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Published on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008
1. Quarterback Peyton Manning.
Manning is back to his old form after having an infected bursa sac in his left knee removed July 14 and undergoing follow-up surgery that kept him out of practice until Aug. 26. In the first seven games, he threw 10 touchdown passes with nine interceptions. In the past four games, all victories, Manning has tossed nine TD passes with one interception. The future hall of famer directs the NFL's sixth-ranked passing attack against the Browns' 20th-ranked pass defense. ''Coming off the injury he had, it slowed their offense down a lot,'' Browns cornerback Brandon McDonald said. ''Everybody feeds off him. If he's not playing well, they're not playing well. They've got it rolling now.'' Despite the surgery, Manning has missed only one snap because of injury in his 11-year career, that on Nov. 11, 2001, against the Miami Dolphins. Colts coach Tony Dungy said Manning being sidelined in preseason ''did throw us off a little bit. We didn't get the normal sharpness of our offense coming out of training camp, but it's starting to come around. The last six or seven weeks, we seem to be more in sync.'' Manning has 10 seasons with 25-plus TD passes (Dan Marino and Brett Favre are tied for second with five). Manning has had the same offensive coordinator, Tom Moore, for his entire pro career. Manning has 45 300-yard passing games, but none against the Browns. He's due.
2. Can D.A. and Braylon get back their magic?
Derek Anderson returns as the Browns' starting quarterback after Brady Quinn was placed on injured reserve with a fractured right index finger that also has tendon damage. Anderson is 13-13 over three seasons and 3-5 this year. Finding his old magic with receiver Braylon Edwards, who set a franchise record with 16 touchdown passes (all from Anderson) in 2007 could ignite the Browns' 27th-ranked passing offense. Edwards has dropped 18 passes this year and has only three TDs, none in the past three games and one in the past six. ''He and I stay after practice; we watch all the film necessary. We're always fully prepared to get the job done,'' Edwards said of himself and Anderson. ''Now I think it's more of a mental thing. We need to take care of our mental brain waves and get those working.'' The Colts have given up a league-low four passing touchdowns.
3. Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney vs. Browns tackle Joe Thomas.
Freeney leads Indianapolis with seven sacks and appears to be on his way to the fifth double-digit sack season of his seven-year career. He also has three forced fumbles, giving him 34 in his career, the most in the NFL since 2002. (Jason Taylor and Leonard Little are tied for second with 30). Freeney led the league in sacks in 2004 with 16. The Colts are 38-10 when he has a sack and 21-5 when he forces a fumble. Although the Browns have given up only 12 sacks, Thomas hasn't appeared to be up to the Pro Bowl form of his rookie season and gets another tough test after taking on Houston's Mario Williams a week ago.
4. Browns running game.
Running back Jamal Lewis was highly critical of offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski after getting only 10 carries (for 58 yards) in last week's 16-6 loss to the Texans. But Lewis wasn't complaining only for himself. Backup Jerome Harrison carried seven times for 31 yards (twice for 5 yards in the fourth quarter, Cleveland's only runs) despite a hamstring injury. The Browns need a ball-control offense to play keep-away from Manning. Lewis is averaging 3.7 yards per carry, three-tenths off his goal number, and Harrison is averaging 8.8. The Colts' defense ranks 25th against the run and two-time Pro Bowl safety Bob Sanders is questionable with a knee injury. Sanders hasn't practiced all week and has already missed two consecutive games.
5. Dallas Clark.
Clark ranks fourth in the AFC in catches by a tight end, with 45 for 489 yards and three touchdowns. Last season, he set franchise single-season records for his position with 58 catches for 616 yards and 11 touchdowns. His touchdown total broke the team mark of nine by hall of famer John Mackey (1966, 1967). The Browns have had problems covering tight ends for years, but seemed to have shored up the defense in that area since Jason Witten of Dallas burned them in the opener with six catches for 96 yards. Free safety Brodney Pool could be the main man covering Clark, but Manning will look for mismatches with him on a linebacker.
— Marla Ridenour
1. Quarterback Peyton Manning.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 09:29 AM, 11/30/2008
braylon took too many pro hits last year and now has alligator arms. he "dose not like to go over the middle" says it all. he is running before the catch but not for extra yards, but fear of the hit. if he can get his ego in check he may outgrow it.
Posted 09:30 AM, 11/30/2008
should have run spell check - "does not"
cuyahoga falls, oh
Posted 03:11 PM, 11/30/2008
you left out the sixth thing to watch: the sun setting on our head coach's career as the chief honcho and the dawn of bill cowher's reign...one that should have started when marty left and modell hired an amatuer who is only a pro at idiocy and cheating
