Archive for August, 2011

The long road to recovery will finally be complete for Cleveland Browns running back Montario Hardesty on Thursday night, as he will take the field against the Philadelphia Eagles. He tore his left ACL during last season’s preseason, forcing him to miss the entire 2010 season, and was finally able to resume practicing in full pads this past week. It’s no surprise that Hardesty is itching to get on the field and play, especially after a week without setbacks or worries about the health of his knees. You’ll remember that he also tore his right ACL in 2005, so he is [...]

The relative success of the Browns has caused a lot of enthusiasm this preseason, and it’s pretty easy to see why. Entering his second season, Colt McCoy has shown a level of poise that makes fans dare to dream. While his second preseason game was not nearly as smooth and efficient as his first, McCoy’s play impressed me even more than what he showed against the Packers.

The Cleveland Browns took the field against the Detroit Lions on Friday night for their second preseason game and, more importantly, the newest installment in the fierce rivalry that is the Great Lakes Classic. Sarcasm aside, there was a lot of good to take away from this game, despite the fact that the Browns ended up on the short end of the final 30-28 score. Quarterback Colt McCoy was once again the highlight for the Browns, completing ten of 18 passes for 96 yards and three touchdowns. He managed that performance without his No. 1 running back in Peyton Hillis, and [...]

The time has finally come: the next installment of the vaunted Great Lakes Classic is here. While the pageantry that goes with this game is odd, to say the least, it does mean that we are one preseason game closer to seeing games that actually count in the standings. To help get you pumped for this epic preseason rivalry, I caught up with Zac Snyder of SideLion Report this week to see what’s new in Lions training camp.

The Cleveland Browns play the Detroit Lions in the second game of the 2011 preseason––the Great Lakes Classic. As usual, all eyes are on Colt McCoy. Last week, he had the entire league buzzing after his performance against the Green Bay Packers. McCoy completed 9 of 10 passes for 135 yards, 1 TD, and no INT. Everyone loved what they saw, even his skeptics, myself included. But now he needs to keep it going…

Raise your hand if you’ve read an article about the University of Miami and Nevin Shapiro in the past few days. Raise your hand if you’ve read a few about Ohio State, and the state of the NCAA overall. There’s tons of them out there. Just today you could have enjoyed: Miami scandal is symptom of NCAA flaws – Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports, or Rule breaking is an institutional problem, not isolated to Miami – Michael Rosenberg, Sports Illustrated The schools and the players change, but the articles and their themes remain the same: The NCAA is broken. It holds to [...]

If you had to pick one unit on the Cleveland Browns deep enough to take a hit, you’d pick the offensive line. Even with that I have a feeling they will miss backup guard Billy Yates, who abruptly retired this week.

The NFL’s regular season is quickly approaching, and every team is filled with its own questions, position battles, and optimism. Will the Green Bay Packers be able to repeat as Super Bowl champions? How will rookie quarterbacks like Andy Dalton and Cam Newton perform in the NFL? Are the Philadelphia Eagles truly a “Dream Team?” These are all questions that will be answered soon enough. But for now, sink your teeth into Dawg Pound Daily’s preseason NFL Power Rankings. Think we got it all wrong? Want to tell us where to stick it because we ranked your team so low? [...]

The Cleveland Browns were dealing with a number of injuries at practice on Wednesday, with one of the most notable injuries happening to starting left guard Eric Steinbach, who left early with a back injury. However, it’s not believed to be serious, which is good news. The Browns can’t afford to break up the excellent tandem of Steinbach and left tackle Joe Thomas. Those two have helped anchor an offensive line that is developing into one of the best in the league. Steinbach has also missed practice time earlier in camp with a knee injury. He was not participating in [...]

Former Big Ten rivals Jim Tressel and Lloyd Carr were both present at the Browns’ practice on Tuesday, along with former Green Bay Packers GM Ron Wolf, though that is decidedly less exciting for Browns fans to hear. Cavaliers GM Chris Grant and assistant coach Paul Pressey were also a part of the cavalcade of guests that strolled through Berea. Naturally, the focus was entirely on Tressel, as rumors swirled about why he was there. Some believed it was due to the Browns’ interest in Tressel’s former quarterback at Ohio State, Terrelle Pryor. Others wondered if Tressel would be taking a consulting job with [...]