Sunday Dawg Chow: Browns news (8/14/22)

Cleveland Browns:

• Cleveland Browns center Nick Harris will likely need season-ending surgery, Stefanski says (Beacon Journal) - Browns starting center Nick Harris will likely need season-ending surgery on his right knee for an injury suffered in Friday night’s 24-13 preseason-opening victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in TIAA Bank Stadium, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said.
• Jerome Ford looks the part: Observations from Browns-Jaguars preseason game (cleveland.com) - Jerome Ford took a handoff with 12:04 left in the first half of Friday night’s Browns-Jaguars preseason showdown, waited patiently for a hole to open up to the left side and broke off a 41-yard run. It was the most electrifying play of the game’s first 30 minutes for a Browns offense that struggled to find its rhythm with the starters on the field in the opening quarter.
• Jacoby Brissett will get bulk of first-team reps starting Sunday (Browns Zone) - Jacoby Brissett has the wheel. Brissett will take the bulk of the first-team quarterback repetitions beginning Sunday when the Browns return to practice, coach Kevin Stefanski said Saturday on a Zoom call. Deshaun Watson took all but a few of the starter reps throughout the offseason program, the first two weeks of training camp and the preseason opener Friday night vs. the Jaguars.
• NFL Preseason Week 1 Game Recap: Cleveland Browns 24, Jacksonville Jaguars 13 (PFF) - The Browns pass-catchers weren’t much of a factor tonight. Collectively, the receivers and tight ends caught just seven of their 13 targets for 64 yards and only three first downs.
• Jim Donovan says Cleveland Browns’ No. 1 offense was ‘a mess’ in preseason opener (WKYC) - Hello from Jacksonville, where the Browns won over the Jaguars 24-13 thanks to their young players, who came out and put on a sterling performance for their NFL debut. But the game started off real tough. The Browns lost their young starting center Nick Harris with what looks like a bad right knee injury, and boy, Deshaun Watson looked as though he hadn’t played in a couple of years.

NFL:

• Ravens QB Lamar Jackson wants contract talks over by Week 1 (Baltimore Sun) - Lamar Jackson does not plan on continuing contract talks into the regular season, he said Saturday, giving the Baltimore Ravens quarterback and team officials four weeks to agree to a megadeal.
• Jets QB Zach Wilson (knee) diagnosed with bone bruise, meniscus tear; status for Week 1 in question (NFL.com) - Zach Wilson will be on the mend to start the 2022 season, but a worst-case scenario has been avoided. The New YOrk Jets quarterback was diagnosed with a bone bruise and a meniscus tear in his knee following an MRI on Saturday, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported, per a source. Pelissero added that there is no additional ligament damage to Wilson’s knee.
• Personality part of Baker Mayfield’s edge over Sam Darnold in Carolina Panthers’ QB competition (ESPN) - So far, the Carolina Panthers have gotten the filtered version of quarterback Baker Mayfield in terms of trash talking in practice and supplying bulletin board material in interviews. He has been almost ... well, Sam Darnold-like, laid back with his answers and antics, as he and Darnold battle for the starting job that is close to being Mayfield’s.
• NFLPA president on Soldier Field turf: ‘NFL can and should do better’ (Chicago Sun-Times) - Pockmarked with dead spots and divots, Soldier Field’s turf would have made an aging public golf course blush Saturday. Nowhere was it more evident than the yardage stencils on the east side of the field, where dead spots competed with white chalk for attention. Grounds crew members submitted grass reports to the league all week and were told it met the standard. But NFLPA president J.C. Tretter said it wasn’t good enough.