Cleveland Browns Training Camp Recap: Day 8 - Scrimmage Day

The Cleveland Browns held their Orange & Brown Scrimmage on Friday in Berea, since the stadium was not available this year. Our full practice report summary is below.

Cleveland Browns Training Camp Report - Day 8 (8/3/18)

1. Scrimmage Day: Practice was only scheduled to be 1.5 hours on Friday, representing a scrimmage in preparation for the team’s first preseason game — something to help get the competitive juices going. The captains for the scrimmage were QB Tyrod Taylor, LT Joel Bitonio, LB Christian Kirksey, and LB Jamie Collins.

2. Mayfield’s First Drive Leads to TD: Oftentimes in these scrimmages, we only see the No. 1 offense face the No. 2 defense, and the No. 2 offense face the No. 1 defense. For once, they actually did it right — QB Baker Mayfield and the second-team offense squared off against the second-team defense.

According to Nathan Zegura of Browns.com, Mayfield hit WR C.J. Board for 36 yards and then TE Devon Cajuste for 29 yards, helping set up this 1-yard touchdown run by RB Nick Chubb:

3. Tyrod’s Crack At It: Next up was QB Tyrod Taylor and the first-team offense going up against the first-team defense. The only notable play was a deep attempt to WR Jarvis Landry, but CB Denzel Ward had tight coverage, per Nathan Zegura, and the series ended in a three-and-out.

Right after that, Taylor and the first-team offense stayed on the field, this time to go up against the second-team defense. We are unclear who the player was, but Zegura says the drive was extended with the defense jumped offsides on 4th-and-1 (presumably, the offense lined up to go for it). The big play of the drive was a 35-yard seam pass to TE David Njoku, but the defense still held strong to hold the unit to a 27-yard field goal by K Zane Gonzalez. Per Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer, Taylor had tried taking a shot at Njoku before the field goal:

4. First-Team Defense Lighting it Up: The first-team defense went back on the field to face the second-team offense, except that it was led by QB Drew Stanton this time. As you might expect, the defense forced a quick three-and-out, keyed by a sack by DE Myles Garrett:

The previous drive started from the offense’s own 10 yard line, so Hue Jackson gave them another shot, this time starting from midfield. Stanton found some more success there, first hitting WR C.J. Board for 25 yards down the sideline, per Zegura, who also says that Board had another catch to get the team into the red zone. But thanks to some big run stuffs by LB Joe Schobert and LB Mychal Kendricks on RB Matthew Dayes, they had to settle for a chip shot from K Ross Martin.

5. The Jarvis Landry Show: The headline-maker during Friday’s scrimmage was no doubt WR Jarvis Landry. On the next series, QB Tyrod Taylor and the first-team offense was back out against the second-team defense, this time starting at their own 25-yard line. Taylor was 4-of-4 on the drive, capping the drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Landry off of a playaction fake. We’ll get to Landry’s other touchdown in a second, but let’s stick to chronological order here for the moment.

6. Mayfield in the Hurry-Up Drill: Based on the scores so far, it was a 10-10 game. Now, each team was going to get 1:15 to try to get a touchdown to win. On first down, QB Baker Mayfield took a deep shot to WR Derrick Willes, but FS Damarious Randall dislodged the ball and then had to come off (temporarily, don’t worry) with the wind knocked out of him:

It wasn’t long before the drive fell apart, thanks to the domination of DE Myles Garrett. First he forced a 12-yard loss after “blowing up a handoff,” and then on 2nd-and-22, Garrett tipped Mayfield’s pass and LB Jamie Collins came in for the interception. Believe it or not, it was Mayfield’s first interception in team drills this camp!

7. Play of the Day: With their final shot, QB Tyrod Taylor and the first-teamers faced the same situation against the second-team defense. That is where Taylor threw behind WR Jarvis Landry, who made an excellent one-handed catch while falling away, and then quickly spun off of the oncoming defender for a 36-yard touchdown. The Plain Dealer has it in slow motion for you:

Here is Mary Kay Cabot with the play-by-play, and watch another angle of the play.

8. Ross Martin Connects From Deep: Put another feather in the cap of K Ross Martin, who connected on a 51-yard field goal attempt on QB Drew Stanton’s drive as the third-team offense faced the third-team defense:

9. Goal Line Drills: The Browns closed practice with some goal line drills. The other day, the offense was 0-for-8 between both quarterbacks’ 4 attempts, and the success rate wasn’t much better on Friday. The play descriptions below come from Zegura again, starting with Taylor’s drive:

• Play 1: TD pass to TE David Njoku is called off due to a touch sack by DE Myles Garrett.
• Play 2: RB Carlos Hyde scores a touchdown on the ground.
• Play 3: Off of a playaction fake, LB Jamie Collins breaks up a pass.
• Play 4: RB Duke Johnson was “blown up for a loss” by LB Joe Schobert and SS Jabrill Peppers.

QB Tyrod Taylor’s success rate was 1-of-4, which was a win for the defense. What about when QB Baker Mayfield was in? They were 0-of-3.

• Play 1: RB Nick Chubb was stopped just short of the end zone on a running play.
• Play 2: Off of a playaction fake, DL Marcell Frazier and DT Larry Ogunjobi combined for a sack.
• Play 3: Another sack, this time by the combined effort of Frazier and DL Zaycoven Henderson.

To be fair, Zegura added that Mayfield stood no chance on either of his sacks (due to poor protection). Here is the final play mentioned above:

10. Brownies: DT Caleb Brantley limped off the field at the end of practice with a thigh injury. ... DL Trevon Coley’s high ankle sprain suffered Thursday will keep him out for awhile. ... Zegura noted that WR Rashard Higgins was dressed, but didn’t seem to be getting involved in the scrimmage. ... GM John Dorsey was interviewed on Bull & Fox prior to practice. ... Head coach Hue Jackson handed out cleats to kids before practice.

11. Next Up: The Browns will practice on Saturday from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM.