Dawand Jones lowers the boom, but Eagles defend their field in final joint practice
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
PHILADELPHIA
Storm forecasts for late afternoon caused the Browns and Eagles to move up practice to the hottest period of the day. It was so sweltering and suffocatingly hot that coaches Kevin Stefanski and Nick Sirianni agreed to reduce their teams’ final joint practice to about an hour. Coaches don’t usually give up practice time, so that gives you an idea of how bad it was.
And it got hotter on the field when tempers flared during contested periods inside the red zone. Joel Bitonio saw it coming.
“I mean, that’s why you do two days, because three days would be a bloodbath the last day,” the longest-tenured Brown said.
The Eagles arrived with a chip on their shoulders after reports locally that they were handled by the Browns in Monday’s practice. The NFC champions were not pleased with what they saw on film, either. They were not going to be defeated on their own practice fields at NovaCare Complex two days in a row.
Tuesday was devoted exclusively to red zone competition. On the first 11 on 11 period, the Eagles’ defense was extremely aggressive. On successive plays, cornerback Darius Slay broke up a pass for Donovan Peoples-Jones and then linebacker Zach Cunningham deflected a Deshaun Watson pass and it was intercepted by safety Reed Blankenship.
The Eagles’ defense got more chippy with every play. On the next snap, safety Sydney Brown decked running back Demetric Felton to the ground, violating protocol. Massive right tackle Dawand Jones rushed to Felton’s defense and aimed his 380-plus pounds at Brown. A melee ensued. Nobody was hurt.
Jones was promptly removed from the field for the next play and Stefanski rushed to the Philadelphia defensive team to try to calm things down.
It didn’t have much effect. The Eagles continued to feed off the energy of their play.Defensive tackle Fletcher Cox appeared to hit Watson on one occasion and another defender tried to rough up running back Nick Chubb, who merely slapped him aside.
“In our practice, you protect the quarterback [from getting hit],” Bitonio said. “You don’t want to come close to the quarterback. You don’t want to take cheap shots, things like that. Where there might have been a couple questionable plays both ways today.”
Jones most certainly scored points by rushing to Felton’s defense. Interestingly, with Jack Conklin out with a concussion, Jones took the bulk of snaps at right tackle with the No. 1 offense even after Stefanski had said to the media that James Hudson would fill that role. Jones was joined at right guard by Michael Dunn, as Hudson and Wyatt Teller worked mostly with the No. 2 offense.
“I don’t know the exact reasoning, but I know they just wanted to get some reps,” Bitonio said. “I know Dawand has been doing some good things. Michael does some good things. So, I think they’re just trying to get them some reps against different competition as well.”
Rookie right tackle Dawand Jones rushed to Demetric Felton's defense, precipitating a mini-brawl with the Eagles. (Cleveland Browns)
Fly Eagles, fly
The second joint practice was a solid win for the Eagles, both on defense and on offense. The Browns’ defense made quarterback Jalen Hurts work hard for his successes, but the fact is Hurts pushed his team into the end zone more times than did Watson.
Myles Garrett, who worked only in individual drills after getting his foot tangled up on Monday, said, “Those guys over there, they were in a position to win it big for a reason. They executed at a high level and make some big plays and hats off to them.”
Watson and the Browns’ No. 1 offense scored only two times in four red zone periods. Hurts scored six times. Watson was intercepted twice and Joshua Dobbs once. The Browns’ didn’t have an interception and their second team was the victim of one of the best plays of the day – Eagles backup quarterback Marcus Mariota tossing a dime to receiver Tyrie Cleveland over safety D’Anthony Bell for a touchdown in the deep corner.
In one stretch over 7 on 7, 11 on 11, and two-minute red zone periods, I had Watson going 6 for 15 on pass attempts. The last in the two-minute went this way: Watson deflected at the line of scrimmage by Cox, Watson keeping the ball when he couldn’t find anyone open, Watson overthrowing Cooper in the end zone, Watson short of the end zone to Peoples-Jones, a spike to stop the clock, and Watson intercepted again by Blankenship on a pass intended for tight end Jordan Akins.
Summing up the two days, Bitonio said, “I think both defenses … [Monday] probably won the day. The last two-minute period today, they obviously got the best of us, but I think there’s some growth.”
And so, failing to convert in the red zone, which was a problem for the Browns’ offense against their own defense, continued against the Eagles.
“Yeah, we’re working through it,” Bitonio said. “And I am not concerned at this moment about it.”
Yeah, they’re good
Overall, the Browns certainly closed the gap on the Eagles from a year ago. The Eagles came away quite impressed with the Browns’ defensive front.
Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce said, “Listen, you’re not going to find better end to end D-line. The way Myles rushes the passer, then his just pure physicality. Za’Darius [Smith] can do it all too. He can rush from the edge, he can run through games unbelievably. It’s no shock that they have a phenomenal defensive front. I think Dalvin Tomlinson a very underrated player, has been for a long time, just like Shelby Harris. They have good players across the board. Linebackers fly around. We knew what we were in store for. It’s a good test for us.
“It’s always going to be an aggressive dogfight when you play a Jim Schwartz defense. You’re a little bit sore after these last two days. But it was good for our offensive line to have go against that drastic of a defensive punch.”
Garrett responded, “We appreciate the words, but we got to keep on putting the work in.”
The Eagles led the NFL with 70 sacks last season. They lost tackle Jevon Hargrave to the 49ers in free agency, but are still stocked eight-deep after adding a pair of Georgia Bulldogs in the 2023 draft – tackle Jalen Carter and edge rusher Nolan Smith.
Garrett isn’t ready to put the Browns on a par with the Eagles.
“There are many different styles of being an aggressive, production heavy defensive line,” he said. “And we’ll find our own way, we’ll carve our own path and they’re just another really [a] source of knowledge for us to pull from as far as how to be coefficient and productive rushing the passer. But, we have different guys who bring different things to the table, so we have to play with what we have and I think we can be a very talented on line.”
Brownie bits
In a full team field goal period, Cade York was a perfect 6 of 6, converting from 33, 35, 43, 47, 50 and 52 yards. (These are estimates.) …
Receiver Elijah Moore (ribs) returned to individual drills but did not participate in 7 on 7s or 11 on 11s. Linebackers Anthony Walker and Sione Takitaki saw action with the No. 1 defense in several periods …
Stefanski confirmed that rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson would play the first half and Kellen Mond the second half in the penultimate preseason game Thursday night. That’s a reverse order of how they played in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton. Stefanski said no other quarterback would play …
The Browns have today off. Stefanski has scheduled a basketball shootout at The Palestra, home of the Penn Quakers and the oldest major college basketball arena in the nation.
