Cleveland Sports Chatter

[Unchainme]

Savage is optimistic
Thursday, June 1, 2006
By Steve Doerschuk Repository sports writer

CANTON - Phil Savage seems a little angry with Reuben Droughns, and a lot optimistic about his team.

During a fundraising speech for the Children’s Network of Stark County on Wednesday, the Browns’ general manager punctuated an it’s-time-to-win rant with a one-liner that drew quick applause:

“Let’s go do some damage to Pittsburgh for a change.”

Before his talk for the Canton Browns Backers function at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Savage fleshed out his stance on Droughns. The running back was arrested in Colorado last week on domestic violence charges.

“Anytime a player has an issue off the field, you’re concerned about it,” Savage said. “We extended Reuben this spring, and with that comes more responsibility.”

Savage was talking about a new contract that runs through 2009, coming off Droughns’ 1,232-yard rushing year.

“I think he’s expressed sorrow to us about it,” Savage said. “It’s something that we’ll monitor over the next few months. We certainly don’t want it to happen again.”

The Browns will begin voluntary spring practice today, leading up to a mandatory minicamp June 16 through 18.

“(Droughns) is back here in Cleveland,” Savage said. “He’ll start our (practice) tomorrow. I’ve spoken to him. Romeo (Crennel) has spoken to him. I’ve spoken to his representative.”

Savage seemed optimistic Droughns’ legal proceedings can be resolved by early July.

“Hopefully, all of this will be rectified before we ever even get under way with training camp,” Savage said.

Droughns might have re-opened the door for forgotten man William Green, a first-round draft pick in 2002 whose Cleveland contract expires after this season. Savage volunteered Green’s name a couple of times Wednesday in a general discussion of the team’s running prospects.

Plan A remains getting Droughns back on the field as the feature back, but Lee Suggs — signed through 2007 — also might have additional opportunities.

Savage suggested Suggs can play a key role if he proves he can stay healthy.

“Lee is a talent. We don’t want to short-change talent,” Savage said. “Sometimes durability and dependability override pure ability.”

Savage didn’t mention Droughns during his speech. He did touch on a January front-office blow-up that left him standing and President John Collins out.

Savage and owner Randy Lerner both say they worked through the ordeal and have a good relationship.

“I met with Randy today,” Savage told a capacity crowd. “This is the job I thought I was getting when I walked in the door. It took a little time to get there ...

“I’m convinced the Browns can win. I’m convinced the Browns will win. And that’s exciting news for a fan base that’s been starved for a consistent winner.”

This was Savage’s second appearance at a Browns backers fundraiser for the Children’s Network. A lot has happened since the previous one last spring.

“I think now we can stand up and start talking about winning,” Savage said. “It’s not just about being representative and ‘hold the thing together and let’s see what we have.’ That was last year.

“This year is gonna be more about trying to win, and ... get out there and compete ... win our division, win our division games. You know ...”

After a short pause, he delivered the line that brought the applause: “Let’s go do some damage to Pittsburgh for a change.”

When the Browns face Pittsburgh on Nov. 19, it will have been more than three years since they last beat the Steelers. Pittsburgh won the last meeting 41-0 on Christmas Eve.

Since then, Savage has added several key agents, including Pro Bowl center LeCharles Bentley, who attended Wednesday’s dinner. He drafted pass rusher Kamerion Wimbley, whom he said is “an A-plus person and we think he’s gonna be an A-plus on the field in due time.”

The key man is second-year pro Charlie Frye, the starting quarterback.

“I think Charlie can do it,” Savage said. “He better be able to do it, or you’ll have a different speaker.”

The Droughns issue notwithstanding, Savage said, “We’ve had various issues with this team since last January. We’ve done a good job of cleaning the locker room up. I think we’ve got a good group of guys, a really good group of players.

“I feel 1,000 percent better than I did a year ago.”

Reach Repository sports writer Steve Doerschuk at (330) 580-8347 or e-mail: steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

http://www.browns247.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3400

[POJO_Risin]

Well...they better focus on more than the Steelers...lmfao...

believe me...the mark of a great team generally doesn't focus on one team...

which will be the Bengals and Browns mistakes this year...

[Unchainme]

Originally posted by POJO_Risin
Well...they better focus on more than the Steelers...lmfao...

believe me...the mark of a great team generally doesn't focus on one team...

which will be the Bengals and Browns mistakes this year...

I think though, That 41-0 blanking finally woke them up. Someone said on another board they ran into Charlie Frye and told him "Beat The Steelers this year bro" or something along those lines. And they said that he had this look in his eyes, Like he truly wants to beat them.

Thats the grate part about getting Local guys (Frye, Cribbs, Juerivicious, Bentley, Zastudil. etc.), They understand what the Rivalry means to this town, and why we want to beat them.

[POJO_Risin]

I can't disagree with that...

Tressel came into Columbus with one thing in mind...

beating Michigan...

and that worked for him a bit...

especially once he started grabbing all the Ohio players again...

that that fucking homo Cooper forgot to do...

fucking cunt...

[Unchainme]

Yup, Pained my Heart to see Cooper lose some awesome players from my homestate to the WolverQueens.

That is the goal this year, If we could beat the Steelers once or twice this year, it would make me a happy man, that and Winning the Super Bowl, But We all know thats not going to happen.

[POJO_Risin]

Yeah...we all know beating the Steelers isn't going to happen...

[Unchainme]

Frye starts job as No. 1
Friday, June 2, 2006
By Steve Doerschuk REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

link

It seemed official Thursday. Young Charlie Frye was on the edge of the hot seat.

The Browns ran through their first voluntary spring practice, launching Frye’s run as the team’s undisputed starting quarterback.

For the first time in public, during a talk at a Canton Browns Backers dinner, General Manager Phil Savage revealed the background of how Frye came so far, so fast.

The 2005 draft had steamed through two rounds. Savage had picked wideout Braylon Edwards at No. 3 overall and safety Brodney Pool at No. 34.

“We ranked 150 players on our board,” Savage said. “Charlie was our 45th-ranked player. People say, ‘Is that a second-round grade?’ We just let players fall off the board and said, ‘If he’s still there when the players ahead of him are gone, we’ll take him.’

“There was one name ahead of Charlie Frye when it was our turn in the third round.‘’

The name was Ellis Hobbs. He had played for a nondescript Iowa State team, but he did turn out to be something of a find for the Patriots.

New England grabbed him late in the third round, at No. 84. Hobbs started the Patriots’ last 10 games at left cornerback, and they went 7-3.

The Browns had been on the clock in the third round with the 67th pick.

“We’re sitting there talking about it,” Savage aid, “and I’m like ... ‘OK, Ellis Hobbs is ... probably gonna be a nickel corner. He might be a starting corner at some point, but ... he’s 5-foot-9, 180-some pounds, and he’s he only guy standing between Charlie Frye and the Cleveland Browns.

“ ‘Guys, there’s no way we pass up Charlie Frye, who potentially might be our quarterback in a year or two, because this kid ... has got grit, moxie, mobility. He’s got just enough arm. Let’s do it.’ ”

Savage’s first hard look at Frye came in 2004 while in Baltimore.

“One of the Ravens’ scouts wanted to go to Penn State, which was playing ... Akron,” Savage said. “I told him I’d ride up there with him ... Akron had this quarterback, Charlie Frye.”

Savage talked with former Browns linebacker Frank Stams, who was doing radio work for Akron. Stams raved about Frye’s toughness and mobility. Akron wound up getting waxed, 48-10, but Savage liked the way Frye hung in.

Months passed before Savage saw Frye again, this time as the Browns’ new GM, at the Senior Bowl that set the stage for the 2005 draft. Senior Bowl practices draw hundreds of NFL scouts to Mobile, Ala.

“Charlie is not gonna wow you with physical gifts or throwing a pretty ball,” Savage said, “so we sat in the bleachers ... (and) watched Charlie throw left to right, right to left, down low, up high, and we were like ... ‘I don’t know about this guy. He just throws kind of average.’ ‘’

Most scouts make Senior Bowl judgments via practices and leave before the game.

“A handful of us stayed for the game,” Savage said. “Who emerged as the MVP but Charlie Frye?”

Two months later, Frye threw for scouts at Akron’s Pro Day.

“I didn’t really want to go,” Savage said. “In that environment, he’s just going to be throwing ‘on air.’

“I acted like I was watching him, but I really wasn’t. I didn’t want to skew our vision of him.’ ”

Savage drove from there to a speaking engagement near Uniontown, then drove to a private meeting with Frye.

“For two hours,” Savage said, “we watched film and talked about the Browns and his career at Akron.

“I’m sitting there listening to this guy thinking, ‘This is not a silver-platter quarterback.’ This is a guy who has earned his way, coming from the small town of Willard, Ohio, probably overlooked to a degree.

“He’s led a less-than-stellar college team into Iowa, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and Penn State. There’s something a little unique about this guy.”

Savage consulted with coaches and scouts. Films were studied. A consensus was formed. It wasn’t as glowing as reports that projected Frye as a Brett Favre-style improviser — Frye doesn’t have Favre’s arm. But it placed a certain premium on his “intangibles.”

The Browns picked Frye in Round 3 and wound up installing him as the starter after going with Trent Dilfer for 11 games. Dilfer is gone. Frye was the hot-button name at Thursday’s start of spring practice.

“I feel like with LeCharles Bentley and some of the offensive linemen we have, a healthy K2 (Kellen Winslow Jr.) back ...,” Savage said. “The team built around Charlie will be able to hold him up when he does have to struggle at times.

“Yet, he has that little bit of a dimension that when the other guys are flat, he might be able to lift them up. I think he can do that late in games.

“He did that against the Ravens when we were down 16-6 and came back to win. That’s kind of been his M.O..”

By now, Frye seems a natural for the job. How different the Browns’ spring would seem if the pick had been Hobbs.

BACKERS’ BIG NIGHT

Savage’s appearance helped raise $35,000 for the Children’s Network of Stark County, according to Canton Browns Backers President Chuck Schuster.

Schuster and a network of volunteers put together the program, which featured donated auction items.

“We nearly doubled what we raised in 2005,” Schuster said. “It was a night to remember, and it’s going to be tough to beat next year.”

Browns players LeCharles Bentley and Josh Cribbs attended Wednesday’s dinner and told Schuster they want to attend the Network’s Children’s Christmas Party this year.

http://www.browns247.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3408

[Sarge's Little Helper]

Frye starts job as No. 1
Friday, June 2, 2006
By Steve Doerschuk REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

link

It seemed official Thursday. Young Charlie Frye was on the edge of the hot seat.

The Browns ran through their first voluntary spring practice, launching Frye’s run as the team’s undisputed starting quarterback.

For the first time in public, during a talk at a Canton Browns Backers dinner, General Manager Phil Savage revealed the background of how Frye came so far, so fast.

The 2005 draft had steamed through two rounds. Savage had picked wideout Braylon Edwards at No. 3 overall and safety Brodney Pool at No. 34.

“We ranked 150 players on our board,” Savage said. “Charlie was our 45th-ranked player. People say, ‘Is that a second-round grade?’ We just let players fall off the board and said, ‘If he’s still there when the players ahead of him are gone, we’ll take him.’

“There was one name ahead of Charlie Frye when it was our turn in the third round.‘’

The name was Ellis Hobbs. He had played for a nondescript Iowa State team, but he did turn out to be something of a find for the Patriots.

New England grabbed him late in the third round, at No. 84. Hobbs started the Patriots’ last 10 games at left cornerback, and they went 7-3.

The Browns had been on the clock in the third round with the 67th pick.

“We’re sitting there talking about it,” Savage aid, “and I’m like ... ‘OK, Ellis Hobbs is ... probably gonna be a nickel corner. He might be a starting corner at some point, but ... he’s 5-foot-9, 180-some pounds, and he’s he only guy standing between Charlie Frye and the Cleveland Browns.

“ ‘Guys, there’s no way we pass up Charlie Frye, who potentially might be our quarterback in a year or two, because this kid ... has got grit, moxie, mobility. He’s got just enough arm. Let’s do it.’ ”

Savage’s first hard look at Frye came in 2004 while in Baltimore.

“One of the Ravens’ scouts wanted to go to Penn State, which was playing ... Akron,” Savage said. “I told him I’d ride up there with him ... Akron had this quarterback, Charlie Frye.”

Savage talked with former Browns linebacker Frank Stams, who was doing radio work for Akron. Stams raved about Frye’s toughness and mobility. Akron wound up getting waxed, 48-10, but Savage liked the way Frye hung in.

Months passed before Savage saw Frye again, this time as the Browns’ new GM, at the Senior Bowl that set the stage for the 2005 draft. Senior Bowl practices draw hundreds of NFL scouts to Mobile, Ala.

“Charlie is not gonna wow you with physical gifts or throwing a pretty ball,” Savage said, “so we sat in the bleachers ... (and) watched Charlie throw left to right, right to left, down low, up high, and we were like ... ‘I don’t know about this guy. He just throws kind of average.’ ‘’

Most scouts make Senior Bowl judgments via practices and leave before the game.

“A handful of us stayed for the game,” Savage said. “Who emerged as the MVP but Charlie Frye?”

Two months later, Frye threw for scouts at Akron’s Pro Day.

“I didn’t really want to go,” Savage said. “In that environment, he’s just going to be throwing ‘on air.’

“I acted like I was watching him, but I really wasn’t. I didn’t want to skew our vision of him.’ ”

Savage drove from there to a speaking engagement near Uniontown, then drove to a private meeting with Frye.

“For two hours,” Savage said, “we watched film and talked about the Browns and his career at Akron.

“I’m sitting there listening to this guy thinking, ‘This is not a silver-platter quarterback.’ This is a guy who has earned his way, coming from the small town of Willard, Ohio, probably overlooked to a degree.

“He’s led a less-than-stellar college team into Iowa, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and Penn State. There’s something a little unique about this guy.”

Savage consulted with coaches and scouts. Films were studied. A consensus was formed. It wasn’t as glowing as reports that projected Frye as a Brett Favre-style improviser — Frye doesn’t have Favre’s arm. But it placed a certain premium on his “intangibles.”

The Browns picked Frye in Round 3 and wound up installing him as the starter after going with Trent Dilfer for 11 games. Dilfer is gone. Frye was the hot-button name at Thursday’s start of spring practice.

“I feel like with LeCharles Bentley and some of the offensive linemen we have, a healthy K2 (Kellen Winslow Jr.) back ...,” Savage said. “The team built around Charlie will be able to hold him up when he does have to struggle at times.

“Yet, he has that little bit of a dimension that when the other guys are flat, he might be able to lift them up. I think he can do that late in games.

“He did that against the Ravens when we were down 16-6 and came back to win. That’s kind of been his M.O..”

By now, Frye seems a natural for the job. How different the Browns’ spring would seem if the pick had been Hobbs.

BACKERS’ BIG NIGHT

Savage’s appearance helped raise $35,000 for the Children’s Network of Stark County, according to Canton Browns Backers President Chuck Schuster.

Schuster and a network of volunteers put together the program, which featured donated auction items.

“We nearly doubled what we raised in 2005,” Schuster said. “It was a night to remember, and it’s going to be tough to beat next year.”

Browns players LeCharles Bentley and Josh Cribbs attended Wednesday’s dinner and told Schuster they want to attend the Network’s Children’s Christmas Party this year.

http://www.browns247.com/forums/inde...showtopic=3408

Oops. I wasn't paying attention. Tell me again what is going on.

[Unchainme]

So Frye is going to be starter, I'm wondering how he will do, there is not a lot of high expectations for him, being that he wasn't drafted in the 1st round. But I think he can make it happen. Still don't have complete faith in the guy. Though I suppose if he screws up, We could pick Up Troy Smith in Next years draft .

[SA ME WHO]

I'm so tired of hoping for a rejuvenation of the Cleveland Browns. (Aside from 2002, it has only been a contest to see how many games below .500 we'd be and the year we got in were only 1 game above .500.)

But, being the eternal Browns fan (notice I didn't say optimist), I'll always be a glutton for punishment. Maybe a little of the Cavs good fortune will rub off on the Browns and they'll make a good run. I just hope Frye can be even a strong minimalist, not turning over the ball, making bad throws, or taking sacks. It'll be great if he can do more, but just not making mistakes will be a Godsend because, as of now, there's nothing waiting in the wings if Frye doesn't succeed. (I know, give him a chance.)

The best part is, I can never not be anxious for the season to get here because there's always the hope that "this is the year".

[POJO_Risin]

Their line is better...much better...

.500 or better isn't out of the question if Frye isn't overrated...and I think he is..

[Unchainme]

Originally posted by POJO_Risin
Their line is better...much better...

.500 or better isn't out of the question if Frye isn't overrated...and I think he is..

See I don't feel a good vibe with him, Don't entirely trust the guy, Until he does something impressive like what Roethlisberger did with Pittsburgh, I'd be waiting to get Troy Smith next year.

BTW, Welcome SA ME WHO, Grate to have another browns fan here.

[SA ME WHO]

Cavs definitely need to unload Z on someone though. And if they can find a suitor, as long as they're not taking an ass-raping as well, they should do the deal and get rid of Z ASAP.

[POJO_Risin]

Z is fine...but how man traditional, back to the basket centers are there in basketball?

Not many...

Nothing against Z...but he just doesn't fit the Cavs' plans...

signing him was a mistake...

[POJO_Risin]

Cleveland is 23-10 in games where starters have gone 6 or more innings...

4-17 when they don't...