Yanda brings needed dose of nastiness to offensive line

By Kevin Van Valkenburg

December 3, 2009

Maybe what the Ravens have been missing recently on offense is a little dose of nastiness up front.

Maybe what they've been missing is right guard Marshal Yanda.

That seemed to be the opinion of the coaching staff, which inserted Yanda into the starting lineup against the Pittsburgh Steelers in place of Chris Chester, who had started every other game this season. Yanda, a 6-foot-3, 310-pound bruiser from the University of Iowa, was originally slated to be the starter this season, but his recovery from major knee surgery was slower than hoped and he lost his starting spot. Yanda played tackle for two games after Jared Gaither went down with a neck injury against the New England Patriots in week four, but he has the mentality and build of a guard.

Against the Steelers, having Yanda inside helped the Ravens open holes, which allowed the team to rush for 138 yards in a 20-17 overtime victory. The Ravens used Chester in several situations, bringing him in as a part of their Jumbo formation, in which an extra lineman takes the place of a tight end.

Nastiness "is just a part of being an offensive lineman," Yanda said. "You have to embrace that and take it to the game. To have to be physical and just get after people. That's what I like doing. That's football to me, a lot of contact."

Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Yanda's injury last season, which required reconstructive surgery on three major knee ligaments, was difficult for Yanda because it isolated him from the team's success in 2008.

"When guys get hurt in this league, you sometimes forget about them," Harbaugh said. "They go back and they rehab and they're forgotten about, and in some ways they don't feel like they're a part of the team. But they are, and they're around every day, as much as they can be. Marshal has been through that for a whole year but got back probably from an ACL sooner than most people would, and now he's back in the mix. He really has been all year, and he's starting to play at the same level that he did when he got hurt against Indianapolis last year."

Chester said the coaches told him they felt Yanda gave them some advantages, and that while it bothered him, he wasn't going to make a fuss.

"I think it's just human to have something like this be on your mind," Chester said. "I wish I could be in there, to have the opportunity to play guard, but the coaches have made their decision, and I'm just going to go with it. If I want to get a chance to play, I'm going to have to go out there [to practice and games] and do my best. ... I've felt good about the way I've been playing. I've felt like I've been doing a good job, and I say that with great humility. It's their decision to make, and they thought they'd get an advantage with Marshal in there."

Yanda said he didn't think his knee injury was really holding him back at the beginning of the season but that he wasn't going to dwell on it.

"It felt great in training camp and during the first part of the season," he said. "But that's just the way it goes. I'm not going to look at the past. I'm just happy to be out there now. As an offensive line, I thought we played pretty well [against Pittsburgh]. But we can make some corrections and get a lot better, too."

NC Sports Clients Dawson, Zastudil are Browns' "best players"

From Pat McManamon's "First and 12: Somehow that seems appropriate, no?"

December 1, 2009

Good afternoon Pat,

It’s hard to disagree with your assessment about Brady Quinn’s incomplete. But there is something I’ve seen the last two weeks that bothers me, to the point I wonder if he’ll ever pan out. On about 75 percent of his passes, he looks completely out of sync, like a power pitcher trying to throw to first base after fielding a slow roller in front of the mound. His motion is not right. How many times is he going to fire the ball into the ground at the receiver’s feet? There is no rhythm to his delivery. His wrist is tight, not loose. On a couple throws he looked like he was trying to throw a sinker, his wrist snapped so hard downward at the release. And that’s where the ball went – straight down.

Browns played Bengals close both games – and that’s the team that dominated the Central Division this year. The glory of the ‘Tradition’ of the Cleveland Browns has just expanded. It now includes the opponent scoring on extra plays awarded at the end of halves/games by penalties on the defense. Rogers’ play cost us three points. At the end of the game, that could have made a difference. In any event, we played them pretty tough this year. Silver lining?

How bad is a franchise when, over a 10 year period, its best players, year in, year out, are the punter and place kicker. Phil Dawson has to be the unluckiest player in the NFL. I think he might be the best place kicker the team has ever had. We just don’t realize it because he hasn’t been there to win big games for us. He’s such a classy guy. Think what a huge star he would be had he played for Indianapolis or New England the last 10 years.

And our punters have been very good as well. Dave Zastudil is as good as we’ve ever had.

So when you assess the cloud hanging over the Browns, ask yourself how many teams in the history of the NFL have lost both their place kicker AND punter simultaneously for an extended period of time.

George Rosin,

Akron

Phil Dawson, NFL Quarterback

November 26, 2009

By Steve King


Observers of sports the world over ask: "Is there nothing that Phil Dawson cannot do?" Steve King profiles the rocket-armed passer with the lifetime QB rating of 108.

Phil Dawson may not only be the best kicker in Browns history.

He could also retire someday as one of the highest-rated passers in club annals.

Much to the disbelief of his two sons, Dru, 8½, and Beau, 6½.

“When I play catch with them in the back yard, they always tell me I don’t throw good passes that they can catch,” Dawson said before practice on Wednesday as the Browns began getting ready to meet the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.

Dawson, the last member of the 1999 expansion Browns still playing anywhere in the NFL, threw the first pass of his 11-year career last Sunday when, on the “sleeper” play, he took a direct snap from Ryan Pontbriand on a fake field-goal attempt and fired a 10-yard strike to the right to wide receiver Mike Furrey, who had sauntered in off the sideline pretty much unnoticed.

The play, which started with just 13 seconds left, came on fourth-and-9 from the Detroit 21. It almost worked for a TD. Safety Louis Delmas realized at the last moment that Furrey, a former Lion, was out there and sprinted out to him to make the touchdown-saving tackle at the 11.

On the next play, Dawson, a right-footed kicker but a left-handed thrower, settled for a real field-goal try, which he hit from 29 yards, to give the Browns a 27-24 halftime lead. They eventually lost 38-37.

The pass gives Dawson a career passing rating of 108.3.

Punter Brian Hansen, who completed an 11-yard pass for a TD to wide receiver Webster Slaughter on the exact play – but on a fake punt – in 1991 at Washington, has a 152.1 rating. The Browns lost that game, too, 42-17.

Throwing the football runs in the Dawson family. His father was a quarterback at Baylor. Dawson estimated that he threw three or four times while serving as a kicker at Texas. He also kicked and was a defensive tackle at Lake Highlands High School in Dallas, but never had the occasion to try a pass.

On Sunday, the play was set up perfectly. For the longest time, the Lions had no idea what was going on.

“I didn’t want to turn and look out that way, but I could see out of the corner of my eye that no one was anywhere near Mike,” Dawson said. “They didn’t see him. At that point, I’m thinking, ‘Come on, come on, spot the ball and let’s go.’ ”

But, as the officials did all day as the Browns ran the no-huddle offense, they held the ball before spotting it so as to give the Lions a chance to line up. That gave Delmas the time to spot Furrey, but no other Lion did.

Dawson’s pass was a laser-shot and right on target. In truthfulness, it was thrown better than some of the passes made this year by Browns quarterbacks Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson.

“What I really liked, too, is that my boys were at that game. They saw me make that throw,” Dawson said.

So they know their dad can thread the needle, but they probably wonder why, oh why, he doesn’t do it when they’re playing catch with him in the back yard.

In other late-afternoon note from Wednesday, the Browns were awarded linebacker Matt Roth off waivers from the Miami Dolphins. He takes the roster spot of linebacker Josh Stamer, who was released on Tuesday.

Originally a second-round choice of the Dolphins, at No. 46 overall, in the 2005 NFL Draft, the fifth-year pro had 23 career starts with 158 tackles, 12.5 sacks, five passes defensed and six forced fumbles.

The 27-year-old had a big 2008. After moving from defensive end to linebacker, the 6-foot-4, 275-pounder started 14 of 16 games and registered career-highs with 53 tackles, five sacks and four passes defensed. He also forced two fumbles.

Roth was a four-year letterman at Iowa, where he was teammates with Browns guard Eric Steinbach for his first two seasons.