Cleveland Browns head coach Pat Shurmur confirmed this morning what was fairly obvious: starting running back Peyton Hillis will miss this Sunday's game against the St. Louis Rams after re-aggravating his hamstring last week. Shurmur noted that Hillis would be rehabbing this week with head athletic trainer Joe Sheenan. The team does not have plans to place him on the injured reserve:
"He’s going to spend his time rehabbing his hamstring," said Shurmur. "That I can tell you from now until Sunday. He’s here; he’s around. Will he be at practice? I don’t know. He could be in the building; he could be with Joe. We’re going to go through that process and try to bring him back as quickly as possible. He wants to be out there; he wants to be playing."
Shurmur also stated that the team would "most likely" be without backup running back Montario Hardesty again. That means we are likely to see Chris Ogbonnaya and Thomas Clayton featured for the second week in a row. If that doesn't get you pumped up, then I don't know what will.
Fortunately, the Browns might be able to get away with a no-name tandem in the backfield this week. The Rams currently allow the most rushing yards per game, even though they did a good job stopping the Cardinals' running game on Sunday.