Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the month “August, 2011”

05 Aug 2011

That’s a lot of beef

First-round draft pick Phil Taylor was finally on the practice field for the Browns on Thursday.

“I feel great just to be out there with the guys practicing and learning a new defense,” Taylor said in published reports. “I’ve played in the 4-3 my whole college career. So it’s not that hard.”

When Taylor (338 pounds) lines up next to Ahtyba Rubin (315 lbs.) at the tackle positions in the Browns new 4-3 defense, that’s a combined 653 lbs. waiting to rip into opposing quarterbacks.

“(We’re) two big, beefy guys in the middle just focused on stuffing (the) run and at the same time trying to get to the passer,” Rubin told The Beacon Journal. “I believe Phil’s a pretty good pass rusher, and we’ve just gotta wait and see what happens. I’m excited.”

“We can be a good tandem here,” Taylor told The Plain Dealer. “We can be real good. With this AFC North, there’s a lot of good teams who know how to run the ball. You’ve got to anchor down and stop the run.”

Somewhere in a dorm room in Latrobe, Pa., Ben Rothlisberger just soiled himself at the thought of that.

***

Sirius NFL Radio was at Browns training camp today, which is always a good time.

While we didn’t get to hear as much as we would have liked, we did catch the interview with rookie tight end Jordan Cameron.

Hosts Tim Ryan and Pat Kirwan were very complimentary of Cameron, talking about his route running and ability to gain separation from his defender.

Because Ben Watson has been sidelined this week with a concussion, and Evan Moore was not eligible to practice until Thursday because of the new NFL labor rules, Cameron has been thrown into the mix.

While he’s certainly not going to be a starter on Opening Day, but those additional reps that he gained this week will only help down the road.

***

Team president Mike Holmgren was also on the show and talked about the squad’s running backs.

He said he’s confident the team will be able to run the ball with the trio of Peyton Hillis, Brandon Jackson and Montario Hardesty, but that the team also needs rookie fullback Owen Marecic to lead the way on the ground

Holmgren said he expects Marecic to be up to the challenge and he better be right. Letting Lawrence Vickers go in free agency was one of the biggest gambles the team made in the off-season, and if Marecic can’t blow up linebackers the ground game is not going anywhere.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Mike Holmgren, Phil Taylor, Sirius radio | Leave a comment
03 Aug 2011

Comings and goings at Browns camp

The Browns suffered their first “Cleveland” injury of training camp this week, losing punter Reggie Hodges for the season with a torn Achilles tendon.

“He just reached up, and the snap was about head high,” coach Pat Shurmur said in published reports. “He did something he’s done a million times.”

Welcome to Cleveland, coach.

The team placed Hodges on injured reserve Wednesday and will now have to find someone to replace the talented punter.

While some may say, “it’s only a punter,” Hodges was a major asset to the team last season, with a gross average of 43.9 yards on 78 punts. His net of 39.0 was ninth in the league and his 29 punts inside the 20 were tied for eighth. He ranked third in the NFL with 15 punts downed inside the 10-yard line.

And we won’t soon forget his 68-yard run on a fake punt against New Orleans last season.

Those are all key numbers for a Browns team that is transitioning to the West Coast offense and a 4-3 defense. Playing the field position game is going to be important for this team as it figures things out in the first season under Shurmur.

Now that weapon is gone, at least for now.

“We’re gonna look for the best possible replacement that we can, and we’re gonna quickly address that,” Shurmur said in published reports. “We’ll have some guys in (today and) get a tryout going. We’ll have some guys in (today) and try to find the best possible guy that we can find at this time and keep hunting and searching for the guy that’s gonna be our punter.”

Turns out, that person is Richmond McGee, who was originally signed as an undrafted free agent. McGee has spent training camps with the Eagles (2008) and the Bears (2009-10). Last season, he had a brief stint on the Bears’ practice squad.

***

In happier news, first-round pick Phil Taylor finally came to terms on a four-year contract and will be at practice when the Browns take the field Thursday afternoon.

“We’re very happy that we were able to sign Phil and now have all eight draft picks under contract,” said GM Tom Heckert in a statement. “It was important to get him in here when we did, and I want to thank (agent) Peter Schaffer for all of his help in getting this deal done. It’s apparent that Phil kept himself in excellent shape since we drafted him and he told us he can’t wait to get started. ”

The team also signed former Eagles cornerback Dimitri Patterson as they try to build some depth in the secondary.

Browns defensive coordinator Dick Jauron, who coached the secondary in Philadelphia last season, and cornerback Sheldon Brown, a former Eagle, are familiar with Patterson. Bringing him in is no different than former coach Eric Mangini bringing in every ex-Jet short of Wahoo McDaniel the past two years.

Patterson has his detractors, with one writer at ESPN’s Grantland opining that “Patterson was a last resort at cornerback forced into action by injuries; teams avoided Asante Samuel and spent the second half throwing at the guy who the Philadelphia Inquirer politely noted ” … is better suited to special teams.”

If Patterson has to take on a starting role, the Browns are in trouble. But if he contributes on special teams and works his way onto the field as a dime back, things will probably be OK.

***

We’ve been wondering when and how the Browns planned to spend their available cap space, which at the start of the week stood at $30.4 million.

But it turns out, thankfully, they don’t have to be in a rush to throw money around, as the much talked about salary floor – requiring teams to spend at least 89 percent of the salary cap in cash on an annual basis – doesn’t kick in until 2013.

This season and next the league as whole must spend 99 percent of the salary cap in cash, with the league paying the difference if the 99 percent figure isn’t reached.

So don’t expert Heckert to loosen the purse strings much more this year.

***

Finally, here’s a depressing article about how the NFL Network is slowly killing NFL Films.

Be warned, though, the layout of the article is one of the most painful ones we’ve seen in a long time. But it’s worth the effort.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, ESPN, NFL Films, Phil Taylor, Reggie Hodges | Leave a comment
02 Aug 2011
1 Comment

New sheriffs in the Browns secondary

We really liked what we heard last week from second-year defensive backs Joe Haden and T.J. Ward as they talked about their expectations for the upcoming season and their plans for taking on greater leadership roles with the team.

“As a rookie, you can come in and be a leader, but how are you going to tell a 10-year veteran how to do something when it’s your third game?” Haden said in published reports. “This year, we have a year under our belt. We feel more comfortable not wondering how you’re going to feel in Week 7, how are we going to feel in Week 8. We feel more comfortable. We know what’s going on. We know the system we’re in isn’t going to be too hard.”

“We’re definitely going to take over the defense,” Ward said in published reports. “We’ll see about the team, but we’re definitely going to be leaders in our own right.”

One thing that really stood out is both players seemed charged up about the switch to Dick Jauron’s defensive system.

“It’s not going to be as difficult as our defense was last year,” Ward said. “We had a bunch of schemes and a bunch of techniques and calls that, I think at times, confused some of the guys on defense and maybe our cohesion wasn’t there as well last year. But I think this year it’s more basic and you just use your athletic ability and skills as a football player to make plays.”

“When we’re looking at the scheme as the defensive backfield, one thing that (defensive backs) coach (Jerome) Henderson said was they are going to put you in a position so you can make a play,” Haden said. “It’s more you versus your opponent, you versus the man across from you, more than trying to beat them mentally.

“I like my chances. I like T.J.’s chances. I like (cornerback) Sheldon’s [Brown] chances. (It should help knowing) what you got to do, just being really confident in the play call.”

The comments about the defensive system being simpler this year stand out even more now that cornerback Eric Wright has left the Browns and signed with Detroit.

We’re not going to bag on the previous regime, especially on the defensive side. But the comments about how the system may have been overly complicated last year helps explain why the secondary struggled at times, most notably against Baltimore in Week 3.

How much of the problems – which were magnified in that game – were the result of a coaching staff trying to do too much with a relatively inexperienced secondary?

Wright was ripped for his performance in that game and never seemed to fully recover, at least in the eyes of many fans.

“It’s hard to dig yourself out of that type of hole when you have the worst game of your career,” Wright told The Plain Dealer over the weekend. “Then, the team’s losing, and we had a young corner in Joe Haden who looked great playing. There was a lot of negative attention around my struggles, and it was hard to overcome.”

And off-season comments from Browns GM Heckert – “We thought we had three really good corners. Eric Wright, whatever happened to him I have no idea. If Eric Wright would have played like he played the year before, we probably would have had one of top (groups of) three guys around. But Eric Wright didn’t play very well.” – clearly didn’t help Wright feel wanted in Cleveland.

Wright’s departure once again leaves the Browns thin at the position. After starters Haden and Sheldon Brown, the roster shows Mike Adams, Coye Francies, rookie Buster Skrine and undrafted free agent Carl Gettis.

Additionally, Brown thinks Wright would have been a good fit for Jauron’s system.

“I knew the staff that they were bringing in, I knew the system, and it’s a system that he would’ve really loved,” Brown told The Plain Dealer. “I wish him the best of luck. I know he’ll do well wherever he goes because he’s a talented player.”

So while we’re a bit worried about the team’s depth at cornerback – shades of last year – we’re encouraged by the attitude of the players who are still on the team.

“I get paid to cover,” Haden said. “(Ward) gets paid to hit. Whoever comes in here, we’re going to try to get them into what we’ve got going. But we’re going to do what we’ve got to do.”

Receivers around the league have been warned.

(Photo by Getty Images)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Eric Wright, Joe Haden, TJ Ward

Post Navigation

Newer Entries →