Cleveland Browns injury report: Haden, Gipson return

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Sep 27, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns cornerback Joe Haden (23) during the third quarter against the Oakland Raiders at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott R. Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Browns released the first injury report for Sunday’s game with the Arizona Cardinals and it is good news as the secondary is getting the band back together.

Corner Joe Haden, how has missed the past two games with a concussion, and safety Tashaun Gipson, who has missed the past three games with an ankle injury, were both able to return to practice on Wednesday.

“Anytime you’re on the sideline, it’s like the game slows down,” Gipson said on Wednesday. “You see a lot of plays and say, ‘Hey, man, I could have made that play.’ Things could have been different. That’s to take nothing away from those guys that have been out there playing. It’s just when you feel like you can make certain plays and play at a high level, that’s supposed to be how you feel.”

Gipson has a point. While Pierre Desir did a nice job filling in, if Haden had been on the field against the St. Louis Rams maybe he doesn’t get called for pass interference or give up a 41-yard pass on the Rams’ touchdown drive in the third quarter.

And nothing against Jordan Poyer, but if Gipson had been on the field against the Broncos maybe he takes the correct angle and doesn’t allow a 75-yard touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders.

The injury news was not as happy for the offense, as quarterback Josh McCown did not practice and is still day-to-day as he deals with shoulder and rib injuries.

“(Head trainer) Joe Sheehan and our trainers and the people available to us do an excellent job of helping us, everything we can do to feel better and get our bodies ready,” McCown said on Wednesday. “We are utilizing that and it actually does help when you get rest and allow your body to heal, and taking a day off certainly helps. We have done everything we can as far as a treatment standpoint to utilize these last few days.

“Hopefully, it puts us in a good position to feel better and be able to play.”

In addition, wide receiver Andrew Hawkins is in the NFL-mandated concussion protocol so it seems unlikely that he will play on Sunday, possibly opening the door for the $9 million man himself, Dwayne Bowe.

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“We’ll make that decision at the end of the week,” Pettine said. “We have a rough idea, and we’ll practice our plan how we think it should play out, but some of those decisions will be based on how practice goes.”

The full injury report shows the following players did not practice: Andrew Hawkins (concussion), Rob Housler (hamstring), Duke Johnson (not injury related), Josh McCown (shoulder/ribs), Jordan Poyer (shoulder), Randy Starks (not injury related) and Joe Thomas (not injury related).

Practicing on a limited basis were: Tashaun Gipson (ankle), Joe Haden (concussion/finger) and Craig Robertson (ankle).

Next: 2016 NFL Mock Draft: Browns select A'Shawn Robinson