Here is the transcript from this afternoon's "Live
from Berea". The comments in italics are some thoughts (read: attempts to
explain away mistakes) I've added this evening.
On Tuesday, the Browns have an afternoon practice, so watch the Live from
Berea page starting around 3:30PM or so.
8/9/2004 2:28:14 PM: Afternoon practice starts at 3:30 and runs until 5:30
in the afternoon. Davis often ends practice a little early. The media will get a
few minutes with Davis at the end of practice.
8/9/2004 3:29:03 PM: It's overcast here now... nice breeze. Davis was
like a mad scientist with the offensive line this morning, with some unusual
combinations. We'll see if it continues this afternoon.
It did. We saw mostly Joaquin Gonzalez and Enoch DeMar at left tackle and left guard respectively on the first team, and some
unusual combinations on the second and third teams.
Davis is pitching this as the team evaluating
players at different positions, the media positions it as promotion/demotion,
with DeMar getting promoted. A comment from Butch which encouraged the second
view is that Davis said that Beasley "didn't have the type of game he wanted to
have", which is a pretty gentle way to say that he had a lousy scrimmage. I
wouldn't say it's anywhere close to "game over" yet... last week, DeMar was the
new backup left tackle.
On the surface, the Browns appear to be pushing
buttons furiously, hoping to find a combination of linemen that clicks. There is
a lot of experimentation going on right now. What worries me is that linemen
need to know what the guys on the right and left of them are going to do, and
that takes repetition and time. So one hopes the experimentation will settle
down in the near future.
8/9/2004 3:40:40 PM: We're in drills with the individual units to start off.
Very nice crowd of fans here. Risers about 2/3rds full with lots of fans
standing behind them.
It was perhaps even more than that - and this after
a 5-11 season! Fans are coming out day after day, and a number of them are
posting camp reports in the
Watercooler and
Pure Football. I enjoy reading those reports,
so I can see the practice again through someone else's eyes. Great stuff.
8/9/2004 3:44:45 PM: Already on to kickoff drills. BTW, we got a new
schedule. Afternoon practice tomorrow... Morning practice on Weds... No 2-a-days
until Thurs.
8/9/2004 3:50:57 PM: King, Geathers, Jones have returned kicks so far. Dee Brown just ran one back.
8/9/2004 3:55:03 PM: Last kick, Geathers had a nice gap to run through. So
did CJ Jones two kicks later.
Lest I be accused of being an overt Jason Geathers
pimp rather than a thoroughly objective media-reporter-type, I should point out
that I really wanted to wax poetic about how Geathers looked like he could
pretty much run over anyone as he was charging through that gap.
But, I restrained myself. Until now.
Geathers is in a tough spot trying to make this
team, but as you can tell, he just strikes me as one of those guys with a lot of
potential based on his size and how he moves.
8/9/2004 4:01:53 PM: Unit drills again. I watch the receivers because I can
stand in the shade and because I'm lazy. Ra! Dunbar needs to hold onto the
football better... dropping some again today.
I haven't seen Dunbar running back many kicks, and
that seems to be the way he would make this team.
8/9/2004 4:04:46 PM: QBs tossing to WRs now. Holcomb just tossed a pass
30 or so yards. Nice to see.
8/9/2004 4:06:59 PM: Geathers makes a real nice one-handed catch in
drills. Frisman Jackson makes a nice catch as well. Dunbar drops another one.
8/9/2004 4:09:10 PM: Tossing to tight ends now. Shea is having a nice
camp... making few mistakes.
8/9/2004 4:14:05 PM: A bit more work on timing needed? Browns QBs are
just overthrowing tight ends on end zone routes, particularly Garcia. Timing
with WRs much better at this point... to my untrained eyes.
Clearly the point of this drill was to throw over the
coverage and allow the tight end's greater height and size let him pull in the
ball... sort of like Dave Logan used to do back in the day. There was only one
completion (to Darnell Sander) that I could see. Mostly the passes were
overthrown just a touch... some fine-tuning is needed before September 12th.
8/9/2004 4:16:42 PM: Refs coming out... scrimmage time!
8/9/2004 4:20:54 PM: Suggs runs right... nice hole. Garcia to Morgan
complete... second team comes out.
8/9/2004 4:24:37 PM: Westmoreland is on the field. Holcomb tosses a bomb
to Jones, who had a couple of yards on Wansley.
As I pondered it, it was Westmoreland - not David Young - who crunched Northcutt in the morning practice. I got confused about the
numbers. Oops - one of the little pitfalls of being "live", I guess. Makes me
respect Jim Donovan a little more.
8/9/2004 4:26:40 PM: The weirdness continues. Chambers was just at LG.
8/9/2004 4:31:02 PM: Red zone drills. Henry knocks a pass away from
Morgan. Shea gets open on the next play and pulls it down. DBs doing well in
these 7 on 7s.
One of the reasons I said that the DBs were doing
well is that this particular drill doesn't have a pass rush. On some of these
plays, Garcia looked around a lot longer than he would have had with a rush
coming in on him. Henry made nice plays in both the morning and afternoon
sessions.
8/9/2004 4:37:29 PM: Butch saw something he liked... just walked out and
talked to Bentley. Third team goal-line drills... Alston makes a nice catch of a
McCown pass.
Richard Alston made several nice catches in the
afternoon. The cuts at WR are not going to be simple.
8/9/2004 4:40:35 PM: Drill ends with McCown tossing a pick to Sharpe.
Hybl gets some reps.
8/9/2004 4:45:42 PM: 11 on 11 now. Gonzalez getting time with 1st team at
LT. Verba's just on sidelines... Doesn't seem hurt or anything...
Davis explained later that Verba was getting the
afternoon off, as the team takes things a little slow with him. Also, the notion
here is that Gonzalez could get some reps with the first unit.
8/9/2004 4:50:27 PM: More weirdness... Beasley at RG, Osborne at RT on
second team.
Beasley doesn't seem like the ideal picture of a
right guard to me, but it's probably not getting worked up about. Players are
moving around the line a lot... "versatility" showed up in the afternoon press
time again today.
8/9/2004 4:53:31 PM: 1st team back out. Nice complete to Shea enabled
by a little holding by Gonzo. Just a little...
That little remark was based on watching a
linebacker (Taylor or Bentley) get around Gonzalez and watching as the left
tackle grabbed the linebacker's shirt tail and tugged it. In truth, it didn't
slow the linebacker down much.
8/9/2004 4:57:28 PM: Even in practice, the Browns seem to have more luck
running to the right., as Suggs busts one. Maddox has been able to find space in
the middle on 2nd & 3rd unit action.
Maddox was getting praise from the coaching staff
after repeatedly being able to find room to run in between the tackles today.
He's another interesting player trying to crack a deep depth chart at running
back. Adding Dee Brown to the mix didn't make his job easier.
8/9/2004 5:19:40 PM: Practice ended at 5:05 today. Butch continues to tone
it down.