He’s been through this enough to be past that, even if there’s much more finality this time around.

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Both the offensive and defensive lines were dominated, Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson, fighting to establish themselves as a No. 1 quarterback, floundered. Costly penalties helped keep the Browns off the scoreboard, and the defense failed to resemble the improved unit new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan has promised.

So what? It was the first preseason game, played against a team the Browns will face in the final week of October. With Green Bay on the regular season schedule, safe to say Ryan or head coach Eric Mangini weren’t about to expose the Packers to much in the Browns arsenal.

Though fans and media members alike prematurely went for the panic button after the team’s lackluster performance, Saturday evening shouldn’t be taken as an indication of what the 2009 season has to offer.

But what’s truly disturbing is what transpired Tuesday during the Browns’ morning practice, which prompted Mangini to show his disgust through the media with his team’s general lack of football savvy.

The Browns’ first-year head coach has a reputation for revealing next to nothing about his attitude toward the team, the status of injured players, or for that matter, who’s winning the quarterback competition. That being said, Mangini’s rant during Tuesday afternoon’s press conference should have been a red flag for the Browns and their fans.

After countless miscues, mental mistakes and assorted stumbles the likes of which Mangini takes pride in ridding his team of, he vented his frustrations and held back little.

“It’s not good enough,” Mangini said according to Cleveland.com. “There are too many mistakes. We had mistakes in the two-minute drive, a false start on fourth-and-two, had a false start when we were backed up… Things like that, they’re just going to kill you. They going to kill us.”

To get to the point where Mangini publicly called out his team in such a fashion is tangible proof that he’s more than a little disappointed with what’s transpired. But he didn’t stop there.

“That’s just bad football,” Mangini said in regards to how the two-minute offense performed. “And it’s under our control if you look at the scoreboard and understand what we have to do. That’s it. We have to put the plays in the context of the game.
“Know the situation, anticipate what’s going to happen, be able to react to that, understand the person you’re playing against, what his traits are. Anything short of that, you’re just running plays.”

Yes, these are the toughest days of training camp, the team is learning a new system and practices have been far more demanding than those run by former head coach Romeo Crennel. But that’s no excuse for the general lack of execution the team has displayed to this point.

The Browns’ roster isn’t exactly chocked full of talent. For the team to have even limited success, it will have to be sharp mentally, drastically reduce its mistakes and retain possession of the football for extended periods.

If Tuesday’s effort was a preview of what’s to come, Browns Backers will be in for yet another excruciatingly long season.

“You can’t assume the rosters at the beginning of preseason will be the same as rosters at the start of the season. See 2008, Chad Pennington Effect.”

So, all of you wise guys who picked the Bears to win the NFC North because they got Jay Cutler…are you ready to change your NFC North prediction because the Vikes got Brett Favre?

After all, there were some out there last season who, upon learning the Jets acquired Favre, changed their AFC East prediction from the Pats to the Jets. When Brady went down in Week One, those folks were feeling mighty smart.

Of course, these folks didn’t take the Chad Pennington Effect into account.

And all of you who chose the Pats (or Steelers) vs. the Bears in Super Bowl XLIV, are you ready to change your prediction to Pats (or Steelers) vs. the Vikings?

Because, guess what? That’s what I heard from Rich Eisen and Warren Sapp yesterday, along with avowed Vikes fan Mike Mayock on the NFL Network (which, naturally, had to interrupt the replay of my Dolphins preseason game vs. the Jags!) on Tuesday, during their “pre-press-conference” jabber.

Now, Eisen usually has that calm collectivity that spells reasonably objective, but this didn’t stop him from claiming the Vikes (as well as the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys, and Falcons…Cowboys and Falcons? Are you kidding me?) are legit Super Bowl contenders!

I imagine Fox Sports, ESPN, Sporting News, CBS/NBC/ABC, Pro Football Weekly, and Sports Illustrated will say the same things.

Actually, with Adrian Peterson and that defense, I always thought the Vikes would win the NFC North, and might be on the Supe contender “long” list.

And, while many Viking fans—of which I used to be one, back in the Joe Kapp days—think Favre brings instant Supe contention to their team, I beg to differ.

Now, there is nothing wrong with getting the guy who can make his new team an instant winner. That’s what my Fins did last year when they got Pennington. Still, there are many Fins fans who hated that move, wanting “QB of the future” Chad Henne to learn his way through the season, even if it meant just a few wins.

Just as there are more than a few Vikes fans who hate the Favre move. The difference is, is Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson “QBs of the future” for the Vikes?

Still, while Favre might be able to win games that neither Rosenfels (remember that debacle against Colts last year, when Rosenfels blew a late lead with his bad passes and fumbles?) nor Jackson can likely win with fourth-quarter rallies, does that mean that “Lord Favre” can keep it up over a 16-game season and into the playoffs?

Think back to Week 12 with the Jets, who had just beaten the undefeated Titans right after beating the Pats on a Monday night game, and were 8-3, a game up on the 7-4 Pats, two on the 6-5 Fins and Bills. Everyone in New York was talking Giants-Jets Super Bowl.

Then Favre, a gunslinger with the most interceptions in NFL history, proceeds to show why he has that distinction, taking the Jets out of real contention before they even played Miami in that final game.

Conclusion: If you picked the Bears (or Packers, even) to win the NFC North, you might want to stay with your prediction!

But the reality is setting in, and David Tyree (the elder statesman of the Giants receiving corps in camp) will simply not be making this team.

The Giants, though they don’t have a No. 1 type of WR, certainly have a deep group of young and exciting receivers. Thus far in camp, Big Blue has also seen Derek Hagan look impressive. Hagan wasn’t even with the Giants until he signed as a free agent this offseason. 

Depending on if Jerry Reese decides to keep five or six players, the receiving brigade should include Steve Smith, Domenik Hixon, Hakeem Nicks, Ramses Barden, Sinorice Moss, and Mario Manningham. Of those players, one of those will have to contribute on special teams to fill David Tyree’s void.

Ultimately, David Tyree is eighth on the depth chart right now, which is unfortunate for a fan favorite, but football is a hard business. What the Giants can do, though, is release him and potentially bring him back in a role with management or community relations if he can’t find another team.

That would be the classy thing to do for an organization that has always acted with class.

I’d get decked out in my Redskin furbelow (okay, “furbelow” was dictionary.com’s “word of the day”).  I don’t really dress in NFL clothing.  Even when I was buying into all the hype, I refused to pay for the overpriced garb.

I noticed my illness starting last season. 

Unless the ‘Skins were playing I usually did not watch the Sunday night game or the ESPN version of Monday Night Football. 

This year, I could not be less excited. 

In fact, I just logged into my Yahoo Fantasy Football league with every intention of removing my team and sending an email to the commish and asking him to please inform me upon the start of next year’s fantasy baseball season.

But I noticed that Yahoo had shaken things up a bit.  Our league is now separated into two divisions and has what is known as a “Rivalry Week”. 

My rivalry is against Dead Prez.

I have nothing against Dead Prez’s owner.  I don’t even know him.  I don’t know if it is actually a “him”. 

But I do know one thing.

I hate the Dead Prez team.

Dead Prez was responsible for knocking me out of a playoff spot in the last week of the 2008 season.  And I always have trouble with the team—no matter how dominant mine is… which, not to brag, is pretty much every season.

So I didn’t write the email to the commish.  I stuck with my Kurva Drát team.  Kurva Drát means “bloody hell” in Czech, and I am all about reminding the rest of the league that I spent two years in Prague.

I was in deep while overseas.  I missed the ESPN pregame.  Thankfully, there was an American Sports Bar in the neighborhood.  Aptly named, “American Sports Bar”.  It was located under a brothel and run by Russian mafia.  

Night games did not end until 5 a.m.

But each Sunday I’d drag a different non-NFL fan to the bar and watch the Redskins, or any game where Chad Pennington or Byron Leftwich was quarterbacking.  They were both hometown boys… I felt the need to show them some love.

In fact, word around the campfire says that Byron used to live on the eighth floor of my apartment building. 

Unfortunately I was away at college at the time, or I would have stocked up on autographed footballs, photos, and bobble heads.

I would’ve definitely tried (begged) to hang with him—no doubt he was a lady magnet.  I’m sure he needed at least two or three wingmen.  That would have been sweet.

I just read yesterday that Byron is the front runner for the Tampa QB job.

Back to my “sick and tired” of the NFL speech. 

I’m not watching anything this season… with the exception of all Redskin games.

And, yeah, I’ll have to watch Tampa and Miami games to support the homies.

I guess I’ll have to watch NFC East game as well.  Anything that may alter the standings, and the number of games that the Giants, Eagles, or Cowboys are behind the first place Redskins.

Sunday night games might be cool now that John Madden has retired.  I’ll definitely be checking those out.

But Monday Night Football—no way.  Unless the Redskins, Jets, Bucs, or an NFC East team is playing.  Or say, that between now and then, I get a job that requires me to wake up before 2 p.m.

Other than that no NFL for me this year.

Legends of their sport who are unable to hang ’em up.

Sometimes the offense isn’t outrageous. Jordan was the best basketball player of all time, and as the team owner, he felt he could still play effectively. Maybe so, but he certainly never came back as the MJ we knew, and his image suffered a tad for it.

Evander and Brett have done considerably more damage to their reputations and, certainly in Holyfield’s case, their bodies.

As he wavers back and forth more times than your average politician, you have to wonder if Brett Favre is really worth all the hassle and media attention (not to mention the drama and stress that he has created for the Vikings). 

Yes, Favre is one of the greatest QBs of this generation. In his prime he was an amazing QB, but anybody can see that his prime is behind him. Last year, he undeservedly made the Pro Bowl after leading the NFL with 22 INTs, including at least one in each of the team’s last six games as the Jets tried to make the playoffs.

In those last six games, he threw 10 interceptions, begging the question of whether he is conditioned for a full NFL season anymore. 

But even before the “final season,” Favre’s play was slipping.

At 40, he is a geezer for the QB position. The game might be taking its toll on the Mississippi native. He threw 29 interceptions in 2005, when his QB rating was 70.9, and followed that up with a 2006 season where he threw only 18 TDs and had a QB rating of 72.

But he was able to put all that behind him for that inspired title run in 2007. After his miraculous 2007 season, Favre seemed to have given us his best performances at the end of his career.

Yet now it seems as though he insists on dragging it out. He has come out of retirement twice so far, filling the media outlets with an agonizing number of stories and rumors; the case is such that he has gone from one of the most loved players to one of the guys fans are simply tired of hearing about.

It’s also not benefiting the teams he might be playing for. It’s not fair to the Vikings players to lead the organization around by its nose all offseason. The team is supposed to play its first game in three weeks, and its starting QB might not even be on the roster.

That doesn’t bode well for achieving some type of chemistry with WRs and RBs.

If Favre should go down, which is not outrageous at his age, are Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson really going to step in and be effective or dedicated after they have been shown little respect by an organization that has chased an aging veteran all offseason?

Not to mention the money Favre is getting: $12 million per year for two years for a guy that is turning 40. That’s way too much money. When you have a grind-it-out RB like Adrian Peterson, the last thing you need is a QB that’s going to turn the ball over through the air.

It’ll just be another dreadful season, and another example of the sad endings that usually result when aging players are blind to their own limitations.

He won some sort of award, MVP or something. Yeah, now I remember him.

He had 100 rushing touchdowns and almost 10,000 career rushing yards. Three Pro Bowls and the 2005 MVP award. In that same year, he rushed for nearly 2,000 yards and racked up a stunning 27 TDs.

He had good hands for a power back, too: 1,520 receiving yards for his career that led to his 12 TDs.

So how does a guy like this go from top of the sporting world to becoming a free agent doomed to mediocrity?

He seemed like he was on the right track to stardom, drafted 19th overall in the 2000 NFL draft. However, playing behind starter Ricky Watters resulted in a subpar rookie season, rushing for 313 yards and a measly two touchdowns.

His sophomore season (2001) was a breakout year for the then-23-year-old. Due to Watters’ decline in activity and eventual retirement, Alexander played his way to 1,318 rushing yards and a team-leading 14 TDs.

This immediate success was no surprise, as Alexander was a top candidate for the Heisman Trophy in college, setting and re-breaking his own school records many times while playing with the University of Alabama at the college level, as one of the premier players in the nation.

In 2002, he generated a NFC-leading (and franchise record) 16 rushing TDs. He went on to set an NFL record that season, against the Minnesota Vikings. Alexander produced four rushing TDs and caught an 80-yard reception into the end-zone for five first-half touchdowns.

His reputation as one of the league’s elite offensive players continued to grow, as did his statistical accomplishments; over the next two seasons, he garnered a combined 30 touchdowns on 3,100 rushing yards.

Alexander’s 2005 MVP season registered an NFL record 28 single-season touchdowns on over 1,800 yards. For his historical efforts, he became the league’s MVP, the first Seahawk to do so.

So, what happened…?

Why did the league’s best player suddenly plummet to become a bottom-dweller among the NFL’s peasantry?

2006 saw the running back’s productivity take a shocking hit, as many serious injuries and key player departures took their toll on No. 37.

Alexander’s offensive line began to weaken drastically over the next two years, as Seattle said “goodbye” to vital component Steve Hutchinson.

The retirement of Pro Bowl center Robbie Tobeck further enfeebled the Seahawks’ once-dominant offensive line, further contributing to the diminution of Alexander’s productivity. Mack Strong suffered a career-ending injury, and as Alexander’s lead blocker left the franchise, so too did his hopes of returning to his old, record-breaking form.

The fact is, after his MVP campaign Alexander went on to generate only 11 TDs for the rest of his anticlimactic career, in two seasons with the Seahawks (’06, ’07) and one with the Redskins (’08).

So as Alexander’s pending, inevitable retirement looms, I have to ask myself: Was it his fault?

Luck played the biggest factor in the unfortunate end to this gifted athlete’s career. It’s sad, isn’t it?

James Joyce once said “Life is a cruel game of chance.”

Truer words have never been spoken, James.