BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns will be without two starters Sunday when they return from the bye week at Miami.
Tight end David Njoku and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah were ruled out by the team Friday afternoon.
“Those are the things in the NFL you have to be ready for,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “Obviously, didn’t have David there last week and JOK so you practice other guys and you get them ready, all the while using all of these days to try and get them to the game.
“That is the NFL where sometimes you find out a play into a game that you don’t have a guy, sometimes you are getting close and sometimes you know you don’t have them for a couple of weeks. That is our job as coaches and as players just to have a plan and then guys have to be ready to step up.”
Njoku did not practice this week and he has been sidelined since suffering a high ankle sprain during a 23-20 loss at Baltimore on October 23.
Stefanski indicated that Njoku has not suffered any setbacks as he continues to rehab around the clock.
“He is trying like crazy, as you can imagine,” Stefanski said.
Owusu-Koramoah is dealing with a knee injury that caused him to also sit out their Halloween victory over the Bengals as well. He returned to practice Friday but was limited and not ready for game action.
Bye week rest – Some good news, the Browns bookends of Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney are getting healthy thanks to the bye week which means bad news for opponents.
This week marked the first time this season that Garrett and Clowney did not have injuries listed on the injury report and their time off during practice was simply to rest.
“Feeling better. Feeling stronger,” Garrett said. “Just feeling like a little bit more security around my shoulder and being able to use it a little bit more.”
Garrett had been dealing with shoulder and biceps injuries related to a car accident in late September while Clowney had been recovering from an ankle injury suffered in Week 2.
“I feel like I needed that bye,” Clowney said. “Just since I had the sprained ankle back against the Jets, it's been kind of lingering. I needed the bye to get better, you know, try to get ready for this game, too.
The hope is they’ll both stay healthy down the stretch.
“I feel a little better than I did the last few weeks I've been playing,” Clowney said. “I'm just hoping it'll roll over to these games and I'll continue to feel this way the rest of this year.”
Turn up the heat – While many players downplayed Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa being left-handed, it presents a unique opportunity for Clowney and Garrett.
“It's going to make a difference,” Clowney said. “I mean, that just means I'm going to be on his blind side this week. He won't be seeing a lot. It's still the rush and coverage together, work together. It's going to take all four of us up front to get after him. It won't just be one guy. We gotta come to play, like I said. It's going to take everybody.”
Tagovailoa is know for getting the ball out quickly, which adds another layer to pursuing him.
“Hey, got to come after him from different angles,” Garrett said. “Maybe I’ll attack him from the inside if I’m left a little bit, drop a little bit more, I might blitz to the middle. We’ll see what I’ve got to do to get free and try to make sure that they don’t know where I’m at.”
Got the beat – Several Browns spoke this week about the energy the team had leading up to their game against the Bengals and how they aim to replicate it this week and going forward the rest of the way following their best performance of the season, a 32-13 victory.
Apparently, it just comes down to what’s on the pregame playlist in the locker room.
“We don’t usually play music in the locker room, all of a sudden guys are flying around and making plays all over the field so maybe we need to play more music,” Garrett said. “I don’t know if it was the 90s rap but we have to find something that everybody can get jamming to and wanting to play as hard as they can with.”
Spot on – The Colts hiring of Jeff Saturday drew the ire of former Browns left tackle Joe Thomas Friday morning on NFL Network.
Browns left guard, and friend of Thomas, Joel Bitonio offered this gem of an assessment on the situation in Indianapolis.
“It’d be like us hiring Joe Thomas if something happened here,” Bitonio said.
Injury report – OUT: TE David Njoku (ankle), LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (knee); QUESTIONABLE: OL Michael Dunn; EXPECTED TO PLAY: RT Jack Conklin (foot), DT Perrion Winfrey (illness), CB Greg Newsome (oblique), RG Wyatt Teller (calf), DE Myles Garrett (rest), DE Jadeveon Clowney (rest), LG Joel Bitonio (rest), WR Amari Cooper (rest), CB Martin Emerson (illness), CB Denzel Ward (concussion)
Up next – Walkthrough and travel Saturday; at Dolphins Sunday.