PHILADELPHIA — Joe Flacco, who’s close to being named the Browns starting quarterback for Week 1 against the Bengals, acknowledged that the offense found out a lot about itself during the good, old-fashioned slugfest against the reigning No. 1 defense in the NFL.
They pitted their overhauled scheme against the Super Bowl champion Eagles on Wednesday, and discovered they need to ramp up their mental toughness. In some cases, their physical toughness too.
The Browns’ buzz phrase for this training camp has been “Hardened Toughness,” but the offense didn’t take it to the Eagles the way the defense did to Philly’s championship offense. Both defenses clearly won the day, and so it was on Flacco’s side of the field.
The almost two-hour session in sweltering 90 degree heat and high humidity was characterized by dropped passes, breakups, miscommunications, a snatched-away ball, a batted pass, some sacks, and an otherwise uneven session that showed the Browns they have a long way to go to be ready for the Bengals on Sept. 7 and the Ravens in Baltimore a week later.
“I think we found out like, hey, we can push through some stuff,” Flacco said after practice. “I think we also learned that to a certain extent, we need to learn how to push through a little bit better and stuff like that. Ultimately it was good. I think it was a lot of good [that] came from this practice. You need to have these types of days where you come out here and grind a little bit.”
The Browns fought and scrapped through the intense session, but didn’t get the results they were hoping for. With Shedeur Sanders suffering an oblique injury in early throwing drills and Kenny Pickett still sitting out 11-on-11s with his hamstring injury, Flacco took most of the starting reps and Gabriel most of the team drills with the backups.
The drops started early in 1-on-1s with a couple by Cedric Tillman, and continued into 7-on-7s with drops by tight end Sal Cannella, receiver Jamari Thrash, Jerry Jeudy and Pierre Strong. Kisean Johnson caught a short right out from Tyler Huntley, and had it ripped out of his hands. A pass went off Kaden Davis’ hands, and Diontae Johnson had a broken up by cornerback Brandon Johnson, who made a number of nice plays.
It was a teaching moment for the Browns, who need to come back out on Thursday with more resolve and determination to win the day across the board.
“We were going at a pretty fast pace here, too, on our side of the field, so we were grinding,” Flacco, a former Super Bowl MVP like Philly’s Jalen Hurts, said. “I think everybody on that field could feel that a little bit. And we want to be a team that plays with that, so that’s a positive.
“To be able to go out there and run that many plays in that time frame and be clean in the operation, that was really good. You could feel that on both sides of the ball, where guys…it felt like we were running a lot of plays, but it went both ways. It was a good test for us, and I think we found out that, ‘hey, we’ve got some guys that can kind of push through this when we need to.”
The offense managed some nice plays in team periods, including a TD pass from Gabriel to Gage Larvadain for a touchdown in a red zone period and a deep post route from Flacco to Jeudy in a move-the-ball period.
But there weren’t enough of those highlights with the opener just three weeks away. It’s high time to ramp it up and be far more efficient than the Browns were on Wednesday.
“Sometimes when you get in practices like this, I don’t know if you can truly say, ‘oh, man, we won today or we lost today,’” Flacco said. “But you can find out about how tough guys are, the guys that stick it out, really stick their nose in there, step up to the occasion of playing against a good team and they’re not afraid to do it.
“You don’t think that would happen at this level, where you get guys that get a little bit timid in certain situations, but, hey, there’s human nature in some things. So, I think you get to find out a lot about the mental makeup of your team in these environments. I think that was a good job for us today.”
Despite the foibles, the Browns learned a valuable lesson: that they must return home with a renewed vigor and take everything up a notch. They’re still working with a lot of young players and installing a new scheme, and there must be even more urgency from here on out.
“When you’re out there competing, you want to speed it up a little bit,” Flacco said. “That’s the natural thing. So, being in these environments and learning how to still go out and play within yourself is a learning experience. I thought today was a good day for it, not necessarily from (a drops standpoint), but now that I think about it, that also. But the amount of reps we got today against a good football team, it was a good test for us today. It was a lot of good work.”
Flacco acknowledged that the offense will aim to come out on Thursday and try to elevate its performance. Even just eliminating the dropped passes will change the narrative.
“You do that every time you go and look at the tape as you’re trying to clean stuff up,” he said. “But like I said, ultimately, you’re here to find out a little bit about yourself, and grind a little bit and have a tough day.
“I really do think that when we look at the film, we’re going to be able to find out a lot about what we are, and then going through that together. Having a good, tough, competitive practice, I think it was a good day for us.”
Kevin Stefanski and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni didn’t ease up the session despite the sweltering heat. They ran a high-intensity practice with four valuable 11-on-11 periods for both sides.
“Anytime you have those practices where you’re running 80 plays, you’re going to have some ugly and you’re going to have some good,” Flacco said. “That’s why it’s about the competition, and it’s about finding out a little bit about what we are.”
The offensive players will have plenty to improve upon when it concludes this trip. Most of the starters will sit out the game after the two intense days, and then go home to prepare for the “dress rehearsal” game Aug. 23 against the Rams, which Flacco is expected to start.
“In order to play this game at a high level, you have to be able to compete, but also not have your mind racing and get so revved up,” Flacco said. “It’s such an emotional game, right? For pretty much every position on the field, and you have to bring that (emotion) to the field.
“How do you play with that emotion but also be within yourselves, within the scheme and within all that, and then just concentrate on the basics of catching the football and running with the football? How do you balance both of them? I think being in an environment against a different team, it gives you that experience.”
Flacco came away confident the offense will rise to the occasion.
“Anytime you have actual competition, I think when you have guys that are willing to work through it and know that it’s not always going to be pretty, you find out a little bit about how to actually go into that competition and still relax and play,” he said.
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