Notes from Day 1 of Browns’ joint practices with Bills

Over the weekend, linebacker Karlos Dansby promised “fireworks” at joint practice sessions between the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills this week. According to reports, at least one scuffle erupted between the two teams, but, otherwise, things were relatively calm in New York on Monday.

The fight that broke out occurred during an 11-on-11 drill between the Browns’ offense and Bills’ defense. Browns receiver Marlon Moore, who was wearing a red non-contact jersey, was hit by Bills linebacker Preston Brown. The hit upset Moore, who retaliated against Brown and removed his helmet. Officials blew their whistles for several seconds and the fight quickly dissipated.

Following the practice, head coach Mike Pettine sat down with the media to share his thoughts on the day, the fight, and the focus of inter-squad practices:

“Anytime you can get out and against another team in a semi-controlled environment, you are going to get more work done than going against yourselves. Some of these situations are even better than the preseason game. You can simulate some things and then not put your quarterbacks at risk. I think it is good work.”

And when it came to Moore’s behavior:

“I talked to him about it. I told him he is too good looking to risk getting hit. It is not the place or the forum to take your helmet off. It was an unfortunate thing. He was in a red jersey, which means he shouldn’t be contacted. I think linebacker it is just instincts to re-route a guy. Sometimes you are not dialed in and you see someone from the other team and you are going to hit him. He took offense to that and we all saw what happen.”

Pettine also said that the game-like intensity of a joint practice creates a more intense and competitive atmosphere:

“To me, it is competing against somebody other than your own. You kind of get in a comfort zone when you are going against your own guys and you don’t get a good sense for where you stand. I think the adrenaline ratchets up a little bit and guys want to prove something to other guys in the league. I think it is just naturally just better competition.”

Quarterback Josh McCown seemed to agree, telling the media that the increased intensity of the joint practice was palpable:

“Anytime you go out there and it’s not your practice group, the tempo picks up a little bit. When you’re going against each other, there’s a protectiveness. You want to be wise when you’re going against your teammate. You don’t want to hurt anybody. At the same time, you don’t want to do that with these guys either because we’re both wanting to get into the season healthy, but there is an urgency that picks up when you’re going against somebody with a different jersey on, for sure.”

McCown also said that, while tensions between opposing players felt almost inevitable, calmer heads prevailed on Monday:

“You want to avoid it as much as you can. It probably is (inevitable). You have to be smart about it. The cool thing about it was it kind of got chippy there, but there were so many guys stepping in on both sides going, ‘Stop! Stop!’ trying to pull people apart because like I said, everybody wants to go into the season healthy as they can and nobody wants to, especially by way of a fight, be injured and lose somebody. I think everybody was smart in that regard and were able to separate it. Cooler heads prevailed, so that’s good.”

And, while Pettine was pleased with his squad’s performance, it sounds as though the Bills’ defense also prevailed on Monday:

“The Bill defense, I thought, had the upper hand. I think some of our guys had different tempos. They have to understand the guy across from them is going at game type speed, other than the live tackling part. We were inconsistent with our expectancy of what we were getting from the other side. I thought (Buffalo) did a good job. We made some plays. Unfortunately, I thought some of the self-inflicted stuff that we have been able to avoid a lot at camp; jumping off-sides, two bad snaps that likely would have been positive would have been disastrous as a part of a drive. Very much looking forward to getting back and seeing what it looks like on the film.”

Pettine also touched on the performance of several key players, including cornerback Justin Gilbert, who has struggled at times during the preseason, including Monday:

“That’s the life of a corner. You have to have that short term memory and be able to bounce back from a play. The best corners are confident corners and that’s something that comes from having success and if he’s in a little bit of a slump it’s on him. We have to help him but he has to play his way out of it.”

Pettine also shared that Browns’ coaches were impressed with the performance of veteran defensive back Tramon Williams, who has stood out since joining the team:

“Anytime you can bring a veteran guy that’s proven that he can play at a high level for a long time in this league. It’s a great example for our young guys, He can certainly still play now. I think he’s a great compliment to (DB) Joe (Haden). He understands being opposite of Joe Haden he’s going to get a lot of throws his way. We understand that as a staff so we’ll do some things to help him out, to hopefully free him up that he can make some plays. I can’t say enough good things about him, he’s been the ultimate professional.”

Now, it’s time to look ahead to Tuesday’s session, where Pettine said he expects a few format shifts but largely more of the same:

“The only difference will be the action that took place on the grass field will now be on the turf. Our defense and their offense will be on the turf and vice versa on the grass field. Just so one group is not practicing exclusively on the turf.”

The joint practices between the Browns and Bills will be capped off by a nationally televised preseason game airing on ESPN on Thursday. Whether or not the festivities will be a bunch of sparklers or a full on Rock ‘n Blast remain to be seen.