BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns were back in Berea for the first time in over a week Sunday and head coach Kevin Stefanski had them in full pads and focusing on situational football.
It was the most team 11-on-11 work we’ve seen this year – at least Browns vs. Browns including extended drives, two-minute and red zone.
Here’s our top Brownie Bites from a scorching August afternoon.
Deshaun Watson and Amari Cooper had strong afternoons. Cooper ended practice by hauling in a long touchdown from Watson in team 11-on-11 in the one offense vs. the No. 2 defense. He also caught a TD in a red zone team drill as well as made a nice catch up the far sideline. Watson hasn’t had a perfect camp by any stretch of the imagination but with Sunday’s practice heavily focused on team situational football, he looked polished and comfortable. Denzel Ward had an interception nullified because Myles Garrett jumped offsides on back-to-back plays in the first team D vs No. 2 offense series. Watson worked on RPOs Sunday with Elijah Moore and Nick Chubb.
Watson and most of the starters will play 20-25 snaps Saturday at Kansas City Stefanski said. “I think it's [going to be] 91 on Saturday in Kansas City. It's 103 the day before, so it's going to be hot,” Stefanski said. “It'll be warm here later in the week. It could be warm September 10 at our place. So, you have to acclimate to the heat, safely, obviously. But that's something that we really had our eye on and things that we've been working through all the way back to Greenbrier.”
We’ve said it before, but it really feels like Moore is going to have a tremendous say in just how good this offense will be this season. “I mean the first day I got here, they kind of was showing me what they had a feel for and then I feel like as soon as they seen me practice and see what I got to do, they was just experimenting and seeing what I could do,” Moore said. “So yeah, I mean I kind of knew. I just didn't know it was going to be maybe as much or as little, I guess it's by game plan.” So where does that versatility come from? “I just love football and I feel like if you love football, you'll learn to be good at whatever they need you to do, especially at this level,” Moore said. “There's a lot of good players in the league. You’ve got to have respect for that too. So whatever they need me to get done, I love it. So I think I can get it done.”
Cornerback Greg Newsome II has put whatever discontent he may have had about his role last season behind him. “I'm super pleased,” Newsome said of his role under Jim Schwartz. “I mean, I'm once again able to show my versatility when I am inside. Gladly, I won't be. Last year, I kind of felt like more of a little bit of a linebacker, but I think my role is amazing. He's expecting me to do a lot of things on the inside, so I'm super excited for it. I'm just trying to do whatever it takes for us to get to where we need to get to.” Newsome is just as excited about the newly rebuilt defensive line of Za’Darius Smith, Dalvin Tomlinson and Shelby Harris joining Myles Garrett because they are about to make his job much easier. “Thank you Lord,” Newsome said. “I mean that ball got to come out super fast. I mean just even sitting there the game before against the Commanders and just saying the ability to get safety from a holding penalty and things like that, that's amazing. So I'm glad we got those guys on my team. It makes my job a lot easier. It makes us a lot more confident on the back end knowing we could be real sticky in coverage because those guys will get there.” Newsome senses everyone on his side of the ball has bought into Schwartz’s philosophy and scheme. “He has high expectations for us. He coaches us hard, but that's because he has high expectations,” Newsome said. “So, when we set a standard for us as players and we're not being to that standard, we expect our coaches to push us harder and harder. And with him, he's going to coach us hard because he doesn't think we should be a top 10 defense or a top eight defense. We're trying to be the best defense, so we're going to hold ourselves to that standard and he's going to push us every single day.”
Roll call – WR Jaelon Darden, WR Marquise Goodwin, CB Chris Westry, RB Jerome Ford, LG Joel Bitonio, and TE Harrison Bryant worked on the side Sunday. Although RT Jack Conklin returned to practice, he left early and went inside. WR Anthony Schwartz and CB Cameron Mitchell also left practice early.
Puppy pound counter – A total of 37 puppies have been adopted this year at the Browns Puppy Pound. Since the program’s launch in 2015, 731 puppies from the Northeast Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) have been adopted by Browns fans at training camp practices.
