Dawgs By Nature

In today's edition of Around the Pound, we take a look at an interview with Brian Daboll, the latest news and nuggets from Terry Pluto, and a former Jets' thoughts on Eric Mangini.

Daboll Ready to Take Advantage of Second Opportunity

As the subtitle states, Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Brian Daboll is "optimistic and excited" heading into this season. Besides the fact that he survived the chopping block when every fan was calling for his head mid-way through last season, he sees a lot of reasons as to why things can turn around this season.

In a lengthy article by Tony Grossi of the Plain Dealer, Daboll explains some of the reasons the team and fans should have higher hopes:

[Regarding the turnaround last year] "A lot of things go into games, go into the season. Turnovers, that's first. I know we went from three turnovers a game the first half of the season to less than one turnover a game. The last eight, we didn't throw it as much, we ran the [heck] out of it, ballcarriers did a great job of protecting the football and the decisions the quarterbacks had to make were a little bit less."

[Regarding the Wildcat] "I think we have two good players that can do a lot of different things. The Wildcat is just a package of plays that you have in your offense. The one good thing about Seneca -- those two guys have a pretty good thing going -- you can run normal things, too. It'll be definitely an element. Now, one week it may be more and other weeks it might not be as good an idea. We've tinkered with a lot of things out there.

Daboll had a lot more to say about the team's quarterbacks, receivers, new front office, and how he himself has lost 65 pounds since last season. Check out the full article.

Pluto: Insight on the RFA's, and some of the Rookies

In his weekly column, the Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto continued to express his frustration as to why Matt Roth and D'Qwell Jackson have not signed their RFA tenders. Pluto mentions that both players aren't even locks to be starters with the veteran linebackers the team added in the offseason, so it makes even less sense for them to hold out. To contrast them, Jerome Harrison received props from Pluto for recognizing the situation (seeing Montario Hardesty's increased reps) and showing up to OTA's.

Here's some notes that Pluto had on some of our rookies; I particularly liked the comparison on the offensive line...

10. I mentioned Jonathan Haggerty (6-1, 195 pounds) last week as someone who impressed the coaches. That remains true. The undrafted receiver from Southwestern Oklahoma State (Division II) has been getting a lot of work. ... They also are using third-rounder Shawn Lauvao at center and guard, the idea being to turn him into a lineman such as Rex Hadnot, who could play both spots.

Check out the rest of Pluto's article for his thoughts on the depth chart in the secondary.

Jets' Damien Woody Credits Eric Mangini

“We’ve got a real good locker room and it has been that way for a few years. It all started with [former head coach Eric] Mangini and the picks and signings he made,” lineman Damien Woody said. “And it’s continued on, that feeling around here with Rex and what he adds with his bravado. It’s really good what we have here.”

Off-Beat Notes

• I had a dream last night, and it's a dream I often have, but usually during football season. The Browns played a game on Sunday, but I woke up late and missed the action live and was absolutely crushed. At first I thought I saw something that said the final score [against the Rams] was 26-1, but it ended up being 26-24 in our favor. Among the highlights: a Joshua Cribbs kick return for a touchdown, and two accurate passes down in the red zone for touchdowns by Jake Delhomme. My dreams never see us losing.
• I have not used Bing beyond once or twice (for testing purposes) when it was unveiled. I still love Google's simplicity, and really haven't used any other search engines besides it in years. It does look like Bing is starting to creep closer into Google's grasp of the search engine market though, which I see as a positive thing. Google remains an innovative company, and if a competitor starts to push them, I think they'll be primed to push right back.
• I'm a little late to the party, but I just watched the Hangover on DVD. Thumbs up.
• Network television show lineups get so boring during the summer season. Just about the only programs that will interest me are Hell's Kitchen and Big Brother, two heavily-edited reality shows. At least I an kill off a few weeks by catching up on shows I fell behind on: House (3 episodes), The Office (1 episode), Fringe (6 episodes), Flashforward (4 episodes), and Heroes (2 episodes).