The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Browns: Fewer flags a must vs. Jets
The Browns want to play aggressively but avoid committing penalties in bulk like they did in the season opener. Jeff Schudel examines. Plus, the Ice Breakers prepare for their second season.
The Browns are trying to balance staying aggressive without committing the rash of penalties that sabotaged them in the season opener. Like many things, accomplishing that goal is easier said than done.
The Browns were flagged 18 times for 182 yards in the 43-13 loss to the Titans. It is the highest total called on a Browns team in 68 years. Nine penalties were called on the offense, seven on defense and two on special teams.
“I know our head coach (Freddie Kitchens) said we have to be more disciplined across the board, and I agree with him,” special teams coach Mike Priefer said. “I’m in charge of special teams, so that’s all I’m going to really talk about is our special teams units have to play penalty free. We have to play aggressive, we have to play fast, we have to play with great effort, and we have to be the tougher team every time we go out there, but we can’t make silly mistakes.”
Rookie Greedy Williams was called for holding on a punt that went out of bounds in the third quarter. The play was symbolic of the way the Browns played the whole game. With a game with the Jets on Sept. 16 next on the schedule, Kitchens has told his players not to take the bait if the Jets try to draw retaliatory penalties.
“That’s always been the case,” Kitchens said. “That will continue to be the case, but it’s understanding what’s going on in the moment and refraining from doing those sorts of things. That way you don’t put yourself in the position for people to say that you lost your composure.”
The Jets were penalized eight times for 67 yards last week in a 17-16 loss to the Bills.
• The starting offensive line will be intact for the game with the Jets.
Left tackle Greg Robinson was ejected in the second quarter last week for kicking Titans safety Kenny Vaccaro in the head. Robinson’s replacement, Kendall Lamm, suffered a knee injury five plays later. That forced the coaches to move right tackle Chris Hubbard to left tackle. Justin McCray came off the bench to play right tackle.
“We would have been fine had we not gotten ourselves into the position we were,” offensive coordinator Todd Monken said. “Then you brought in Kendall and he got banged up and Chris is taking all of the snaps at right tackle. He goes over to the left and you bring in Justin who has been here a week.
“I thought they really battled. I thought the coaches did a great job. From that end of it, that wasn’t why we struggled and where we were. That happens. Teams lose players and you have to find a way.”
Baker Mayfield was sacked five times by the Titans. He was sacked only once prior to Robinson being ejected.
• The list of 122 modern-era nominees for the 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame class includes nine players who spent a least a part of their careers with the Browns.
Nominees who played for the Browns are running backs Earnest Byner and Eric Metcalf, special teams star Josh Cribbs, quarterbacks Jake Delhomme and Jeff Garcia, offensive lineman Lomas Brown plus linebackers Clay Matthews, Willie McGinest and Chris Spielman. Spielman never played a regular season game with the Browns, but he was with them in the 1999 training camp.
The list will be trimmed to 25 semifinalists in November and 15 finalists in January. The 48-member selection committee will reduce the list to 10 on Feb. 1, the day before the Super Bowl, and then from that list elect five players for induction in Canton next August.
Ice Breakers update
To say their first season in the Federal Hockey League was a learning experience for everyone involved with the Mentor Ice Breakers is a major understatement.
The Ice Breakers were established as an expansion team in the FHL late in 2018-19. Coach Iain Duncan had to scramble to put a roster together after the five other teams in the league basically had rosters set.
Training camp last year began with a team meeting Oct. 18. The first practice was a day later and the season opened on Oct. 25.
But all that is history. Duncan is in the process of putting together a team he is certain will be better than the one that finished in fifth place with a record of 17-35-1-5. He has 30 players committed to the Ice Breakers and expects that number to grow to 36 by the start of training camp Oct. 11.
“We’re going to be much better,” Duncan said recently. “From the goaltending on out we’re going to be stronger. We’re going to be better in all areas. We’re going to have a more physical team. We’re going to have a more veteran team.”
Goaltender Austyn Roudebush, from Adrian College, is one of the key additions to the Ice Breakers. Roudebush played in Sweden last year. Duncan knew Roudebush, 26, when Roudebush was 10 years old.
No one can predict a team’s final record. But what Duncan, the Ice Breakers general manager as well as head coach, can predict with certainty is the fan experience at Mentor Civic Ice Arena will be improved.
The biggest addition will be a 71 inch by 124inch video board in the corner of the arena that can show, among other things, replays of goals and fights.
“When we introduce players we can show their picture on the video board,” Duncan said recently. “We can do replays with the secondary camera and do Kiss Cam and interactions with the crowd. It’s going to bring a whole different atmosphere to games, and it will be good for the community because of the digital advertising we’ll be doing.”
The Shark Tank, a mini party area with high top tables sponsored by team partner CSP Insurance Solutions in Mentor, will be at the end of the rink to the left of the Ice Breakers bench.
Mosaic Construction and Remodeling, a Mentor-based business partner of the Ice Breakers, will sponsor a poster making station in the lobby when the Ice Breakers play at home.
The same firm is also providing two homes to house players during the season. Other players will be housed at the Wyndham Hotel in Mentor.
• Four new teams Danbury (Conn.), Delaware, Battle Creek (Mich.) and Columbus, Ga., are new to the FHL this season. The Ice Breakers are in the Eastern Division with Elmira and Watertown (both in New York) along with Danbury and Delaware. Danville (Ill.), Battle Creek and Port Huron (both in Michigan, Carolina (Winston-Salem N.C.) and Columbus are in the Western Division. The top four teams in each division make the playoffs.
The Ice Breakers open their home season on Nov. 9 against the Battle Creek Rumble Bees. Fans can purchase tickets at http:// www.mentoricebreakers. com/single-game-tickets, by calling the Ice Breakers office 440-290-8502, or by stopping in to the Ice Breakers office at the Mentor Ice Arena.
I didn’t know that
… until I read my Snapple bottle cap
… Camels have three eyelids. Two of the eyelids have eyelashes to protect their eyes from sand. The third is like a windshield wiper to clean their eyes … About one in every 2,000 babies is born with teeth … James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, was 5-foot-4 and weighed 100 pounds. He is regarded as the father of the Constitution … 10 million bricks were used to build the Empire State Building … The British pound is the oldest form of currency still in use … Approximately 9,000 taste buds are on a person’s tongue … Antarctica has as much ice as the Atlantic Ocean has water.