BEREA (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Browns are bringing back the orange jersey’s – for training camp.
Head coach Mike Pettine wanted to add a competitive spin to camp and so the unit that won the team’s final 11 on 11 period will get to trade in their white or brown jerseys for orange ones for the next practice.
“We were going to build some competitive things into practice, as we did at the end,” Pettine said. “I thought our guys responded, kept them out through individual. Guys seemed to be focused. I thought the teamwork was sharp, as well.”
Tuesday’s challenge was requiring the offense to gain 20 yards against the defense in a best of 5 play series.
The defense stopped the offense on 3 of its first 4 tries to win the challenge and the right to wear orange instead of white Thursday morning.
“It feels like a win today,” defensive tackle Ahtyba Rubin said. “It feels like a small victory, So we’re just going to try to continue that every week and battle with the offense if we get the jerseys, we get the jerseys.”
Safety Donte Whitner is used to the extra competition in practice having spent the past few seasons in San Francisco, where instead of wearing jersey’s the winners had to run gassers.
“You understand that something is on the line. One play can cost you the football game. It kind of gives you that feeling a little bit,” Whitner said. “Coming out as a defense and responding the way that we did is a good first step, but that’s all it is – a first step. If we can come out [Thursday] and do the same thing…then we’ll start to do something.
“One day is OK, but we’ve got to put a string of them together.”
Receiver Miles Austin lamented having to stay in brown for the next session.
“I wish we could have been wearing those things on Thursday, but it goes like that,” Austin said. “The defense, I feel like they just went out there and played better than us that last period. We obviously need to learn from our mistakes and get those orange jerseys the next time.”
Maintaining The Edge – Brian Hoyer continues to maintain his advantage over rookie Johnny Manziel in the quarterback competition.
Manziel’s first 2 snaps in team 11 on 11 ended up out of bounds but it was a positive sign of him not forcing a bad throw.
Several of his throws were once again off target. He was intercepted off play action while looking for Anthony Armstrong but found safety Jordan Poyer instead. He almost got Josh Gordon killed with a throw oveer the middle when Gordon extended to try and make the catch.
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‘Hoyer wasn’t perfect. He was picked off by rookie cornerback Justin Gilbert later in the day while looking for Miles Austin up the sideline.
When it comes to interceptions in practice, Pettine tries not to overreact.
“I don’t react to that. I want to know the why,” Pettine said. “What is it? The DB just made a heck of a play or was it a misread by the quarterback? Was it a bad throw? Was it a missed route by a receiver? The route was maybe supposed to be flattened out and it wasn’t. There are reasons for it that I don’t want to react too much as far as the content of the plays until I get a chance to study it on tape.”
Packing Them In – Another 3,503 fans took in Tuesday’s practice and the Browns have totaled 14,119 fans through the first 4 practices.
Quote Of The Day – “Throwing a football at someone never killed anybody. We had a little scuffle. We go in the locker room and shake hands and laugh together, but on the football field, we’re not friends. Offense and defense, we’re not friends.” – safety Donte Whitner on 1 of the many skirmishes that broke out at practice Tuesday.
Up Next – Players are off on Wednesday, no practice or meetings. Next practice: Thursday at 9:30 a.m.
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