While no one is willing to come right out and say it on the record, all signs
point to Joe Jurevicius’ scuffle with linebacker Chaun Thompson as
being the likely cause of the wide receivers recent back issues.
The back spasms, which caused the veteran receiver to miss the previous two days
of practice, subsided enough to allow Jurevicius back on the field yesterday,
albeit in a limited capacity.
“It feels good and I'm getting better,” the
Clevelandnative said. “Basically, it's just what happens when you play football
sometimes. Now, I'm taking all of the right steps to get back out there. Today
was my first step. I got back out on the field and ran some drills and I look
forward to doing more."
Jurevicius himself alluded to the Sunday incident—in which the two tangled on a
play away from the ball—but refused to pin the back troubles on it.
“That’s
the day it happened, but whether that was it, who knows?" Jurevicius told
reporters.
"But it’s a done deal, and that’s what happens when you’re out
here all day long and it’s hot."
*****
Some guy named LeCharles Bentley held a press conference
yesterday to discuss some injury or something or other he suffered earlier in
camp. I hadn’t heard about it, but it must’ve been a fairly big deal
because I’m pretty positive you can get all 28 stories relating to the presser
from today’s
Daily Newswire.
*****
For the second consecutive day, fourth-round pick Leon Williams took his
place alongside the first-team defense. However, and also for the second
consecutive day, Crennel warned onlookers not to read anything into the
situation.
“He's a big guy who can run and he's picked up on the
system,” Crennel said.
“It will be interesting to
see him in a game situation…
A backup is always playing with the threes or twos. Sometimes, if you put him
with the ones, a different guy emerges.”
*****
Last year, Brandon Rideau took center stage as the receiving sensation of
training camp. This year, it’s Frisman Jackson’s turn to reprise
the role he played in the summers of 2003 and 2004.
(As an aside, is it just me or does it seem like Jackson has been around
since the days of Collier and Graham and Brown? He’s like Dick Clark,
only with better hands and older-looking skin.)
After struggling last season, Jackson has done an about-face and continues
to impress the coaching staff on a daily basis.
“Frisman is having a good camp. He is
showing that he might be able to come in and help more than we anticipated,
probably more than he did last year,” Crennel said.
If fellow WR Braylon Edwards is unable to go on September 10, there is a
very real chance that Jackson could enter the regular season as the
club’s number three receiver. That is, of course, pending the development
of this year’s third-round pick—Travis Wilson—between now and the opener.
*****
KEN DORSEY UPDATE:
The backup quarterback—who is reportedly neck-and-neck for said backup job with
second-year pro Derek Anderson—is still struggling and still attempting
to learn the new offense. On the bright side, he thinks he’ll look
better once the fake games begin.
*****
Speaking of Dorsey, let us put one of those ugly, Internet-generated rumors to
rest: Spergon Wynn and Doug Johnson hold daily conference call
scoff sessions directed at the current Browns backup QB.
That is completely and utterly false. They do it on a weekly basis.
*****
Former Browns center Jeff Faine felt a certain amount of empathy toward
running back Michael Bennett, who was recently traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Bennett was stuck behind Deuce McAllister and rookie Reggie Bush
in the Saints’ crowded backfield, a situation that Faine likened to Cleveland’s signing of Bentley at the start of
free agency.
“It's
something like my situation as well," Faine told the Sun Herald.
"It was just
too many
hens in the chicken coop. It's just one of those things that we've had too
many backs. Reggie came in and the team felt that they needed to make a move."
*****
In other ex-Cleveland Browns news, wide receiver Quincy Morgan sees
himself in the Steelers’ starting lineup for the season-opener against the
Dolphins. Or not even on the roster.
One of the two.
“Right there alongside Hines, that's where I see
myself," the hands-challenged Morgan told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
"If I'm not,
I might not even be here. But that's where I see myself, man. I can't have
it any other way."
*****
It seems that, wherever you go in this great land of ours, you can’t swing a
dead cat without hitting a Browns fan.
(Note to PETA freaks: I’m not advocating the time-honored practice of swinging
dead cats. Personally, I advocate the swinging of live cats until they are
dead, which is completely different and, to be honest, a lot more challenging
and rewarding.)
If you happen to be in the Marion, Indiana-area, and are in possession of a
deceased feline, one twirl and you may wind up hitting Jim Brunner of the
Marion Chronicle-Tribune. The seemingly unabashed Browns fan
gives his readers a quick—and by “quick” we mean “teenager-at-the-prom
quick”—look at the upcoming NFL season, with
three mentions of his beloved (?) Cleveland Browns.
To wit:
2. EVERY TEAM HAS A CHANCE.
Even my Cleveland Browns. With the salary cap, each team is dreaming of a Super Bowl berth.
5. NO STAR SYSTEM.
Peyton Manning
plays by the same rules as Charlie Frye. You win or lose on your performance,
not with the help of the refs.
Brunner then ends his
piece with a hearty “Oh
yeah. Go Browns.”
Who would’ve guessed that Grant County was a hot-bed for Browns fandom?
*****
Nothing screams “team loyalty”—or sheer boredom—more than
taping a billionaire NFL owner’s son to a chair, which is exactly what
happened to Max Lerner yesterday afternoon. The son of owner Randy
Lerner was eventually freed from his unexpected bondage through the heroic
and unselfish efforts of wide receiver coach Terry Robiskie.
For their next trick, several team sources say, unidentified players plan on
giving defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s only son Corbin “an atomic
wedgie to end all atomic wedgies”.
*****
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“I think that it's absurd to think the team is jinxed. We're not jinxed now and
we're not going to be lucky when we win the Super Bowl.”—LeCharles
Bentley, shortly before being struck by a meteor in the training complex
parking lot.
QUOTE OF THE DAY, THE SEQUEL:
“I
think in the back of their minds, they are hoping for a break from me or from
the weather. They stand a better chance from the weather at this point.”—Romeo
Crennel