Cleveland Browns Training Camp Recap: Day 6 - Man Down at Guard

The biggest story of Thursday's training camp involves OG Rex Hadnot. As reported earlier, the OBR indicated that Hadnot had blown out his knee. More details have come in to the OBR, now saying that it could be a serious left knee injury. The details of the play it happened on are in the report below.

TRAINING CAMP REPORT - DAY 6 (8/6/09)

1. How It Happened: It started out as a normal play, with Hadnot blocking DL Louis Leonard. As he was engaged with Leonard, rookie LB David Veikune rolled on the top of Hadnot's leg. Hadnot remained on the ground for awhile in pain as the team gathered around him, before being carted off. It doesn't look very good right now for Hadnot, who started 15 games for the Browns last year. We didn't project him as a starter this year, but no doubt this could improve the roster odds of C Hank Fraley, and might create an opening for someone like Dustin Fry.
2. Sunday Scrimmage: Head coach Eric Mangini revealed how the scrimmage will take place at the stadium this Sunday (free admission to all fans). There will be two teams -- the Brown Team and the White Team. They will play four quarters, each lasting ten minutes. Special teams coach Brad Seely will manage one team, while quarterbacks coach Carl Smith will manage the other. Mangini will be focusing on evaluating how things unfold. There will not be full-blown tackling, but the players will be in pads and allowed to make contact. It sounds much cooler than what has taken place the past several years.
RB James Davis dashes by another defender.


3. It Can't Be Luck, Can It? Once again, rookie RB James Davis made an impact and possibly the play of the day, running for a 55-yard touchdown after cutting against the grain.
4. The Quarterbacks Hit Bottom: Thanks again to Daniel Wolf of Dawg Scooper, who attended today's practice and provided the statistics for how the quarterbacks did in their drills today. Unfortunately, the results were pretty poor for both men. Here's a sample: in the first 11-on-11 drill, each quarterback was one-of-four with an interception. In an 11-on-11 one-minute drill, Quinn had poor clock management and barely moved the ball, while Anderson threw three incompletions before being sacked. If these two turned in this type of performance this Sunday, the hopes for our offense this year probably wouldn't be too high.
5. Robiskie Still Down the Chart: The trend seems to be continuing, as WR Braylon Edwards, WR Mike Furrey, and WR Mohamed Massaquoi seemed to be working with the first team. WR Brian Robiskie received doesn't seem like he's demoted or anything, but he's not getting the same level of work as when camp first started. It's hard to say if this is indicative of their performances, or if Mangini is just rotating the reps.
Hey look, it's TE Martin Rucker. Training camp has not provided many clues as to who the starting TE will be.

6. Punt Fakes in Full Effect: Thanks again to Mr. Wolf for providing some information on punt fakes. S Nick Sorensen caught the punt coverage by surprise when he took the snap and ran for about 10-15 yards. Later in the practice, P Dave Zastudil executed a fake as well. Speaking of Zastudil, CBS Sportline reported that he has been booming the ball well throughout training camp.
7. Wildcat Formation: The Browns worked on the "Wildcat" formation with Joshua Cribbs, but it sounds like it was much of the same stuff as last year -- Cribbs running or handing the ball off rather than passing.
8. Focusing on Run Drills: ClevelandBrowns.com reports that the practice involved focusing largely on running drills.
9. Did Not Practice: FB Charles Ali, CB Don Carey, and WR David Patten did not practice.
10. New Player Signed: The Browns signed a new defensive back -- Brandon Anderson, undrafted free agent from the University of Akron.
11. The Vike: Rookie LB David Veikune looked good, beating OT George Foster a few times. That's either good for Veikune or bad for Foster.

Thursday's Link Collection / Camp Sources

• Thursday 8/6 Practice Report (Dawg Scooper, Wolf)
• Hadnot Blows Out Knee (Orange and Brown Report, King)
• New year, new goals for Williams (Official Team Site, Jackson)
• Day 6 Training Camp Notes (Orange and Brown Report, Greetham)