Tuesday, Aug. 18 (AM) – The Browns are really hamming it up in training camp, but it’s hardly a laughing matter. Rather, it’s a huge problem, enough of one actually, that it would cause head coach Mike Pettine to lose his hair – that is, if he had any to lose. We’re talking about hamstring injuries – lots of them, and they’ve been going on since the beginning of camp. If the Browns don’t lead the league in hamstring problems, then they’re certainly in the top five. That’s not where a team wants to stand out. Five – count ’em, five – players missed practice again yesterday morning as the Browns worked against the Buffalo Bills at Rochester, N.Y.: Wide receiver Dwayne Boe, running back Duke Johnson and cornerbacks Joe Haden, Pierre Desir and Robert Nelson Jr. Boe and Pro Bowler Haden are starters, Johnson is being counted on to be the No. 1 target out of the backfield in the passing game and Desir is the top nickel back. Wide receiver Terrelle Pryor has just returned after having miss extended time with a hamstring injury. As head coach Bill Belichick always said during his days as Browns head coach, a player’s greatest ability is his availability, and the fact that so many players are out with hamstring issues has, shall we say, hamstrung Pettine in what he has been able to do with various position groupings. This isn’t the New England Patriots we’re talking about here. Rather, this is the Browns, who need all of their players to get as much practice time as possible. Here’s the $64,000 question: Honestly, how in the world can the Browns be so besieged with hamstring injuries? Back in the old days, hamstring problems were common. Players used the first couple of weeks of what were then much longer and much more physical camps to get into shape. But now there are constant programs in the offseason to get players into shape and keep them there – the strength and conditioning program followed by the mini camps and the OTAs, which are really just a bunch of practices in shorts with no pads, or “two-hand touch football,” as ex-Browns head coach Butch Davis used to call them in his Southern twang. When they report to training camp, players should be able, and are expected, to hit the ground running, literally and figuratively. The fact the only place a lot of players are running – er, hobbling – to is the trainer’s room, is unacceptable in this day and age. If I were Pettine, I’d be asking some hard questions of my training and medical staffs, and the answers better be the ones I want to hear or there might be some changes made.