Cleveland Browns Training Camp Report: Day 3 (Morning) - QB Platoon?

It's Day 3 of Cleveland Browns training camp, and the team hit the field this morning for one of two practice sessions on Monday. Today's report includes some more positive news on WR Brian Robiskie, and a reporter's breakdown of several of the Cyclone plays and a possible quarterback platoon.

TRAINING CAMP REPORT - DAY 3 [MORNING] (8/2/10)

1. Robiskie's Progress Shows: After an impressive minicamp, second-year WR Brian Robiskie has followed that up with a good showing at training camp. He had a nice leaping catch in the back of the end zone on a pass from Jake Delhomme, and is crediting some of his success to the quarterbacks putting the ball in the right place. Daniel Wolf from Dawg Scooper took note of Robiskie today too and credited him for his crisp route running and his ability to catch everything thrown his direction.
    
2. The Missing Tackles: Before it was just Tony Pashos who was out, but both Pashos and John St. Clair missed practice Monday morning. Mangini later indicated that Pashos could be available for the evening session, and that St. Clair just banged his arm and should be fine.
    
3. Other Areas of the OL: With both tackles out, Shawn Lauvao and Floyd Womack continued getting reps at right guard and right tackle, respectively, with the first team. Lauvao has also been taking snaps at center with the third-team offense, with Billy Yates playing the role of backup center.
    
4. Doerschuk: Quarterback Platoon & Cribbs: Steve Doerschuk of the Canton Repository has a theory that the Browns will go with a full-fledged quarterback platoon this season between Delhomme and Wallace. He cites how often Wallace is spelling Delhomme with the first unit, with Cribbs being in the game as well, as he reasons. Below are some of the plays, quoted in full, that Doerschuk has noted from the Cyclone.
    
5. Plays in the Cyclone:
   

   During an 11-on-11 set, Cribbs lined up wide right and came in motion as if to take a reverse. Wallace made a nice fake to Cribbs, sucking away some of the defense. He deftly popped an inside handoff into Jerome Harrison’s gut. Harrison weaved through a wide lane in the middle.
   
   A short while later, they lined up the same way. This time, Wallace faked an inside handoff to Harrison. Cribbs got the ball on the reverse and steamed toward the corner, needing to get past a couple of possible one-on-one tackles. You know how hard he is to tackle.
   
   A while later, Cribbs was at quarterback, taking a shotgun snap. He simply took off left and looked for a lane, much the way he did in running eight times for 87 yards in the win over Pittsburgh.

    
   
6. Vickers Trying to Out Do Hillis: FB Lawrence Vickers can catch and run too. Grossi reports that Delhomme placed a pass in stride to Vickers over the middle, allowing him to catch and run after beating rookie T.J. Ward.
    
7. Delhomme's Ugly Pass?: I hope to get more clarification on this play, because if it was intended to be a Hail Mary or something, then it'd be a different story. Grossi claims that Delhomme just "threw a pass up" to WR Chansi Stuckey, who was guarded by three defenders. CB Eric Wright came away with the interception.
   
   EDIT: Another source claims the pass was thrown during a two-minute drill, which makes a little more sense.
    
8. Backup Running Backs: Dawg Scooper took some notes on RB Chris Jennings and RB James Davis. Jennings 'ran with power and had a nice spin move.' I wonder if that's the same spin move that I saw in regular season action last year. If it is, while they seemed to work out, I had my doubts whether he could always get away with that.
   
   Davis, meanwhile, 'showed off his speed' and ran for a ton of yards after the catch on a pass in the flat. Grossi notes that DT Ahtyba Rubin was the closest defender, and admirably tried to chase him down for 25 yards but to no avail.
    
9. Take a Lap, Steptoe: For the second day in a row, a player had to do a lap after muffing a punt. This morning, it was WR Syndric Steptoe. With that said, there have been much less laps run this year because less mistakes are being made:
   

   "Guys have stayed onsides more and kept the ball off the ground," stated head coach Eric Mangini. "That’s a good thing."

   Also running a lap was RB Chris Jennings after he fumbled and T.J. Ward scooped up the football.
    
10. Brownies: FB Peyton Hillis stiff-armed CB Brandon McDonald on a play...While OT Joel Reinders looks massive, he has not been doing very well at his position...CB Eric Wright practiced the nickelback role on the first team, with McDonald and Sheldon Brown lined up on the outside...the Browns have an evening session from 5:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.

Monday's Link Collection / Camp Sources [Morning Session]

• Cleveland Browns training camp A.M. observations (Dawg Scooper, Wolf)
• Full-fledged quarterback platoon? Camp hints that way (Canton Repository, Doerschuk)
• Observations from Browns training camp, first practice (Akron Beacon Journal, Ulrich)
• Rookies are getting opportunities with first team (Plain Dealer, Grossi)
• Observations from Browns training camp (The Chronicle-Telegram, Petrak)
• Zastudil hopes to be ready by season opener (Plain Dealer, Cabot)

Other Media

Here is a terrific montage video of Day 3's morning session, shot by Daniel Wolf over at Dawg Scooper. I love the amount of plays that were shown in such a short span.