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Cleveland Browns LT Joe Thomas expects the Lions' defense to show a little more than Rams "who just stood there''
Mary Kay Cabot
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns left tackle Joe Thomas expects a little more from the Lions' defense tonight at FirstEnergy Stadium than he got from the Rams last week.
"They were about as vanilla as you possibly could be last week, so it wasn’t a challenge at all figuring what we needed to do because they just stood there for us,'' Thomas said. "We're going to be playing a few more snaps than we did last time and we're going to see a little more complex defense."
Last week, the Lions held the Jets to just 37 yards rushing in a 26-17 Detroit victory, and No. 5 overall pick Ziggy Ansah intercepted a Mark Sanchez pass and returned it 14 yards for a touchdowns.
The Browns, meanwhile, put up 10 point in two series with quarterback Brandon Weeden at the helm. Weeden completed 10 of 13 attempts for 112 yards and a touchdown en route to a 27-19 victory over the Rams.
"Obviously we’re going to get a different look at the defense, and it’s going to be interesting to see how we’re able to adjust when they bring a pressure or they play a different coverage or they do something that you’re going to see in a regular NFL game," said Thomas. "So it's trying to keep making progress and keep churning along."
That's not to say Thomas thinks the Lions will be exotic tonight. Afterall, the two teams meet up again on Oct. 13 here.
"Well, they will be vanilla, but [hilite]they'll be less vanilla then they were last week[/hilite],'' said Thomas. "So instead of zero pressures and zero coverage changes we may get one out of every four plays, so neither team really game plans much, but they’re going to show a little bit more of their defense. We’re gonna probably show a little bit more of our offense. It’s just kind of baby steps at this point in the preseason.''
[hilite]Rams coach Jeff Fisher acknowledged he didn't show much at all against the Browns.[/hilite]
"Yes, we stayed very basic and that was our intention," Fisher said after the game. "The first preseason game is never an indication of where you're at because there are so many things going on."
Lions coach Jim Schwartz told reporters in Detroit that the teams squaring off again in the regular season is a factor.
“That does come up,” he said. “There’s things that you sort of feel like you like against a defensive scheme or an offensive scheme that you don’t want to show. But over the course of the season, you’re going to show all those things anyway. The main thing is execution. You want guys communicating well, executing, and you want to see — and I’ve said this a bunch of times in preseason games — you want to see players win not scheme win.”
Mary Kay Cabot
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns left tackle Joe Thomas expects a little more from the Lions' defense tonight at FirstEnergy Stadium than he got from the Rams last week.
"They were about as vanilla as you possibly could be last week, so it wasn’t a challenge at all figuring what we needed to do because they just stood there for us,'' Thomas said. "We're going to be playing a few more snaps than we did last time and we're going to see a little more complex defense."
Last week, the Lions held the Jets to just 37 yards rushing in a 26-17 Detroit victory, and No. 5 overall pick Ziggy Ansah intercepted a Mark Sanchez pass and returned it 14 yards for a touchdowns.
The Browns, meanwhile, put up 10 point in two series with quarterback Brandon Weeden at the helm. Weeden completed 10 of 13 attempts for 112 yards and a touchdown en route to a 27-19 victory over the Rams.
"Obviously we’re going to get a different look at the defense, and it’s going to be interesting to see how we’re able to adjust when they bring a pressure or they play a different coverage or they do something that you’re going to see in a regular NFL game," said Thomas. "So it's trying to keep making progress and keep churning along."
That's not to say Thomas thinks the Lions will be exotic tonight. Afterall, the two teams meet up again on Oct. 13 here.
"Well, they will be vanilla, but [hilite]they'll be less vanilla then they were last week[/hilite],'' said Thomas. "So instead of zero pressures and zero coverage changes we may get one out of every four plays, so neither team really game plans much, but they’re going to show a little bit more of their defense. We’re gonna probably show a little bit more of our offense. It’s just kind of baby steps at this point in the preseason.''
[hilite]Rams coach Jeff Fisher acknowledged he didn't show much at all against the Browns.[/hilite]
"Yes, we stayed very basic and that was our intention," Fisher said after the game. "The first preseason game is never an indication of where you're at because there are so many things going on."
Lions coach Jim Schwartz told reporters in Detroit that the teams squaring off again in the regular season is a factor.
“That does come up,” he said. “There’s things that you sort of feel like you like against a defensive scheme or an offensive scheme that you don’t want to show. But over the course of the season, you’re going to show all those things anyway. The main thing is execution. You want guys communicating well, executing, and you want to see — and I’ve said this a bunch of times in preseason games — you want to see players win not scheme win.”
