The Browns: Knees, muscles and Horns

Way back on Aug. 26, I wrote that when a guy has swelling in his knee it usually means a tear of some sort – and typically it’s cartilage. Yes, this is shameless self-promotion, but it took no great genius to say that was Sean Jones’ problem back in preseason. He had swelling on his knee. Now, a few weeks later, he’s having surgery to fix cartilage problems and will miss at least a month. I would guess that Jones wanted to try to play through the problem and discovered he couldn’t. That’s about the only explanation for Jones and the Browns not taking care of this situation in preseason. This has been painted as a huge loss, and it hurts, but Jones was hardly playing at full-speed in the opener. It’s just another problem to put on the pile, a pile that is starting more and more to look like this may be one of those years.

Donte Stallworth has a strain, not a tear of a muscle. This remains one of the strangest injuries I’ve come across in 82 years of covering the NFL, a guy pulling up lame in pregame workouts. Suffice it to say that Stallworth’s teammates were not thrilled when they discovered he was not on the field last Sunday. It would have been nice if Stallworth had shown up in the open locker room session with the media on Monday or Wednesday to discuss the matter, but he didn’t.

There was a serious discussion going on between some of the team’s equipment guys at the entrance to the team’s locker room on Sunday about the battery in the receiver of Derek Anderson’s helmet. Apparently that malfunction caused much angst. Understandably. Does this stuff happen to other teams?

I know there’s no sense in tearing up a roster after one game, but there is sense in adding viable players. Me, I’m not sure about Ty Law, but I hear he can still play. New England claimed Deltha O’Neal off waivers and he was a big contributor in week one. One guy I’d sign yesterday would be wide receiver Joe Horn. He’s a veteran who knows the game and (gasp) catches the ball. Who looks better in the slot? A guy like Horn, or the Steve Sanders/Syndric Steptoe combination the Browns used in the opening game. Enough said.

Lots of rumors flying that the coaching staff is pushing hard to add a couple veterans to areas of need – guys like Horn and Law. The front office is sticking with the roster as it’s built. I’m not sure if those rumors are true, but Marla Ridenour tells me Horn’s agent says he has not heard from the Browns at all. This one I don’t get. Take away Joe Jurevicius and (now) Stallworth and things are not pretty at receiver. The Browns have an opportunity to do something this season. To bypass a chance to try to get better does not seem to help the cause.