Sunday, August 3, 2003

NFL Notebook


Holcomb leads Browns QB battle

The Associated Press

CLEVELAND - Cleveland fans appear to have made their choice at quarterback after just one preseason scrimmage.

Chants of "Kelly! Kelly!" filled Cleveland Browns Stadium on Saturday as Kelly Holcomb seemed to outplay Tim Couch in a scrimmage against the Buffalo Bills.

More than 37,000 showed up to weigh in on the quarterback competition.

Even Bills linebacker London Fletcher, who grew up in Cleveland and still roots for the Browns, had an opinion.

"I thought Holcomb looked a lot better today," Fletcher said.

Couch had a rough showing against the Bills' first-team defense, fumbling a snap and getting sacked once.

"We got off to a little bit of a slow start," Couch said.

Holcomb looked sharp in the Browns' second offensive series - but was playing against what was primarily a second-team defense.

Couch heard the crowd's chants after Holcomb completed three straight passes to Kevin Johnson, including a 20-yard touchdown.

"I know these fans just want a winner," Couch said. "They want a team that's going to go to a championship and win football games. Me and Kelly both want to be the guy to do that."

COLTS: Quarterback Peyton Manning appeared to be in midseason form as the Colts wrapped up their first week of training camp.

Manning completed 19 of 21 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns in scrimmage. He threw TD passes of 10 yards to starting tight end Marcus Pollard and 30 yards to reserve tight end Joe Dean Davenport.

Placekicker Mike Vanderjagt connected on a 23-yard field goal to complete the scoring for the White team, which led 17-0 before rookie free agent quarterback James MacPherson found reserve tight end Mike Roberg in the back of the end zone on a 6-yard touchdown pass late in the scrimmage.

"I thought (the scrimmage) went well," Manning said. "I thought offensively that we moved the ball, able to get a lot of plays, put some long drives together. I think the one thing that you want to avoid in these kinds of things is the three-and-out situations."

TEXANS: Safety Travares Tillman broke his arm Saturday during a morning practice against the Dallas Cowboys.

Tillman signed with the Texans as a free agent in January after being released by the Bills in September 2002.

Dallas rookie center Al Johnson left the early workout after injuring his knee. Coach Bill Parcells said tests were being done.

REDSKINS: Andre Lott dropped an interception, heard the catcalls from his teammates and knew what he had to do. He immediately hit the turf and did 10 quick push-ups, then later contributed $10 to the players' mistake fund.

"We're having fun, but it also keeps guys alert," linebacker Jeremiah Trotter said.

Discipline and harmony went hand in hand in the opening week of coach Steve Spurrier's second Washington Redskins training camp.

"I haven't sensed this type of camaraderie since I was in college," linebacker LaVar Arrington said.

Why has it gone so well? For starters, the Redskins didn't change coaches in the offseason. Last year, the players entered camp uncertain about Spurrier. This year, the roster was essentially set coming into camp, thanks to a major wave of free agency signings.

In other words, nearly everyone here knows what they're doing. And everyone seems to be buying into the system.

GIANTS: Kerry Collins completed all 10 of his passes for 113 yards and a touchdown in an intrasquad scrimmage.

Collins threw a 1-yard TD pass to Jeremy Shockey, capping the opening drive by the first-team offense against the second-team defense.

Much-maligned halfback Ron Dayne also looked good, gaining 48 yards on eight carries and scoring on an 11-yard run. The former first-round draft pick had a nice stiff-arm on free agent safety Calvin Spears on the TD run.

Amani Toomer, who has had a great training camp, caught four passes for 78 yards.

DOLPHINS: The Miami Dolphins wanted to work on their passing offense Saturday in a scrimmage against the Tennessee Titans. They did it to near perfection.

Jay Fiedler was 12-of-14 for 152 yards, with one of those incompletions a spike in the two-minute offense. Brian Griese was 4-of-6 for 66 yards, and Sage Rosenfels went 7-of-10.

Together, the trio combined to go 23-of-30 for 345 yards against an anemic Titans rush.

BRONCOS: The longer Terrell Davis stays away from football, the more the 1998 NFL MVP realizes his career probably is over.

Sure, he is doing rehabilitation work four hours a day in hopes of making a comeback. But deep down, Davis knows his hobbled knees might never be strong enough to play again.

"Sometimes, I look at it as (like being) a senior in college. You have to graduate. Sometimes you have to move on," Davis said Saturday at the Denver Broncos' training camp.

Degenerative conditions in both knees led Davis to walk away from football a year ago and he had surgery on his left knee in September, his fifth operation in four years.

JAGUARS: Running back Fred Taylor probably will be sidelined next week because of a leg injury and probably will miss the team's opening preseason game.



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