practice. The difference is awesome. Before, it seemed like the coaches stood around, and

the tempo was so slow, the players got bored. Not now. The practice is quick, uptempo,

and the players really seem to enjoy the pace. A LOT gets done.

2. Amazing still, is the rappport the Browns have with THESE coaches. I have never

seen it before. The coaches TEACH all the time - technique, the way the systems work,

I suppose, a lot of teaching. And the players really seem engaged with learning from coaches

that have so much to teach. It isn't just "coach says something, and the player walks away".

It's "coach teaches to player(s), and the players respond with questions and comments."

It tells me that the players are ALL IN on believing in their coaches, and respect goes

both ways.

3. The players -really- seem upbeat, and having FUN out there, a lot of fun chatter.

At one point, the db's were challenging a pass, tried to intercept it, the wr and db's

nearly collided, and went pass the line, nearly landing on me and the guy to my left.

We caught them just as they stopped in front of us. I believe it was Rahim Moore, #20?,

that laid on the ground, doing a beautiful version of an inch worm crawling, while they

were all laughing and hooting and hollering. This, friends, is how a team comes together.

4. With so much going on, I just noticed certain players and took note.

a. Terrell Pryor. the REAL DEAL. Pryor is having fun being "ALL IN", and goes

to block on a pass play like he means business, and when he gets his hands on

the ball, he has moves, and gets serious yacs. He's explosive off the los, great hands,

and he looks like he may very well become a well known name, like a Josh Cribbs,

one of those popular players. He no longer looks like the ex qb trying to become

a wr. He IS a wr now. And he looks unstoppable.

b. Scooby. Seems to have excellent instincts, has very, very fast hand to hand

"combat" moves, and very quick feet. I hope he sticks. Probably backup ILB.

c. Joe Haden is back active. Saw him take off from the los, and he looks ready to roll.

d. Danny Shelton, my co-favorite player, along with Joe Thomas. The defensive line

has a promise of a very, very, very good rotation. They have two really big, stalwart

road graders in Lawrence-Stample and John Hughes. They are 6'1",, 320, and

6'2", 320. And then, there is Danny Shelton. 6'2", 335.

But Danny Shelton doesn't look like a road grader anymore. He's trimmed, very

athletic looking. What is fascinating, at least to me, is that on the drills where the dl's

take off, and go low to spin around the back of the olineman... Shelton went

low and around so quickly I was stunned to see he could do that. That's

335 lbs in a low, tight arc 3 pt crawl, and he was so quick at it I was ...stunned.

That should scare the crap out of opposing qbs. Shelton looks unstoppable,

and not sluggish in the slightest. Shelton can MOVE. Nassib, Cooper, Meder,

the rest... the coaches have a lot of tough decisions to make with the competition,

in several positions on the team.

e. Higgins is just a wr who has "it", too. He was making some plays, and seems to be

very physical on going to block on a play,

f. So, I was looking around in the defensive backfield, and missed it, but Canton Mike

says that one one red zone play... they had Pryor at qb, and RGIII was ... somewhere else.

I'll let him elaborate.

g. Gabriel shows more fluency in his route running, and even showed a stutter step and

change of direction I don't remember him doing much of before last year. Of course,

he's small. Hawkins looks even smaller. Interesting. How many wr's they keep, and which

ones, is one of the great mysteries to us all - tough decisions, there, too.

h. While Danny Shelton was signing autographs, I walked over and said to him that

I LOVE the way he plays the game. He flashed his big grin, and said "Thank you, goin after it evey day".

Danny is very, very popular.

i. Seems like these Browns have a serious, fun, inner confidence with where they are

as a TEAM, with believing in their coaches, and it shows in the upbeat pace of the practices,

and the fun chatter with the players. Amazing difference.

j. sorry, that's all I can muster. It was really hot, and I had sweat running down into my eyes

a few times when the breeze went quiet, and my binoculars fogged up. And I'm just

a fan, no football scout .

EDIT* oh, there was this drill where the lb's go after the "qb", and when they get to him, the coach

tosses a "fumble" behind the dummy, and the lb immediately goes after the "fumble".

This is cool. Never saw this any other practice in past years, ever. Just a smart, teaching

moment of a drill. The coaches do that a lot.