"During his 10-year career, running back Jamal Lewis has never been afraid to speak his mind.

Yet the Browns' co-captain refuses to march into coach Eric Mangini's office with his complaints, even though he's fuming over Mangini's long, physical practices that he believes are wearing out the players before game day arrives.

Instead, Lewis turned to the media Thursday with an oddly timed rant blasting Mangini and his methods.

''Hey, this is his show, it's not mine. Not anybody else around here's show,'' said Lewis, an Atlanta native. ''We're just the crop. You've got to take care of your crop. If you don't take care of your crop, when it comes time to harvest, you're not going to make no money because the crop ain't no good.''

Mangini said he's changed his approach with the players, but obviously not to Lewis' liking. When asked if Mangini needs to adjust more, Lewis replied, ''Next question.''

Mangini has an open-door policy, and Lewis is one of six captains who meet with him weekly, a session Lewis seemed skeptical of from the start. Lewis, 30, would seemingly have the clout to get his message heard. But he refuses to confront Mangini because ''that's not my role.''

''It hasn't been my role with any coach that I've ever been with,'' Lewis said. ''You have to evaluate your situation. You have to look at what's going on. You have to look at your players. You have to figure out why. That's not for me to figure out. I do my job, to run the football and to block and do what I'm asked to do. My job is not to evaluate and see what's going on here and try to fix it.

''I expect everybody to do their job, whether it's upstairs or whether it's down here. That's called accountability. I am accountable for my backfield and the guys behind me, and that's it.''

After declaring this is his final season after the Browns' Nov. 1 game against the Bears in Chicago even though he has a year left on his contract, Lewis seems to be throwing up his hands at the whole situation. The Browns are 1-7 going into Monday night's home game against the team that drafted him, the Baltimore Ravens."