Browns finally look far and wide in the passing game -- Bud Shaw"s Spinoffs
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Even if Josh Gordon didn’t return to practice this week, Browns wide receivers would still be a conversation topic.
That tends to happen when an organization acknowledges the position might just be important enough to address in the draft and free agency for a change.
Terrelle Pryor didn’t make it easy for the last coaching regime to develop him. But he’s more proof that Hue Jackson and the front office have a shared commitment to weaponize the offense any way it can.
In the NFL in 2016, you do that with size and speed and depth at wide receiver. A trio of Pryor, Corey Coleman and Gordon is a projection for now, but a tantalizing one.
Unless you turned in your season tickets when the Browns didn’t bring Dwayne Bowe back.
• A ESPN.com headline before the Olympics declared, “U.S. team so talented it’s impossible to tell how good it is.” And now we can tell.
Three points better than Serbia.
Three points better than France.
Ten points better than Australia.
The unbridled greatness of Team USA seemed a risky angle given the players who didn’t go this time around include LeBron James and Steph Curry. But the U.S. was so dominant in the FIBA World Cup two years ago when it won gold by an average margin of 33 points, despite missing some NBA stars, that it was logical to believe this would be almost as easy.
Instead, we’re reminded that it’s impossible to tell how great a role complacency can play.
• In separate mea culpas, Gary Barnidge, Robert Griffin III, head coach Hue Jackson and Terrelle Pryor all blamed themselves for various issues in the Browns’ first exhibition game in Green Bay.
Barnidge and RG3 miscommunicated on an interception in the middle of the field. Jackson said he didn’t adequately stress the importance of taking care of the ball. Pryor said despite a big catch on the game’s first play, his 2016 debut just showed he needs to work harder on the transition from quarterback to wide receiver.
There is nothing more admirable than teammates and a coach throwing themselves on their own swords instead of pointing fingers elsewhere.
Unless it’s playing well enough there’s no reason to take the blame.
• Justin Gilbert says his biggest area of improvement is in maturity.
And you were hoping that was second to coverage?
• Bartolo Colon walked for the first time in 282 plate appearances covering 19 seasons.
“I was surprised, too,” Colon told MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez. “The pitcher didn’t strike me out because he didn’t want to. I couldn’t make a swing because of my hand. My (left) wrist has been bothering me for a long time.”
Is it a coincidence Colon walked in the same season in which he hit his first career home run?
Yes.
Has he given opponents reason to pitch around him?
No.
• Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips answered a hot take questioning whether Denver overdid it in preseason by frequently blitzing Bears quarterbacks.
Phillips said he was surprised “experts” didn’t know the difference between a blitz and a dog.
5 sacks were 4 man rush -2 sacks were 5 man rush–
0 sacks were blitzes— Wade Phillips (@sonofbum) August 13, 2016
His use of the word “experts” did not refer to the Bears offensive line.
But it didn’t seem to know the difference either.
• Justin Rose said he received congratulations from Rory McIlroy after winning gold in Rio as golf returned to the Olympics for the first time in more than a century.
McIlroy said at the British Open he probably wouldn’t be watching golf in Rio. What would win his interest instead?
“Probably events like track and field, swimming, diving, the stuff that matters,” McIlroy said.
Could’ve been worse. But only if he’d said handball, canoe slalom and modern pentathlon.
• Parking costs soared as high as $100 for the Rams preseason opener.
That does not include detailing.
• Carolina quarterback Cam Newton‘s interview with GQ caused a stir, in part because of his take on the issue of race. Newton was asked about the comments he made before the Super Bowl about how being an “African American quarterback that might scare some people.”
“I don’t want this to be about race, because it’s not,” Newton told the magazine. “It’s not. Like, we’re beyond that. As a nation.”
Newton wouldn’t pick a side politically during the interview. He painted himself as being just like anyone else with an opinion.
Just like anyone else who is rich, famous and has a son named Chosen.
• TMZ asked Cowboys owner Jerry Jones what it is about Johnny Manziel that has kept the Cowboys away from signing him. Manziel has stated his wish to play for Dallas.
Said Jones, “Dak Prescott.”
If the play of Prescott, the Cowboys’ fourth-round draft pick, is the main reason why Dallas hasn’t moved to secure Manziel, Jones needs to hire different people to do player background checks.
• Corner Josh Norman says he didn’t pick the Redskins because of the money. He picked Washington in part because the Redskins made the playoffs last season.
“Coming here, I can see hardware,” he said.
No. 2 on the list of things not often said of a Dan Snyder team, “The feeling is like one big happy family.”
• A Russian diver received a score of 0.0 at Rio. Without an appreciation for the technical aspects of diving, it’s difficult to understand how a diver could completely whiff.
So just think of Jeff Garcia against the Cowboys in 2004.
• If you don’t remember Garcia’s work against Dallas, think of most You Said It submissions you’ve read.
• Hope Solo after Team USA has its Olympic run end in a loss to a buttoned-down Sweden. The US lost on penalty kicks. It outshot Sweden 27-6.
“We played a bunch of cowards,” the American goalie said. “The best team did not win today. I strongly, firmly believe that.”
And with that, the sportsmanship award goes to … someone, anyone else.
• Report: “LeBron James could’ve made more money long term but opted for more security.”
Finally, a contract that gives him the peace of mind that he can provide for his family in case there’s an economic downturn.
• Hue Jackson says he guarantees that if players were seen laughing on the sidelines during Friday’s exhibition game they weren’t laughing about Cody Kessler running out of the end zone for an unforced safety.
I’d say that, too, if I thought my players were laughing at Cody Kessler running out of the end zone for an unforced safety.
• Rio headline: “Merritt wins bronze after endearing drug ban.”
Endearing? Or enduring?
You decide.
LaShawn Merritt was suspended 21 months after testing positive for a banned PED while he was taking time away from training.
He told the review panel that he inadvertently took the substance after buying a male enhancement product. He didn’t say it at the time. But we will say it for him.
Who would admit that if it weren’t true?
Browns finally look far and wide in the passing game -- Bud Shaw"s Spinoffs
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