BEREA - Rookie receiver Brian Robiskie experienced a wide range of emotions Sunday as he sat on the bench in a Browns T-shirt. The offense scored a season-high 37 points, but Robiskie was inactive for the third time.

“When you see your teammates making big plays and you see them executing on things that we’ve done, you’re excited for them,” he said Wednesday. “But it’s painful at the same time because you’re not out there helping them, not out there doing it with them, not out there helping the team.”

Robiskie was billed as the draft’s most NFL-ready receiver when he was picked in the second round, No. 36 overall. He had a solid four-year career at Ohio State, and his dad, Terry, is a former NFL player and longtime coach.

But Brian has been unable to get anything going. He was inactive Weeks 2 and 3, started one game and has one catch for 23 yards. Meanwhile, fellow second-round pick Mohamed Massaquoi established himself as a starter, and Robiskie lost time to unheralded slot receivers Mike Furrey and Chansi Stuckey.

“As a player I just have to go with it,” he said. “I’m just trying to get better. The opportunities that I get on Sunday and during the week, I’m just trying to make the most of them.”

Robiskie has discussed his role with the coaches and has been told to keep working hard. He felt he made strides during the six-game stretch he was active.

“I definitely feel like I’ve been making a lot of progress over the past couple weeks, and a lot of that has just come from being out there on Sunday and playing,” he said. “I think being on the field is when you definitely learn the most.”

Coach Eric Mangini said it’s not a source of disappointment that Robiskie and rookie linebacker David Veikune (No. 52) were inactive and have had no impact. Veikune doesn’t have a tackle.

“I don’t really look at it that way,” Mangini said. “I look at it as bringing the guys that do the best job during that week and give us the best chance to win. They’re live all during the week. Whoever makes the best case during practice will be up.”

He said every rookie develops at his own pace.

“Some guys hit really quickly. Some guys it takes awhile,” Mangini said. “Brian’s production, that needs to improve. There’s no doubt about it. He realizes that and that’s something that he’s working at.”

Support for Weis

Quarterback Brady Quinn doesn’t think Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis should be fired despite a 6-5 record and losses to Navy and Connecticut.

“Personally, I think it would be a horrible decision if they did make that change,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of circumstances that play into a season like this. Hopefully, he’ll have another opportunity with the guys.”

Quinn played two years for Weis at Notre Dame and they remain close. Weis talked up Quinn before the 2007 draft and has offered support through a rocky start to his NFL career.

Weis is expected to be fired as early as Sunday. He was 19-6 with Quinn, but the Irish have slumped to 16-20 since.

“I know that as a player there, one of the things we prided ourselves on was winning games and not worrying about stats and individual accolades,” Quinn said. “There’s guys on that team that got to start finding ways to win.”

Quinn threw for 304 yards and four touchdowns Sunday, and said in his postgame interview that it reminded him of playing for Weis. Weis was offensive coordinator with the Patriots before leaving for Notre Dame, and could return to the NFL if he gets fired.

“It’d be nice. I’d like to play under him again if I had the opportunity, so it’d be cool,” Quinn said.

Mending fences

Mangini and Lions coach Jim Schwartz finished talking to the media and talked to each other.

Mangini suggested Sunday and Monday that the Lions faked injuries to slow down Cleveland’s no-huddle offense. Schwartz responded that Mangini was “way out of bounds” and “they don’t know what they’re talking about” regarding the late pass interference penalty on Hank Poteat.

“I talked to Jim for a while. We cleared the air,” Mangini said. “I like Jim, we always had a good relationship. We talked through that.

“The bottom line is we didn’t do enough (to win). Jim and I are fine.”

Mangini was clearly upset after the game and again Monday about the unusual finish that prevented the team from getting its second win. His shots at the officials and Schwartz rubbed many fans the wrong way.

“I was frustrated with the situation and probably expressed that more than I probably should have, but at the end of the day we’re responsible for it,” he said. “We had plenty of opportunities to win the game and we didn’t. That wasn’t good enough.

“Everybody’s frustrated with where we are. Everybody’s determined to fix it. We work as hard as we possibly can to give the fans what they deserve, which is a consistent winning team that plays at a high level all the time.”

Faked out

The Browns had been working on this fake field goal for months. Receiver Mike Furrey starts off the field but stops a few yards from the sideline. If he remains uncovered, kicker Phil Dawson gets the direct snap and throws it to him with nothing but open space in front.

“It was there,” Dawson said of Sunday’s try at the end of the first half.

Dawson completed the pass for a first down, but Furrey was tackled and the Browns had to settle for a 29-yard field goal to end the half.

The problem, according to Dawson, was that the official was standing over the ball and wouldn’t let the Browns snap it as soon as they were ready. By the time Dawson got the ball, one of the Lions was sprinting toward Furrey and was able to get there in time to make the tackle.

Roth claimed

The Browns were awarded linebacker Matt Roth off waivers. He was a second-round pick of the Dolphins (46th overall) in 2005 out of Iowa. He played in 64 games with 23 starts for the Dolphins, totaling 158 tackles, 12½ sacks, five passes defensed and six forced fumbles.

He had two tackles in three games this year. His best year was in 2008, as he started 14 games with 53 tackles and five sacks.

He was the focus of a weird situation in training camp. He blamed being ill for a failed conditioning test, then later admitted a groin injury.

Injury report

Nose tackle Shaun Rogers (ankle), guard Rex Hadnot (knee), tight end Robert Royal (thigh, finger) and fullback Lawrence Vickers (hamstring) didn’t practice.

Linebackers David Bowens (knee) and Blake Costanzo (shoulder), tight end Greg Estandia (shoulder) and running back Jamal Lewis (ankle) were limited.

• For the Bengals, linebacker Rey Maualuga (foot), running back Cedric Benson (hip), defensive tackle Domata Peko (knee) and receiver Laveranues Coles (chest) didn’t practice. Benson missed last week’s game, but coach Marvin Lewis said he might be able to play Sunday.

Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.

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