Wright knows he's lucky to be alive

Mangini discusses Wright's accident

Browns cornerback Eric Wright escaped without major injury after his Mercedes flipped and rolled several times at 2:10 a.m. Friday as he merged from Interstate-77 South to Interstate-490 West on his way home from a concert in Cleveland.

Wright said he climbed out the back window of his 2007 white Mercedes CLS550 with the help of a trucker who stopped. Police spokesman Thomas Stacho said Wright told the responding officer he was traveling 60 mph.

"This is probably one of the scariest moments I've had in my life," Wright said after the Browns practice Friday afternoon. "It puts a lot of stuff in perspective. You can look at it a lot of different ways, but I just feel blessed to still be here."

Stacho said the accident report, still incomplete, said the car sustained "total damage," but that Wright was wearing his lap and shoulder harness. Stacho said the air bags did not deploy.

"It's a testament to wearing your seat belt," Stacho said.

Stacho said wet road conditions and unsafe speed contributed to the accident. The report indicated that "no alcohol or drugs were suspected."

Wright was treated and released at MetroHealth Medical Center. What was left of the car was towed.

Browns coach Eric Mangini said after Wright arrived at team headquarters Friday morning he was sent to the hospital for further tests, but was back in Berea by the start of Mangini's 10:30 a.m. press conference. Wright was riding an exercise bike on the side when practice began.

"We're hopeful he can play and we're happy he's safe," Mangini said of Sunday's home game against Green Bay. Mangini said if healthy, Wright will start against the Packers.

Mangini said the Browns are in contact with the police and seemed confident there was no substance abuse involved.

"The information I've gotten, which is good information, it was just an accident," Mangini said. "It was wet, there was nothing else to it.

"You never want anybody to be in an accident. I wouldn't necessarily be out at 2:10 in the morning, but we don't have curfew year-round. I'd much rather everyone be home studying and doing those types of things, but everyone's different. There are no team rules based on that."

Several Browns attended a Jay-Z concert at Cleveland State's WolsteinCenter. Wright was on his way home from the concert when the accident happened.

"It's the same route I take home from the downtown area anytime I'm down there," Wright said. "Down there is a typical drive from me. It was just wet."

It's time that Cleveland's football fans deal with reality.

 Heck, I'll confess that it's time I deal with reality because I'm still lukewarm on Derek Anderson.  Listening to the fans at training camp chant:  "Brady! Brady!" makes me wonder what they're thinking.  Folks, Derek Anderson is your quarterback.  PERIOD.  STOP. IT. NOW.

There's no getting around it.  And Anderson showed why he is on the field during Sunday's lone practice.  While the guy's definitely got the arm and the confidence in that arm to be a gunslinger, he showed some patience Sunday and in Friday's practice at Cleveland Browns Stadium.  In the matter of a couple of seconds, Anderson went through his progressions on more than a few plays.  Look left.  Look down the center of the field. Look right.  BOOM!  Ball.

At times, Quinn looks to stil be struggling with that and his accuracy.  He continues to overthrow wide open receivers.  In short:  unless Anderson turns into the second coming of Paul McDonald, Quinn will be holding a clipboard this year.

Thanks to WKNR's Mark "Munch" Bishop for pointing something out this afternoon.  During the scrum that is the war in the trenches, sometimes you can miss a trend.  One noticeable one with the Browns' O-line:  they're not just working their stronger left side that features Joe Thomas and Eric Steinbach.   They're running to that right side as well and the holes have been there for Jamal Lewis to run through – as he did on several occasions today.

Tight end Darnell Dinkins is one of those who has been catching practically everything thrown his way.  This presents the Browns with an interesing dilemma. They have four players at the position who could conceivably make the team – Kellen Winslow, Dinkins, Steve Heiden and draft pick Martin Rucker.  They say competition makes you better, this one is going to get intense before pre-season is over.

 More and more it looks like the Browns have the potential to put two dominating cornerbacks on the field in Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald.  Wright made a couple of tremendous plays on balls thrown by Derek Anderson.

Some good things on both side of the ball for Family Night.

 First up, the offense is starting to get into rhythm – that was at least the case Friday night.  It may be me but Jamal Lewis looks faster and more powerful.  He hit holes quickly, broke some arm tackles.  Now granted this wasn't full contact, but nonetheless he impressed.

Braylon Edwards plays as if he wants to top last year's spectacular numbers.   Granted it's just practice right now, but when you're diving for balls as he did Friday night that says a lot about your desire.  He pulled in a 47-yard beauty from Derek Anderson.  I doubt that the Edwards that initially showed up in Cleveland several seasons ago would have done that. 

Anderson is also showing that he's developing chemistry with Donte Stallworth as the duo hooked up for a couple of nice receptions, one of them came with Anderson scrambling, lookign for an open man and finding Stallworth for a 13-yard gain on the sideline.

 Defensively, Eric Wright stepped up with a nice performance that included a pick of a Brady Quinn pass that should have never been thrown.  Rooking linebacker Alex Hall continues to impress as he had a sack in the controlled scrimmage.

As good as the Browns first-team offense looked in some cases Friday night, I was more in awe of the crowd that showed up; more than 26,000 screaming, jacked up fans attended the practice session.   After rookie Beau Bell saw that he had the mone quote of the night:  "They told me this was a football town, and they proved it right here.  This was just a practice; I can't wait for the games."

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.