Wide receiver Amari Cooper returned to practice on Thursday and said the only thing to cure the Browns' ills is a win in Philadelphia. (Cleveland Browns)
You must have an active subscription to read this story.
Click Here to subscribe Now!
Editor's note: Tony Grossi is an analyst the Cleveland Browns for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Takeaways from Browns interviews and practice ...
The Browns are 1-4 and have lost three games in a row. One more defeat in Philadelphia on Sunday would tie the longest losing streak under coach Kevin Stefanski in five years.
Despite the doom and gloom, receiver Amari Cooper said the team is not quitting on this season. He seemed taken aback by a question about the possibility of being moved prior to the November 5 trade deadline. The Browns have four games before that date, which coincides with their bye week, and conceivably could be 1-8 by then, the way things are going.
“I’m not thinking about that,” Cooper said. “I’m not thinking about us not winning some games. I’m thinking about us winning some games. So that hasn’t even crossed my mind.”
He continued, “It’s the easiest thing in the world to do is to jump off this ship when it’s sinking, I guess I would say. I mean, I don’t consider myself that type of person. That’s what people who aren’t dedicated do, who aren’t committed do. Things get hard sometimes. You just have to fight your way through it. I’m a fighter and I know the guys on this team are fighters. That’s what fighters do, fight to the end. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
So much is going wrong in all phases of the team, Cooper was asked where do they start to turn this thing around.
“It’s easy to say but it definitely starts with a win,” he said. “The win is what creates the momentum. The momentum is what creates the confidence. Now what will get us to the win? The same thing we’ve been preaching. Going out there and practicing, executing in practice, practicing like a winning team, doing the little things, doing a little extra, watching more film, getting more treatment, a little more extra in everything.”
The 32nd ranked offense has been the biggest culprit in the losses. The Browns haven’t scored 20 points in a game all season. They only did it once in three preseason games. Going back to last year, they scored 14 in the 17th game, in which they rested most starters, and 14 in the wild-card loss in Houston.
Although Kevin Stefanski said there would be no change in the offensive play-calling operation, Cooper said the coach is implementing other changes.
“We are making changes,” he said. “One of the things coach Kevin is emphasizing is we need a spark, and it can come from anywhere. We’re doing some things to try to create that spark. Again, I won’t divulge.”
Some of them might have come from a meeting some senior offensive players had with Stefanski and other coaches.
“Yeah, like I alluded to, not anything I can share right now,” Cooper said. “Of course, conversations have been had on things that we can do to get us closer to winning. Yeah, definitely.”
Bitonio weighs in
It’s a big week for 11-year veteran guard Joel Bitonio. He turns 33 on Friday and Sunday will mark his 150th NFL start.
Kicker Phil Dawson leads all expansion-era Browns with 215 games played. Hall of Famer Joe Thomas has 167. Myles Garrett is third with 102.
The Browns’ all-time record-holder for games played is linebacker Clay Matthews with 232.
“Yeah, 150th start, you look at the other names on that list, it’s pretty special,” Bitonio said. “There’s a lot of luck that goes into being available. It’s a cool stat and hopefully we’ll get a win.”
This is the first time in Bitonio’s 11 years with the Browns that they have been 1-4 through five games. Of course, they went 1-31 over the 2016-17 seasons.
“It's incredibly frustrating,” he said. “You want to win games. I’m in my 11th year. I’ve done everything I need to [individually] in my career. I just want to win.”
Brownie bits
I asked offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey if, given the lack of points scored, players were still buying in to the new offense. He said, “I think that the players are focused on one thing and that’s going out and being successful this week. And I think that’s the most important thing for us, is going out and being successful this week. And I think that’s the buy in that our players have. That’s the buy in that the building has and that’s our sole focus whether it’s today, tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, whatever it is, we’re focusing on right now. We’re focusing on this week. We’re focusing on going out and winning this football game.” ...
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz took the blame for the 41-yard TD to Dyami Brown allowed by M.J. Emerson in the Washington game. Schwartz corroborated Emerson’s comments that Emerson was gassed from covering consecutive routes in that Commanders’ 2-minute drive. “I probably went too many snaps of man-to-man in a row there, and he was gassed, and I was slow to recognize that, and he gave up a touchdown,” he said. Schwartz also said this about Emerson: “He’s a competitive guy. What we saw last year, what we saw in training camp this year was not a mirage. I have a lot of confidence in him getting out of that and playing good ball for us down the stretch.” ...
Special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone said this about the quality of kicking in the NFL today: “That position is, it’s a critical position that you have a really good player there because it’s a points position. Sometimes it goes overlooked, but that’s one of the most, if not, the most important position besides the quarterback, I would say.” ...
Remaining out of practice a second day in a row were: safety Grant Delpit (concussion), safety Ronnie Hickman (ankle), offensive tackle James Hudson (shoulder), center Ethan Pocic (knee), and cornerback Denzel Ward (hamstring). Ward did say in the locker room he felt fine and expected to play on Sunday ...
Tight end David Njoku (knee, ankle) returned to practice and was limited ...
Hudson announced on Instagram that he had surgery on his shoulder.