Landry adds to his personal highlight reel
Scrimmage sees WR make another one-handed catch.
BEREA — Another day, another nifty one-handed touchdown catch by Browns receiver Jarvis Landry.
They’re becoming as much a part of training camp as puppy adoptions and John Dorsey’s sweatshirts.
One day after Landry treated fans to a one-handed TD catch over E.J. Gaines in the back left corner of the end zone, complete with a toe-tap to stay inbounds, he did it again.
This time, it was a 36-yard toss from Tyrod Taylor in the two-minute drill in the Orange and Brown scrimmage Friday at the Browns’ facility. Granted, it came against the second-team defense, but it was a highlight-reel play nonetheless.
Taylor squeezed the ball past James Burgess’ upstretched hands and Landry reached back and snared the ball with his left hand. He then spun out of a tackle attempt by free agent rookie Elijah Campbell at about the 20 and then stiffarmed linebacker James Burgess on his way into the end zone. Afterwards, he heaved the ball into the end zone, where it was caught by a fan.
“It was kind of my fault, honestly,” said Landry after the controlled scrimmage. “I started bending in too early and the linebacker (Burgess) kind of got in the way and Ty kind of had to throw around him a little bit and that made me have to reach back and catch the ball, but again, Ty trusts me in those situations to make those kind of plays and I can’t let him down.”
Landry, who considers himself the best receiver in the NFL, plans to be Taylor’s biggest scoring threat this season. Primarily a slot receiver in Miami, he caught a career-high nine TDs last season, and this season, he’ll be playing outside as well.
“The biggest thing for us is try to create some momentum and there’s nothing like having a drive that ends with points,” said Landry. “Obviously, we want to score six, but if we get three that’s fine as well, but touchdowns are always better.”
The one-handed TD, which followed a 22-yard catch by Duke Johnson, was the second long score by Landry on the afternoon. In an earlier team drill, he capped a four-play, 74-yard drive with a 26-yard scoring catch from Taylor. Afterwards, safety Jabrill Peppers hit him late, and the two jawed a little. But it’s easy for DBs to get frustrated by Landry’s dazzling catches, especially when they can’t hit him.
Again, that TD came against the second team defense. But Landry, whose 400 receptions are the most by an NFL player in history in his first four seasons, has made the bulk of his receptions this camp against the starters.
“I pride myself making any type of catch,” he said. “We call it catch radius and any ball thrown to me is a good ball.”
Coach Hue Jackson, who’s waiting for Josh Gordon to show up in camp after taking time to work on his treatment plan, is never surprised by Landry.
“Because he does it every day,” said Jackson. “He works at it. The guy will stay after and go to the JUGS machine and catch anywhere from 200-300 balls. That’s just how important it is to him.”
Landry insisted “that’s not an exaggeration. I mean, that’s what I’m here to do. I’m here to run all day and catch as many balls as possible. That’s going to allow me to make plays, so the more I train for it, the more I’ll be able to do it.”
He said he spends about 15 or 20 minutes a day on the pass-catching machine.
“I usually try to catch 120, 150 before my hands start hurting and take a break and then knock the rest out,” he said.
“I try to simulate everything, so the overhead passes I try to get on my knees to catch them over my head. Obviously left, right and straight on and walking back into it, as well. And then do the one-handed thing.”
Jackson acknowledged he’s “very [encouraged]” by the Taylor-Landry connection.
“Those guys have been spending a lot of time together all throughout OTAs, the offseason and training camp,” he said. “That chemistry is important. I’ve seen (Taylor) hit (TE) Darren Fells and hit some other guys. The ball has to get spread around in our offense in order for us to be good.”
While waiting anxiously for Gordon and hoping Corey Coleman will come around, Jackson is grateful Taylor has a go-to-guy in the former Dolphin.
“You have a guy that you know that in crunch time you can get the ball to and there’s a good chance he’s going to come up with it,” Jackson said. “You have to have that guy on your football team.”
Landry acknowledged that extra time with Taylor in the offseason in Ft. Lauderdale and Los Angeles helped forge a bond.
“I pride myself on trying to learn the game as a quarterback’s learning,” he said. “I try to spend as much time as I can with Tyrod and just kind of learn from my mistakes. I think that has helped us be on the same page, and when you’re on the same page with the quarterback, you’re likely to get the ball.”
After eight days of camp, Landry knows he not only has good hands, but that he’s in them. “(Taylor’s) everything you can ask for from a quarterback,” he said.