Cleveland Browns (2007 & prior)

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

Browns nearly average outside division foes

Thursday, September 6, 2007 3:45 AM
By James Walker


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH



BEREA, Ohio -- Charlie Frye briefly went through the NFL's divisional alignments in his head and came to a quick conclusion.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

BROWNS
Frye gets another shot at Big Ben


Thursday, September 06, 2007 Tony Grossi
Plain Dealer Reporter
Charlie Frye and Ben Roethlisberger, the starting quarterbacks in Sunday's Browns season-opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, grew up and played high school football 45 miles apart in northwest Ohio.
Frankly, that's about as close as their careers have come.
Roethlisberger's Miami (Ohio) University teams beat Frye's Akron teams three times in Mid-American Conference games. The first came on a Hail Mary pass on the last play; the other two were romps.
And Roethlisberger is 2-0 against Frye in the Browns-Steelers rivalry.
But as their careers converge for the sixth time overall on Sunday, each player is facing a crossroads.
Roethlisberger is trying to regain the form that made him one of the league's winningest young quarterbacks and the youngest to win a Super Bowl.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

BROWNS INSIDER
Zastudil hurting but should play


Thursday, September 06, 2007 Mary Kay Cabot
Plain Dealer Reporter
The Browns received a scare Monday when punter Dave Zastudil, Mr. Reliable, hurt his back in practice - but he's expected to be ready for Sunday's opener against the Steelers.
"Anytime you have a back [injury] you're always worried because backs are fickle," said coach Romeo Crennel. "Dave is an important guy, but I expect him to punt for us on Sunday."
Zastudil was limited in practice Wednesday and moved gingerly in the early part that was open to the media. The Browns worked out five punters Tuesday, but sent them all home. If Zastudil can't make it through the game, kicker Phil Dawson will replace him. Also on the emergency list are receiver Joe Jurevicius and safety Sean Jones.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Arrest won't derail Bodden for opener

Friday, September 7, 2007 3:36 AM
By James Walker


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Cornerback Leigh Bodden pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from an incident at an airport.

BEREA, Ohio -- Cleveland Browns cornerback Leigh Bodden, who apologized yesterday for his arrest the previous night, is expected to start the season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Browns: Back in the saddle
Team wants to see how quarterback Charlie Frye, aided by a better supporting cast, will fare as the starter a second straight season
Friday, September 7, 2007 3:36 AM
By James Walker


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

MARK DUNCAN Associated Press
Charlie Frye, 6-12 in 18 career starts, is looking forward to facing the Steelers.



EREA, Ohio -- On Sunday, Charlie Frye will become the first Cleveland Browns quarterback to start on back-to-back opening days since Kelly Holcomb in 2002-03.
Few expected Frye to be in that position five months ago. The Browns went 4-12 in his first season as a starter. In April, they drafted Brady Quinn to be the team's quarterback of the future. This summer, the coaching staff gave Derek Anderson every opportunity to take the job.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

BROWNS
Cleveland Browns corner Leigh Bodden will start Sunday

Friday, September 07, 2007 Tony Grossi and Gabriel Baird

Plain Dealer Reporters
The Browns believe there's another side to the story of cornerback Leigh Bodden's arrest and will reserve judgment until that side is told in court.
Coach Romeo Crennel said Thursday that Bod den's status on the team will not change until all the facts come out. Bodden will be at his usual starting cor nerback spot in Sunday's season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Cleveland police arrested Bodden at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on Wednesday for arguing with officers and resisting arrest in the arrivals area. Bodden was there to pick up his longtime girlfriend and their two young children.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Players come to Bodden's defense following arrest
Friday, September 7, 2007
By STEVE DOERSCHUK

BEREA Leigh Bodden came into the NFL through the back door, undrafted out of Duquesne.

He seemed shy at first, but not on the field, where he played with abandon.

He lost the shy streak but remained soft-spoken, even humble. He didn't know how to take Chad Johnson saying he was really good. He always seemed to be smiling.

He'd kid around with teammates, including one of his better friends on the team, captain Andra Davis.

"One time," Bodden said recently, " 'Dra was just yelling out a call, but nobody could understand him. It was a combination of his mouthpiece being in and his country accent. It was like, 'What'd he say?' "

He told a story about Davis sneaking a peanut butter sandwich into a practice shoe.

Thursday, though, was one of the unfunniest days of Bodden's five-year NFL career. He glumly walked into a locker room where the air was thick with indications he'd been all over the news.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

A KEY ISSUE HEADING INTO SUNDAY'S BROWNS OPENER
Friday, September 7, 2007
BY STEVE DOERSCHUK

Trouble spot Habitual Swiss cheese run defense deteriorated to total meltdown Dec. 7 at Pittsburgh, when Willie Parker went wild with 223 yards.

New in Pittsburgh The Steelers seem to have settled on a "Bus" type of back, 247-pound Najeh Davenport, to offset the relatively pint-sized featured guy, Parker. That evolution began to take shape in the Dec. 7 game. Prior to that, Davenport averaged 11.1 yards per game. In it, he bruised the Browns for 62 yards on 14 carries.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

Believe this: Browns have tools to win in 2007, as long as ...
Friday, September 7, 2007
BY TODD PORTER

It says right here the Browns have a chance. They have, according to this fancy booklet the NFL produced last month, even a fighting chance. Seriously.

OK, it doesn't say in so many words the Browns have a chance, but numbers do.

Cleveland is the Sahara of NFL nirvana. But so was New Orleans last year.

Last season, seven teams made the playoffs that didn't the year before. Of course, the Browns weren't there the year before that, either.

Or, ahem, the year before.

Every year since 1996, at least five teams made the postseason that weren't there the season before. So, Cleveland has the NFL's law of averages going for it.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Cribbs poses double threat
Browns player returns both kickoffs and punts
By George M. Thomas Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Friday, Sep 07, 2007
BEREA: Last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers got a whiff of what Joshua Cribbs could do on kickoff returns when he ran one back 92 yards for a score.
Sunday, they will have to worry about the former Kent State quarterback on punt returns, too, for the Browns, as Cribbs takes over for the departed Dennis Northcutt.

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[osugrad21]

ABJ

Excuses getting old for Browns Frye, Anderson look ready to be replaced
Published on Monday, Sep 10, 2007

CLEVELAND: It's early in the fourth quarter of Sunday's debacle in Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Time to grab the binoculars and take a long, slow look at the Browns' sideline.
There were a lot of long faces there, but what wasn't there was equally significant.
There was no Butch Davis, no Dwight Clark, no Chris Palmer, no Jeremy Green.


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[osugrad21]

ABJ

Pitiful punt sets tone in dismal loss Cleveland commits five turnovers in loss
By Marla Ridenour Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Monday, Sep 10, 2007
CLEVELAND: As far as Browns' Opening Day nightmares go, the first 14 minutes and two seconds rivaled Dwayne Rudd throwing his helmet, the 43-0 blowout in 1999 and 44-14 in the first game after Red Right 88.
The moment frozen in time from this one will be the ball slipping through the hands of punter Paul Ernster, then him getting off a feeble 15-yarder as four Browns were called for penalties. It came with only 70 seconds expired and set up a Steelers' touchdown.

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[osugrad21]

ABJ

Quarterback quagmire ugly scene for Browns Crennel won't say who'll start next week against the Bengals
By George M. Thomas Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Monday, Sep 10, 2007




The quarterback genie is back out of the bottle, but there is nothing magical about this situation.



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[osugrad21]

CPD

A very rickety quarterback carousel


Monday, September 10, 2007Bill Livingston
Plain Dealer Columnist
The Browns should have started the coin.
You have to wonder about Browns coach Romeo Crennel and his boss, Phil Savage. Like a bad penny, bad quarterbacking seems to keep turning up with the Browns. But with the coin, at least you get some return on your investment.
Crennel flipped a coin to choose Charlie Frye as the exhibition season starter, pronounced him the winner of a competition more exasperating than exciting, then hooked Frye in the middle of the second quarter of the season opener Sunday, which is faster than a bad act on amateur night.




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[osugrad21]

CPD

Browns lose opener to Steelers

Posted by Tony Grossi September 09, 2007 19:50PM

Categories: Browns
The Browns began preparing for the Pittsburgh Steelers when the 2007 schedule was announced in April.
But they didn't prepare for the possibility of not having punter Dave Zastudil until the day before the game.
Sure enough, that oversight haunted them in another spleen-tearing loss at home to the Steelers. This one was 34-7.




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