Cleveland Browns Training Camp Report: Friday 8/7 8:45 AM Practice

Written by Daniel Wolf

Article originally posted on Dawg Scooper: An Unofficial Cleveland Browns News Source

After yesterday's bad quarterback play, today's article is focusing mostly on the quarterback battle, which is going to make a lot of people happy (or sad).

Before we get to the quarterbacks, there are a few quick things worth mentioning that took place during practice drills.

The most notable was with the special teams. They were practicing their onside kicks and what was strange is that punter Dave Zastudil and kicker Phil Dawson were lined up near the kickoff tee like they were both going to kick the ball.

First Zastudil would run up to the ball, but intentionally miss the ball, and then Dawson would be right there behind him actually kicking the ball in the other direction.

It's great to see a little trickery during camp!

Also, linebacker Alex Hall got to the quarterbacks three times for sacks, Rogers had two, and rookie linebacker David Veikune got another sack today just to name a few.

Rookie running back James Davis had yet another long play of over 25 yards. It seems that every practice, Davis has been able to break a long gain. He caught a short screen pass from backup quarterback Brett Ratliff and took it about 35 yards down the field showing off his speed and elusiveness once again.

Two other players to highlight were tight ends Steve Heiden and Robert Royal who both caught three to four passes each in practice.

During a wide receiver versus defensive back one-on-one drill, cornerback Eric Wright was covering receiver Braylon Edwards, and Wright got the better of Edwards with some really tight coverage and the ball was incomplete.

Immediately, after the play, Wright turned to the crowd and asked, "I don't get any cheers for that?"

The crowd then gave him a round of applause (and a few laughs) for his great coverage against Edwards.

The final mention has to go to the pass rush drill where one pass rusher would line up against an offensive lineman and Shaun Rogers smoked his opposition twice along with C.J. Mosley and Hall beat their guys to get to the quarterback as well.

Now to the good stuff.

There were many different scrimmages today, all of them were a different type of situation.

The first was a 11-on-11 starting at second and long.

                       Comp.   Att.   Yards   TD   INT   Dropped passes                                 

Quinn                    1         2        12      0     0         1 (Leggett)

Anderson               2         3        15      0     0         1 (Cribbs)

Note on drill: Not too much happen in this drill as you can see by the stats.

Next was a six on eight drill that had a quarterback with four receivers and a running back against eight total defensive backs and linebackers. No lineman were used in this scenario.

                       Comp.   Att.   Yards   TD   INT   Dropped Passes

Quinn                  4         5       68      0     0            0

Anderson             4         6       33      0     0            0

Note on drill: Remember there was no pressure on the quarterbacks in this drill since even the linebackers were dropping back into coverage.

Then the team went back into the 11-on-11 scrimmage with a focus on short, possession passes.

                       Comp.   Att.   Yards   TD   INT   Dropped Passes

Quinn                  3         5        12     0      0          0

Anderson             7         9        71     0      0          2 (Edwards, Steptoe)

Note on drill: Quinn and rookie center Alex Mack fumbled a snap and therefore both had to run a lap which gave Anderson some extra reps. Linebacker Kamerion Wimbley showed good pressure on the quarterbacks several times during this drill. Hall sacked both Quinn and Anderson. Also, Josh Cribbs lined up in the backfield with Anderson and took a direct snap which he was looking to pass the ball, but the defense read it perfect and sacked him behind the line of scrimmage.

Next up were more 11-on-11 drills but from inside the offenses own five yard line.

                       Comp.   Att.   Yards   TD   INT   Dropped Passes

Quinn                  4         5       43      0     0            0

Anderson             0         2         0      0     0            0

Note on drill: During Anderson's reps the offense called more running plays than during Quinn's reps. Offensive lineman Eric Steinbach, Floyd Womack and Isaac Sowells all had to run laps due to false starts.

Now the offense had to take the ball from the opposing 40 yard line and score with only 11 seconds left on the clock. (Another 11-on-11 drill)

                       Comp.   Att.   Yards   TD   INT   Dropped passes

Quinn                  1        2         5       0     0            0

Anderson             2        4        17      0     0            0

Note on drill: Quinn did have a 10 yard scramble, but Dawson only made one of three field goals that were in the range of 45-52 yards.

Finally, the last 11-on-11 was from the offenses own 20 yard line with 1:48 left on the clock.

                       Comp.   Att.   Yards   TD   INT   Dropped passes

Quinn                  6        10     41       0     0           0

Anderson             3        5       42       0     0           0

Note on drill: Quinn definitely moved the ball better than Anderson on this particular drill, but both quarterbacks could not get a score and they were each sacked once by linebacker David Bowens and Veikune.

Overall, today's quarterback play was much improved over Thursday's, but Quinn is still holding onto the ball for way too long and he really needs to make better (and quicker) decisions on where to throw it. He still isn't taking any chances down the field and would rather settle for a short pass to a tight end or running back.

On the other hand, Anderson showed good signs of reading the defense today, but he still misses on many short passes because he is just gunning the ball too hard to the receivers.

(Next practice to be covered will be on Tuesday August 11 at 8:45 AM)