Questions Answered
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http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/...oral_injur.html
BEREA, Ohio -- D'Qwell Jackson, who's playing on a one-year contract, will undergo another surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle, this time his right one.
Jackson, who suffered the injury on Aug. 10 in training camp, sat out the final 10 games of last season after tearing his left pectoral against the Steelers in week six. It could spell the end of the road in Cleveland for Jackson, the Browns' second-round pick in 2006 out of Maryland. The linebacker was placed on injured reserve on Saturday.
"When it was initially injured, the thought process was to give it time, let it heal and then progress him back out," said coach Eric Mangini. "Unfortunately, it just didn't respond the way that we hoped it would as we increased the amount of reps, the amount of stress, so we had to make the move."
Jackson returned to practice Wednesday on a limited basis and felt good after that session, but experienced tightness and fatigue on Thursday and stopped practicing. On Friday, he said he was discouraged, but that he planned to try again this week. Further tests, most likely an MRI, revealed that Jackson would need to undergo another procedure.
Jackson, who led the NFL with 188 tackles in 2008, signed his one-year tender of $1.759 million in June after it became apparent the Browns wouldn't sign him to a long-term deal. Last year, he spent about six months rehabbing after his surgery before receiving full clearance to practice.
Hillis the man: Mangini was asked if the Browns are going to stick with Peyton Hillis after his 144-yard outburst against the Ravens.
"Yes," he said. "I really felt strongly about Peyton when we had the chance to trade for him, really strongly about him. I had seen some of the things that he had done against our [Jets] defense, which I felt was a good defense at that point and against other good defenses. I think he's a good player and I think he's very tough with the ball in his hands.
"He had close to 200 yards of offense between his carries and his catches. To me, that's not a fluke."
Mack not the only one: Another player has accused Chiefs defensive end Shaun Smith of foul play during a game. This time, it was 49ers rookie right tackle Anthony Davis, who retaliated and was flagged 15 yard for unsportsmanlike conduct at a crucial point in the 49ers 31-10 loss.
"I'm happy to hear someone else stood up," said Browns center Alex Mack, who complained of being struck in the genitals by Smith a week ago.
Will the league crack down on Smith, a former Brown, now?
"I hope they do," said Mack. "It really isn't our concern anymore. I'm not going to see him again for another year, if that."
Mack admitted he was still steamed about the incident when he drilled linebacker Derrick Johnson and received a unnecessary roughness penalty. It led to Phil Dawson missing a 42-yard field goal soon after.
"No excuse," said Mack. "You've got to be under control and you can't play out of your head."
He was fined $5,000 for the late hit, a punishment he's appealing.
"I don't want to be classified as a cheap player," he said. "I want to be seen as a hardworking player that's going to be aggressive and do things. I'm not trying to be known as someone who's going to give a lot of late hits."
Will he sent the bill to Smith?
"It's still my fault," he said with a laugh. "I can't be diving over piles and hitting people late."
Working hard to return: Linebacker Marcus Benard, who leads the team with 2.5 sacks, was inactive in Baltimore with an ankle injury suffered in practice.
"I'll just ice the ankle up and come back strong," he said. "It was frustrating to watch game. I definitely feel I could've helped."
He said he expected to play against the Bengals.
"I'll definitely be out there," he said. "Marcus Benard will not be sitting on the bench anymore. It's not going to happen anymore."
QB decision: Mangini said he wasn't sure if Seneca Wallace would start for the third straight week.
"I think that pretty much everybody on the injury report, I would anticipate practicing at some point this week," he said, referring to the injured Jake Delhomme. "That's my initial feeling here on Monday, but Wednesday could be a totally different story."
Backing up the call: Mangini had no problem with Wallace's long sideline pass to Josh Cribbs on third and two with 4:05 remaining. Wallace made a poor throw out of bounds.
"It wasn't a decision to throw deep," said Mangini. "We had a one-on-one matchup with Josh. Seneca liked the matchup. We need a better throw to give [Cribbs] a chance ... but [Wallace] has that ability to make those decisions."
Watson regrets penalty: Tight end Ben Watson spent the first six years of his career in a disciplined New England system. So it was uncharacteristic when shoved Haloti Ngata to the ground to draw a 15-yard penalty and effectively kill a third-quarter drive with the Browns trailing, 14-10.
"I've known him a long time," said Mangini. "He's as sick about it as you can be. He knows it was dumb, it hurt the team. It makes you feel good for two seconds. I wouldn't expect him to do it 99 out of 100 times.
"I can't imagine he'll ever do it again in his football career."
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Mangini believes mistakes mask Browns’ progress
BEREA, Ohio (AP)—Eric Mangini sees progress with the Cleveland Browns despite another late-game loss.
The second-year coach liked the Browns’ aggressive response to playing in a hostile environment in Baltimore on Sunday, but pointed out penalties kept them from avoiding a 24-17 loss to the Ravens and dropping to 0-3.
“We fought throughout in a physical game,” Mangini said Monday. “I want (the team) to understand the positives—and there were a lot of them—but to get the mistakes corrected.”
Mangini said no apologies were necessary, but better play is expected from Eric Wright(notes), who was burned by Baltimore’s Anquan Boldin(notes) for three touchdowns. He admitted the cornerback had a poor game, but is not in jeopardy of losing his job.
“Eric did not have a good day,” Mangini said. “You do that against a good player and it turns into a bad day.
“It’s not about saying you’re sorry, but about not doing it again.”
Wright blamed himself for the loss and said he reviewed tape of the performance to understand what went wrong.
“Everybody played well enough to win except me,” Wright said. “I didn’t play the way I expect and it hurts to let my team down.
“I went back and watched it. I had to. I don’t feel like they were picking on me. I made it so easy for them that they threw to the guy who was open.”
Fellow cornerback Sheldon Brown(notes) said nobody on the team pointed fingers at Wright.
“It wasn’t his fault and no apologies need to be said,” Brown insisted. “It’s a team game.”
A blitz left Wright in single coverage on Boldin’s final TD, an easy 27-yard catch that put Baltimore ahead 21-17 with 5:41 to play. Mangini and safety Abram Elam(notes) both said the play came within a whisker of being a sack against Joe Flacco(notes) instead of the go-ahead score.
“I was really close, about a half step away,” Elam said.
Mangini said that’s the risk of blitzing.
“Any time you blitz, there’s trust on two fronts,” Mangini said. “You trust your secondary to hold up and you trust them to get there.
“We didn’t disrupt Flacco enough and he has a lot of weapons.”
Flacco completed 22 of 31 passes for 262 yards, including first-half touchdowns of 8 and 12 yards to Boldin.
As disappointed as he was in Cleveland blowing a lead for the third straight game, Mangini enjoyed watching the offensive line push around Baltimore’s vaunted defense. It helped Peyton Hillis(notes) run for a career-high 144 yards.
“The line turned some medium plays into big plays and we moved the ball efficiently,” Mangini said. “This is important in showing the progress we have made and what we are capable of doing—with a conscientious and determined effort to correct mistakes.”
Center Alex Mack(notes) said the line regarded the Ravens as a big challenge. A 48-yard run by Hillis in which the running back bulldozed tacklers really got them going.
“You see a teammate make big plays and you get fired up,” Mack said. “That was a taste of what we want to be like. We’re close (to winning). We had to hang on in the fourth quarter. It was a tough game to lose, but we took a lot of good out of it.”
Fullback Lawrence Vickers(notes) believes the Browns made a statement against the Ravens’ rugged defense.
“That’s exactly what you’re going to see, smashmouth football,” Vickers said. “I’m going to bring it every week, Peyton is going to bring it every week. That’s just how our group is. Our O-Line is going to bring it, I’m very passionate about it.”
With 4:05 to play and facing a third-and-2, however, Wallace decided not to try and pound the ball for a first down, or even attempt a short pass. Instead, he missed a long pass attempt to Josh Cribbs.
“Seneca liked the matchup and took a chance,” Mangini said. “It was not a bad decision, but we needed a better throw.”
^Notes: Mangini said he anticipates five key starters back to practice as the Browns prepare to face Cincinnati in another AFC Central matchup. Starting quarterback Jake Delhomme(notes) (ankle), running back Jerome Harrison(notes) (thigh), wide receiver Brian Robiskie(notes) (hamstring), and linebacker Marcus Benard(notes) (ankle) and defensive lineman Shaun Rogers(notes) (ankle and hip) were all inactive at Baltimore.
Seneca liked the matchup and took a chance,” Mangini said. “It was not a bad decision, but we needed a better throw
QB options and choices are good and here i was blaming dabs....hehehehe
“Eric did not have a good day,” Mangini said. “You do that against a good player and it turns into a bad day.
“It’s not about saying you’re sorry, but about not doing it again.”
I would hope mangini actually meant to say through forked tongue "if i had another CB to spare eric would have been benched for the season"...
To avoid confusion and bad will this coach should always try to be open and honest and not constantly pissing fans off by insulting our intelligence with half truths, lies and super secret agent crap...
Paranoia will destroy ya...
Bring on dem bungals! Who dey? They nobody!
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Those are some great quotes, I could have pasted each one of them in this replay and ran with it. Enough said though, it's time to take it another step and ensure a win this next time.
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Zombo said:
Solid Response by Mangini. There's something for us to get excited about.
I think the fans will really be expecting Hillis to get the ball this week and will be disappointed if he doesn't.
I think he may have even been "Most Valuable Peyton" this week ... that's a tough award to win.
Zombo
The only problem with people expecting him to carry more than 19-20 times is the way he runs. If he weren't so physical I would expect him to carry it 30-35 times, but I think Harrison will see some touches as the Spell HB this week.
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Zombo said:
Solid Response by Mangini. There's something for us to get excited about.
I think the fans will really be expecting Hillis to get the ball this week and will be disappointed if he doesn't.
I think he may have even been "Most Valuable Peyton" this week ... that's a tough award to win.
Zombo
The only problem with people expecting him to carry more than 19-20 times is the way he runs. If he weren't so physical I would expect him to carry it 30-35 times, but I think Harrison will see some touches as the Spell HB this week.
The only problem with people expecting him to carry more than 19-20 times is the way he runs. If he weren't so physical I would expect him to carry it 30-35 times, but I think Harrison will see some touches as the Spell HB this week.
I love what Hillis did last week but I would be happy to see Harrison take some carries as well.. A mix of power(Hillis) and speed(Harrison) would make things harder on the defense and would help Hillis last the whole season.
I'm just hoping we can get MoMass and Evan Moore involved next week. Running well can help with playaction, but it is pointless if we don't have a reliable receiver down field.. I also would like to see a better variety of route running by the WRs. It seemed like they ran the same 3 routes all game which makes them pretty easy to cover...
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Mangini just needs another 5 years in order to go 8-8. Have patience browns fans, have patience.
why don't you spend less time commenting here and more time trying to figure out how you gave up 8 sacks and lost to us last December?
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Defense Played well wished rogers was in the Middle but Im sure He will be back soon the offense is starting to move the Ball well Lets hope we can get it going this weekend.
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