Odell Beckham Jr. says they pay James Harden to shoot and he considers himself a shooter, too. But he's not showing frustration in lack of targets in the past two Browns games. (Cleveland Browns)
OBJ on fourth-down drop: It’s the only ball you’re seeing on the ground this year
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from Browns practice and interviews …
The Browns might not be handing the ball to Odell Beckham Jr., but you have to hand it to the wide receiver on another count.
He is doing a superb job of hiding his frustration.
“I can’t sit here and lie that I don’t want the ball,” Beckham said in his weekly interrogation about lack of targets and catches. “They don’t pay James Harden for defense. He’s a shooter. I feel like I’m a shooter.
“But as I get down to the red zone and I’m running a corner route and three people come with me and [Rashard Higgins is] wide open, I know that happens. I know that I bring a lot of attention to defenses on the other end and other people are going to be open. You just got to live with that.”
In three games back after 10 months rehab from ACL surgery, Beckham has 9 catches in 19 targets for 124 yards.
“The ultimate goal is to win a championship and I feel I’m in a great situation to do that,” he said. “There’s gonna be days where it will be my day and the conversation will be different. My main focus was to be healthy, to be able to stay healthy, get through the season.”
Beckham said his drop of a fourth-and-2 throw from Baker Mayfield early in the Chargers game was the result of not seeing the ball until too late.
“It means nothing to me,” he said. “I know I can make any catch in the world. I was running a shallow and I’m looking around, the pocket’s kind of collapsed, and the ball just comes out. Me and Baker are both 5-11 ½, everyone else is 6-7. So when the pocket collapses, I literally didn’t see the ball come out. … It’s just one of those things.
“Is it the end-all be-all? Probably not. For me, my goal was to not drop anything this year. Now we got that little blemish. My hands are like Purell, 99.9 percent. Most likely I’m gonna make the catch every time. It’s the only ball you’re seeing on the ground this year.”
So, Beckham appears to be staying in a good frame of mind.
On the other hand, coordinator Alex Van Pelt expressed some frustration with the topic after the fourth question in a row about the Mayfield-OBJ lack of connection.
“You want to talk about Blake Hance coming in and playing lights out against Joey Bosa?” Van Pelt exclaimed. “You want to talk about James Hudson coming in and backing up Jack [Conklin]?. There’s a lot of other guys in the offense that make us successful. Obviously it’s important to everybody else about [OBJ’s lack of production]. For us, it’s not. It’ll come. I’m not worried about that.”
Getting to know you
Unsung cornerback A.J. Green played a game-high 86 snaps in the Chargers game (counting 17 on special teams) and graded out well on a vast majority of them, but will be remembered mostly for the pass interference call covering Mike Williams on a key fourth down play in the fourth quarter.
Replays clearly showed Williams pulling on the jersey of Green, but Green was flagged for interference.
“I kind of felt I did the best I could with my position,” Green said. “Looked back for the ball. Made a play for the ball. Yeah, he was tugging me. At the end of the day, the ref made a decision. I was kind of angered, said some things to the ref, but he made the call.
“I was actually celebrating. I was thinking he might call [offensive] PI. He said initially I was pushing him. I was really kind of confused.”
Still, Green had an otherwise breakout performance in relief of Denzel Ward (neck) and with Greg Newsome (calf) out for the second game in a row. Green, who has great size at 6-2 and 198 pounds, was an undrafted free agent signing from Oklahoma State in 2020.
“I know I can be a lockdown corner in this league, so I just wanted to put that on tape. It was my opportunity,” he said.
With Ward expected back for the Arizona game, and Greedy Williams, too (“Greedy’s playing amazing right now,” remarked Newsome), Green could see some action when the Cardinals line up four wide receivers, which they do often.
So there’s a possibility that A.J. Green could at some point be matched up on A.J. Green – the ex-Bengals receiving great now with the Cardinals.
“I was a big fan,” said the Browns’ Green. “A lot of people make AJ Green jokes [to me]. I don’t get his mail but I do get a lot of his mentions on Twitter.”
Green said he hopes to introduce himself to the other Green after the game.
What about an interception by Green against Green?
“I feel like that would be something,” he said.
Great Scot
The Browns are sticking with punter Jamie Gillan because they keep seeing him boot soaring punts in practice and pre-game.
Gillan’s inconsistent game-day performances – 41.8 yards gross average, 38.2 net – has been a little baffling.
“He had a great punt against Houston and nice one against Minnesota at the end of game, but he needs to be more consistent,” said special teams coordinator Mike Priefer. “He knows that. He’s got to go out and relax and do his job.”
Priefer is giving Gillan the benefit of doubt, saying, “It’s tough to be a consistent punter. Andy Lee [of Arizona] is a phenomenal punter and he’ll hit a line drive punt and the next one will be a 5 second hang time. There are a lot of inconsistencies.”
Priefer was asked if he felt Gillan’s first opportunity in Kansas City, on which he fumbled the snap and was tackled, is still in Gillan’s head.
“No, I don’t think so. He’s a pretty mentally tough kid,” Priefer said.
