MLB News: Indians sign former first-round pick David Cooper
August 13, 2013While We’re Waiting… Lack of support for Weeden troubling?
August 14, 2013The big news on the last day of training camp open to the public was when Rob Chudzinski told reporters that running back Trent Richardson will play “a couple of series” in the upcoming preseason game Thursday against the Detroit Lions.
The starters will play into the second quarter, possibly the whole first half depending on the number of series and flow of the game. Last week against the St. Louis Rams, the offensive starters played the first quarter and the first play of the second quarter, which was the conclusion of that drive. The defensive starters played for the most part, the first series of the second quarter.
Richardson took the majority of the reps in practice Tuesday against the scout team defense. Montario Hardesty was back at practice Tuesday after dislocating his thumb on Monday. He did not participate in team drills, just individual ones and had his thumb wrapped. Rob Chudzinski said that they would “see about him for next week”, meaning Hardesty likely will miss another preseason game.
Also of note was Chudzinski’s response to two questions. The first was about naming a starting quarterback. Chudzinski said, “There’s a point where I will name a starting quarterback. I am not ready to do it yet.” If there is truly a competition for the job, you wouldn’t know it from watching practice. Weeden is taking all of the snaps with the first unit. Even last week when Chudzinski said he would give Jason Campbell a series with the first team offensive line in the Rams game, it didn’t end up happening.
The second response was about the kicking competition. Rookie kicker Brandon Bogotay will handle all of the kicking duties for the game on Thursday. Perhaps Graham will get all of the kicks next week? Chudzinski said he wanted to see Bogotay go through a full game and have to handle all of the kicks.
The funniest moment in camp goes to wide receiver Naaman Roosevelt, who was running a medium deep slant pattern against the first team defense. Apparently Roosevelt was running a deeper route than quarterback Brian Hoyer was expecting him to run, because he drilled Roosevelt in the back of the helmet with the ball. There was a pretty audible thud before an explosion of laughter from the players and fans.
– There is something to be said for depth. At one point Tuesday, there were three players on the scout team defense that started multiple games for the Browns last season.
– Greg Little caught a nice deep pass from Brandon Weeden for a touchdown and proceeded to finger roll the ball over the goalpost.
– Josh Cooper dropped a pass for the scout team offense and heard about it from coach Chudzinski.
– The Glenville Tarblodder football team took in practice Tuesday. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam came to the sideline to talk with Ted Ginn Sr. and say hello to the team.
– As has been a training camp tradition, when practice was over the entire team dispersed to the sidelines and took time to sign autographs for the fans in attendance.
– No figures have been released lately, but the Browns have to be pleased with attendance at camp this year. There was only one practice session that had to be moved indoors due to weather, and the weather was cool for the end of July and beginning of August.
(Photo: Jon Cole Photography/WFNY)
3 Comments
So basically – and understandably – they want to see if Bogotay can win this job. Graham is the reliable yet limited veteran in case Bogotay isn’t good enough.
There is something to be said for depth. At one point Tuesday, there were three players on the scout team defense that started multiple games for the Browns last season.
YES. This is what I think is the most telling aspect of this team. When you have former starters on your bench – especially starters who performed decently – your team is that much stronger. You can rotate more, injuries don’t wipe you out, and of course, it means your starters are even better.
I’ve always noticed that teams with significant injuries one year are often substantially better the next year. Obviously the return of the injured players plays a major role, but it’s also that the depth players have now played against top competition for significant time. Billy Winn, John Hughes, et al are that much better now after last year. Buster Skrine is. Craig Robertson and LJ Fort are. John Greco is. Etc.
Awesome. Let the QB controversy (which I didn’t realize existed) begin. SB Nation already has an article up about it.
Now it’s officially the fifth season of the year – Browns season. I prefer to read into this more as an incentive to Weeden more then anything. I have to because otherwise those distant memories of yesteryear will start to creep back and I can’t have that on HUMP DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!