Browns Training Camp Report: Day 3 (Morning) - Leggett, Davis Continue to Shine

by Chris Pokorny on Aug 3, 2009 4:53 PM EDT in 2009 Training Camp

WR Lance Leggett continues to make plays, catching a deep ball thrown by QB Brady Quinn for an eventual touchdown.

It's Day 3 of Cleveland Browns training camp, and the morning practice is already in the books. There weren't a lot of updates on the injury front, with a name or two even being added to the "minor" injury list.

TRAINING CAMP REPORT - DAY 3 [MORNING] (8/3/09)

Welcome Back, Mr. Heiden: Tight end Steve Heiden is no longer wearing the red "limited contact" jersey, meaning he is now going through practice the same as everyone else. How pumped up was Heiden to get back into contact? So much, that he was able to take down LB Kamerion Wimbley in one-on-one tackling drills. I'm feeling the Heiden buzz already, and it really seems like a wide open competition for the starting tight end position.
Play of the Day: Once again, Lance Leggett is taking advantage of his reps. Earlier in the practice session, Brady Quinn threw the ball about 50-55 yards in the air and after juggling it a bit, Leggett was able to haul it in with DB Corey Ivy being unable to break up the play. Leggett then proceeded to run it the rest of the way for about an 80-yard touchdown. WTAM adds that another thing that made the play impressive was seeing rookie RB James Davis pick up a blitz from S Hamza Abdullah.

RB James Davis is consistently running past defenders with quick cuts.

Not Practicing: Among the players still not practicing: WR Braylon Edwards, DL Shaun Rogers, DB Don Carey, and FB Charles Ali. CB Eric Wright left the morning practice late with an apparent tweaked hamstring.
Backup Nose Tackle: With Rogers sidelined, it's a good opportunity for the coaches to see which player is best suited for the backup nose tackle position. According to the OBR, Robaire Smith, Louis Leonard, C.J. Mosley, and Ahtyba Rubin have each had some work there, with Rubin standing out the most.
Average Day at Quarterback: Neither of the quarterbacks particularly outshined the other, as both of them failed to produce a score in this morning's two-minute drills. Among their biggest mistakes of the practice -- Anderson gave a pick six to Hamza Abdullah, while Quinn threw behind WR Jordan Norwood on a would-be touchdown.
Bubble Watch: So far, WR Paul Hubbard is experiencing some of the same issues he faced in camp last year -- not being able to catch the ball consistently. The OBR reports that Hubbard was up and down Monday, cutting off a route to lead to an incompletion, then coming back to make a spectacular catch, only to come back and have another negative play. On the defensive side of things, CB Corey Ivy stood out with two nice pass breakups.

OLB Alex Hall gets the better of TE Martin Rucker in a rushing drill.

Asset on Special Teams: Head coach Eric Mangini noted that RB James Davis has been one of the first players down the field in special teams drills. That'll be something to look out for during the preseason; perhaps he can make it so Joshua Cribbs doesn't have to work so hard.
Rucker's Blocking: Tight end Martin Rucker didn't handle his OLB as well as Heiden did to Wimbley. Rucker was generally overpowered by Alex Hall during drills.
NoMo Drops: According to a fan's report, WR Mohamed Massaquoi struggled in the morning with several drops. Staying on par, WR Brian Robiskie was once again catching the ball well.
Harrison Holds Up: Daniel Wolf of Dawg Scooper noted that RB Jerome Harrison held his own on a blitz from LB Eric Barton. Still, with James Davis impressing day-by-day (he again had big runs, including a 50+ yarder), you have to wonder if he will slip into the Leon Washington role instead of Harrison.
Foster Struggling: While it doesn't sound like he's anywhere near "Nat Dorsey or Isaac Sowells bad", OT George Foster's abilities seem to be behind those of Ryan Tucker, John St. Clair, and Floyd Womack. Foster was being given a tough time by OLB David Bowens.
No News is...Good News?: If anyone attends camp, please let us know about Brodney Pool and/or Abram Elam. The news on them the first three days has been scarce.

The evening practice report will be up either late tonight or some time tomorrow morning.

Sunday's Evening Link Collection / Camp Sources

Lane's Training Camp Quick Hits (Orange and Brown Report, Adkins)
Cleveland Browns Training Camp Report (Dawg Scooper, Wolf)
QBs stymied in two-minute drills (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Grossi)
Monday AM Aug. 3 - Heiden Cleared (Akron Becaon Journal, Ridenour)

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Comments

2. Brady needs to at least try to do this more often. It should come as no surprise that he can throw the ball 50+ yards; he is huge, and he puts zip on a lot of his shorter passes when he wants to. The big question is why he doesn’t do this more often. I don’t really have a great answer yet.

4. Rubin is the clear choice for the backup NT if we will use a true NT if Rogers isn’t playing. Even in drills against sleds, you can see how much “knockback” Rubin gets, a key part of demanding a double team.

by rufio on Aug 3, 2009 5:08 PM EDT reply actions

I am guessing part of the reason he hasn’t thrown downfield much is that he has only played in 3 games

by Roger Dorn on Aug 3, 2009 8:38 PM EDT up reply actions

He’s had preseason action, too. And one would think preseason INTs due to forcing a deep ball or two wouldn’t be that big of a deal to the coach, especially when you need to practice throwing deep.

He probably wasn’t able to throw deep all that well after the finger injury, so he’s really only had like 1.5 regular season games to do it.

by rufio on Aug 4, 2009 2:27 AM EDT up reply actions

you forget that the old coaches — crennell and chud — were morons.

by DontCallMeJoey on Aug 4, 2009 5:22 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Chud showed flashes of brilliance—at least in play design.

Scratch that, at least in stealing plays from other offensive minds.

But, yeah.

by rufio on Aug 5, 2009 12:12 AM EDT up reply actions

James Davis

I know its early in the 09-10 season, but im lovin what im hearing about james davis, i believe he is def the steal in the draft this year!

by brownsfanbehindenemylines on Aug 3, 2009 6:29 PM EDT reply actions

I loved James Davis coming out of Clemson.

I really think that he will be the starter by week 10. The kid can ball.

by Bernie19Kosar on Aug 3, 2009 7:12 PM EDT reply actions

you are correct about how he can play some ball, but i dont believe he will be starting this season, barring any major injuries, Jamal lewis has been the first HB in a long time to rush back to back 1000 yrd season, and with harrison with more gametime experience, i believe davis will be the third RB, and a very valuable asset to the ST core. After all, we dont want to just throw him in the lineup and end up with another william green or lee suggs do we? i believe he will compete for the starting job in yr two tho, if he’s hungry enough like the rest of us doggs!!

by brownsfanbehindenemylines on Aug 4, 2009 3:30 PM EDT up reply actions

i think you means dawgs

by BradyQuinnisBeast on Aug 4, 2009 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Chirs, I think you’ll want to change that from Dawg Scooter to Dawg Scooper. While the ‘Scooper’ can elicit various negative images as well as the positive journalistic one, the ‘Scooter’ brings nothing to mind but a stain on the carpet.

That said, thanks for what you do with this site.

by JustBob on Aug 3, 2009 7:39 PM EDT reply actions