Bills notebook
Bills notebook: Crennel bristles at ‘quitters’ label
Cleveland coach Romeo Crennel did his best to extinguish a controversy Wednesday about his team’s desire.
Browns players Jamal Lewis and Josh Cribbs created a firestorm the past several days by saying the team quit in the fourth quarter of its 34-30 loss to the Denver Broncos last Thursday night.
“It seems like the word ‘quit’ has taken a life of its own and grown a little bit bigger, and now the Browns are quitters and coach has lost control of the team and there’s division in the locker room, and that’s not the case,” Crennel said. “These guys are going to play and play together. Whether we play good enough remains to be seen.
“You don’t quit if you have the ball at the end of the game with a chance to win,” Crennel said, referring to the Browns’ failed final drive in the Denver loss. “If you get beat, 63-3, then I think you can say your guys quit. Thursday night, guys did not quit. Thursday night, guys didn’t play as smart as they needed to play in critical situations, I agree there. But that can be said about other games in the course of the year, which we’ve been in most of them.”
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Besides star guard Eric Steinbach, other Browns who did not practice Wednesday were nose tackle Shaun Rogers (neck), starting defensive end Corey Williams (shoulder), starting fullback Lawrence Vickers (ankle) and backup tight end Darnell Dinkins (ribs).
The injuries to Rogers and Williams are not considered serious. Both played despite them last week. Vickers and Steinbach both are considered in the “very questionable” category for Monday’s game.
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The Bills and Browns probably will not get too much benefit from watching the video of their meeting last December, which was played in blizzard conditions with 32 mph winds. It was hard to even see the field for much of the game. Cleveland won, 8-0.
“I’m going to be honest, I’ve never even watched that tape,” Bills quarterback Trent Edwards said. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you. Just because the filming, the footage, you can’t even see really what’s going on, where anything is. But still they beat us, 8-0, with a safety and two field goals.”
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