1. Injury updates
The Browns' first practice after their first preseason game elicited a number of questions about the handful of players dealing with various injuries.
Here's a rundown of what we learned.
• Wide receivers Corey Coleman and Josh Gordon are "closer to being out there than they are further away," Browns coach Hue Jackson said after Sunday's practice. He did not speculate about their respective statuses for Thursday's preseason game against the Falcons.
• Offensive lineman Joe Thomas did not practice Sunday because he "had a little flare up with his back." Jackson said Thomas would be "fine."
• Jackson doesn't anticipate defensive back Joe Haden to play Thursday. Haden returned to practice last week following months of recovery from ankle surgery. "I'm going to go a little slow with him and just make sure he's ready," Jackson said. "But hopefully at some time, we'll play him hopefully before we get to the regular season. We have three more left, and so we'll find one that I think is suitable along with our medical staff that we think is best for him."
Jackson knows there's no such thing as sympathy from opponents when it pertains to a team's injury situation, so he's not asking for any.
"Everybody has a number of guys that are banged up," Jackson said. "That's just, that's training camp. That's just the way it goes. We talked about it as a team today – no one is going to feel sorry for us because we have a few guys down. That's the National Football League this time of year – you get those things, you hate it, but we need to fight through it because it could be the way the season goes."
2. More praise for Ogbah
On Saturday, Jackson singled out second-round rookie Emmanuel Ogbah for his performance in Friday's preseason loss at Green Bay. The athletic defensive lineman led all Browns with six tackles and was one of two players to collect a sack.
What impressed Jackson, though, went far beyond the stat sheet.
"The fun part about watching him is he got tired at one point. I could tell he was very tired. The next thing he's chasing the quarterback toward the sideline and getting him down," Jackson said. "That's impressive to me. I think that's the way you have to play. That's going to be Cleveland Browns football here in the near future. We all have to play that way. It's going to be rough, tough, tired, hot, whatever all that is. He's got a find a way to go make a play and that's what he did."
3. Good with 3
The Browns added wide receiver Ed Eagan on Sunday to fill the spot vacated by Rannell Hall, who is out for the season with a broken fibula, but Jackson doesn't anticipate a similar move at quarterback, a position that will be without Austin Davis until he recovers from a concussion.
Davis suffered the concussion during Friday's third quarter. The Browns will enter Atlanta week with three healthy quarterbacks: Robert Griffin III, Josh McCown and Cody Kessler.
4. Crowell confident running game will pick up steam
Isaiah Crowell ran just once Friday for a 2-yard loss. Duke Johnson Jr. picked up 11 yards on his only carry.
Jackson called the running game's performance "OK" and cited a couple of missed opportunities. Crowell concurred with Jackson and expressed similar optimism about the state of the group heading into the season.
"Every touch counts and you try to do the best you can with every touch," Crowell said. "We didn't do as good as we wanted to, and we'll get that together this week."
5. Two more practices upcoming in short week
The Browns had a light, 40-minute practice Sunday that will precede two more heading into Thursday's game against the Falcons at FirstEnergy Stadium. It's a relatively short turnaround for the Browns, who arrived in Berea at 2 a.m., on Saturday following their preseason opener.
After Thursday's game, the Browns will break from camp and shift their focus to their joint practices with the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay. Jackson said the upcoming, competitive practices wouldn't affect his game plan against the Falcons.
"I think we need to play," Jackson said. "I think it's obvious (from) last week, we need to continue to get better, so we're going to play so that we can accomplish the things that we set out to accomplish as a football team this week and then we'll get to Tampa Bay after that week."
