BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – With many starters getting the game portion of the day off, Saturday was about the Browns backups.
And they lost to the Packers 23-10.
Here’s the top Brownie Bites from the preseason opener.
Quick work – Backup quarterback Jameis Winston played nine snaps before calling it an afternoon. “I thought he operated well,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “I know we talk about that word operation, but it’s getting your team from the huddle to the line of scrimmage, making the correct run checks, pass checks, that type of thing. I thought he did a nice job.” Winston finished 4 of 5 for 30 yards during a 27-yard drive that ended in a 55-yard field goal. He spent the rest of the evening in the ears of Tyler Huntley and Dorian Thompson-Robinson. “I feel like my role is to paint a picture for them and see are we on the same page and understand are you seeing so that I can help you if you want help,” Winston said. “And also I think just affirmation like confidence, instilling confidence in every single chance you get because sometimes it can be frustrating when you don't get the result that you want.”
QB Rotation – Huntley was the first off the bench for the Browns and he played three series where he completed 6 of 9 passes for 41 yards. Huntley also rushed for 13 yards on two carries. Dorian Thompson-Robinson handled the second half. “Obviously, that fourth down play was very impressive, going to his left and being able to get the first down,” Stefanski said. “So made some plays, plenty that he can do better on. But, you know, obviously the goal for that quarterback is to get him in the end zone.” Thompson-Robinson, who led a 13-play, 66-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, completed 14 of 18 passes for 134 yards. “I think just goes to show my maturity going into year two, being able to sustain long drives,” Thompson-Robinson said. “Those are hard mentally on myself, physically on the other guys, but being able to not get bored throughout the drive. Take what the defense has given you and know that when you have a shot to be able to take it. So just again, going through my mental process, I think it's been helpful for me this whole off season.”
Feel the Love – The Packers’ new $220 million man, Jordan Love, played the opening series and got Green Bay on the board in just three plays, capped by a 65-yard TD strike before turning things over to the reserve arms.
Kickin’ it – No. 2 kicker Cade York drilled a 55-yard field goal with plenty to spare into the Dawg Pound to cut Green Bay’s lead to 7-3 with 8:46 to play in the opening quarter.
Kicked off – The Browns allowed the Packers to return one of three kickoffs for 28 yards and apparently that was not the plan. “I was supposed to land them at the goal line when I was warming up. That's usually into the wind going that way. And I was hitting three steps real soft and they just kind of flew on me. So that last one I was like, I'm just going to try and land it at the 5 and it went to the 1 or 2. So just stuff to work on.” Green Bay kicked short of the goal line once. Cleveland returned five kickoffs total for an average of 24.4 yards per return. “Well, kick off didn’t get to see us as much as we would have liked,” Stefanski said. “Kick off return, it’s a different play. And we’ve repped it and repped it and repped it, but to get it live against another team was really, really important. I thought we got some good reps to teach off of.”
Injuries galore – Browns safety Ronnie Hickman suffered a back injury while giving up a 65-yard touchdown to Packers rookie receiver Dontayvion Wicks from Jordan Love for an early 7-0 Green Bay lead. Receiver David Bell suffered a quadriceps injury. Backup center Luke Wypler was carted off after suffering a broken right ankle that will require surgery with just under 12 minutes to play in the second quarter. Safety Vincent Gray was sidelined due to a groin injury. Linebacker Nathaniel Watson’s quadriceps injury took him out of the game.
Classic threads – The best part of Saturday’s preseason game was the uniforms. The Packers wore their classic green jersey and yellow pant combination while the Browns were in all white with the orange helmet.
NETP list – A total of 26 players were listed on the pregame “not expected to play” list for the Browns: CB Greg Newsome II, S Juan Thornhill, WR Amari Cooper, WR Jerry Jeudy, QB Deshaun Watson, LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, K Dustin Hopkins, WR Elijah Moore, CB Denzel Ward, RB Nyheim Hines, RB Nick Chubb, RB D’Onta Foreman, CB Cameron Mitchell, S D’Anthony Bell, LS Charley Hughlett, LB Tony Fields II, LB Jordan Hicks, G Michael Dunn, T Jedrick Wills Jr., G Joel Bitonio, T Jack Conklin, TE David Njoku, DT Shelby Harris, DT Dalvin Tomlinson, DE Myles Garrett and DE Za’Darius Smith.