Weeds has issues, but last night I credit him for putting up 23 points, and never giving any back via turnovers. His weaknesses and his strengths were on display. I wanted to kill him on a number of occasions for holding onto the ball, and not dumping it. Losing ten to twelve yards is stupid, and the fact that Joe Thomas recovered the fumble was a gift from the Gods, and that was on Weeds for again holding the ball too long. The looonnnggg processeing period he seems to take/need always makes me think of his mental approach. It has always struck me that he has the personality of a "pitcher" as opposed to a QB. Pitchers are singularly solitary guys, who's approach is internal, and not team oriented. They also are allowed to work at any pace they choose. Kinda different on the football field. I think that mindset is hard to overcome, having had that as your model for so many years, and lies at the heart of his problems. He doesn't think team first, he doesn't respond well to being forced into quick decisions. He is "plodder" or more generously a deliberate thinker, like a pitcher. I may be crazy, well OK I am crazy, but I just think he is not mentally prepared or disciplined in the way the QB position has to be played. Big arms can do damage in college cause recievers find space, but in the NFL the QB has to already "know" where the possibility of space is. I thought Norv's O strategy made the most of Weed's strengths. He gave him the long ball, which requires little "reading" of the D. This then pushed back the safeties, allowing a little more running room. They rarely put him in a make or break pass play. They insisted on running when they got down to the one, and put it on the "team" to get us in. He will force the O to be different, and will clearly take sacks, but if he can stay away from the dreaded TO, we do indeed have the D and ST's to keep us breathing. And uniquely, we seem to have discovered how to win games in the 4th Q. Hats of to Special Teams last night, and to the D, but also to the O and to Weeds for contributing to a complete team win.
Okay . . . Hoyer's done for the year. Bummer. Here's a novel idea! NEXT MAN UP ! Every other team in the AFC North has players go down with injury. Somehow, they manage to "circle the wagons" (Gawd, I hate that clich?) and press on. The way I see it, we currently have a choice of Weeden or Campbell as the next man up. Personally, neither of those two guys floats my boat but (ready? here's another clich?), "it is what it is". Most of us had the Browns pegged for 5 to 6 wins this year. We are already halfway there after only 5 weeks. So, sit back, enjoy it and simply hope for the best.
Been gone for out of town work this week and haven't been near computer, Break up the Browns, the 1st place Browns at 3-2. I hope this continues even without Hoyer *WALL* , great defense keeps the Browns in games. Congrats to all Browns fans on a good start. [:}
RAIN AND WEATHER FORECAST CREATE POSTPONEMENT OF UMP DIRTcar NATIONALS Modified/Late Model Event Inked for April 12, 2014 ROSSBURG, OH (October 5) ? Heavy Saturday morning rains, combined with a dire Saturday evening/Sunday morning forecast prompted Eldora/UMP DIRTcar officials to postpone day number three of the UMP DIRTcar National Championships. The event has been moved to April 12, 2014, with full details for the Modified and Late Model competition to be announced soon. Prior to the rains, eight-$1,000 to win Modified features were completed over the course of Thursday and Friday, with Brian Ruhlman doubling up for two wins. Single wins were captured by Bryan Barber, Devin Gilpin, Jerry Bowersock, Jonathan Taylor, Matt Mevert and Kent Robinson. Persons holding tickets for Saturday?s scheduled race meet can use them at face value for the April 12 rescheduled date or any other Eldora event through May 25, 2014. Eldora will conclude its 2013 race season Saturday, October 12 with the Sprintacular featuring Sprint Cars of the All Star Circuit of Champions, BOSS and NRA Sprint Invaders. Event and ticket information may be found online at www.EldoraSpeedway.com.
Just ride it out with Weeds ..get behind him and this franchise .we are Browns fans we will get through this .we have seen much worse over the last 15 years or so the future looks very bright . Goooooooooooo Browns!!!
For any of you that are interested Clemson is playing Syracuse on tv ESPN. I'm very interested in this game as it is already 7-0 Clemson with a TD pass from Boyd on their 1st possession. WR Sammy Watkins who is an All-American candidate is also playing. I want these 2 STUDS!!!! Watkins is fast man with good hands. They both are on my radar as of yesterday. But unless we get a top 2 pick Boyd will be gone unless Lewan or Mathews go 1st. Hell I want Mathews too. He is a mauler and the son of a hall of famer. He wears 75 to honor Clay's 57. After all Clay is his uncle. But yeah if we do get a number 5-10 pick I will be all over Watkins. Plus Lee has an injury. Either would do and help solve our #2 WR problem. We cant Honey Badger these picks.
I just saw an interesting article on Yahoo about the Richardson trade. The guy who wrote the article called the trade a genius move by the Browns. He went on to say that Richardson averaged 3.6 yards a carry here. 40th in the NFL. With the same line Hardesty averaged 4.2 yards per carry. 21st in the NFL. That a matter of fact ProFootballFocus.com , a stat football site, said the Browns line ranked 5th in rushing and 11th overall in the NFL. So our line wasn't the problem. Hardesty with the same line did better. That Richardson was the problem. Last year he had only 2 runs past 20 yards. Since the trade Richardson has 51 carries for 151 yards. That's 2.9 yards a carry. The other RB's on the team are averaging 4.2 yards per carry. So maybe our line isn't that bad. The article went on to say the Browns have gone 3-0 since the trade after going 0-2 before the trade. And the Browns pulled the wool over Indy's eye's when we got their 1st rd. pick for him. With the Colts 4-1 that pick will probably be 12-16 somewhere. But it was a good article. So I guess Jim Brown was right. Richardson is ordinary. Good move Brownies, keep the good moves rolling.
Bills signed QB Thaddeus Lewis off their practice squad and announced he will start Week 6 against the Bengals. With E.J. Manuel (knee) out at least six weeks and undrafted rookie Jeff Tuel proving inept, the Bills are turning to Lewis. The Duke product has previously appeared in one NFL game, a Week 17 spot start as a member of the Browns last season. He actually handled himself reasonably well, going 22-of-32 for 204 yards with one touchdown and one interception in a 24-10 loss at Pittsburgh. Still, Lewis is a borderline NFL player with a tendency to check down and good yet overrated mobility. He'll be an extremely poor QB2 option in Week 6. Look for the Bills to try to ride C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson, sending the fantasy outlooks of Robert Woods and Stevie Johnson tumbling.
Steelers fans need lessons in losing Yinz need to ring the tears from those Terrible Towels and try these tips to cope Originally Published: October 3, 2013 A spot in the AFC North cellar -- below Cleveland -- is unfamiliar territory for Steelers fans. A sense of disorientation is only natural. After four straight losses and the worst start in 45 years, you probably haven't noticed it yet, Steelers fans, but you're already changing. With every embarrassing performance, with every turnover, every incomplete pass, every rushing yard surrendered and every toothless threat from your increasingly desperate head coach, slowly but surely you are mutating, transforming, changing into an entirely different kind of fan. The problem is, as a Steelers fan you've experienced so much success and winning that you really have no way of knowing just what's happening to you, or how in the world to cope with it. Even with the Steelers mercifully on their bye week, unable to lose yet again to another winless team in a faraway place, stuck in the AFC cellar below the Browns (for God's sake), for at least another week, maybe two, maybe three -- the symptoms persist. Lethargy. Depression. Disorientation. Your world has stopped making sense. Your bad-ass Towel? It is no longer Terrible but, instead, just a yellow hand towel, soaked with tears and Primanti Brothers sauce from all that stress eating. The worst part? You probably don't even know it, but scientists say that as the failures of your beloved football team continue to pile up, so does your consumption of saturated fat (by a whopping 26 percent) while at the same time testosterone levels plummet -- in male fans, of course. When Ben Roethlisberger says you're the worst, well, you have to take his word for it. Do you feel that, Steelers fans? With every unprecedented loss most of you are becoming fatter, softer, sadder, less manly and more and more, well, average. You've lost four straight, eight if you count the preseason, 13 out of 15 if you go back to the middle of last year. It's so bad you have to go back to 1968 for historical context. That season you finished 2-11-1. Your best defender is better known as a shampoo spokesman. Your best player on offense is missing two knee ligaments. Heck, even your quarterback says "we're the worst." So, it's pretty much official. Might as well stop denying it and come clean. You're losers. Steelosers. And you know what the rest of the sports world -- places like Detroit, Cleveland, Oakland and Jacksonville -- would really like to say to Steelers fans right now? Hey yinz, welcome to the club! Sure, becoming a loser is a big change for Steelers fans. But, fear not, the FlemFile is here during your bye week to help you with your transition into Loserdom with a list of helpful coping tools. (Or, if you have your own, feel free to hit my Twitter account -- @FlemESPN #SteelersCoping). In the meantime, I've also solicited some advice from Eric Simons, author of the outstanding book "The Secret Lives of Sports Fans." He's not only an expert in the science of sports obsession, his wife went to grad school in Pittsburgh and he's a long-suffering fan of the Sharks, a team, 22 years later, still looking for its first Stanley Cup. So, he understands what you're going through. "Don't break anything," Simons says, "you'll regret it later." OK, so, after the loss to the Vikings or that Julius Peppers sack-fumble-touchdown at the end of the Bears game, it's probably too late for that bit of advice. But put down the Iron City, splash some cold water on your face and fear not you sad, lovable buncha Steelosers: we're gonna get through this together. Abandon all hope: Let's be honest, with so much to celebrate over the years, you may have, on occasion, talked some trash or acted superior to your friends in Cleveland or Philadelphia. These people have been waiting for decades to rub this 0-4 start in your face. Don't you dare give them the pleasure. It's gonna sting a little, but the best tactic is to beat them to the punch by accepting, fully, what is happening to your Steelers. Basically, says Simons, you need to "Accept losing: If you can enter a Zen state in which you abandon all hope and really, really expect them to lose every game, you'll have a fun, happy season." Deny, deny, deny: Or, just refuse to accept reality. It works for Congress. Put on your One for the Thumb T-shirt and repeat after me: "We're fine, really, we only need to win, like, 10 of our last 12 games -- that's it. Piece of cake. What's everyone so worked up about? I mean, we just signed Levi-freakin'-Brown, our problems are solved, Baaaabeeee!!!! Hello, ever heard of a little hockey game called MIRACLE ON ICE?" Anybody looking for a scapegoat? Because Todd Haley's available. Find someone to blame: At this point, the Steel Curtain defense looks more like flowery drapes and is ranked near the bottom of the league against the run. Ben Roethlisberger, meanwhile, has the fifth most passing yards in the NFL. So you know exactly what this means: It's time to distract yourself from all the real issues -- injuries and an overall lack of talent, speed, explosiveness and innovation -- by becoming irrationally obsessed with a cause that actually will hurt the team in the long run, like, a campaign to get offensive coordinator Todd Haley fired. Take a chill pill: "New research shows that emotional pain is processed in the same brain regions that physical pain is," Simons says. "One implication: Tylenol might work as well for watching the Steelers lose a football game as it does for, like, actually being a Steeler player and having to recover from spending all day being trod on by Adrian Peterson." Teeeboooow: He can't throw the football or read defenses, but he did manage to beat you in the playoffs. The one thing the guy has proved is he's very effective at is being a major, major distraction. One highway billboard, one fourth-quarter chant, one airplane banner and you'll be so engrossed in the messianic mlange of faith, football and fame that is Tebow-mania you'll barely notice your Steelers have fallen to 0-8 and the Browns have mercilessly taken out their starters at the beginning of the third quarter in Heinz Field. It could always be worse: You're not the Jags. Let that sink in for a moment. There are fans in Oakland who dress up in Halloween costumes every week and shout things like "Commitment to Excellence!" even though the team is probably headed for its ninth double-digit losing season in the past 11 years. Lions fans? Those poor bastards have won ONE playoff game since 1957. So, please try to keep one bad month in perspective. "If you're going to whine to someone," Simons suggests, "don't make it Cleveland." Or you could accentuate the positive. How about those Buccos! Focus on the Pirates: This team makes the playoffs once every 20 years and that incredible scene at PNC Park just happens to take place at the same time the Steelers fall flat on their face? Coincidence? I think not. Like Mike Tomlin, who started his news conference with "How about those Buccos!" you need to get on the Pirates' bandwagon, pronto, and make that team your sports version of a rebound relationship. "A number of studies in rats and mice show that chronic losing -- what the researchers call 'social defeat' -- leads to loss of interest in food, sex and play -- basically, defeat-induced depression," Simons says. "So roll with the Pirates or the Penguins, too -- their good vibes will keep you from going down (emotionally) with the Steelers." Iron City: Open. Drink. Repeat. Start planning your draft party: Don't do what the Panthers, Lions, Browns and Raiders always seem to do, which is go on a late run when the games are meaningless and completely blow draft position. The only benefit of tanking a season is the rare, high draft pick waiting for you next spring. Some people still laugh at the Lions for going 0-16. Not me. Anyone can go 2-13 or 3-13. You guys are the Steelers, remember? If you're gonna be bad, be the best at being bad. Follow? Look, you guys have picked in the top 15 only once in the past 13 years of the draft. Get a high pick and fleece the Browns in a trade. You'll feel so much better. Or, think of it this way -- for once you'll finally be at the center of one of the sports world's most meaningless made-for-TV events: the NFL draft! Paint your face: It's really the best way to hide your identity (and humiliation) at home games. Gardening: Maybe this is the year you fix the leak in your garage or plant that herb garden you've always dreamed of, finally get past Page 8 of "Infinite Jest" or spend your Sundays with the TV off really reconnecting with your loved ones. Naw. Naw. Sorry. Sorry. Just playing. I almost had ya, though, didn't I? Change uniforms: This bit of misdirection is straight out of the loser franchise playbook: distract fans with new merch. The rule of thumb with a uniform change is the worse you're playing, the bigger the transformation. So I have one word for you: Nursing. That's right. The whole Steelers thing is so 1970s. Technically, I don't think there are any more actual working steel mills inside the city limits of Pittsburgh. But Pittsburgh has become one of the leaders in male nursing. So, we either totally rethink the traditional black, gold and white combo with, say, tungsten, brushed nickel and rust (Think: "Hunger Games" meets Andy Warhol), or we go with a total makeover that looks like nurse scrubs: sky blue, baggy pants, with a V neck jersey and Crocs. And this Le'Veon Bell touchdown was pretty cool, right? In a losing effort. But still. A somersault! Savor the small victories: As far as I can tell the only actual highlight from the season so far is the somersault TD against the Vikings by Le'Veon Bell. Take this and run with it. I'm talking T-shirts, posters, screen-savers, parody songs, YouTube re-enactments, nicknames (Immaculate Rotation?), you name it. As far as highlights, this might be it. Think outside the box: Maybe it's finally time to innovate, fellas. When I worked on my ESPN The Magazine story about the analytics revolution in the NFL, I wasn't all that surprised to find out that while the science of stats has taken off within the NFL, one industry insider told me the Steelers have shown no "interest or curiosity" in analytics. Look, I love nostalgia and the quaint, old-fashioned feel of the Steeler Way as much as anybody. But one of the reasons you guys are suddenly staring up at the Browns in the standings is that the rest of the NFL is using iOS 7 while the Steelers are stubbornly sticking with their flip phones. When all else fails: Buy Eric's book and use this lost Steelers season to expand your horizons and better understand yourselves. Or, if that doesn't work, just send an angry tweet or email to that doofus from ESPN. You'll feel better. At least until 1:15 next Sunday, when the Jets are up by three scores. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/97...-steelers-fans
Kudos to the Colts, who showed great gumption again in coming back on the Seahawks. They have already beaten both of the NFC West powers, and played more physically while doing it. Most of their key ground gains came from Donald Brown, who averaged 6 yards per carry in a limited role and scored a touchdown while Trent Richardson kept plowing along at his 3-yards-per-carry pace.
The Morning Kickoff ? Salute to Hoyer: We should all thank Brian Hoyer. His season is over, but his legacy will be felt during his convalescence from a torn ACL. He turned the season around for the Browns and for the rest of us. For two games, he had the magic that energizes everybody -- the offense, the defense, the fans. He made the game fun again. Most of us forgot what it was like for a Browns quarterback to win a game. I mean, take the team down the field with the game on the line and finish the job. Hoyer did that in Minnesota in his first start after getting nothing but scout team reps the first two weeks of the season. It was so loud in the Metrodome that the decibel count was close to a jet engine. Players could barely hear Hoyer?s instructions in the huddle. It didn?t matter to him. Remember the kicker was hurt, so a game-tying field goal attempt was iffy. Hoyer took his team all the way to the end zone for the win. Then in his second start at home against Cincinnati, Hoyer did it again. It was a tough defensive contest. The Browns held a 10-6 lead in the fourth quarter and took over at their 9-yard line. Hoyer moved them the length of the field. No field goal, again. During that drive, the offensive line never looked better. That?s what happens when players start believing in the leader in the huddle. Hah, the Bengals, you say? Yes, the same Bengals that held Tom Brady to six points on Sunday. In his third start, with the nation watching on NFL Network, Hoyer came out firing. On the second play of the game, Josh Gordon broke inside on Buffalo cornerback Aaron Williams at the Browns? 30-yard line. Hoyer delivered the ball on Gordon?s hands at the 32. Gordon dropped it. There was nothing but green grass between Gordon and the end zone. Do you know what a 90-yard touchdown would have done to FirstEnergy Stadium on that night? Back to the future: We know what happened. On his second series, Hoyer ran 11 yards for a first down and caught his right cleat in the grass while beginning a slide. He tore the right ACL. Out for the year. So the Browns were down, 10-0, and lost their quarterback. It looked like a giant brown egg was in the process of being laid on national TV. But something strange happened. Instead of folding their tents, the Browns fought back. Travis Benjamin electrified the night with two long punt returns. The defense took the cue and knocked out Buffalo?s quarterback. And the night was punctuated with a pick 6 by T.J. Ward. The 37-24 win made the Browns 3-2 for the first time in 12 years. Today, that record is good enough to tie them with Baltimore and Cincinnati for first place. Pittsburgh is buried at 0-4. What Hoyer showed in three starts is that good play at quarterback is a great healing balm. Minor deficiencies on the offensive line get patched up instead of spreading into craters. Receivers who were slow to get open suddenly get the ball on their hands, on time. A defense that tired in the fourth quarter is energized to make plays with the game on the line. Hoyer showed us all that the Browns are capable of winning right now. That they are capable of contending right now. That it doesn?t take five years to build a contender. It takes a quarterback who makes plays, and the rest falls into place. Now what?: Which brings us to Brandon Weeden. When this season began, it was viewed as Weeden?s one-year trial in front of new coaches and management. If he couldn?t win in this offense tailored to his big arm, then he would not be back. After one game against Miami, which offered an instructive up-close comparison with Ryan Tannehill, the Browns accelerated their scouting efforts for a quarterback in the 2014 draft. Hoyer?s injury is Weeden?s mulligan. A scratch golfer, he is familiar with that mataphor. It?s another chance. But the stakes are different this time. Hoyer has raised expectations exponentially. Outside the locker room, and, more importantly, inside the locker room. The players have proved to themselves they can win right now. Hoyer had everything to do with that. When coach Rob Chudzinski was asked Friday why he thought the Browns? winning would continue under Weeden, he answered, ?Well, because we have no other choice.? There is no other Hoyer waiting for the Browns this season. You only catch lightning in a bottle once. This season started about Weeden and it will end about Weeden.
Monday leftovers (Friday edition) The latest iteration of ?Is There Really a Cleveland Sports Curse?? raised its homely little head Thursday night with the season-ending knee injury to Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer and screamed ?YES!? Just when it seemed as though the Browns might have gotten lucky with the emergence ? at least for two games ? of a local kid who began to look like a legitimate, game-winning quarterback, he goes down. A mere two games are all we got from Hoyer, whose talent was dangled before us like a carrot on a stick and then ripped away. And now, we?re back to Brandon Weeden, whose style is the antithesis of Hoyer. There has to be a curse of some sort. Why tease Browns fans with some real good quarterbacking and then yank it away before they had a chance to enjoy it? Makes no sense whatsoever. All these years since the resurrection in 1999, Browns fans have waited patiently, almost longingly, for that day the quarterback of their dreams would finally arrive and bring back the good, old days. Tim Couch was not the answer. Neither were Kelly Holcomb, Jeff Garcia, Trent Dilfer, Jake Delhomme, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn and Colt McCoy. The litany of failure at that position has become legendary in the last 14 years. For the most part, it?s been one double-digit losing season after another. That could have been avoided with good quarterbacking, which could have at least counterbalanced bad defense. So when Brandon Weeden and his strong arm arrived in Berea last season, hopes rose that finally that bridge would be crossed. But a big arm, as it turned out, can be neutered by a failure to play the game properly between the ears. That?s why Hoyer?s meteoric rise, in the wake of a thumb injury to Weeden, had taken on such a positive glow. He made the kind of throws not seen by Browns fans in at least 25 years. He actually took a moribund offense and breathed life into it. It had taken on a storybook feel when his first two games resulted in victories, both of which were directly attributable to him. It was almost too good to be true ? a hometown kid coming back to his hometown and actually making significant contributions. A lot of people call Bernie Kosar a hometown product. Well, if you consider Boardman, Ohio, located about 60 miles southeast of Cleveland, a hometown, then yes, he qualifies. But Hoyer is a product of the Cleveland school system. He is truly Cleveland, not suburban Youngstown. He was born and raised in the Cleveland area, went to high school there and yearned for the day he could return and play for his childhood team. But when he did, it didn?t take long to be cruelly introduced to the Cleveland Sports Curse Thursday night against the Buffalo Bills. Just when his star was ascending, it was struck down with suddenness on what appeared to be a simple slide while scrambling. Lifelong Cleveland sports fans are used to this. It?s not The Shot, The Fumble, The Drive, Red Right 88 or even The Decision. But it hurts nonetheless. And the hurt is felt deeply by those fans who must wonder by now just what Cleveland did to deserve this fate. Hoyer, of course, will be back next season. What the roster will look like at that point is anyone?s guess. A lot will depend on what happens the rest of this season. But Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi have made it crystal clear a new quarterback will be wearing the Seal Brown and Orange in 2014. Who knows? This might have been Hoyer?s only shot with the Browns. If so, the irony with which his career with the team ends is certain to be fodder for many conversations and subsequent arguments. For now, though, it?s up to the next man up. That would be Weeden. So the Browns can now go back to the original plan to tank the season, which is where they were headed when Trent Richardson was traded to Indianapolis. Hoyer sort of messed things up by winning those two games, necessitating a Plan B. Back to Plan A. ~ Sometimes, it?s very important to pay attention to your coaches. Listen very carefully to what they tell you and then go out and do it. Take Buffalo Bills punter Shawn Powell, for example. Thursday night, Powell punted the ball eight times for a 45.5-yard average. Not bad until you take into account that seven of them were returned by Travis Benjamin of the Browns, one winding up in the Buffalo end zone. After Benjamin returned Powell?s first punt 57 yards to the Buffalo 31 late in the opening quarter, setting up the first of three Billy Cundiff field goals, one would think the coaching staff told Powell to kick the ball as far away from the punt return specialist as possible. Either he wasn?t paying attention or developed a bad case of poor directional punting because two punts later, while trying to pin Benjamin to the right sideline, Powell missed by about 10 yards. In an obvious return left, Benjamin raced completely across the field, picked up several blocks, broke a couple of tackles and zigged and zagged 79 yards for the score to put the Browns ahead, 17-10. For the evening, Benjamin wound up with a club-record 179 yards and provided the spark the club needed when Hoyer went down. As for Powell, the Bills cut him Friday. ~ It looks as though the Bills have a stud football player in rookie middle linebacker Kiko Alonso. He plays the game with reckless and total disregard for his body. He seemed to be everywhere against the Browns. The Bills' second-round pick from Oregon has a nose for the ball you can?t teach. Whether it?s on a blitz or dropping into coverage, he almost always seems to be around the ball. He was in on 12 tackles and seemingly beat the offensive line off the ball most of the evening. He made a play early in the fourth quarter that is certain to make the National Football League?s 2013 highlight reel. With the teams tied at 24-24 and the Browns facing a second and goal at the Buffalo 2 early in the fourth quarter, Alonso got a running start at the snap and launched himself over the both lines at the line of scrimmage. He landed at the feet of Willis McGahee and dropped him for a four-yard loss. It was reminiscent of a similar play made over the years by Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu. If he can stay healthy, Alonso is going to be one hell of a player. ~Notebook: Hopefully, the Browns will never, ever, ever wear those all Brown uniforms again. But if they do, they need to put orange and white stripes down the side. . . . Cundiff is becoming a good friend of the defense. Of his seven kickoffs against the Bills, five were touchbacks and the others resulted in drives starting at the Buffalo 12 and 19. Nothing like giving the defense a long field. . . . On the other hand, maybe someone should tell Greg Little to remain in the end zone on kickoffs. He returned the first two against the Bills to the Cleveland 8 and 10. After a pair of touchbacks, he returned the last kickoff to the 26. . . . Ray Horton couldn?t have been pleased with his defense in the first three quarters, especially the tackling, or lack of it. That needs to be corrected. . . . The Browns caught a break when Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson left early with an injury. Joe Haden switched over to Robert Woods and shut him down. . . . Cornerback Buster Skrine played a solid game. He was active all evening with 12 tackles, a sack and a couple of passes defensed. . . . Left guard John Greco was a standout, too, pulling time and again to make running room for McGahee. Posted by Rich Passan
Browns safety T.J. Ward believes the team is a reflection of Coach Rob Chudzinski?s leadership. The Cleveland Browns trailed the Buffalo Bills by 10 points and had lost their starting quarterback, Brian Hoyer, with what turned out to be a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, but instead of fall victim to the adversity during the first quarter, the players and coaches banded together and fought their way to a 37-24 win at FirstEnergy Stadium. ?It was an up-and-down game, but we never got at each other,? said safety T.J. Ward. ?We never pointed the finger. It just feels like a great, team win. The offense scored when we needed them to score, and we held them when we needed to hold them. It was a complete, team win. It just feels so good just to know that everybody did their part and everybody came together for that win. ?That?s what good teams do. Things happen throughout the season. You lose good players, things don?t always go your way, but good teams find a way to pull games out and come together and play as a team. That?s what we?re trying to become. We?re trying to be on top in this division, win games consistently, and be one of those teams that other teams fear and have to worry about, week-in and week-out.? Arguably, Ward made the biggest play of the game when he returned an interception 44 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. The Browns had just gone up by six points on Billy Cundiff?s 44-yard field goal, and the Bills began driving the ball. However, undrafted rookie quarterback Jeff Tuel, who was in the game because starter EJ Manuel was out with a knee injury, threw the pass intended for wide receiver Robert Woods, but failed to check for Ward. Ward recorded the interception and had nothing but daylight in front of him. ?I was dropping down into my zone -- we were in zone coverage -- and basically, just read the quarterback?s eyes, got a good jump on it, grabbed it out of the air and ran it back,? Ward said. ?They had a few routes out of that formation, and I just happened to jump the one that I thought it was and was blessed to get in the end zone.? Ward?s interception sealed the Browns? third straight victory, and at 3-2, the team will remain in at least a tie for first place in the AFC North Division depending on the results of games for Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals this weekend. ?Our attitude is we?re happy that things are going the way they are, but we?re in no way settling into what we?re doing right now,? Ward said. ?We?ll continue to work hard. We have that drive for greatness, that drive for betterment every week. We have a group of hard workers, determined, persistent players, and I think we?re a reflection of Coach Chud. ?That?s a sign of our team, a reflection of Coach Chud, our assistant coaches. Every day, we preach, ?It?s not going to be pretty all the time. It?s not going to be how you want it, but at the end of the day, if you get it done, you get it done.? And that?s what we did. We came together as a team and got it done.?
The Browns have talked to the San Francisco 49ers about trading wide receiver Josh Gordon, but a deal is unlikely with Mario Manningham coming off the physically unable to perform list and fellow wide receiver Michael Crabtree expected back from injury next month, ESPN?s Adam Schefter reported today. NFL Network?s Ian Rapoport also reported today that the Browns have talked to teams, including the 49ers, about dealing Gordon. The Browns would like a second-round draft pick in return, according to the report. The previous regime drafted Gordon, 22, in the second round of the supplemental draft last summer. In three games this season, Gordon has compiled 18 catches for 303 yards and two touchdowns. Trade rumblings involving Gordon first surfaced the morning of Sept. 22, when Gordon returned from a two-game suspension for violating the NFL?s substance-abuse policy and caught a career-high 10 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown in a 31-27 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Before the game, Gordon became aware of ESPN reporting that the Browns were fielding trade offers and were open to dealing him and fellow wide receiver Greg Little. The next day, Browns coach Rob Chudzinski insisted the team had ?no plans? to trade Gordon or Little. On Sept. 26, Gordon said Chudzinski sent him a text message ?just reassuring me there were no trade offers or anything like that.? Still, because the Browns traded running back Trent Richardson, the third overall pick in last year?s draft, to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for a first-round pick on Sept. 18, Gordon said anything is possible. "The fact that [Chudzinski] said there wasn?t [a plan to trade me], it makes me feel a little more comfortable,? Gordon said. ?At the same time, anything can happen. ?I guess after what happened to Trent, I think that?s probably the way it?s going for a lot of these guys. You?re going to think about it until the [trade] deadline definitely happens [Oct. 29].? Upon returning from his two-game suspension, Gordon said he believes he faces a one-season banishment from the league if he violates its substance-abuse policy again. He blamed prescription cough medicine that contained codeine for triggering a failed drug test that led to his suspension this season. He failed three marijuana tests in college.
Injury Update: LB Jabaal Sheard (knee), LB Quentin Groves (ankle) and RB Chris Ogbonnaya (concussion) worked with the trainers on the side during Monday's practice. Meanwhile, DL Billy Winn (calf) was still not at practice. He's Back: WR Josh Cooper was re-signed to the practice squad and LB Justin Staples was released. Cooper started the season on the roster, but was released when the Browns signed RB Fozzy Whittaker last week. Cooper was somewhat of a security blanket for QB Brandon Weeden last year after playing with him at Oklahoma State. Versatile Guy: MarQueis Gray is listed as a tight end on the roster, but he is also the Browns emergency quarterback. Chudzinski said that if QB Brandon Weeden would've been injured against the Bills, Gray would've played the position. Gray also takes the place of Ogbonnaya as a fullback. "I've played quarterback my whole life," Gray said. "This is the first time I've ever played special teams." Gray was the starting quarterback for Minnesota, but was undrafted and signed by the 49ers as a tight end. He was released in the final roster cuts and signed by the Browns. He played fullback when RB Chris Ogbonnaya was injured and now has emergency quarterback duties, as well. He has lined up as the 'wildcat' quarterback for a handful of plays thus far, but has yet to carry the ball or throw a pass. "That's why I have to understand the playbook." First Place Browns: The Browns haven't been in first place after five games since 1995. Currently, the Browns are tied with the Ravens and Bengals at 3-2 atop of the AFC North. Chudzinski was asked if he thinks the team will be focused going forward as a young team. "They're hungry to begin with," Chudzinski said. "I don't think they're satisfied and they are doing the things they need to do to improve. The leadership on the team is made up of solid guys. We'll have our ups and downs, but our team is made up of fighters."
