Owner Jimmy Haslam and coach Kevin Stefanski were engaged in deep conversation prior to Browns practice on Thursday. (TheLandOnDemand)
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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.
Takeaways from Browns practice and interviews …
Myles Garrett, his coaches and Browns medics don’t think he’ll worsen three lower-leg injuries by playing.
So …
“I’m not concerned about causing any further damage. I’m just going to go out there and play,” Garrett said.
What about taking a week off?
“That’s what we have a bye week for. Until then, you’re not going to get enough of 95,” Garrett said.
The Browns have five more games until their bye week.
“[We’ll] just manage it as we go,” Garrett said. “We got multiple days to do that. Yesterday taking some time off, Tuesday, Monday, and all those days, even right after the game Sunday, getting right on. I try to spend every moment preparing my body for the rigors of the season and sometimes bumps and bruises like I have now.
“An injured animal is the fiercest, so I’m going to be at my best.”
Garrett was limited at Thursday’s practice.
Right/left or shadow?
The Browns’ defense improved on Malik Nabers when coordinator Jim Schwartz made the adjustment at halftime of shadowing CB1 Denzel Ward on the impressive Giants rookie receiver.
Nabers was 6 for 6 in the first half when Ward wasn’t on him – M.J. Emerson gave up 3 of the receptions, 3 others were in zone coverage or against Greg Newsome – and 2 for 6 when Ward primarily matched him.
So I asked Schwartz what’s the schematic advantage of playing strictly left side/right side with his outside cornerbacks.
“Well, there’s some stuff to indicators that the offense uses, right?” he said. “There’s so much the offense does to try to discern whether it’s man or zone, different formations, slot formations, things like that. And generally, if you’re right and left, you’re not given those man indicators, right? And teams get into man beaters and things like that.
“Other ways you can combat it is you can give them man alignments and play zone. We have both of those. But also, when teams do tempo quick, particularly [the] Cowboys, that was a big thing, just trying to find guys and go one side or the other. In [the Giants] game, a significant portion of the second half, Denzel was trailing Malik, but there’s also times where you can’t do that. Like they get in bunches, if you try to lock one guy in a bunch, you can set yourself up for a lot of picks and a lot of things like that and line up at number three.
“It’s always sort of a little battle against the offense and battle sort of how you’re going to play it into how much you’re going to show, what you’re showing and how settled your guys are and we try to balance all those in the game. He made a couple plays in the second quarter. It wasn’t every time in the second half, but Denzel matched him a lot more in the second half. We were able to come up with some stops.”
For his part, Emerson told me, “I didn’t perform how I wanted to. Just [have to] learn from it. You can’t be down too long. I’m on to the Raiders, but I wasn’t happy with my performance.”
Sunday’s wide receiver challenge is Davante Adams. I would expect to see Ward shadowing him.
What’s my line?
Tackles James Hudson (shoulder) and Dawand Jones (knee) were limited and are expected to play Sunday in Las Vegas.
That means the interior linemen can stay in their regular spots – Joel Bitonio at left guard, Ethan Pocic at center and rookie Zak Zinter at right guard in place of IR’d Wyatt Teller.
Tackles Jedrick Wills and Jack Conklin did not practice and are good bets to be scratched. Which would leave Germain Ifedi as the lone backup tackle available in Las Vegas.
Brownie bits
I asked coordinator Ken Dorsey if the mental part of Deshaun Watson’s game is still rusty and is keeping him from breaking through with a complete game. “He’s going to continue to grow as a player with what we’re doing and become more and more comfortable,” Dorsey said. “And I think he’s kind of the tip of the spear for us in a lot of ways and he’s going to be somebody who’s going to help us win a lot of games.” …
Raiders returner Tre Turner is a person of interest for Bubba Ventrone’s special teams this week. He hasn’t broken one yet this year, but … “This guy can get to the edge and he can run,” Ventrone said. “Last year, I want to say the analytics showed on the tracking data this guy was the second fastest person in the league with the ball in his hands. I think it came out to a conversion, like, he ran like a 4.24 with the ball in his hand. So, that’s rolling. And he’s a guy that we’re definitely going to have to be ready for and to have good leverage against.” …
Running back Jerome Ford returned to practice and will be a go for Sunday …
Linebacker Jordan Hicks (ribs, elbow) did not practice …
Tight end David Njoku (ankle) made his first appearance in two weeks but was limited. Njoku has not been ruled out, but it’s doubtful he’ll be available for the third straight game ...
The Raiders added receiver Davante Adams to their injury report with a hamstring injury. He was limited.