Box Score - 11.17.08
Team	1	2	3	4	Final
	6	7	3	13	29
	0	10	3	14	27

The Browns won for the third time in their past four road games, taking out the wildcard-contending Buffalo Bills 29-27 on Monday Night Football. It was our second Monday Night victory of the season in two attempts -- we have one more in December against the Philadelphia Eagles.

I think that overall, when you look at the state of the team, we are a better football team than last season. Looking at our schedule heading into the season, we feared that despite being better, we'd have a worse record. We do have a worse record at this point (4-6), but it's not because of the competition. We've defeated the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants. We've defeated two potential playoff teams in Buffalo and Jacksonville. And, we dominated the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens -- two teams with great records -- until making team history with collapses.

The odds aren't in our favor now, but we still love Cleveland Browns football, and our team gave us another wild one against Buffalo. Let's get started with the game balls for Week 11...

Awarding Game Balls (Making Fans Jump for Joy)

K Phil Dawson kicked a tremendous game for the second year in a row versus the Buffalo Bills.

1. Phil Dawson: I didn't agree with the decision to kick it short on kickoffs as often as we did, but I'll assume those calls came from special teams coach Ted Dashier. Dawson is listed here for being the hero against the Bills for the second year in a row -- by now, I'm sure Buffalo fans hate him to death. Dawson went an incredible 5-for-5 on the road, with each one of them being spot on. His finest piece of work came on what turned out to be the game-winning field goal with 1:39 remaining, as he calmly drilled a career-long 56-yarder.
   
2. Jerome Harrison: I'm not exactly sure if four touches merits praise for the coaches in terms of getting him involved a whole lot more, but at least they stuck with him while he was hot. At the start of the fourth quarter, Harrison burst through the line for a 72-yard touchdown. I was screaming and jumping out of my seat as I saw him get past the third level. His work may have been even more important after that though -- following a Bills kick return touchdown, Harrison came right back out for a 9-yard run (tack on a personal foul penalty), followed by a nice 21-yard reception on a play the Indianapolis Colts often run. He didn't return after that due to a hamstring injury, but he led us to 10 points in the two drives he was utilized.
   

Goats of the Game (Could Have Cost Us)

1. Andra Davis: Welcome back to the goat section Andra Davis. After making a nice interception in the first quarter, the rest of the game was unbearable. The entire defense couldn't tackle Marshawn Lynch or Fred Jackson, but Davis was the worst of them all. Please, Romeo: get Beau Bell in there already. I don't care if Bell gets juked out of his shoes on every single play; removing Davis from the field is a victory in itself.
   

WR Braylon Edwards can celebrate another aspect: he had several nice blocks down the field.

2. Braylon Edwards: He had 8 catches for 104 yards, but it could have been so much more. Edwards was targeted on several other occasions, but couldn't come away with a reception. The most notable ones were a nice high pass on the team's first drive, and a ball that hit Edwards right in the face on the final drive. I do give a lot of credit to Terrence McGee for having excellent coverage on Edwards throughout the game, but Edwards is supposed to be a Pro Bowl receiver. There were clearly catches in that game that he knows he's talented enough to catch; the wait for him to break out of his funk continues on.
   

General Thoughts (Random Tidbits on the Game)

1. Outstanding Defense: Yes, of course there were a lot of things our offense should have done to adjust better to the Bills' defense. Nonetheless, I thought Buffalo gave Brady Quinn a lot of tough looks in his first road start, and I'm glad that they did. It allowed us to see how Quinn would respond to that type of pressure.
   

QB Brady Quinn may have been pressured, but he wasn't flustered.

2. Quinn Did What Needed to be Done: Statistically, it wasn't a very pretty game for Quinn, as he completed just 39% of his passes for a QB rating of 55.9. Maybe Derek Anderson would've had been stats in this game, but that's not what is important to look at in this case. Quinn was blitzed heavily all night long and did a great job getting a throw off down the field most of the time. The option of using him on a bootleg run panned out well too. My favorite throw is his one on our final drive that set up Dawson's long field goal -- a corner blitz came free from the edge, and Quinn almost instinctively without seeing him was able to step up, double pump, and fire a completion.
3. Missing Stallworth: It was good to see Edwards get involved this week, and Winslow was still targeted several times as well. However, I don't like the fact that we heard Syndric Steptoe's name mentioned more on the receiving end than Donte Stallworth's. Things looked bright last week between Quinn and Stallworth, but having zero catches the next week is not what this team paid so much money for.
   
4. McDonald's Redemption: I couldn't have been happier for Brandon McDonald, who made up for last week's miscues with two big plays against the Bills: an interception and a forced fumble, each of which led to a Dawson field goal. The tackling was still atrocious, but if you can't tackle you at least need to make up for it as McDonald did.
   
5. Strong Consideration for E-Wright: There probably should have been a third game ball handed out to cornerback Eric Wright. Blanketing the fast Lee Evans most of the game, he held him to without a catch the entire game. Heck, I don't even remember him being targeted once, despite the fact that Trent Edwards often had light years to make a decision. That's the first time Evans has failed to record a catch in a game in nearly 70 games.
   
6. Special Teams Edge: Trying to determine who had the better special teams on Monday Night is a tough one. Dawson had five field goals including the game winner, while Rian Lindell missed the game winner. The Bills' coverage on Cribbs was solid, while the Browns' coverage on Leodis McKelvin was poor. There is one play that will lean me towards Cleveland: in the first quarter, Mike Adams perfectly downed a Dave Zastudil punt at the one-yard line on a play most special teamers would probably muff into the end zone in the heat of the moment.
   
7. Did You See Orr?: I sort of rushed seeing the game since I was on tape delay, but I didn't really notice any difference in terms of Shantee Orr's playing time. If anyone has any word on that, feel free to chime in. I noticed Travis Daniels in on the action more often, but he was just part of the depressing non-tacklers.
8. Ahtyba Rubin: Even before he made a critical fumble recovery, I noticed Rubin making a few more plays than usual. If anything, it looked as if Rubin was receiving the type of proportional playing time I expected Orr to get at linebacker.
   

The Browns' defense couldn't stop Bills RB Marshawn Lynch late in the game.

9. "Reason 2 - Not Physical": I listed "not physical" as reason number two of our defensive shortcomings in my review of the Denver Broncos game, and it applies to the Bills game as well. Marshawn Lynch has a lot of talent, but he had not had a good game all season. In the past three games, we've allowed rookie Ray Rice to have a career day, fullback Peyton Hillis to beat us on fourth-and-one, and Lynch to win 1-on-6 matchups with 20 yards to go against us. We're not catching unlucky breaks in terms of backs getting hot; we're just that bad when it comes to tackling.
   
10. Fullback Slant: Heh, I'll take a quick fullback go/slant route over the middle any day over a fullback flat pass. When Charles Ali caught Quinn's pass in stride, I thought, "holy crap, is that Ali out there?" I would've hated to have been the defender to meet him for the tackle.
11. Ineffective Back: There was a lot of discussion before the season in debating who was better served as the Browns' backup running back: Jason Wright or Jerome Harrison. Wright had two decent seasons as a backup, but this year he has been in my opinion a detriment to the offense. I still put some of the blame on him for not turning around quick enough on Haloti Ngata's interception a few weeks ago, and I blame Wright for not doing a good job in picking up the blitzes Buffalo brought up the middle. All you need is a chip, but all I saw were whiffs.
12. Crennel's Reactions: At the end of the game, I couldn't help but roll over laughing at Romeo Crennel's excited reactions to Dawson's successful kick and then Lindell's miss. As they showed him walking to the center of the field after the game, I could've sworn he had a facial expression that was trying to look normal but was really holding back a huge smile.
13. Opposite Reaction: After I saw those reactions from Crennel, I saw someone on the OBR mention how Crennel looked pissed off after Jerome Harrison's huge touchdown run. I went back and checked the tape and was laughing -- but baffled -- at just how true this was. If you taped the game, go back and check it. A montage of these past two bullet points would make you laugh.
14. Brownies: Quinn had a heart-clutching throw late that should have been picked and cost us the game...it goes without saying, but Shaun Rogers remains a beast, as he had another Pro Bowl type of game...I kid you not: right before Cribbs' four-yard touchdown run, I said to my brother, "I bet we'll run a double reverse to Joshua Cribbs here." It was only a single-reverse, but close enough.

The defense was horrible again in the fourth quarter, meaning our "rotations" didn't really keep people any fresher. In the end, the "W" is what matters, and Brady Quinn has improved to a .500 record at 1-1. This is the third straight game that we should have blown out the competition based on how we started the games; maybe we can do that this Sunday against the Texans. Thank goodness for a regular Sunday 1:00 PM game too -- I've missed those.

It's one of the more exciting days as a fan to find out who will be available on gameday during the regular season, but for those who have been cut, it has to feel like a downer. Overall, my projections were pretty good, but there was a shocker -- the removal of wide receiver Travis Wilson. You have to wonder if that one dropped catch against the Bears cost him everything.

FINAL TRANSACTIONS (TO GET ROSTER DOWN TO 53)

Players Waived

1. WR Travis Wilson - I wouldn't be surprised if he still gets brought back at some point though, if we run into another injury.
   
2. WR Steve Sanders
3. WR Efrem Hill
4. WR Lance Leggett
   
5. TE Brad Cieslak - Good luck to wherever he goes next.
   
6. TE Kolomona Kapanui
7. OL James Lee - I hope to see him on the practice squad.
   
8. OL Jonathan Palmer
9. DL Melila Purcell
   
10. LB David McMillan - A shame he never caught on.
    
11. LB Chase Ortiz
12. DB A.J. Davis
13. DB Jereme Perry
    
14. DB Travis Key - Big-time playmaker in little time with the Browns; hope to see him on the practice squad.
    
15. DB Brandon Mitchell
16. K Jason Reda - If Dawson gets hurt, I think he did enough to get the first phone call.
    

Waived-Injured

1. RB Travis Thomas
2. OL Derrick Morse
3. OL Marvin Philip
4. DL Chase Pittman

Terminated-Vested Veteran

1. LB Shantee Orr

Injured Reserve

1. OL Lennie Friedman

Here are some of players who were on the bubble and made the final 53-man roster:

POSSIBLE SURPRISES (THEY MADE THE FINAL ROSTER)

1. WR Syndric Steptoe - His strong preseason effort paid off, and I'm sure his progress on kick returns helped him in case Joshua Cribbs gets banged up again.
   
2. WR Paul Hubbard - This is probably a fairness issue -- they gave Travis Wilson several years to develop before cutting ties with him, so why not give Hubbard at least a year to progress?
   
3. OL Nate Bennett - With Lennie Friedman being placed on the injured reserve (speaking of which, when did he get banged up?), Bennett takes his roster spot. I don't think anyone could've projected this one unless they had inside information on Friedman.
   
4. OL Isaac Sowells - My reasons hold true. Take that, doubters! ;)
   
5. DL Louis Leonard - He adds some versatility, because he can play nose tackle or defensive end.
   
6. DL Ahtyba Rubin - Showed more progress in his first camp than Babatunde Oshinowo seemed to.
   
7. DB Gerard Lawson - He had some trouble tackling in the final preseason game, but I thought his awareness level was a little higher than the rest of the guys trying to make the team. He's also taken a few reps at kick and punt return -- if Cribbs is out Week 1, the Browns could put Steptoe at kick returner and Lawson at punt returner (or Lawson could do both if Steptoe is out for a week too).
   

Leave your thoughts on the cuts here. I correctly projected 49/53 roster spots, which is 92.4% accuracy. Grade me with an "A" ;). I will be updating this post shortly with a little note next to some of the players.

A lot has gone on since the disaster against the New York Giants, but altogether I think we came out a lucky football team. We could've had a quarterback with a separated shoulder, a safety with a career-threatening concussion, and a stud kick returner out for a portion of the season. Instead, we're only going to be forced to rest some guys up until the team's Week 1 contest versus the Dallas Cowboys.

As far as our game this Saturday (4:00 PM EST start time) against the Detroit Lions though, here are the players who have all but been ruled out, and who will be replacing them:

1. QB Derek Anderson-----> QB Brady Quinn
   
2. RB Jamal Lewis----------> RB Jason Wright / Jerome Harrison
3. WR Braylon Edwards---> Not yet disclosed
   
4. WR Joshua Cribbs-------> WR Syndric Steptoe
   
5. OL Ryan Tucker-----------> Not applicable
6. DT Louis Leonard--------> DT Ahtyba Rubin
   
7. LB Willie McGinest-------> LB Alex Hall (rumored)
   
8. S Brodney Pool------------> S Mike Adams
   

RB Jamal Lewis won't be trucking through defenders against the Lions, as he will sit out with a pulled hamstring.

In case you're counting, that could very well be seven starters right there (five for sure). All of the injuries were known about immediately following the Giants game or beforehand, except for the ones to Lewis and McGinest. In case you missed the news yesterday, Lewis pulled hamstring and McGinest pulled a groin during the Giants game. (Late note: according to the OBR, Leonard will be out with a foot injury)

Now, for some more positive news: who will play. Head coach Romeo Crennel and other sources have all but confirmed that the following players will be ready to face the Lions:

1. FB Lawrence Vickers
2. WR Kevin Kasper
3. TE Brad Cieslak
   
4. DT Shaun Rogers
5. LB Leon Williams

The biggest addition to that list? Well, physically, it's Rogers -- but I'm referring to significance: Kevin Kasper. After Travis Wilson failed to take advantage of a starting opportunity last week, Kasper finally made his long-awaited return to practice a day or so ago and is looking to get back into the thick of things before it's too late. If Kasper has a huge game Saturday, I wouldn't rule a roster spot out for him just yet.

One final note to catch up on: Crennel is deciding not to sign another quarterback after Anderson's injury. That means the team is down to just two quarterbacks. Many fans originally speculated that Anderson may have suffered a significant shoulder injury when he was driven into the ground against the Giants, but Crennel shot that rumor down today:

''I know nothing about a shoulder,'' Crennel said. ''I said a hand because he fell on his hand as well as his head. The concussion is the thing we're dealing with. He just got a bruise (on his hand); he put a Band-Aid on it.''

As for how the protection broke down on the play, left tackle Joe Thomas offered some insight:

''They kind of caught us in a blitz and we didn't pick it up correctly. We had leakage on the front side and the back side. When you have that, the quarterback's got no place to go.''

The Browns will only play Brady Quinn and Ken Dorsey on Saturday, but they are auditioning for in-house quarterbacks in case of an emergency. Among the candidates are P Dave Zastudil, TE Darnell Dinkins, TE Brad Cieslak, LB Kamerion Wimbley, LB Shantee Orr, LB D'Qwell Jackson, S Sean Jones, S Nick Sorensen, WR Efrem Hill, and WR Syndric Steptoe. I think Zastudil and Dinkins would be the favorites to play quarterback -- and to prevent an injury to a starter, I'd use Dinkins. According to the Plain Dealer, Dinkins was once the fourth quarterback on the Giants' roster.

What's your favorite team in the National Football League? The one that makes you proud to bleed orange and brown? They are the Cleveland Browns of course. Our troops took the field for two practice sessions again today, so let's get right into it:

(BTW, thanks to OBR Forums user Buckeye2k7 who uploaded four videos of camp from Monday's morning session! The links are listed below...I am embedding the second video link for quick access.)

Video Link 1
Video Link 2
Video Link 3
Video Link 4

TRAINING CAMP REPORT - DAY 6 [MORNING] (7/28/08)

Joe Thomas has been taking on everybody in camp -- even pass rushing specialist Kamerion Wimbley. Credit: Official Site

1. Steinbach Losing Battles: The veteran left guard isn't struggling by any means. When it comes to defending Shaun Rogers though, Eric Steinbach just can't seem to find an edge. In a one-on-one drill Rogers just dominated him -- so much that he could've easily put him on his back.
2. Thomas a Mauler: In the same drill, according to the Plain Dealer's Tony Grossi, Joe Thomas manhandled a rushing David McMillian. Imagine if you, assuming you're not in football shape, tried to actually beat Thomas. That's what Thomas did to McMillian -- except McMillian actually has NFL-quality talent.
3. Rookie Alert: Two rookies have caught the attention of head coach Romeo Crennel -- running back Travis Thomas and linebacker Alex Hall. In sharp contrast, we haven't heard much about linebacker Beau Bell, tight end Martin Rucker.
4. Edwards Somewhat Down: If ever there was a day that Braylon Edwards "struggled" in camp, it would've been during the morning practice. Edwards leapt up in the air on a deep pass from Derek Anderson, but cornerback Brandon McDonald made a fundamentally sound play by trying to jar the ball loose as Edwards came down, compensating for the size difference. The ball indeed came loose.
   
   Braylon Edwards has the ball knocked free from him after a nice play by defensive back Brandon McDonald. Credit: Official Site
   
   
   On another play, Edwards dropped a deep pass after he had beat defensive backs Terry Cousin and Mike Adams.
5. Speaking Of Which: The reports on Terry Cousin have not been great thus far. Let's hope that he isn't this year's Ralph Brown or Kenny Wright (in terms of player quality).
6. Grossi Likes Leggett: Grossi commented on how wide receiver Lance Leggett has been making some nice catches in camp, including during the morning session. Leggett was another player who I gave zero credit to in my training camp preview.
7. Daily Wilson: According to the official site, Brady Quinn threw a fade touchdown to receiver Travis Wilson after Wilson had beaten his man. With Kevin Kasper missing a couple of practices, you'd have to imagine that Wilson has a slight edge over him with a strong camp thus far.
8. Rubin With a Drive: ...to deep right center...opps, wrong sport. Rookie defensive tackle Ahtyba Rubin showed some nice drive today, pushing back center Hank Fraley on at least one occasion. Still, the roster odds are not necessarily in his favor, meaning he still has a lot to show us.
9. Leonard Beating Hadnot: According to one fan's report, defensive lineman Louis Leonard beat offensive guard Rex Hadnot pretty badly twice in a row. Hadnot was looked down upon more so than Leonard was praised.
10. Anderson Again: It's not even close, folks. Derek Anderson continued to display his improved touch on short passes
11. Injury Updates: WR Kevin Kasper and DL Corey Williams did not participate. TE Steve Heiden and RB Jason Wright were limited in their activity.

TRAINING CAMP REPORT - DAY 6 [EVENING] (7/28/08)

Brady Quinn's lackluster effort in camp may not mean much right now, but it will if it continues -- we need him if anything happens to Derek Anderson. Credit: Official Site
1. New Quarterback: We didn't add anybody to the roster, but apparently there is a new quarterback in camp. The Browns ran a play in which the ball was tossed to Jamal Lewis, who then ran right before rainbowing a pass to a wide open Kellen Winslow for a touchdown. Yep...just don't try that during a game Chud unless you're certain it'll work.
   
2. Sowells a Mess: Things aren't looking good performance-wise for Isaac Sowells, who was getting beat left and right during practice, whether it was against starters or backups. Luckily for him, backup tackle is our thinnest spot on the offensive line.
3. Zone Problems: While he was very consistent in practice again, we have to nitpick here: during red zone drills, Derek Anderson threw a bad interception to Andra Davis. Those type of plays killed us last year against the Oakland Raiders and the Cincinnati Bengals (part 2). Again though -- his short game continues to look impressive.
4. Quinn to Harrison: While Brady Quinn continues to look unsure of himself, how about we highlight something positive for once? Running back Jerome Harrison ran a wheel-like route, and Quinn hit him in stride for six.
5. Sanders Again: The most news that Steve Sanders is making is that he's staying after camp playing catch with Quinn. They did it again for awhile after the evening session.

Here is your link collection of sources for much of the information above:

Browns morning practice Day 6 is over (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Grossi)

Notes: Crennel looking for improvement (Official Site, King)

Camp report: Wimbley seeking to rebound (Orange and Brown Report, Greetham)

Lewis runs for titles, legacy, and Jim Brown (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cabot)

Andra Davis' word worth weight in gold (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Grossi)

Don't sell short the talent of McDonald (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Pluto)

The Browns will hit the field for one afternoon practice session on Tuesday.

Browns general manager Phil Savage knocked out five birds wih one stone Tuesday as the team signed all five of their draft picks. It's not like there was any doubt all along that they would be signed, although it is a little annoying to see them have to wait so long to do so.

In case you've forgotten, these are the team's five draft picks, all of whom will be on the field Wednesday, July 23, for the team's first day of training camp:

LB Beau Bell

TE Martin Rucker

DL Ahtyba Rubin

WR Paul Hubbard

LB Alex Hall

As I've done the past few years, I will have an in-depth recap of the whispers around training camp each day, starting with the opener tomorrow. If any of you attend training camp and take any photographs, feel free to share them with the community or myself so that they can be included in the recaps.

After gushing last week so much over the work of local sportswriter Terry Pluto, I'm surprised that BringBackKosar hasn't stated that I've found a new man-crush. Or, maybe it'll be more appropriate after I praise Pluto's work from June 1, in which he included some interesting statistics regarding how often some of our defenders saw action on the field.

Although he was on the field often, Bodden's injuries eventually led to him getting burned on a consistent basis.

1. Leigh Bodden (98%): This was almost a wake-up call, or a slap-in-the-face. Maybe it's just me, but I didn't think about the fact that Bodden was actually on the field for the majority of our plays. Heck, in a casual conversation, if a Detroit fan would've asked me about Bodden, I might have mistakenly said that he missed some games the past couple of years due to injuries. While he missed three games in 2005 and seven games in 2007, he didn't miss a single game last season.

What does all of that mean in regard to this year's defense? Not a whole lot that we didn't already know, but still worth noting. Pluto also debunked the rumor that the Browns threw Bodden into the Shaun Rogers deal for nothing.

"Detroit wanted Leigh from the beginning when we started talking about Shaun (Rogers)," Savage said. "It was always Bodden and a pick, the question being what round. Leigh was in virtually every trade discussion with the Lions. He was a key piece for them."

With Bodden gone, Pluto also stated that the Browns are already leaning towards running a Cover-2 defense this season. If you're unfamiliar with defensive schemes, the Cover-2 approach focuses on keeping everything in front of you in the passing game to prevent teams from hitting the big play. That means that safeties Brodney Pool and Sean Jones would play center field towards the left and right sidelines, while it'd be the job of young cornerbacks Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald to make the sure-tackles on quick passes.

The drawback to the Cover-2 is that the middle of the field is typically more open, considering the safeties are providing support deep for the cornerbacks. A Tampa-2 defense -- which requires more savvy players -- would remove the issue of patterns over the middle by dropping a linebacker back there. Until the Browns actually prove that our front seven is good enough to stop the run though, we can't even consider a Tampa-2 type of approach.

2. Kamerion Wimbley (99%): Yikes...just think about that. 99 out of 100 times, Wimbley was on the field? Remember, this is a guy whose primary job was often to try and rush the passer. We're paying him a lot of money to do that, so some might argue that there's no sense in worrying about whether or not he gets tired. That's not the issue though -- we saw how effective the New York Giants pass rushers were when they worked in a deep rotation. After considering this, perhaps signing a player like a Rosevelt Colvin should be a little higher on our priority list.

3. Antwan Peek (54%): This figure wasn't surprising in the least; in fact, it seemed a little high considering all the time he missed. As Pluto noted, although Peek played in 14 games, he never could give his best effort on gameday. The few times he did receive playing time, I saw a lot of positives -- a reason why I'm really hoping he, of all our linebackers, remains healthy this season.

4. Willie McGinest (62%): This is clearly a mistake, especially for a player that's nearing the end of his career. McGinest was ripped by us many times last season for being in position towards the end of games to tackle a running back in the open field, only not to come through. If we have McGinest on the field 62% of the time again this season, the left side of our defense will be attacked by opposing running backs at a concerning rate.

5. Robaire Smith (81%): The more I think about it, the more I appreciate Smith's contribution to our defensive line last season. Pluto wisely pointed out that no other Browns defensive lineman even reached 50%. Smith gutted the season out, but was clearly overworked. With the much-needed depth we added in the offseason, lowering Smith's percentage will hopefully increase his effectiveness.

The youngster, Shaun Smith, will be heavily depended on this season to spell the other Smith, Rogers, and Williams.

6. Shaun Smith (44%): The other Smith will be our go-to-guy for depth this season, and getting him 44% of the playing time last season was critical. He's much further along in terms of experience than we expected him to be prior to last season starting. Instead of going into this year with a question mark in case either Shaun Rogers or Corey Williams go down, there is less need to panic.

Pluto adds that the fifth defensive lineman is shaping up to be a battle between Chase Pittman, Louis Leonard, Melila Purcell and rookie Ahtyba Rubin. That'll be something we'll have to zone in on during training camp, because at this point, I don't think we've seen enough from any of them to decide on a clear favorite. For the sake of a guess though, I'd go with Leonard, considering we grabbed him from the Rams last season.

Pluto's entire article is listed in today's link collection below:

Terry Pluto's Talkin' about Browns defense (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Passan: Bell, Rucker face long odds (Orange and Brown Report)

Deleted scene from LOST episode, The Economist (DocArtz)

Florio projects Browns to miss the playoffs (Sporting News)

Today, June 2, is my birthday. I'm happy that the weather has been very pleasant on my birthday for the second consecutive year in a row!