Eager to erase the bitter taste

By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BEREA -- For two veterans of the Cleveland Browns defensive backfield, last January's bitter playoff loss to the Steelers in Pittsburgh has them aching to hit.
"I have high expectations," fifth-year cornerback Daylon McCutcheon said after Sunday's practice.
"It left a real nasty taste in my mouth," said McCutcheon of the Browns' 36-33 loss after leading 27-14 in the fourth quarter. "Getting to the playoffs, to me, was not good enough."
Fourth-year cornerback Lewis Sanders, who played corner in the nickel package, couldn't immediately decide which was worse -- losing in the playoffs or missing the postseason his first two years?
"That's a tough one," Sanders said.
Upon further review, Sanders picked the playoff game "because we came so close to moving on to the second round and going out to Oakland.
"And the way we lost, to have such a big lead and to lose -- that hurts even worse," Sanders said. "After that loss, I've been waiting for this preseason camp to get this thing started."
Hungry to win
McCutcheon said tasting the postseason after three years of expansion frustrations created hunger.
"You start to feel that playoff atmosphere and then the way that we lost, there is no way that we shouldn't at least have gone to the next round," McCutcheon said. "But that's how football games go though -- you've got to finish the game.
"I think we were good enough to go on to the next round and see how far we could have [gone.] Now you want to go even further.
"[Our] goal is to win it all -- that's our only goal, not to just make the playoffs, not to just be a contender," McCutcheon said. "I want to win it all."
Sanders is hoping to earn more playing time this year after last year's other starting corner, Corey Fuller, departed as a free agent and signed with the Baltimore Ravens.
The cornerback drafted from Maryland is battling Anthony Henry for the open position.
"This is my fourth year and I haven't lived up to what I'm capable of doing," Sanders said. "I've got to go out there and make plays."
Sanders said he's not motivated by preseason magazine predictions that have picked the Browns to finish fourth in the four-team AFC North Division.
"We know what we are capable of doing, we just need to go out there and prove it," Sanders said.
New wrinkle
Adding a new wrinkle to the Browns' defense this year is Dave Campo, the former Dallas Cowboys head coach who is the team's fourth defensive coordinator in the five seasons since rejoining the NFL as an expansion team.
"We all love [Campo's] system -- we just can't wait to go out there and play," McCutcheon said.
"We're not going to make any excuses saying we're learning the defense [so] we don't know exactly what we're doing," McCutcheon said. "We spent all offseason [learning]. A lot of guys spent a lot of time here in the offseason to make sure they were caught up.
"I don't think it's been real hard [adjusting]. We spent an awful lot of time in the offseason -- I [can't] imagine another team spending as much time during the offseason that we did back here making sure we stayed on top of learning the new defense."
Sanders described the learning process as being just like school, learning different terminologies.
"The coverages are basically the same -- it's the terminology [that's different]."
Following this week's practices, Sanders and McCutcheon will get their chance to test their knowledge of Campo's system when the Browns scrimmage the Buffalo Bills on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
williams@vindy.com