Browns center JC Tretter is smiling again as he tries to cram in work and rehab of his right knee to be able to play in the opener in Baltimore. (Cleveland Browns)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from Browns interviews and practice …
Kevin Stefanski is going to let the mystery of who’s calling plays on Sunday simmer a little longer.
The coach of the Browns declined to say if it will be him, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt – or somebody else. Two other members of Stefanski’s offensive staff have experience as a play-caller in the NFL – receivers coach Chad O’Shea and offensive line coach Bill Callahan.
The betting favorite is that it will be Van Pelt, but Stefanski is keeping the Ravens’ defensive coaches guessing.
“I think it is interesting, there is gamesmanship,” Stefanski said. “There is no preseason, obviously. Now, you go to a normal preseason, it is not like you show much anyway, but it is something that we will announce when we feel appropriate.”
In Baltimore, Ravens coach John Harbaugh termed it “a big challenge” for his coaches to game-plan the Browns because of Stefanski’s new systems and coaches and the absence of preseason games.
“It is a big challenge, especially in this season like this where we have not had any preseason games even to take a look at,” Harbaugh said. “We have coached against their coaches in the past in different places, and they are all excellent coaches.
“We have had to try to chase that a little bit across the film from all those different places and put it together as best we can. Really in the end, it is kind of a guessing game.”
Tretter cramming
One other Browns’ mystery is whether veteran JC Tretter will be able to continue his consecutive snaps-played alive after missing all but this week of practice. Tretter hasn’t missed a snap in a regular-season game in three years.
Naturally, neither Tretter nor Stefanski is tipping off if Tretter will play. If he doesn’t, rookie fifth-round pick Nick Harris, who took all the No. 1 snaps in training camp, will debut against the likes of Ravens interior forces Brandon Williams and Derek Wolfe.
“We will see how JC looks [Wednesday] and really will not make a determination until later in the week,” Stefanski said.
Tretter said his right knee is feeling good and expects it to progress each day.
As for waiting until the day before camp to have arthroscopic surgery on the knee, he said he had no regrets.
“The knee flared up early on, and you have to make a really tough decision because there is no obvious answer,” Tretter said. “You can sit with it and try to manage it the rest of the year, and there is no guarantee that you are able to get it under control or you go and get fixed, correct the issues and then rehab as hard as you can to try to get back and not miss any time.
“I wrestled over what the right answer would be or what the best answer would be. In the end, I think we landed on the right answer. When we made the decision to go in and get it scoped, the conversation was how do I get back in time for the first game. We put a plan in place and we continue to push through that and make sure we are checking all the boxes. We will continue to do that the rest of the week, make sure everything is working right and we can continue moving forward.”
Brownie bits
It’s never a good thing to miss the first Wednesday practice of the year. Doing that were cornerback Greedy Williams (shoulder), cornerback Kevin Johnson (liver), offensive tackle Chris Hubbard (ankle) and linebacker Mack Wilson (knee), who remains on the active 53 roster. Listed as limited were cornerback M.J. Stewart (hamstring) and Tretter. Linebacker B.J. Goodson, who had missed about a week for personal reasons, was back …
There will be no fans in M&T Bank Stadium for the opener on Sunday. If nothing else, that levels the playing field for the Browns, who are 5-16 in the Purple Crabcake. “I am not sure [what it means],” said running back Nick Chubb. “It will definitely be different, but I can just imagine it being like practice. No fans are here at practice and we still have good days, we still come out here with high intensity and we still get after it, or like a scrimmage maybe. It is no different in a scrimmage or in a game. We are going to go out there and give it our all. We are going to ignore everything else anyways.” ...
Each Tuesday, teams can protect four players from their practice squad so they aren’t poached and signed to the active roster of another team. This week, the Browns protected quarterback Garrett Gilbert, place-kicker Cody Parkey, safety Jovante Moffatt and offensive tackle Greg Senat. Stefanski said “a lot of factors” go into deciding the protected list. Upcoming opponent obviously is one. Senat was just added to the practice squad on Tuesday. He’s a 2018 sixth-round draft pick of the Ravens.