The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Make-or-break season for Browns’ Coleman
Browns receiver Corey Coleman has spent the offseason eating healthier and preparing for a season that could define his future in the NFL. Plus, Terry Francona says the Indians can be ‘special.’
Corey Coleman, after two disappointing seasons, is playing in training camp like a wide receiver who has heard the message from Browns offensive coordinator Todd Haley loud and clear. “He understands this is a big, big year in his career,” Haley said at the end of June minicamp. “Year three is usually the makeor-break year of what kind of player you’re going to be. I’ve made that clear to him. He understands it, and he’s working hard accordingly to try to be the best that he can be.”
Coleman is running faster than he has in the past, and he is fighting for the ball like he did not the first two years. He has had hamstring problems in the past, but so far, so good on the health front.
“It’s going into my third year, time to take a big step,” Coleman said after a recent practice.” I feel like it’s important.
“I’ve been hurt a lot; I can’t control that. That’s really the main thing. I haven’t played a full season. It’s tough when guys play half a season and come back. I start off great seasons, just too much starting over from the beginning, but I feel amazing right now.”
Coleman suffered a broken hand in the second game of his rookie year and missed six games. Coincidentally, he broke his hand in the second game in 2017 and missed seven games. The Ravens were the opponent both times.
Coleman caught 33 passes in 2016 and only 23 last year. He is best remembered for dropping a pass from DeShone Kizer in Pittsburgh in the final game last season that, had he caught it, the Browns might have finished 1-15 instead of 0-16. That drop is part of the reason Coleman put in more time in the offseason getting healthier and working on his receiving
“It motivated me,” Coleman said. “I shut it down. I cleared it (from his mind). Every receiver drops balls. It motivated me to get better.
“I really learn how to prepare with the books, with weightlifting, running and stuff, taking it really, really serious how important it is to me and for this team.”
Coleman caught a pass from Tyrod Taylor in the middle of the field in the scrimmage on Aug. 3 and was lambasted by defensive back Micah Hannemann. He held onto the ball, jumped up quickly and trotted back to the huddle.
Josh Gordon’s decision to continue his treatment rather than report to training camp has been a break for Coleman. Coleman would have been in a backup role with Gordon and Jarvis Landry as starters, but Coleman has been paired with Landry in practice. The next step is for Coleman to play as hard in the preseason games and regular season as he has on the practice field.
“Corey is into year three of his professional career and he knows that it’s time for him to play better and to make plays for the organization,” head coach Hue Jackson said after a recent practice. “I think his confidence is growing. Corey’s a confident player anyway. He just kind of understands that you have to grind through it. He’s done that. I have been really impressed. He has come out every day, been a little sore but has fought through it and went out and made plays.”
Landry has been a big part of Coleman’s improvement. The two bonded last month when Taylor paid the air fare and hotel costs to fly the receivers and quarterbacks to Los Angeles so they could work out together prior to training camp. No coaches were around, so there were no CBA violations.
One of the first things Landry did was convince Coleman to include more fish and vegetables in his diet.
“I just told him you can’t go around eating French fries and chicken fingers and steak all the time,” Landry said. “We get the diet right, it’ll take care of your body a little bit more, more than people would actually believe.
“Honestly, man, that’s part of who I am. I want everybody to be great. So just putting my arms around anybody that’s willing to come close enough to me to actually try to learn something and grow. And I learn things from these guys as well. I’m not just the only one teaching, I’m learning as well. And that’s the beauty about the whole thing.”
Tribe can be ‘special’
Indians manager Terry Francona is not big on clubhouse speeches. He makes one on the first day of spring training and then can go months before making another
Of course, it helps when the Indians play as well as they have since Francona’s arrival in 2013. There have been no fractures within the team during Francona’s tenure and no prolonged slumps that required an emergency meeting.
Francona did call a team meeting before the Tribe hosted the Angels on Aug. 3, however, to deliver a message he might have been thinking about for some time. He postponed delivering it until Andrew Miller was back from the disabled list. Miller was activated on Aug. 3 after more than two months on the disabled list with right knee inflammation.
“It’s the first time where everybody’s in the same room and that’s going to be our team,” Francona said he told the players. “I just wanted to tell them that this group, our goal is not to be good, it’s to be special. That’s really basically what it is. We have the ability to be special. We just have to go do it.”
The Indians’ likely playoff opponent for the ALDS has been set for weeks. Unless something drastically changes in the American League standings, the Tribe will face the Houston Astros. The winner of the AL East will face the wild card winner.
Francona is correct when he says the Indians could be special. But the truth is they have been meandering through their schedule like a lazy river for the last six weeks. They reached 10 games over .500 for the first time this season at 43-33 on June 24. They were 10 games over .500 at 59-49 heading into their game against the Angels on Aug. 4. During their 32 games in between those two marks the Indians were never fewer than seven games over .500 (44-37 on June 30) and never more than 12 games over .500 (49-37 on July 6).
How Vegas views Cavs
Last week in this corner we posted an item about how newarena.com ranks the Cavaliers ahead of only the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings and Orlando Magic heading into the 2018-19 season.
Las Vegas has no respect for the Cavaliers, either. Oddsshark.com list the Cavaliers at plus40,000, meaning if you bet $100 on the Cavaliers to win the NBA title and they do, you pocket $40,000. The Kings, Nets, and Magic have the same odds.
Only the Memphis Grizzles and Phoenix Suns on plus 50,000 have worse odds.
There is no parity in the NBA as far as the bookies are concerned. The Warriors are listed at minus-175, meaning you would have to bet $175 to win $100 if you want to put money down on Golden State winning again.
The Boston Celtics are listed second at plus-550.
Even more discouraging is the results from research done by Sportsline data scientist Stephen Oh for CBSSports.com.
Oh on June 20 projected the Cavaliers win total at 50.9. Now, after LeBron James fled to the Lakers on July 1, Oh’s projection at 25.6.
I didn’t know that
… until I read my Snapple bottle cap.
Antarctica has as much ice as the Atlanta Ocean has water . ... Earth is the only planet not named after a Greek or Roman god. ... The first vacuum was so large it was transported to a house by horses . ... There are 18 different animal shapes in the animal cracker zoo . ... A giant panda can eat up to 83 pounds of bamboo in one day . ... One underground mushroom in Oregon is 3.5 miles in diameter . ... Spiked dog collars were invented by ancient Greeks. The Greeks used the collars on their sheepdogs to protect them from wolves.