I have to admit: live-blogging the Browns' Sirius Radio show earlier on Dawgs By Nature kind of wore me out. Usually I'm energized to whip up these training camp posts, but after four straight hours of a long recap, I feel like just getting them over with at the moment.
What I feel like doing, is irrelevant in a way though -- I can't stand to fall behind or leave any details out. If the recaps feel a little rushed though, I hope you'll understand.
GREAT LINK: ATENEARS over at thebrownsboard.com attended the evening session and has another personal recap up that I highly recommend. Some decent pictures are included as well.
TRAINING CAMP REPORT - DAY 8 [MORNING] (7/30/08)
- Rain Delivers: It's almost as if it was planned how everything went down the past two days. Yesterday, the heat came for the first time in camp, testing the players in near 90-degree weather. Today, it rained for 15 minutes during camp, and the team practiced through it. The length of the storm was very convenient -- the team didn't have to worry about moving practice indoors, and got some valuable real-game weather reps in without anybody suffering an injury.
- Sloppy Offense: The Plain Dealer reports that as the rain continued to fall, the offense got sloppier. A botched handoff between Derek Anderson and Jamal Lewis, a dropped pass by Jason Wright (presumably he would've been wide open), and an interception by defensive back Nick Sorensen on a pass from Brady Quinn were among the lowlights during the downpour.
- New Holdouts: Not contractual holdouts, of course, but injury holdouts. Shaun Smith and Antwan Peek did not practice, with each of them having sore knees. They missed the night cap too, and Crennel said they should be back in a day or two.
- Zebras in Attendance: For a practice session for each team, the league sends a few NFL referees to let players know any rule changes or if they are doing anything wrong. That day was today for the Browns.
- Shot for Perry: He hasn't drawn much praise for his second run with the Browns, but defensive back Jereme Perry had a nice shot on wide receiver Efrem Hill in the morning, drawing audience reaction.
- Travis Thomas: It's intriguing how much of an impression this guy has made in camp, including the morning as well. However, on one play, rookie linebacker Beau Bell came with a blitz and absolutely leveled Thomas, knocking him into quarterback Ken Dorsey.
- Dawson Drilling 'Em: Towards the end of practice, kicker Phil Dawson was drilling field goals left and right, with his longest being measured in at 48 yards.
- Cribbs Throws: Yesterday, Joshua Cribbs only ran the QB draw when he lined up at the shotgun position. Today, he actually rolled out and threw the ball on several occasions. The Plain Dealer reports that he looked rusty throwing the ball.
- Drill Existed, I'm Sure: Tony Grossi reported the following: "running backs practiced their goal-line vaults by leaping over plastic garbage cans and onto a soft, heavy mat." Grossi then stated that he'd never seen that drill before at camp, however I swear I recall it being done at some point last year or two years ago.
- Rare Mention: We haven't given many shoutouts -- if any -- to UDFA linebacker Chase Ortiz. Grossi reports that Ortiz came on a nice blitz during the morning by rushing Ken Dorsey and swatting his pass down.
Rain hit the Browns' camp for about 15 minutes this morning. The team practiced through it.
CB Brandon McDonald applying tight coverage on WR Donte Stallworth during the morning session.
And now, for the nightcap, a.k.a. evening session:
TRAINING CAMP REPORT - DAY 8 [EVENING] (7/30/08)
- Edwards' Day Off: With more and more players getting "casual" sessions off now, the evening session was the break for Braylon Edwards.
- Daily Wilson: With Edwards being off, Travis Wilson was promoted to the first team for the session and continued looking good. His highlight, according to the Plain Dealer, was a nice catch on a pass from Ken Dorsey over the middle.
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Steptoe's Props: Receiver Syndric Steptoe also had a nice catch -- a leaping grab on a pass from Brady Quinn. With Edwards and Kevin Kasper out, Steptoe also saw increased playing time.
- Baxter's Off Too?: It's being assumed that nothing was seriously wrong with him, and that Gary Baxter was just given the night off like Edwards was. The reason for suspicion is that he wasn't even on the sidelines...
- Winslow Thrives: There's no stopping Kellen Winslow, who continued making his job look too easy.
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Nightmarish: One receiver who didn't take advantage of Edwards and Kasper being out was rookie Paul Hubbard. The coaches seemed frustrated by his play, and in turn he seemed to get more frustrated as practice went on.
- Mr. Hall: After getting a lot of mentions on Sirius NFL Radio earlier today, Alex Hall didn't stop showing up. He reportedly continued to impress, defending passes like a veteran.
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ATENEARS' Brownies: At the top of the page, I linked to a post at thebrownsboard.com. Here are some tidbits from there: WR Steve Sanders has a lot of quickness and good route running. TE Brad Cieslak looks fundamentally sound still, just not a roster spot available for him. CB Damon Jenkins has good coverage on a good route by WR Joshua Cribbs. Make sure you check out his entire recap to get the proper taste though...
RB Jamal Lewis participates in the "Trash Can Drill" during the morning session. I'd love to jump over trash cans onto a mat.
Here is the collection of sources for much of the information above:
Browns dodge raindrops on Day 8 (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Grossi)
The company line - OL/DL assessment (Waiting for Next Year, Rick)
WFNY camp pics from earlier in week (Waiting for Next Year, Scott) << Fun Read
Day 8 of training camp (WTAM, Andre Knott)
'Big Baby' Rogers makeing impression (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cabot)
Training camp log: Day 8 (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cabot)
Camp observations: July 30 morning (Ohio.com, Thomas)
Camp observations: July 30 evening (Ohio.com, Thomas)
Spotting a Trend (Official Site, King)
The Browns have an afternoon practice tomorrow afternoon, before their highly-anticipated session this Friday at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Edit from Chris: Looking back, I love how I prefaced this post with a "don't be surprised if it seems rushed", and yet it doesn't appear rushed at all. Plus, it didn't really end up being tiring either -- I quickly got my blood flowing again after the first bullet point or two. Cheers!