With the 4-1 Denver Broncos coming to town on Sunday, the schedule might not
be providing exactly what the
1-4 Browns need. Especially for the Browns beleaguered offense.
The Broncos defense has given up only one touchdown to date.
Romeo Crennel confirmed that there will be no changes on the coaching staff
and said there will be no changes in the play calling—other than the fact that
he will possibly change the plays from time to time.
“I have confidence in my guys and I believe we can get this thing turned
around,” he said. “I believe I have good coaches and guys on the team and
believe we can develop some consistency and be productive.”
Crennel said, as he did last week, that he believes most of the Browns problems
have been self-inflicted.
“If you look at our games, we keep shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said.
“The turnover ratio impacts the whole team. What the defense takes and the
offense gives. We’re minus nine and I know if we can improve that, we’ll win
some games. If we can improve in that area, we can improve our chances.”
Crennel was asked about Maurice Carthon and his role, and Crennel insists it
will be the same.
“There’s been a lot of talk
about the offensive coordinator,” he said. “We’re not going to make any changes.
We’re going to try and emphasize our strong points and push forward. We’re going
to try to get some things done. We don’t think we’re that far away, when you
look at the Baltimore game.
“We wanted to focus on our strengths and identify them and we’ve done that,”
he said. “We found a couple of running plays and pass plays that have been
productive and we want to continue with them.”
Crennel has repeatedly taken the blame on play calling by saying he takes the
blame for calling the plays when they didn’t work. However, he did say on
Monday, that he would change plays if he didn’t like them, seemingly indicating
that he hasn’t done that very often in the past.
“All of our offensive staff have input into the game plan,” he said. “We are
going to emphasize that. Some of that is over riding plays and if I think a
certain play needs to be called, I’ll change it.”
“When we come out of the room, we’ll all follow the game plan,” he said. “If
I want to change (the play), I’ll change it. If I think I have a good reason for
making the call, I’ll make it.”
Crennel said he talked with players and coaches in making his
decision on relative to offensive personnel changes.
Notebook
Injury Update: Crennel said he is hopeful most of the injured players will be
back.
“We should be in pretty good
physical shape,” Crennel said. “Hopefully, (Gary)
Baxter and (Leigh) Bodden will be ready to go.
“Hopefully, (Brian) Russell
will be ready to go,” he said. “We’ll have to see how (Justin) Hamilton is. (Kellen) Winslow and Baxter, hopefully, he can do more and play some this
week.”
Joe Jurevicius is expected to
move into the starting lineup ahead of Dennis Northcutt, who injured his ribs
against Carolina.
“If Dennis isn’t able to get back, that pushes Jurevicius forward into more
playing time,” he said. “It might be a pain management situation with Dennis.”
Some people think Jurevicius should be the starter ahead of Northcutt, even
if Northcutt is healthy.
“We thought at the X position, Dennis should be the starter in the slot,” he
said. “Trying to figure who is the best to go in the slot, whether it be Braylon Edwards, Joe or Dennis.”
Personnel Changes: Other than
Jurevicius over Northcutt, the only personnel change Crennel talked about was
giving Lennie Friedman a chance to work into the offensive line.
“We looked at Lennie Friedman
and we might rotate him in there,” Crennel said. “He plays both center and guard
and see if he’s able to help and relieve some stress on the other guys in the
game.
Crennel hinted that Friedman might rotate with either Hank Fraley at center
and/or Cosey Coleman or Joe Andruzzi at guard.
“Maybe those guys in front of Friedman might be able to play better if
they’re given some rest.”