Another hot and sultry day – reminiscent of summer days in the great state of Alabama – out at Berea today.
Just when Coach Romeo Crennel offers some praise for Brady Quinn, the Cleveland Browns second string quarterback goes out and has – shall we say – an uneven day. Looking at Quinn in the team's lone practice today it was obvious that the passer wasn't accurate on deep routes today, often overthrowing the ball.
Some of that can be attributed to blanket-like coverage of the Browns DBs on some occasions, but Quinn, for whatever reason, was off. To his credit, however, he spent a significant amount of time after practice throwing balls to a member of the Browns staff. Might he be pushing? Possibly.
But Quinn needs to learn something right now: for the time being, this isn't his team. No matter how much he and his legions of fans want it, it's not happening this year unless starter Derek Anderson starts to look like Spurgeon Wynn.
Speaking of Mr. Anderson….With wide receiver Donte Stallworth able to go full speed after a slight hamstring issue, he and Anderson seem to be developing the all-important sense of timing and chemistry. Anderson hit Stallworth on a nice bomb that the receiver laid out for drawing some serious applause from fans in attendance. Yes, it was that impressive.
That would be one of the few times that Browns defensive backs would get burned all day, however. For the most part they attacked the ball, slapping passes away and creating turnovers. Corner brothers Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald, the season's likely starters, draped themselves on receivers. McDonald had one sweet interception and dropped another. Wright proved consistent throughout.
Right now, McDonald's play gives Browns' management reason to hope that they won't end up with egg on their face for trading cornerback Leigh Bodden during the offseason. Of course, looking good in practice and in playing situations are two different situations.
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Ivy, who turns 32 on March 29, is the first ex-Raven acquired by new Browns general manager George Kokinis, who spent the past six years as Baltimore's director of pro personnel.