CLEVELAND BROWNS

            PRESS RELEASE
 
*

 

 


Cleveland Browns Communications Department

Ken Mather, Manager · Amy Palcic, Coordinator · Nathan Boudreaux, Coordinator · Matthew Carson, Intern

 

www.clevelandbrowns.com · 76 Lou Groza Blvd., Berea, Ohio 44017 · Phone: 440-891-5000 · Fax: 440-891-5010

 


Each Thursday the Browns will send out “Browns Bits” with updated news & notes, transactions and quotes as a supplement to the weekly release.

   

INJURY REPORT

 

CLEVELAND: OUT:  OL Ryan Tucker (quadricep), DL Gerard Warren (pectoral); QUESTIONABLE: TE Steve Heiden (knee), DL Kenard Lang (knee), RB Lee Suggs (neck); PROBABLE: DL Ebenezer Ekuban (shoulder), DB Anthony Henry (vertigo),  DB Daylon McCutcheon (finger), OL Paul Zukauskas (knee).

 

WASHINGTON: OUT: LB LaVar Arrington (knee), DE Phillip Daniels (knee); QUESTIONABLE: LB Michael Barrow (knee), S Andre Lott (hamstring), RB Chad Morton (knee); PROBABLE: WR Laveranues Coles (finger), S Matt Bowen (groin).

                                                               

NEWS & NOTES

 

Redskins are the Browns’ favorite opponent: The Browns have had their longest winning streak in the history of the franchise against Washington, as the Browns beat the Redskins 12 consecutive times from 1963-1971. The Browns also have the highest winning percentage in team history against an opponent that they have played 15 or more times with the Redskins. The Browns are 32-9-1 with a winning percentage of .774 against Washington. The only teams that the Browns have beaten more than the Redskins are the Arizona Cardinals ( 33 times) and next week’s opponent the Pittsburgh Steelers (55 times).

 

STRIKE UP THE BAND: Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 12:45 p.m. this Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadiums because The Ohio State University Marching Band will perform during the pre-game (National Anthem) and halftime of Sunday’s game between the Browns and Redskins.  The 225-member Ohio State University Marching Band, also known as The Best Damn Band in the Land, has performed at Browns games three times over the last five seasons (Oct. 10, 1999 vs. Cincinnati; Oct. 1, 2000 vs. Baltimore and Sept. 15, 2002 vs. Cincinnati).  The Browns are 1-2 (since 1999) in games when the OSU marching band plays, including a 20-7 win over the Bengals in 2002.

 

 

31 down and one to go: After Sunday, the only team in the NFL the Browns will have not played since returning to the league in 1999 is Minnesota. The Browns play the Vikings in Minnesota next season.

 

 

ODDS ON OUR SIDE: The 2004 season marks the sixth time in team history the Browns have won their opener only to lose their next two games. In the five seasons (1962, 1966, 1968, 1976 and 1990) so far, the team finished with a record above .500 in all but one season. The last time it happened was 1990, when the team finished 3-13. The Browns are 38-33-1 in those seasons combined.

 

Overall, the Browns have begun a season 1-2 sixteen times in team history. They are 120-111-1 in those seasons including five playoff berths.

 

 

DAWSON’S PACE: If Phil Dawson continues his current scoring pace, he will set the Browns’ single-season scoring record currently held by Jim Brown (126 points, 1965). With 24 points through three games, Dawson is on pace to record 128 points. His career high is 100, set in 2002. Having kicked seven field goals through three games, Dawson also could challenge Matt Stover’s single-season team record of 29 field goals. He needs to average 1.7 field goals per game for the remainder of the season to break the record.  

 

With 405 career points, Dawson needs 16 to pass Gary Collins for seventh on the Browns’ all-time scoring list. He is nine field goals shy of 100 in his career.

 

ROSTER MOVES: This week the Browns made several roster moves after Monday. The Browns placed TE Kellen Winslow on injured reserve and signed OL Bo Lacy from the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad to the active roster. The Browns also placed LB Ben Taylor on injured reserve and re-signed RB Dee Brown to the active roster.

 

Brown, 5-10 and 215 lbs., played on special teams in the first two regular season games, totaling 3 tackles and had 3 kickoff returns for 45 yards.  Brown originally signed with the Browns as a free agent on Aug. 1, 2004, and was waived on Sept. 21, 2004. 

 

On the practice squad the Browns released TE Doug Ziegler and signed LB Chris Clemons.

 

BBW Pep Rally at the Grille at Cleveland Browns Stadium: Every Saturday before a Browns home game, the Browns Backers host a Saturday Night Pep Rally at The Grille at Cleveland Browns Stadium from 5-7 p.m.. With Washington coming to town this week, the famous Redskins fans ‘The Hogettes’ will join the Bone Lady, former Cleveland Browns player Al “Bubba” Baker and other Browns Backers fans at the party on Saturday to watch college football games, enjoy drink specials and win special prizes.

 

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM

Head Coach Butch Davis

(On the Washington Redskins) – “I know this is Joe Gibbs first year back, but this is a very typical Joe Gibbs football team. They have a big, massive offensive line. They have a terrific running back, although he is a little bit different than John Riggins and some of those guys that played for him back then. The thing that shows up is the amount of veterans. They have 15-16 guys that have eight or more years in the league. That has pretty much been a trademark of Redskins teams, having a lot of guys like Ray Brown who is 41-years and his 19th year in the league. They have an experienced veteran quarterback like they always have.  They have fast, athletic receivers. They have a fast defense. They have spent a lot of money over the last four or five years and they have gotten a lot of good players. They spent the money bringing in guys like DB Shawn Springs to add to their team.”

 

(On QB Jeff Garcia’s desire to win) – “Our whole team wants to win. Certainly, Jeff wants to win. He wants to get off to a good start. My personal feeling is that during the last two minutes of the first half of the Giants game and the second half of the Giants game was the best that he has played as a Cleveland Brown. He was 3 0r 4 of 5 or 6 in the second quarter right before the half until he threw an interception. We knew that it was probably going to be a touchdown or an interception. Then he was 14-17 in the second half. He gained some confidence in the offensive line and himself in the second half.  The routes, the receivers and the flow of the game were much better for him. We have to continue to build on it.”

 

QB Jeff Garcia

(On his progression with the Browns)-“I signed looking at this being a new opportunity for me. I was able to come into an organization that is willing and wanting to do whatever it takes to put a winning football team on the field. My job is to be the best quarterback I can be for this team. As much as maybe I anticipated myself being somewhere different at this point in the season, I know I’m still trying to get to that point. Every opportunity you face challenges. Obviously coming into a new situation, it was not going to be the easiest of things, but I’m trying to answer the challenge and make the best of it and do whatever it takes to turn this team around and start winning some football games.”

 

(On building trust)-“When it comes to every sort of facet in the game, you need to be able to trust the individual next to you and trust he’s going to do his job. We need to each look in the mirror and point the finger at ourselves as far as taking initiative to do our jobs individually. But, when it comes to coach (Butch Davis) speaking about trust, it’s just being able to lean on each other knowing each guy is going to step out on the field knowing what he has to do, being mentally and physically prepared to do his job and not having to worry about protecting anybody. It’s just a matter of going out and playing and that’s what this team needs to get to as far as being able to trust each other, lean on each other and move forward.”

 

TE AARON SHEA

(On what the Browns need to do to be successful this weekend) – “We can’t beat ourselves. We have to be able to make the big plays and stop the big plays and most importantly, get off to a fast start.”

 

WR ANDRÉ DAVIS

(On what the offense needs to do) – “The first thing that we have to do is pick up the blitzes. Washington is a big blitz team. As long as we can pick up the blitzes and hurt them on the plays when they do blitz, we can be successful this weekend.”

 

(On getting big plays downfield because of the blitzes) – “I don’t know if there will be too many plays downfield with the blitzes because they happen pretty fast. We have to make sure that we get rid of the ball quickly and that guys are ready to go.”

 

TE STEVE HEIDEN

(On coming back this weekend) – “I am just looking forward to playing for the first time this year. TE (Aaron) Shea and TE Chad (Mustard) did some good things last weekend. I want to come in and play as long as I can and see what happens.”

 

(On what the Redskins do defensively) – “They are a big blitz team. They blitz a lot. There are some things that we can exploit. Anytime a team blitzes that much, you have to take advantage of those situations. They are a really sound defense. We have to not worry about what they are doing and execute what we are comfortable with.”

 

DE Kenard Lang

(On what it was like playing in Washington) – “That town loves the team.  People there lived and breathed football – even the Congressman and people on Capital Hill were big Redskins fans and supporters.  Football was real big up there.”

 

(On if it means anything to him playing his former team) – “I’m going to treat it just like any other game. It’s important to treat every game like a playoff game and like it’s the most important one out there because right now it is – we’re sitting at 1-2 and we need to get back to .500.  We can’t put ourselves in a hole.  It’s like we’re riding in a car.  We want to be the driver and not the passenger. Right now we’re the passenger and we’re depending on other people to lead the way.  We need to get back to .500 and start winning so we can be the driver of the vehicle. If we are not the driver then they’ll take us to where we don’t want to go and we don’t want that to happen.”