|
Healthy Baxter the only good news |
|
|
|
|
Written by JEFF SCHUDEL, Morning Journal Writer
|
|
Tuesday, 05 September 2006 |
 BEREA -- The good news for the Browns secondary is Gary Baxter is not on the injury report this week. He will start against the Saints barring any setbacks from his pectoral strain during practice this week. The bad news is that's where the good news ends. Daylon McCutcheon, slowly recovering from knee surgery Aug. 1, is doubtful for the Saints, coach Romeo Crennel said yesterday. McCutcheon is running on the sideline, something he was unable to do until the end of last week, but the eight-year veteran is not game ready.
Safety Brian Russell is recovering from elbow surgery Friday and did not practice yesterday. When he will return to practice is uncertain. Crennel said Russell's playing status for Sunday will be a game time decision. The injury and an unspecified illness prevented Russell from playing in the final preseason game. Sean Jones and Brodney Pool will start at safety if Russell cannot play. One of them, presumably Pool, could fill in as the nickel back replacing McCutcheon if Russell bounces back quickly enough.
Ralph Brown would likely be the nickel back if Pool and Jones are the safeties. Brown was beaten several times on deep passes in the preseason.
Braylon time
Braylon Edwards was in on about five plays in the final preseason game after being on the field for 16 plays against Buffalo the week before.
Edwards will be a busy man Sunday. Crennel would not say whether Edwards will start, but he did say the second-year receiver will ''play quite a bit.'' Edwards' right ACL was torn nine months ago yesterday in a game against the Jaguars. Starting against the Saints would make his recovery complete.
''Sometimes we get caught up in who is going to start,'' Crennel said. ''The thing that's important is who is going to play and how well they will play. Braylon is going to play in the game, no question about it. I think he's going to make plays in the game to help us win.''
Suggs a Dolphin
Lee Suggs, waived by the Browns Saturday, was claimed by the Dolphins. His prospects of getting much playing time are not good. He is third on the depth chart behind Ronnie Brown and Travis Minor.
The Dolphins needed another running back because Sammy Morris is serving a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's steroids policy.
Preseason blitz
Interesting numbers from the preseason, in which the Browns were 2-2:
The Browns converted 26-of-58 third down attempts -- a success rate of 44.8 percent. They were just 3-of-13 on third down in the opening 20-7 loss to the Eagles, which means they were 23-of-45 in the last three games. Most of the success occurred when the starting offense and the opponent's starting defense was done for the night.
Twenty different players caught at least one pass. Of that group 13 players are still on the team.
Joshua Cribbs returned six punts for 43 yards -- a 7.2 average. Dennis Northcutt returned five punts for 25 yards, a 5.0 average.
The Browns scored six passing touchdowns and none rushing. They allowed three on the ground and four passing.
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
©The Morning Journal 2006 |
