Cleveland Browns injury report: 4 out with concussions

Sep 27, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Taylor Gabriel (18) at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott R. Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Browns will be without four players, including two wide receivers, for Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The final injury report is out for Sunday’s game between the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals and the Browns will once again be without some key players.

Missing this week will be wide receivers Taylor Gabriel and Andrew Hawkins, along with cornerback Joe Haden, as all three continued to deal with concussions.

Haden missing his sixth game out of the past seven would appear to mean the Pierre Desir would see playing time, but Desir was a health scratch Monday night against the Baltimore Ravens, so who knows?

“We can’t ask for somebody to give more than what we have, and Pierre is a guy, he gives that to us when he’s out there,” head coach Mike Pettine said on Friday. “I know he has had some troubles this year, and as a corner, that’s hard because when your confidence gets shook a little bit that’s hard to come back from. That’s something as a young corner that he has to use as a learning experience.”

With both Hawkins and Gabriel out again, Sunday’s game may present the home crowd with another opportunity to see Dwayne Bowe in action. (Or what passes for action from Bowe this year.) What they most likely won’t see, much to the chagrin of the OSU fanboys, is wide receiver Terrelle Pryor, at least not for a while.

““I just don’t know if he is mentally ready there yet to divulge into a gameplan and coming off the street and being out of it for so long,” offensive coordinator John DeFilippo said. “You have to get into a mental mindset to be able to play in this game. But I do think at some point before the season is over we will probably see Terrelle Pryor on the field.”

More important than whether Bowe or Pryor will get on the field is the question of guard Joel Bitonio and his ankle. Bitonio is listed as questionable and, according to Pettine, is still not 100 percent.

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If Bitonio can’t go, rookie guard Cameron Erving should get his third consecutive start and another opportunity to fix what ails him, which, according to Pettine, is just Erving’s pad level, technique and functional strength.

“It is a very difficult position to come in and be where you want to be as a rookie,” Pettine did say in Erving’s defense. “You see other positions that can do that much easier than offensive line. The skillset is there to work with but, there were some plays where he did, he did get overpowered and knows that he has to work.

“He’s a guy that he’s 100 miles an hour, plays hard, loves the game and when the want-to is there and the potential is there that we’re confident that it’ll happen for him.”

Cleveland: Out: Taylor Gabriel (concussion), Justin Gilbert (concussion), Joe Haden (concussion) and Andrew Hawkins (concussion). Questionable: Joel Bitonio (ankle), Nate Orchard (groin) and Randy Starks (knee). Probable: Armonty Bryant (elbow) and Johnny Manziel (elbow).

Cincinnati: Doubtful: Tyler Eifert (neck), Chris Lewis-Harris (ribs). Questionable: Leon Hall (back), George Iloka (groin) and Adam Jones (foot). Probable: Vontaze Burfict (knee), Dre Kirkpatrick (ankle), Emmanuel Lamur (ankle) and Andre Smith (not injury related).

Probable = virtual certainty player will be available for normal duties. Questionable = 50% chance player will not play; Doubtful = at least 75% chance player will not play; Out = will not play.

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