Cowboys, but it makes more sense that the Browns could pursue other unemployed Super Bowl coaches like Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher. Unlike other clubs, Browns owner Randy Lerner may not be as hesitant to pay the big money to such a name coach — Cowher would be great because of his Pittsburgh roots — like other teams who would prefer to have the CBA negotiations settled before making wholesale changes to their coaching staffs. — Fox Sports

I can’t help but think that if there has ever been a perfect marriage between a player and a city in recent seasons, we’re seeing it with Peyton Hillis and Cleveland. Hillis is a born and raised Arkansas boy, but you would swear he’s from Cleveland. He fits the city perfectly. He’s tough, gritty, blue-collar and doesn’t ask for anything. He’ll battle you in every way. He’ll run over you, he’ll run around you, he’ll jump over you and will even run past you when he needs to. A lot of people want to compare Hillis to Mike Alstott, who was a terrific player. Ultimately, I think if Hillis stays healthy and blessed with a long career, he will prove to be better because he has a more versatile skill set than Alstott. That’s no knock on Alstott. There’s something about Hillis that a lot of people are missing. When you look at him, what you see is a fullback. But to me, he’s a feature back. The Browns can use Hillis in every situation and he should be a primary ball carrier. He can stay on the field on third downs, can catch the ball out of the backfield and is also terrific in blitz pickup. Don’t let him fool you, because Hillis is a tailback in a fullback’s body. What’s great to see is that the city of Cleveland has embraced him, and made him one of their own. – NFL Network

Browns president Mike Holmgren would not close the door completely on coaching again.
Initially, Holmgren answered “no,” when asked directly if he wants to coach again. He retired from sideline after the 2008 season in Seattle, took a one-year sabbatical away from the NFL in 2009 and was hired as Browns president on Jan. 5, 2010. Holmgren is 62.
“No, I’m doing OK,” Holmgren said. “Does it sound like I want to coach? The challenge of this is really something for me and I’m enjoying the challenge, but I’d be less than honest if I didn’t say I get fired up watching the games. But I also recognize what I was hired to do. And that’s what I’m trying to do.” Later in the 30-minute meeting with media, Holmgren was asked if he is totally committed to turning around the Browns in his role as club president. “Absolutely,” he said. “I made a promise and I’m going to stick with it. Now, if I keep wearing a suit or not? We’ll see.” Those remarks prompted another follow-up. Does he have the urge to coach again? — Cleveland Plain Dealer

Browns quarterbacks Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace sat out Monday’s practice with their high ankle sprains, but Wallace expects to be ready to play Sunday against the Patriots — if Eric Mangini calls on him. “I want to try my best to be ready,” said Wallace, who walked on the ankle without limping. “I want to be out there playing and doing whatever I can to contribute. I’m shooting for it and hopefully we’ll see what happens as the week goes on.” — Cleveland Plain Dealer

One of the reasons for optimism as the Browns enter the second half is they believe key players Joe Thomas, Josh Cribbs, Eric Wright and Shaun Rogers have all played well below their normal production. None are dealing with major injuries. They are challenging those players to simply play better — and believe most can do just that. While the Browns are pleased with Cribbs’ progress as a receiver and they do realize that many teams simply don’t want to kick to him — they still believe Cribbs can do a better job on returns. He ranks 37th in kickoff returns, 17th on punts. His longest kickoff return is 34 yards, his longest punt return is 17 yards.  — Cleveland Plain Dealer

Browns QB Seneca Wallace stated his case Wednesday to be the starter when the team returns to prepare for the New England Patriots. Wallace isn’t demanding anything. But he feels he made a strong statement for keeping the job before he suffered a high ankle sprain in the first half of the Atlanta game. “Yeah, I feel that way,” Wallace said. “At the end of the day, it comes down to the coaches. Whoever’s doing the job the best, moving the team, scoring points, making the right decisions, then that should be the guy.” — Cleveland Plain Dealer

Browns defensive captain Scott Fujita said the NFL is being hypocritical when it threatens to suspend players for vicious hits out of concern for players’ safety. “I’m absolutely saying they are being completely hypocritical,” Fujita said. “No doubt about it. We care about the health and safety of the players, but we want them to play 18 games. I can go on and on. They are being hypocritical. “Let me go one step further. You read this morning they (on nfl.com) are selling the photo of Harrison hitting our guy. That’s the whole point about the hypocrisy. It’s unbelievable.” — News-Herald

Josh Cribbs wore a play sheet on his wrist Wednesday and anticipates playing more out of the wildcat in Pittsburgh to help take the pressure off Colt McCoy. “Definitely, I believe that,” he said. “It’s very possible and whenever the opportunity presents itself, I will take full advantage of it.” – Cleveland Plain Dealer