BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Deshaun Watson threw a football Thursday, just not too many of them as he was limited for a second straight day.
Here’s our top Brownie Bites from Thursday.
Rest up – Watson’s practice workload increased – a little bit – Thursday. Watson threw a couple of short passes during the portion of the session that was open to reporters but spent the majority of time stretching or handing off. “We'll see how he feels when we get out there, but we're confident he'll be able to go Sunday,” offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said prior to practice. It is unclear which play Watson suffered the injury to his right throwing shoulder in Sunday’s 27-3 win over the Titans, but he took a hit in the third quarter on a 10-yard run prior to Jerome Ford’s touchdown. Rookie backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson came on for the final five minutes of the game but that was unrelated. “Try to get him in there, get him some work in a game that we felt like we were in control of at that point and had nothing to do with that,” Van Pelt said.
Tough to tackle – Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is well on his way to another 1,000-yard season on the ground because he’s so hard to bring to the ground. “If we saw running backs doing that, we wouldn't bat an eye,” defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said. “We got to tackle him. He's a running back, tackle him, he's a wide receiver. Just because the ball's in his hand doesn't mean that he's still not a threat to run. So I think that probably has a lot to do with it and we're going to try to be physical. If he does run, we're going to try to play our game and put some hits on him and those kinds of things. But you got to tackle him like he's a running back and if you half step, if you play too cautious or a guy like that, if he pumps you off your feet, we're not playing good defense. If you see guys leave their feet on the quarterback, right, because he's just going to pull it and he's going to fly past and he's going to make a big play. So we got to stay on our feet, we get to tackle through his midsection and we got to get him on the ground like he's a running back.” Jackson leads the Ravens with 193 yards rushing and is averaging 6.0 yards per carry. “We all know that he’s explosive, like lightning in a bottle, man,” safety Grant Delpit said. “So we got to keep him contained, we got to limit his big plays. He's going to make a few plays. You got to tip your hat to him and tell him good play and then come back and get on to the next one. So I think our D-line is going to do a great job of that, second level is going to keep him where he needs to be and third level we going to take care of some mistakes.” Even when teams have Jackson bottled up, he seems to find a way to break tackles, which drives opponents nuts. Schwartz turns his players loose and is aggressive, and that shouldn’t change this week because of Jackson. “You never want to play scared going against any opponent,” linebacker Anthony Walker said. “Obviously he presents a different challenge, so you got to be a little smarter in how you rush, how you contain him. But at the end of the day, you still got to be aggressive. We got to play aggressive defense.”
Best in the biz – The return of cornerback Greg Newsome II to practice this week has Ward excited. “That's huge,” Ward said. “I think Greg is the best nickel, best corner in the NFL, so that's huge getting him back and we're going to need him as well. Need all of us to keep building on what we got going.” Schwartz didn’t disagree. “He's into consideration there,” Schwartz said. “He could play outside, inside, gives us that functionality to move him around and he can match up quicker guys. He can match up stronger guys…. But it is nice to have Greg back on the practice field. We will see where he gets to by Sunday.” Cameron Mitchell filled in for Newsome against the Titans where he played 34 snaps. “I thought Cam did a good job stepping in and that's what we need, Schwartz said. “Ronnie Hickman went in the opener on very short notice and did the same thing. So we're going to continue to have guys step up like that.”
Nitpick time – There’s not much to complain about when it comes to the Browns defense. They rank No. 1 in total defense, against the run and pass, fewest yards and first downs allowed just to name a few. They’ve forced just two turnovers which amused Schwartz when it came up during his weekly availability. “You guys are really scraping for criticisms,” Schwartz said. “We're trying to win the game. We're trying to keep the points down. We're trying to set our offense up in good field position… We're just going to let the defense work, we're going to try to play physical, we're going to try to play fast. Then we will see what happens after that. But we're going to be around the football and good things will happen.” To Schwartz’s point – it’s hard to force turnovers when your unit isn’t even on the field because they already forced a punt.
Unhappy returns – The loss of Jakeem Grant for a second straight season has left the Browns with an uninspiring return game. Pierre Strong has returned one kickoff for 26 yards while Donovan Peoples-Jones averages just 5.2 yards per return. “We're off to a little bit of a slow start in the return game, specifically the punt return,” special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone said. “We’ve got to do a better job of setting up on the ball and getting the ball downhill, taking what they're going to give us, not trying to make, get too much take what they're going to give you and then those big plays will happen. Think we're kind of almost like you want to say forcing it a little bit at this point, but I think Donovan will improve this weekend and moving forward.”
Hello – Ventrone mentioned a conversation he had this week with kicker Dustin Hopkins about a famous Browns fan when asked how his kicker has been doing so far. “So he comes into my office the other day and we're talking through a few things and I had Adele playing on my, whatever you want to call it, my iTunes, and he goes, 'Adele's a Browns fan,'” Ventrone said. “I'm like, ‘no, she's not.’ And he's like, ‘yes she is. She actually said it in the media the other day,’ so it's pretty funny.” Adele is dating Rich Paul, founder of Klutch Sports and northeast Ohio native. As for Hopkins, who has made a pair of field goals from beyond 50 yards and is 7 of 8 on the season, Ventrone is pleased. “He's been phenomenal,” Ventrone said. “Those guys have done a great job with the operation, the timing, the consistency. Yeah, he's been great.”
Quote of the day – Schwartz was asked for his thoughts on Myles Garrett’s 3.5 sacks performance against the Titans. “I think there's still meat on the bone, to tell you the truth,” Schwartz said.
Injury report – LIMITED: LG Joel Bitonio (rest, ankle) RB Kareem Hunt (ribs, groin), DE Myles Garrett (rest), QB Deshuan Watson (shoulder); FULL: CB Greg Newsome (elbow), OT James Hudson (ankle), RB Jerome Ford (shoulder)
