Saturday, December 22, 2012
Associated Press
BEREA
Preparing to play Peyton Manning was challenging enough for the Cleveland Browns even before losing three more starters.
Coach Pat Shurmur said Friday that wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, tight end Jordan Cameron and defensive back Tashaun Gipson will not travel to Denver to play the Broncos (11-3).
With playoff hopes dashed and a losing season assured, the Browns (5-9) will try to halt Denver’s nine-game winning streak. Going in with a depleted defense isn’t the best way.
“It’s definitely not what you hope for, but it seems like it’s been that way all year,” linebacker D’Qwell Jackson. “We lost Chris (Gocong) and Scott (Fujita) early and stuff piles up. Some of these young guys have played here and there and now they will get a full test. We believe in them.”
But how much faith is reasonable against the top-rated quarterback in the AFC. The big year has brought Manning’s career totals to 152 wins, 430 touchdowns and nearly 59,000 yards passing.
“You don’t sleep well the night before,” veteran cornerback Sheldon Brown said. “You have to understand you are going to give up plays against him. You’ve got to make sure you make the tackles so you can live to see another down.”
A week ago, rookie Kirk Cousins shook off an early interception by Cleveland’s T.J. Ward to lead Washington past the Browns in his first career start.
Now, Ward and replacement Gipson along with starting linebacker James-Michael Johnson are out. Veteran cornerback Dmitri Patterson was released after the loss to Washington, too.
“We’ve got to put together a plan,” Shurmur had said earlier in the week before the injuries continued to mount. “We have to go play fast, aggressive.”
Eric Hagg will start at free safety, with Usama Young shifting to Ward’s strong safety spot. Hagg had a season-high seven tackles in a win at Oakland on Dec. 2, but was inactive the past two weeks.
“I think he’s learned that he can play in this league,” Shurmur said of Hagg, a seventh-round pick in 2011 from Nebraska.
“He does a good job in coverage. Anytime you play for a while and then you don’t play, it gives you a little better view of it while you’re watching it. I’m sure he’s learned something as he’s prepared.”
Defensive coordinator Dick Jauron said preparing for the 36-year-old Manning can be frustrating.
“He’s effective against almost everything you do,” Jauron said. “You will blitz. He reads it awfully quickly like he does most things in football. You’ve just got to keep mixing it up and then fight for 60 minutes and hope you can get some breaks.”
Notes
LB Tank Carder, claimed on waivers from Buffalo in September, will make his first career start in place of Johnson. ... WR Josh Cooper will take Massaquoi’s place. ... TE Alex Smith missed practice with an undisclosed illness. ... Shurmur hopes DL Frostee Rucker (hip) will play. ... RB Trent Richardson has 11 rushing TDs. One more will give him the most by a Browns player since Hall of Famer Leroy Kelly had 16 in 1968.