http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/11/lions_jim_schwartz_browns_eric.html ALLEN PARK -- Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz and Cleveland Browns coach Eric Mangini have come full circle. Both men started out on the bottom and fought their way to the top. Today's game at Ford Field will determine which man takes a small step toward the top again, while the other still will be planted firmly on the bottom. The Lions host the Browns in a game that could determine which club finishes as the NFL's worst team and gets the first overall pick in the NFL draft. Schwartz and Mangini are first-year coaches who took over struggling teams. "Just like in Detroit, when you make a lot of changes management-wise, change on the field doesn't happen too fast," said Browns defensive tackle Shaun Rogers, a former Lion. "It's pretty much like Detroit. It's a football team in a football city, they love football and we've still got a lot of work to do." Both teams are struggling to score on offense. The Browns have scored just five offensive touchdowns in their past 15 games, while the Lions have been held to 10 points or fewer in three of their past four games. AP File Photo Eric Mangini's Cleveland Browns have scored just five offensive touchdowns in their past 15 games. "It's the same thing when teams played us. The Washington Redskins, for example. They thought they'd get back on track against the struggling Lions and we won that game" Lions linebacker Julian Peterson said. "Ever since that game, that's when (head coach Jim) Zorn started getting all the 'Fire him' statements. "That's the way the NFL is. You've got to go out every week, and whether the record is 11-0 or 0-11, you've got to play." While Schwartz and Mangini have the same records, Schwartz has enjoyed smooth sailing compared to what Mangini has endured. Mangini has been roundly criticized, including by his own players, for practicing too hard and too long, and for not having a solid rapport with the players. "I'm very comfortable with my coaching style," Mangini said. "I think it's one that is based on a lot of experience as an assistant, experience that I had in New York as a head coach. It's flexible in terms of always trying to figure out the best way to improve and improve the individuals and improve the group as a whole."  While Schwartz hasn't taken any heat for practicing too hard, he's hardly gone soft, and it's unlikely that any coach in the league benches his starters with more regularity than he does. "I think the biggest thing is that the moves that we've made have all been business and not personal," Schwartz said. "They've all been based on performance. We've been able to point to specific things in performance and say 'This is the reason we're making this move.' " Schwartz and Mangini can be a little old-school and hardcore because they both learned at the knee of Patriots coach Bill Belichick when he got his first head coaching gig in Cleveland. "I got to know him initially as a public relations intern and he was over in the scouting department working as a scouting intern," Mangini said of Schwartz. "There was a group of us that were all here together, we were all on the same pay grade and the same status in life so we would hang out at that point." "A lot of us were in the same boat. Tom Dimitroff, the GM for the Falcons, was there and we all thought we were low, but Tom was on the grounds crew. He was cutting grass and pulling tarps and covered in paint," Schwartz said. "The thing that happened there was that there were a lot of young guys there -- a lot of guys who weren't married and didn't have any responsibilities other than learning football and learning from a really good staff -- learning from guys like Bill Belichick, Nick Saban, and Kirk Ferentz. I think everybody was in the same boat."
