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.
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