A little bit of this, and a little bit of that as the Browns continue to get ready for Saturday’s preseason home opener against the Buffalo Bills:

*WHERE WAS THAT SATURDAY?: Rough play, especially against running back Quinshon Judkins, prompted head coach Todd Monken to cut Tuesday’s practice a little short, gather the team together and then scream at the players and coaches. I don’t blame him. The Browns were putting their own players at risk. How stupid!! Had the Browns been that physical last Saturday, then perhaps they wouldn’t have lost 34–10 to the Chicago Bears.

*YOU GO, COACH!: I really like the fact that Monken was not afraid to read the riot act to his team. Some NFL head coaches, including quiet, mild-manhered Kevin Stefanski, now leading the Atlanta Falcons, don’t want to address grown men like that. Monken can’t do it all the time because it would eventually lose its effectiveness, but he can do it sometimes when it is needed, and it was certainly needed Tuesday.

*A BAD IDEA, DOG-GONE IT: I fully understand the NFL’s desire to spread these preseason games out so they can all be televised nationally, but playing at 1 o’clockin the afternoon in the hot, steamy dog days of August doesn’t make a lot of sense. It just doesn’t.

*ANY LAKEFRONT LONGINGS YET?: After this year, the Browns will have only three or four more home preseason games over 2027 and ‘28 before they abandon the lakefront for the first time in their eight-decade history and move into their new indoor stadium in 2029. Feeling nostalgic about any of that yet?

*A SIMPLE GOAL: I would like for the Browns to defeat the Bills if for no other reason then to get the taste of victory in their mouth, but in the bigger picture, I just want to see them play better — much, much, much better — than they did against Chicago. That bar is set pretty low. Is that too much to ask?

*AND FINALLY . . .: I am rooting hard — very hard — for Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer. My dream? That he guides the Cowboys, who have not even been to the NFC Championship Game in over 30 years, to the Super Bowl at some point, where the opponent is the Browns, whose dad, Marty, in a 4-1/2-year as their head coach from 1984-88, accomplished just about everything other than getting them to the Super Bowl for the first time. How cool would that be?

Steve King