Browns Show Good Progress

Last year, Green Bay beat the Browns 43-3 in two games (preseason and regular), and they weren't that close.  So for the Browns to walk away with the 'W' (27-24), even in the first preseason game, its encouraging.

Here's just a few of my thoughts:

• Headcoach Eric Mangini did the smart thing in taking out starter Jake Delhomme after the first possession where he led the Browns on a crisp looking drive culminating in a 4-yard Jerome Harrison TD run.  Let him look good while Green Bay is shaking off the offseason rust and then get him out of there before he could do anything that would shake his newly rejuvenated confidence.
• The Browns aired it out a lot.  Two theories on the reasons for this.  One, the young receiving corp needs as much live practice as possible. Or secondly (and this is the conspiracy theorist in me), they didn't want the running game to shine like it did at the end of last season, proving that they really didn't need to trade back into the second round of the draft this year to take Monterio Hardesty, who sat out the game with and injury (who could have imagined that happening!)
• TJ Ward looked good to be a rookie safety starting his first pro game.  He made some rookie mistakes (he was either out of position and did not react quickly on Green Bay's 2-yard TD run in the second quarter.) Ward led the Browns and the game with 6 tackles.
• First round pick Joe Haden also logged a lot of minutes and seemed to do OK, considering the high-powered offense the Browns were facing.
• The defense still has a ways to go as Aaron Rodgers picked apart the Browns young secondary, starting off with ten straight completion. 
• Marcus Benard is going to be a Beast! His nickname in college was Kong.  Let's hope he continues to earn it in the pros.  I think he is the real reason that the Browns could afford to trade away former 1st rounder Kamerion Wimbley.  Benard, while not as physically gifted, plays with more attitude and mean intentions than did Wimbley.

Its Time To Hit Somebody!

After weeks of pounding away on each other with restrained ferocity, the Browns get to take out their aggressions from the 80 degree workouts on the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field in Wisconsin.  Coach Eric Mangini has said of a number of players that he wouldn't really see how good they were until he saw them hit because being physical was a big part of their game.  Player is Browns T J Ward, S out of Oregon.  He has been touted as a big hitter and this will be the first time he gets to showcase his hitting live.  (I don't care what the coach-speak is about hitting in practice, you are NOT going to T off on a teammate like you will someone in different colors.)

Ward will get a stiff test today as the only Browns rookie in the starting lineup.  Green Bay's RB, Ryan Grant, carried the ball 282 times for 1,253 yards and 11 touchdowns last season.  At 6' 1", 222 lbs, Grant has good size and power and it will be interesting to see any collisions between him and Ward.  Here's to Grant having a nasty little headache after tonight's game.

I had the pleasure to meet Ward at training camp a couple of weeks ago.  While he was not tall for a safety, he is not a little man, making up with a thick torso and arms for what he might lack in height.  For what it's worth, he was probably the most polite football player while at practice that I ever met, he kept calling me "Sir".  When I said that we needed him to knock some people out this year, he just nodded his head sternly and replied "Yes, sir", as if that went without saying as being his intentions.  Let's just hope all that civility stops when the ball is in play.

Browns May Be Missing 660 Pounds if Beef From Their Defensive Line

The Browns have a 660 lb, two-headed monster sitting in the middle of their practice field and no one seems to be looking at it.  I'm talking about Shaun Rogers and Robaire Smith, 2/3 of the Browns' starting defensive line both facing possible suspensions from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for carrying weapons into airports. Smith was charged July  in Flint for an incident last year after Rogers had been arrested in April at Cleveland Hopkins Airport.  Is this some kind of fraternal lodge initiation?  Or perhaps Rogers was taking the heat for Smith, who was also at the Hopkins in April, keeping Smith from getting a second strike?

In any case, no one is talking about how devastating it will be to the Browns already precarious season if both these players get suspended, even for one or two games, at the beginning of this season.  The Browns are starting out with two very winnable games at Tampa Bay and home vs. Kansas City.  If they can continue the momentum from their four game winning streak at the end of the 09 season, who knows what the confidence they would gain could propel them to do this season.  However, starting out 0-2 would undo any credibility head coach Eric Mangini gained from the streak and send this team into a tailspin, again.

Other than Smith and Rogers, the Browns defensive line is manned by one promising 3rd year nose tackle in Ahtyba Rubin and a bunch of no name, unproven players.  Kenyon Coleman and C.J. Mosley are suitable depth players but after them, the Browns start to trot out the likes of:

• Brian Schaefering, undrafted, 1-year player out of mighty Lindenwood College.
• Kwaku Danso, an undrafted free agent rookie starting his fourth year of football, EVER.
• Clifton Geathers, a sixth-round rookie out of South Carolina who came out after 3 years.
• and a couple of guys who were supposed to just be taking reps in training camp to let the vets cool their heals in the shade.

Why isn't anyone, either in the Browns organization, the Cleveland media or the commissioner's office looking to get the situation with Smith and Rogers either resolved or at least clarified.  As of August 5, Goodell's last statement was, ""Both cases are still under review by our staff, I don't have any plans to specifically sit down with either one of them."  He said this as he visited the Browns training camp, a prime opportunity to talk with the two Browns defensive linemen and get things settled.

New Browns GM Tom Heckert apparently made no effort to bring in experienced veterans to shore up the position and no one has held the feet of President Mike Holmgren to the fire to get an answer as to what is going on or what the Browns' contingency plan is.


When the 660 lbs of defensive line muscle is missing from the Browns lineup for the first couple of games, maybe then someone will sit up and take notice.  Just a little too late to do anything about it.