BEREA: Terrelle Pryor held a funeral for complacency Sunday after the 12th practice of Browns training camp.
Instead of reflecting on the great progress he’s made while transitioning from quarterback to wide receiver, Pryor criticized himself and expressed his desire to look ahead.
“I really don’t care anymore,” Pryor said when asked about catching two passes for 57 yards Friday in the Browns’ 17-11 preseason-opening loss to the Green Bay Packers. “I’m ready to make the next play and get a loud cheer from the crowd.”
Pryor insisted he’s ready to continue making plays despite his sore left hand.
“Sometimes I guess, muscles, tendons, whatever, can get sore,” he said. “I’ve just got to get through it, keep doing my treatment the right way and I should be fine.”
Pryor thinks he suffered a contusion blocking against the Packers. X-rays taken after the game were negative, but he aggravated the hand in Sunday’s light, non-padded practice. It may have happened when he caught a pass from backup quarterback Josh McCown on a deep crossing route in team drills. He stopped practicing early and was in visible discomfort as he held his hand near the thumb.
“It got a lot better from Friday,” he said. “These two days, I felt it a little bit, but not as much. Then I got hit on my last play, so then it kind of came back.”
Pryor said he hasn’t undergone an MRI. The team’s medical staff told him it doesn’t think he suffered ligament damage.
“The doctors felt around it and every single ligament that they felt, they usually can tell,” Pryor said. “The guys that we have, they’re pretty sharp. So it definitely isn’t that. It doesn’t hurt in any areas like that.”
Pryor spoke as if he’ll play in preseason game No. 2 against the Atlanta Falcons beginning at 8 p.m. Thursday at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Coach Hue Jackson said Pryor will be all right.
“We’re all sore. I’m sore,” Jackson said. “Everybody is a little sore right now.”
The Browns hope so because Pryor has been a force in camp, just his second as a receiver. In their first exhibition game, he beat cornerback Damarious Randall on a go route and hauled in a 49-yard pass from starting quarterback Robert Griffin III. He later ran an out route and caught an 8-yard pass for a first down on third-and-6.
However, Pryor isn’t basking in any glory associated with those plays.
“I can’t really live in the past like that because how am I going to get better?” he asked. “ ... I’m more upset of the way I played on the other plays. I didn’t play too well, and I just want to try to be better for my team, for the teammates that I have. I’ve got to play better. Those [catches] I can make any day. I just want to do my one-eleventh, and I need to do better on the other plays that I messed up.”
Pryor, 27, was particularly critical of his performance without the ball.
“Blocking, blocking the right person, always being on,” he said. “It’s our first game, so I’m glad I made some mistakes that I can clear up for the next one.”
“[I’ve] just got to be more assertive, I believe in terms in blocking, setting my pads right, getting inside. It’s little stuff like that, but it matters. It’s breaking a run from an 8-yard gain to a 50-yard gain or a touchdown and running backside going to block.”
Pryor is eager to test himself against Falcons Pro Bowl cornerback Desmond Trufant. He received a tune-up in Sunday’s practice against Browns two-time Pro Bowl corner Joe Haden.
“You’re trying to [scratch] that itch for competitiveness, for competing,” Pryor said. “That itch, to me, is ongoing. It’s like having a cast on. ... I love that feeling of competing, and that’s what really drives me, not letting another guy get the best of me.
“What makes a great player is like that focus in your eyes — that lion. That heart of a lion. It’s got to mean something to you. It’s got to mean something to you to compete.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.