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Terry’s Talkin’ about the Browns (and rookie QBs), the Indians and... http://blog.cleveland.com/plutoblog_impact/print.html?entry=/201...

Terry's Talkin' about the Browns (and rookie QBs), the Indians and the Akron men's basketball team

Published: Sunday, August 26, 2012, 12:10 AM Updated: Sunday, August 26, 2012, 12:47 AM

Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer By

ABOUT THE BROWNS . . .

1. is a rookie , and rookie struggle. Rookie quarterbacks normally start for losing teams -- that's why they are pressed into immediate duty. And most have a hard time.

2. I know, you know this . . . and you hate this kind of story.

3. I know, "That's an excuse," or, "What about Colt McCoy? Why doesn't he get the benefit of a doubt?" Here's also what I know: In the 27-10 loss to the Eagles, Weeden had little time to throw and was hit hard. McCoy had little time to throw, and was hit hard. If McCoy had played the first quarter against View full size Chuck Crow, The Plain Dealer the Eagles' starters, he may have moved the Brandon Weeden getting clobbered was seemingly a regular occurrence ball -- but he also would have been very sore Friday night. this weekend.

4. McCoy did a nice job keeping some drives alive with his legs against the Eagles' second- and third-team defense. He was 7-for-9 passing for 74 yards. He is having an excellent camp, performing well against backups -- and I mean that as a compliment, because he's also playing with backups.

5. I'm one of the few in the media who has been insisting for months that: A.) The Browns should keep McCoy. B.) They probably will keep McCoy. C.) They will need two quarterbacks to get through the season.

6. Given that only once has a Browns QB started all 16 games since the team returned in 1999 -- in

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2001 -- doesn't it seem critical to have depth there? Given that McCoy injured his shoulder in his final college game . . . and he was injured (ankle) and missed games in 2010 . . . and injured (concussion) and missed games in 2011 -- doesn't it make sense to keep the two best quarterbacks?

6. Weeden is 28, but he's still a rookie. The guy has a good arm -- he made some superb throws against the Eagles, placing balls near the sideline where only the receiver could reach them. A couple of passes to rookie (who made great catches) had to make you smile.

7. After five preseason quarters . . . that's right, five preseason quarters . . . I'm hearing from fans who have lost patience and faith in Weeden. They are tired of his fumbles (three, two lost) and they seem to think he has a lot of . . . he has one.

8. This is from ESPN's James Walker about Miami rookie quarterback 's game Friday night against the Falcons: "He was 11-of-25 for 112 yards with an and a fumble that was recovered. He had a of 40.8. Tannehill made a few good throws and was the victim of drops, although that's no surprise. Miami receivers and tight ends have been dropping passes since spring practices. Tannehill also threw his first pick of the preseason . . . Here's the reality that we are learning: Tannehill is going to have growing pains. He's not going to light it up in his rookie year and doesn't have the supporting cast to make his tough job any easier."

9. You can sub the name "Weeden" for "Tannehill" and it sounds like the same story -- the story of most rookie quarterbacks.

10. I'm more concerned with the blocking and the running game than I am with the Weeden/McCoy situation. The Browns are averaging 3.2 yards per carry, the longest run from scrimmage is 20 yards (McCoy). Montario Hardesty (two fumbles) and Brandon Jackson have carried the ball 51 times for 160 yards, their longest carry is 9 yards.

11. We don't know how good can be, but we see why the Browns traded up for the rookie . They need real help in that area. The danger is Richardson rushing back too soon from his "minor" knee surgery, and suffering a major injury.

12. The Eagles led the NFL in sacks last season, but I hated to see so much pressure come right up the middle. If the Browns don't fix that, heaven help the man who plays quarterback this season.

ABOUT COLT McCOY . . .

I received this email from John Paul DiGiacomo: "Brought my 8 year old to camp for the first time ever.

"He was pretty excited about it! My aunt lives in Austin, Texas and is a huge Colt McCoy fan.

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"My son has a couple of McCoy #12 Texas football jerseys.

"We were on the opposite side of the practice field from [where] the offense was. We got to see Colt from afar, but at least we had a front row seat right up against the ropes.

"One of the security guards that was working our side of the field told us that all the players usually sign on the last day of camp.

"When the huddle broke up with all the players, Colt started walking straight for us. I told my son to make sure he could see the Longhorn orange jersey. Colt walked straight to us, and shook my son's hand.

"He autographed my son's Browns hat and asked how he was.

"The security guard came over and said, 'Hey Colt, there's your biggest fan!'

"Colt replied, 'Yeah, I saw that jersey an hour ago and wanted to make sure I came over to sign.'

"Needless to say, my son has a favorite Browns player and a memory to last a lifetime. People wonder what makes Cleveland love Colt . . . maybe it's stuff like this, huh?"

ABOUT THE INDIANS . . .

Now what?

I don't mean "Who will, or won't be fired?" after the season's last game.

I mean what should the Indians do with the rest of a season that has been rendered meaningless by the 11-game losing streak that began in July.

The Indians say they want this to be an evaluation period for some players, such as Matt LaPorta. They've promised him regular at-bats, be it at first base or designated hitter.

He doesn't arrive from Columbus with his bat sizzling -- he was 6-for-38 (.158) over his last 10 games and was hitting .188 with two homers in 128 at-bats since the All-Star break.

Nonetheless, he's 27. He's been in Columbus in parts of the past four seasons. He did get off to a hot start with the Clippers, but the Tribe had no enthusiasm for him. On the season, he's hitting .264 with 19 HRs and 62 RBI.

In 920 big-league at bats, he's hitting .237 with 30 homers. This is as close to now or never as it gets for LaPorta, and for the Indians, who still don't have a first baseman or a pure right-handed bat with power.

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But the Indians should have made some other moves:

•1. Shelley Duncan is 32 and batting .156 since the All-Star break. Overall, he's hitting .203 with 11 homers in 222 at-bats. Doesn't it make more sense to look at another right-handed hitter -- Russ Canzler (.260, 20 HRs, 71 RBI) or Jared Goedert (.293, 12 HRs, 53 RBI)?

•2. If Canzler or Goedert make the team in 2013, it will be in a Duncan role -- a part-time, right-handed hitter. Pick one and see if he shows promise.

•3. LaPorta, Canzler and Goedert are not prime prospects. But what are the odds of Duncan or Casey Kotchman being with the team next season? Perhaps by auditioning those three from Columbus, the Indians can find someone to fit their plans. So it makes no sense to keep Kotchman (.238, 11 HRs, 44 RBI). He is a tremendous defensive first baseman, and it seems he could help a contender as a bench player. Here, he's just finishing a season on a one-year deal with a team where he has no future. If the Indians waived him, he'd have a job in a week with a better team.

•4. The Indians want to play Ezequiel Carrera in left field against right-handers, and Carrera has shown real promise -- at least as a backup outfielder with speed.

•5. The Indians indicated Travis Hafner may come back from his latest injury. Why? Let him recover. He has a $2.5 million buyout (on a $13 million contract) for 2013. The Tribe has no intention of bringing back their 35-year-old full-time DH who plays only part time because of injuries.

•6. Tim Fedroff has had an outstanding season (.324) at Class AAA Columbus. He is a left-handed-hitting corner outfielder and is worthy of a promotion in September.

•7. Why the Tribe has played Brent Lillibridge instead of Jason Donald as a utility man in some games is a mystery. It's possible neither will be on the team next season, but Donald has a better chance of being back.

ABOUT AKRON ZIPS MEN'S BASKETBALL . . .

Last week, I took a summer look at Cleveland State hoops. This week, it's the University of Akron.

1. On paper, the Zips look loaded. They lost one starter (Nick Cvetinovic) and backup guard Brett McClanahan. With seven of their top nine scorers coming back from a 22-12 team, you can understand why coach Keith Dambrot said: "This is the deepest and most athletic team that we've had here. Now, we'll find out if they're tough enough to be the best we've had here in our eight years."

2. Zeke Marshall returns at center. The 7-footer is now a senior, up to 235 pounds. He was 195 as a freshman, 225 a year ago. He had little upper-body strength, and now bench-presses 300 pounds. He'll never be a big

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scorer, but he's a prime-time shot-blocker. Dambrot wants Marshall to improve on his rebounding (5.4 per game). Dambrot talks about Marshall "realizing how good he can be, and learning to handle adversity."

3. Dambrot, 54, just signed a 10-year contract to coach the Zips. He's led the Zips to six straight Mid-American Conference Tournament finals -- winning twice. Among Division I programs, only Gonzaga has been to the past six finals of its conference tournament over the past six seasons. Dambrot turned down an offer from Duquense to stay with his alma mater.

4. Quincy Diggs was the MAC Sixth Man of the Year in 2012. Dambrot expects the wing man to start along with Brian Walsh and point man Alex Abreu as he starts three guards. It's also possible Chauncey Gillom could start instead of Walsh or Diggs.

5. Abreu is an underrated player, shooting 43 percent on 3-pointers, 82 percent from the foul line, and he is the key to setting up the offense. A year ago, Dambrot never found comfort with any of his backup point guards. He expects that to change with freshman Carmelo Betancourt. Like Abreu, he's from Puerto Rico and Abreu is one of the reasons Betancourt signed with the Zips.

6. Nick Harney (Benedictine) and Demetrius Treadwell (Euclid) will split time at power forward. Treadwell has a chance to be an elite rebounder, as he averaged 5.1 in 16.5 minutes. Combining them with Marshall, the Zips have a chance to be an outstanding rebounding team.

7. Another recruit is Jake Kretzer, who was the Division II Ohio High School Player of the Year at Waverly -- where he averaged 19.1 points and 8.2 rebounds. Reggie McAdams was a 20-point scorer at Elida, and he also was a first-team Division III Ohio quarterback. He is a 6-7 athlete who was ESPN's No. 5 player in Ohio.

8. The Zips have what Dambrot calls his strongest independent schedule. While it's not been released, the Zips will play at Creighton (29-6), Detroit (22-14), Coastal Carolina (19-12), and in a tournament with Oklahoma State, Tennessee, N.C. State and several other large schools. They will have home games with Middle Tennessee (27-7), Princeton (20-12) and Cleveland State (22-11).

9. Brunswick's Pat Forsythe enrolled at Akron and will walk on to the team. The 6-11 center played seven games last season at West Virginia before he received a medical redshirt for an ankle injury. He was an all-Ohio Division I first-team selection as a senior at Brunswick. The NCAA has to decide if he's eligible to play this season, or has to sit out a year.

10. Dambrot believes his team's depth and athleticism will allow him to do more full-court pressing this season, "but it really depends on the players," he said. "They have to show that they are willing to put in the work so we can play more up tempo."

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