Browns still up in the air over QB
CLEVELAND QUESTION: Osweiler or Kizer? The vet or the young buck? Coach might know, but he’s not telling
Wednesday it is. Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson had said on the weekend he’ll reveal his team’s starting quarterback — at least to open the 2017 NFL regular season — on Wednesday: Either sixth-year veteran Brock Osweiler or rookie DeShone Kizer.
On a conference call with Browns beat reporters Tuesday afternoon, Jackson was asked if he was ready to make the announcement already, what with players not practising after having defeated the New York Giants 10-6 the night before.
“Today is Tuesday — not today,” Jackson said.
Did he need to watch more tape, or hold more meetings?
“It is a little bit of both,” he said. “Watching the tape from last night, which was good, you go back and see it again and put all of that into the pot to think through it, and have discussions with the executive team, people I trust, as we start to finalize this decision. And I think that is important to do.”
If it’s Kizer, he’d be the first from this year’s crop of rookie QBs to get the starting nod, even though he was the fourth passer selected in April’s draft, in the second round, 52nd overall — after first-rounders Mitchell Trubisky (Chicago Bears, No. 2 overall), Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City Chiefs, No. 10) and Deshaun Watson (Houston Texans, No. 12).
Jackson would not confirm Tuesday whether, for his part, he already had chosen between Osweiler and Kizer, but he sounded like he had.
“I think I feel pretty good about where I am,” he said. “I have been feeling pretty good about what I feel and what I think for a little while now. But you have to let things, as I have always said, play out.
“Today, I wanted to finish the things I wanted to watch, have the conversations I wanted to have with others and just kind of move from there.”
Meanwhile, in Houston: Tom Savage remains the Texans’ No. 1 quarterback, and it doesn’t sound as though hotshot rookie Watson has much chance to unseat him before the end of training camp.
Asked Tuesday if he can envision any scenario where both QBs might play in a game in different situations, Texans head coach Bill O’Brien said yes — “but that’s not the approach that we’re taking. Tom’s the starter … Tom has really had a good camp.”
Indeed, the fourth-year passer’s combined stats after two pre-season games couldn’t be much better. Savage is 17 for 20 with 167 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.
Watson is only 18 of 35 for 281 yards, no TDs, no interceptions.
“(Savage) has really got good command of our offence,” O’Brien said. “Deshaun is a very, very good young player who has a great future in this league — I mean, let’s put the cards on the table. That’s what it is, but Tom has been here for four years.
“The way we want to play, the style that we need to play relative to getting guys lined up, relative to cadence, relative to protection points and route reads and putting guys in the right spot, Tom’s ahead of Deshaun on that.”
Beckham update: New York Giants star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. took a nasty hit to the side of his left leg on his way down to the ground after making a leaping catch Monday in Cleveland. Beckham twisted his ankle on landing, then smacked the back of his helmet on the turf. Triple ouch.
He left the game and didn’t return, but was filmed walking without a limp by game’s end.
Giants doctors determined Beckham suffered no concussion, nor any knee injury despite the ugly way it seemed to bend on the hit.
The initial team diagnosis was an ankle sprain, pending additional tests, including an MRI.
On Tuesday, Giants head coach Ben McAdoo would say only that Beckham “has an ankle” — thanks, doc — and that “we’ll see” how he responds to treatment.
Same for veteran receiver Brandon Marshall, who hurt a shoulder. X-rays taken during the game proved negative.
Beckham talked openly after Monday’s game about his brush with serious injury, calling the hit “pretty scary.”
Oh, and about that hit: it was legal, a variety of NFL observer experts said, including recently retired head of officiating Dean Blandino.
“(It) feels like a sprained ankle,” Beckham said. “I don’t know, rolled ankle. Have you ever hurt your ankle? That is kind of what it feels like. I will be all right.”
On Tuesday, he reportedly was looking into taking out a US$100-million insurance policy against severe injury, seeing as the 2014 first-round draft pick — whose fifth-year option the Giants picked up in the spring — is not eligible for a monster second contract until after the 2018 season.
Extra points: Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott could get eight to 12 snaps on Saturday against the Oakland Raiders, head coach Jason Garrett said. But that decision hadn’t yet been made … Backup Atlanta offensive tackle Austin Pasztor of Langton, Ont., is recovering from a pectoral injury and won’t play this week, according to D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution … Cleveland has lost linebacker Tank Carder for the season with a torn ACL. Joe Schobert will be the Browns’ starting middle linebacker … RB Matt Forte took part in New York Jets team drills Tuesday for the first time since July 31, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini.