DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Hillis reinjures hamstring during practice

If you notice the first thing posted under mike Silvers article you will see him making three predictions about games the following week. He was wrong on all three accounts just like he was wrong in his article.

I already answered your question mac.. and my speculation is far more plausible than yours...

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Actually, and this is just IMHO, I would read that more to be about his attitude and what this means is his teammates saying.. shut up about the contract, get over the Madden cover and the photo shoots and the appearances on Letterman, shut up about your agent and get back to focusing on playing football... I just don't see anything in there that screams "I know more than the doctors and you should be playing NOW."

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J/C

I think Hardesty is faking his injury.
Sure taking a long time for his calf.

Great... not even one year of playing and he's looking for a new contract?
He DID get on the field a few times, so I guess he HAS outplayed that rookie deal.... right?

Finally, some good news:

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/36991/hillis-says-he-wants-to-stay-in-cleveland

A month ago, there were reports that Peyton Hillis was probably playing his last games with the Browns. He doesn't want that to be the case.

Even though the Browns called off contract talks weeks ago, Hillis made it clear that he wants to stay with the Browns as he gets closer to becoming an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

"We've got five more games," Hillis said, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "I have to get ready to produce and help this team win, and that's my sole focus. This is where I want to be."

Sources told the Plain Dealer in early November that the Browns "are near the end of their rope" with Hillis and are prepared to let him walk in free agency.

Hillis, though, believes he has a future with the Browns. "I love Cleveland," he said. "I know there's been some questions there, but I've always been a Clevelander in my heart. I enjoy this place and I enjoy this team and I hope to be here."

In a conference call with Baltimore reporters, Hillis addressed other issues:

• On whether he still hopes to resume contract talks and return to Cleveland after this season: “Most definitely. As far as the contract standpoint goes, I really haven’t thought about it, especially in a long time -- especially since I haven’t been producing, playing, figuring I’ve just been worried and working on getting back in there playing and stuff like that. And even the contract talks haven’t even crossed my mind, either.”

• On his thoughts of the Yahoo! Sports article that reported eight veterans summoned Hillis into a meeting room for an intervention-style, air-clearing session designed to restore his focus: “You know, relationship is fine. It never was a distraction. I just think the guys got tired of everybody asking them about me, so they just wanted to confront me about it since they’re my teammates and my friends. And they just wanted to put the positive foot forward.”

Another article:

Cleveland Browns notebook: Peyton Hillis, Josh Cribbs say they want to stay in Cleveland

http://www.ohio.com/news/top-stories/cle...veland-1.248348

Browns running back Peyton Hillis erased all doubt as to where he believes his future lies.

“I love Cleveland. I know there’s always been some questions there,” he said Thursday after practice. “I’ve always been a Clevelander in my heart. I love this place. I enjoy this team and I hope to be here.”

Seemingly at ease and adorned with campaign gear from presidential candidate Ron Paul — at the request of teammate Tony Pashos — Hillis appeared ready to take on the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

After missing five consecutive games due to a hamstring injury, the workhorse from last season gained 65 yards on 19 carries in last Sunday’s 23-20 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. He confessed to some hesitation when playing, but the rust is off.

It’s good that he feels that way as the team prepares to meet the Ravens, because they could certainly use the Hillis that rushed for 144 yards against them in the first of two meetings last season. He’s confident that the explosiveness has returned to his legs.

“No doubt. No doubt. I’m excited about going this week and playing for the home crowd,” he said.

He has given coach Pat Shurmur reason to believe that might be the case, too.

“It looked like he was competing at game speed. He looked great yesterday in practice,” Shurmur said. “[In] my conversations with him he said he [felt] fine.”

A healthy Hillis makes an improving Browns offense that much more productive.

“I still think we’re getting more efficient regardless of who the back is,” Shurmur said. “But when you have a top-flight running back in there, when you hand him the ball and he’s carving out yards, you feel your second-down, third-down calls start to get easier when they start to feel you may not run it as much.”

There is a difference for Hillis this week, however. He returned to practice last Friday and returned to play for the first time since Oct. 16. This week, he gets an entire week in with the team.

“Now, [I’m] finally coming back for a whole week of practice, finally getting back into it, you’re starting to feel a little bit better,” he said. “You’re starting to work out the kinks in your hips and stuff like that. I think from here on out, it can only get better.”

Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs is aware that Hillis is back and will prepare accordingly: “He is a really aggressive runner. Everybody knows he is Peyton Hillis; he has the Madden cover. He likes to have good games against good defenses. I expect for the juggernaut to be up in there and try to run down some walls.”

Still it won’t be easy for him and the Browns. The Ravens have the third-ranked rushing defense in the NFL, giving up 91.5 yards per game. Hillis got a dose of what the Ravens’ defense could be like in the second meeting last season, when they held him to just 35 yards in the game.

“They’re going to adjust well and they’re still a good defense. They’re going to adjust up front and you’re really going to have to prepare well if you’re going to run the ball on them,” Hillis said.

And it won’t matter if linebacker Ray Lewis doesn’t play, he said. He expects to see the same aggressive, opportunistic brand of defense that has been a hallmark of the Ravens since they rode it all the way to a championship. That’s what he’ll be concentrating on.

After a rough season that included tons of drama related to his contract and other issues, that will likely be a relief for Browns fans. He said the drama’s gone and Shurmur believes it is, too.

“My future’s here. We have five more games and I have to get ready to produce and help this team win,” Hillis said. “That’s my sole focus. That’s where I want to be.”

Cribbs tries to clarify

Special teams standout Josh Cribbs said that despite his statements in recent days, he’s in no way interested in leaving the Browns.

Cribbs said that he was tired of losing and refused to comment about whether he was happy with his role as a wide receiver.

“There’s nothing that needs to be said. We’re moving the ball well on offense,” he said Thursday. “I simply said I’m tired of losing. I ain’t really saying nothing about my role. It’s the losing part. It wasn’t about me. I just want to win. It’s not about me and my role because I don’t know how it got on my role.”

If Cribbs has a problem with anything, he hasn’t taken the issue to Shurmur, who said that he hasn’t been informed of any problems Cribbs has.

“I have an open door and I expect that if they have an issue, they come see me man-to-man about it. That’s the way we handle things here,” Shurmur said.

Apparently winning would be the cure to what ails the seven-year veteran this season.

“I would have been fine Sunday if we would have won. If we won, that’s all that matters. We won a couple ugly games this year but that’s all that matters is the win,” Cribbs said. “When we didn’t win, I expressed my frustration and rightfully so. I think everybody is sick and tired of losing. It would be a problem if everybody didn’t feel like that.

“I am sick and tired of losing, like everybody is. And I think I have to start saying that. Me being sick and tired doesn’t mean I want to leave. It doesn’t mean anything. It means I want to win. So we want to focus on trying to win because I’m tired of losing. It’s not like I wasn’t tired of losing before, but I’m really tired.”

Hardesty back at practice

Running back Montario Hardesty (calf) practiced Thursday after sitting out Wednesday. He worked in individual drills but not team drills. Hardesty was expected to play Sunday for the first time since Oct. 30, though he sat out because his calf bothered him during pregame warm-ups.

“I feel a lot better than I did last week, so it’s coming along,” Hardesty said.

There’s little doubt, however that he’s looking forward to getting back on the field along with Hillis.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who’ve been hurt and we’ll have all hands on deck for the final part of the season.

Plenty to offer

Linebacker Scott Fujita, who was placed on injured reserve Tuesday, had successful surgery on his broken right hand Wednesday at the Cleveland Clinic, a team spokesman said. Doctors Tom Graham and Mark Schickendantz performed the procedure.

Defensive coordinator Dick Jauron said he believes Fujita, 32, can still be productive in the future.

“He’s played well. He’s clearly a guy who takes care of himself. He’s very professional in his approach to everything. … He’s a real pro,” he said.

Pontbriand statement

Long snapper Ryan Pontbriand, who was cut Tuesday after playing with the Browns since 2003, issued a statement Thursday.

“I’m proud to have worn a Browns jersey for nine seasons and I will miss being part of the organization and the city of Cleveland,” he said in a statement. “However, I am confident in my ability and look forward to a fresh start with another team.”

Injury report

Free safety Mike Adams (shoulder) returned to practice Thursday after sitting out Wednesday. He was limited. “I’m good. It was just a veteran’s day off,” he said. ... Strong safety T.J. Ward (foot) and linebacker Quinton Spears (hamstring) didn’t practice. Ward stretched with the team as the session started.

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• On whether he still hopes to resume contract talks and return to Cleveland after this season: “Most definitely. As far as the contract standpoint goes, I really haven’t thought about it, especially in a long time -- especially since I haven’t been producing, playing, figuring I’ve just been worried and working on getting back in there playing and stuff like that. And even the contract talks haven’t even crossed my mind, either.”

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That's a double-helping of extra-crispy, well-done crap.

He still has a chance to remain here, but I bet some team is going to offer him more money than he is worth. I'd say the odds are greater he won't be here next year, and if it's because someone else overpaid to get him, so be it. Players who are paid more than they are worth are detriments to the entire picture, so if we can get him back at a price congruent to his production as a non-featured guy, I'd love it. However, if he wants bigtime money, well, in the WCO, he should never be a 325-touch guy, so he shouldn't ever get that kind of money.

man I wanna keep Hillis.. keep him and scrap Hardesty... give me Isaiah Pead instead.. rb out of Nati'

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Hmm.. that part about nor should he kinda bothers me. IF he is effective.. why not incorporate him into the game plan?

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Which is exactly why you put "if" in bold, hehe.

It has been widely accepted that Hillis ran outa gas last year. If you're the kind of guy that knows how to avoid a hit, you can carry a 300+ touch load. But that isn't Hillis. He wore down and lost effectiveness. When you combine that with the stated system where the WCO spreads the ball around, well, there's really no reason to want or expect Hillis to carry that kind of load, which is why the organization didn't give in to any of his 3 agent's demands. All that leads me back to my statement where if Hillis is willing to take a reasonable deal to stay, great, but if not, well, so be it. We can't overpay guys just because they hope to have greater production in the future. Just ask Cribbs that. We sure aren't getting $3-$4 million per year's worth of production out of him, which was the reported number he wanted during his holdout. As that compares to Hillis, if he thinks he's worth $8 million per season, he can walk right on out the door.

Haven't see him play. Deep may have more info on him.

Can Hillis stay healthy?

He lit it up for the Broncos then he was hamstrung with hamstring injuries. Last year, he was a man possessed, then the injuries came (hammy once again) and he was done for the remainder of the season. This year, he had the hammy problem in preseason and I dont think he has ever been close to 100 since then.

If someone wants to overpay him, thats great for Hillis. I am happy for him. We can upgrade the position. Take the 3rd round compensatory pick and move on.

If he remains a Brown I am very happy and I hope the injury bug has been squished for good. Hillis is someone we enjoy rooting for, even though I still get this visual image of Shurmur outside of Hillis's home calling out, "Mr. agent can Hillis come out and play?" Agent replies, "Sorry Pat, Peyton has a sore throat and can't come outside today."

If Richardson is within reach in the draft then let Hillis go.
If you can sign him for a reasonable wage then him and Richardson
would MORE than solve the running game.

wow.... there's a poster I've not seen in quite some time.

Whatever happpened to Soup?

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Whatever happpened to Soup?

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Campbell's got a hold of him... stuck him in a can and put a lid on it....

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Can Hillis stay healthy?

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I think the idea going into this year was to spell Hillis regularly with Hardesty, so he'd not take so much wear and tear over the frist 2/3 of the season.

As we've all seen, Hardesty wasn't the sturdiest of "one-two punch" guys.

Looking at his history, I'd say he'd be best used as the Stools used Bettis a few years before his retirement (before he became just a goal-line/3rd & short specialist). If you recall, they gave him enough caries to keep a rhythm, but were regularly swapping him out with Mendy other RB's.

Given Hillis' relative youth (and the fact that we run a WCO), I could see him being effectively used for another 3-4 years, under the right circumstances. It would require a trio of players who could stay on the field, however... and that's been a problem so far.



.02

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I expect for the juggernaut to be up in there and try to run down some walls.

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LOL

Say what you want about him, but Terrelle Suggs is one funny cat. Saw him on NFL Network once... dude is crazy funny

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It has been widely accepted that Hillis ran outa gas last year. If you're the kind of guy that knows how to avoid a hit, you can carry a 300+ touch load. But that isn't Hillis. He wore down and lost effectiveness.

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I don't know how widely accepted it was that Hillis ran outta gas last year. Not sure where you got that. I do know it's been widely true that he had injured ribs at the end of the season and wasn't nearly as effective for the last few games.

IIRC that was one of the issues in the end. We had no running game because of his injury.