The Cleveland Browns announced a few injury-related notes today, with the most notable one being that punter Dave Zastudil has been placed on the injured reserve, ending his season. It's too bad that Zastudil couldn't recover from his right knee injury, but head coach Eric Mangini has confidence in Reggie Hodges, who was with the team last year and has had a lot of work in camp this year.
In other injury-related news, Mangini announced that right guard Floyd Womack will miss the rest of the preseason with a knee injury. I assume that means he'll be back in time for opening day, and that the team is just being cautious with the veteran. Also, rookie right guard Shawn Lauvao will be excused the rest of the week for a personal issue. That would lead me to believe that he won't play against the St. Louis Rams this Saturday. Our first-string offensive line on the right side for that game is going to be something to watch.
Tony Grossi of the Plain Dealer noted that the first-string right side featured Billy Yates and Scott Kooistra in Tuesday morning's practice. Yikes!
Thanks to Buckeye Brad for the tip on Zastudil.
0 recs | 54 comments
Very sad about D-Zas. I do not find Hodges to be adequate even if Mangini does.
Roger Dorn - August 17, 2010
no.. he was terrible last year.
no.. he was terrible last year.but:
no.. he was terrible last year.but:- he’s improving
- our special teams is pretty solid anyway
- we won’t be punting NEARLY as much (or as far) this year.
no.. he was terrible last year.but:- he’s improving
- our special teams is pretty solid anyway
- we won’t be punting NEARLY as much (or as far) this year.i’m not worried.
discoinferno083 - August 17, 2010
Exactly what I thought when I read this. Depressing that Zastudil is out for the year; we can use all the help we can get.
RelapsingDawgCatcher - August 18, 2010
cool. glad that screwed up so much.
discoinferno083 - August 17, 2010
I am not a fan of Hodges. There’s gotta be at least another free agent punter that’s worth looking at.
TheDriveStillHurts - August 17, 2010
is he the fill-in punter that was (is?) a Steelers fan, or was it someone else? Like the guy with the awesome mustache?
rolub - August 17, 2010
Scott Player?
Dawg Nuts - August 17, 2010
I hated looking at that dude and his facemask. So embarrasing.
SpecialBrownie - August 17, 2010
I loved that facemask.
notthatnoise - August 17, 2010
I think Mike Holmgren’s first task should be making everyone grow that exact same mustache. I don’t do the whole photoshop thing, but someone should get us a good idea what Colt McCoy, Joe Thomas, Shaun Rogers and Alex Mack look like with that lip sweater.
Bernie19Kosar - August 17, 2010
Oh no, I love the fumanchu, the guy was just kind of weird.
And I would but my photoshop computer is down.
SpecialBrownie - August 17, 2010
davus - August 17, 2010
No Hulk or Paulie Sr. blonde please.
SpecialBrownie - August 17, 2010
i tried recoloring it a few times so it would match his hair color, but i could never get it to look right, so i just decided to use a picture of him when he was bald.
davus - August 17, 2010
Still freaking awesome though.
SpecialBrownie - August 17, 2010
I actually prefer it
Bernie19Kosar - August 17, 2010
Freaking awesome.
Bernie19Kosar - August 17, 2010
i love it. even though Joe Thomas already embodies coolness, this somehow makes him cooler.
Dawg Nuts - August 18, 2010
I thought the ‘stache and facemask were cool, and he wasn’t a bad punter. But I gotta think that he’s getting to the age where after he holds for a FG attempt he’s gonna need someone to help him stand up again.
JustBob - August 17, 2010
he looks like hulk hogan
davus - August 17, 2010
Hulkamania.
Bernie19Kosar - August 17, 2010
From Wikipedia:
troy145 - August 17, 2010
Yes, he is allowed via the Gradfather clause.
SpecialBrownie - August 17, 2010
Gradfather — is that a cross between grandfather and godfather?
Buckeye Brad - August 17, 2010
Much like how the word “hear” can be also used for “here”, it’s interchangeable with those terms.
SpecialBrownie - August 17, 2010
Ouch.
Buckeye Brad - August 17, 2010
Sorry. Apparently, I’m a little overfilled on sarcasm fluid today
SpecialBrownie - August 17, 2010
No need to apologize, that was a good one.
Buckeye Brad - August 17, 2010
I just thought “Punty McOnebar” was completely hilarious.
troy145 - August 18, 2010
I had no idea that Zastudil looked so much like Corbin Bernson.
golanbatrac - August 17, 2010
well at least it opens up a roster spot.
BrutalMovement - August 17, 2010
Not really, that spot was gonna open up either way with Z or Hodges being cut. I would raher hve seen Hodges go because he just isnt consistantly good like Z is. Sometimes he gets great contact othertimes I wonder if we should have just tried for the forth down conversion because its only a difference of like 5 yards.
LiveandDiefortheDawgPound - August 17, 2010
Poor Z. He was our best player for the first half of the seaon last year.
Brownie's Year - August 17, 2010
He certainly got the most work.
Spidey - August 17, 2010
For those of you concerned, Veikune returned from injury and ran with the 2’s today at ILB.
Roger Dorn - August 17, 2010
Vaikune should play, we must motivate him.
mooncamping - August 18, 2010
He opened camp last year at 257 lbs. This year he’s 235. Motivation isn’t the issue.
golanbatrac - August 18, 2010
I vote for paying a couple of waterboys to chase him around with cattle prods.
RelapsingDawgCatcher - August 18, 2010
And then watch him catch them and stick them into the ground head first as yard markers?
mooncamping - August 19, 2010
Good point. Another form of motivation might prove more effective, although this does sound fairly entertaining to watch!
RelapsingDawgCatcher - August 19, 2010
Prior to last year´s draft everyone was looking for the vaunted DE/OLB hybrid. Vaikune was a real sleeper at that designation, the real deal so to say. Strong enough to bust a move around the offensive tackle, yet quick and agile enough to seal the space outside the offensive tackle and drop back into the flats. I don´t know what the heck happened. I remember that some people thought he could compare favorably to Rey Mauluga as a middle linebacker, the cheap version out of miniscule Hawaii.
I wasn´t terribly excited, because I´m seeking the pure 3-4 outside linebacker. I was however enthusiastic about him, having seen his outstanding agility for a such a large linebacker, in a video that was posted here. I think with the current depth chart he can certainly take a spot with a good showing in the preseason games.
mooncamping - August 19, 2010
I know will refer to David Veikune as Young MC.
Bernie19Kosar - August 19, 2010
“YAY!” – This is Indonesian for the excited term “yay”; the closest language I could put with Hawaiian was Indonesian.
SpecialBrownie - August 17, 2010
“Sial balasan gagal” – Indonesian for “Damn Reply Fail.”
SpecialBrownie - August 17, 2010
We should forgo the punt, gives us an extra down, and puts the defense on the spot.
mooncamping - August 18, 2010
But surely we should still punt if we get stuck in one of those rare 4th-and-25 situations, right?
Chris Pokorny - August 18, 2010
We need some attitude, why ever give the ball to the opponent? In fact lets onside kick all the time too. Burn some bridges.
mooncamping - August 19, 2010
TMQ
Villeslgr - August 19, 2010
I’d so like to see the team you’d assemble and oversee in action, mooncamping.
RelapsingDawgCatcher - August 18, 2010
I’m betting it would look something like this.
golanbatrac - August 18, 2010
That made me literally laugh out loud, and very loud at that.
Simmsinns - August 18, 2010
Heh. I’d wager on far more entertainment value, and I was a big fan of electric football in my misspent youth. Tiny felt footballls rule.
RelapsingDawgCatcher - August 20, 2010
I took a closer look at Lauvao in the GB game and was pretty impressed. I was not extremely high on him in the draft, but he did a better job than I expected vs. B.J. Raji and others.
What really impressed me was when Mack was assigned to block the NT, Lauvao was uncovered, and the RT’s blocking assignment was the LDE. Lauvao was especially good at helping Mack get the nose under control, keeping his head on a swivel, noticing St Clair needing help, and getting there to help.
On the play where he (kinda) gave up the sack, he got over-aggressive with this, and moved way over to the right too quickly. This vacated space for Hawk to come through on the delayed blitz, and Lauvao couldn’t get back in time to block him.
Another thing Lauvao can work on is his stability. You can see his strength when he can lock on and drive into a guy. But too often, he was off balance, looked a little like a “bull in a china shop” had his hands were too “light”. This is improvable, and should get better as he has time to work on his technique.
rufio - August 18, 2010
I concur on the Hawk Play. I saw the same thing. That is more of a mental issue than a physical one. He didn’t recognize the blitz quick enough and was out of position. this is stuff that i believe will come with experience.
bross09 - August 18, 2010
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