CLEVELAND: Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Adam Jones redefined trash talk while ranting about Browns wide receiver Terrelle Pryor after Cleveland fell 23-10 on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Jones repeatedly told reporters Pryor is “garbage.” Jones even grabbed a trash can sitting to the left of his locker, looked in it and said, “Get him out of there. Do you see him in there?” Then in case anyone hadn’t heard, Jones repeated “garbage” several times and concluded, “Terrelle Pryor, garbage!”
Last week, Jones told the Cincinnati Enquirer he didn’t like Pryor, who spent about a month with the Bengals last year before they waived him in June. He said Pryor “pushes off” on every route and called him “just a guy.”
Pryor tweeted “talk is talk” on Friday, but followed through with just one catch for 3 yards on three targets. It was the least productive outing of the season for Pryor, a former quarterback who leads the Browns in catches (63), receiving yards (858) and touchdown receptions (four) in his first full season as a receiver.
Jones didn’t miss an opportunity to gloat about Pryor’s lackluster day. He called Pryor arrogant, a punk who sucks and a “suburb kid that wants to act like he’s the toughest thing in the world because he’s caught a couple of balls.”
Jones claimed Pryor approached Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther before Sunday’s game and told him he would dominate Jones enough to prompt him being cut from the roster.
“For a guy that’s been a slouch around the league as a quarterback, he does a lot of fake hard s***,” Jones said. “I don’t have no respect for him. I looked up his background. He’s a suburban kid from Pittsburgh.”
Jones even tried to instigate after Pryor barked at Robert Griffin III when the quarterback called timeout with 10:11 left in the third quarter.
“Could you all not see when he was pushing and cussing at RG3 on the field?” Jones said. “... I told RG3, ‘How the f*** you going to throw him the ball when he’s talking to you like that? You’re the f****** quarterback.”
Griffin said he and Pryor were “fine.”
“It was not anything big,” Griffin said. “He just wanted to run the play. We got so low on the game clock that we needed to take a timeout. That is what he was talking about. He just wanted to run the play that was called. As a team, we decided in the huddle that we needed to call a timeout so that we could actually execute it. We scored on that drive, so it all worked out.”
Pryor declined to speak to reporters after the game.
As for the lack of passes thrown to Pryor, Griffin and coach Hue Jackson lamented a failure to get him more involved.
“The one thing I left the game with being disappointed about from our staff standpoint and from an offensive standpoint was not getting him more opportunities,” Jackson said. “They were trying to take him away. It is not like I don’t think Robert was not looking for him. He was trying, but this guy flashed, that guy flashed and you have to go try to make a play someplace else.”
This is the second time in as many games an opposing cornerback has publicly ripped Pryor. Janoris Jenkins of the New York Giants talked trash about Pryor before the Browns’ 27-13 loss on Nov. 27, then called Pryor “a Sh*t Eater” afterward on Twitter.
On the rise
Rookie defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, the 32nd overall pick from Oklahoma State, turned in his best all-around performance of the season. Ogbah recorded 1½ sacks, six tackles (three solos), a tackle for loss and three quarterback hurries.
“I wouldn’t say my best game. I feel like I kind of started off slow,” Ogbah said.
But he did admit that he has a better handle on the defense.
“Definitely. I know it kind of took me awhile, but I’m getting more comfortable with these defensive schemes,” he said.
Ogbah played outside linebacker for the first seven games and said the position switch has also helped.
“It made a big difference because [defensive line is] what I’m used to, that’s what got me here,” he said.
Ogbah’s teammates were excited about his performance.
“I love what I see. He’s going to be a great young player for us,” linebacker Chris Kirksey said. “He’s continuing to get better each and every week. I know the type of player he is. He’ll keep working till he reaches full potential, and that’s something he’s going to do.”
Ogbah leads the team with 4½ sacks, all but one coming against the Bengals. At times Sunday he had his way with backup tackle Jake Fisher.
“I think he knows something about this team,” defensive back Tramon Williams said of Ogbah. “He continues to come to practice and wants to get better, asks questions of how he can get to the quarterback, how he can stop the run. Sometimes they move him inside. And it gets a little tougher when you have to deal with two linemen instead of one. He’s learning and he’s got all the ability.”
London is calling
The Browns will play a regular-season game next year in London, the team’s flagship radio station, 92.3 The Fan, reported Sunday. It’s expected to be a home game for the Browns, according to the report.
The NFL will formally announce Tuesday morning the teams that will play in London next season. The league has said four games will be held there in 2017.
The Browns have never played a regular-season game in London. Their lone trip was for the preseason opener on Aug. 6, 1989, when they fell 17-13 to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Draft talk
The Browns are enamored with Texas A&M edge rusher Myles Garrett and have an “astronomical” draft grade on him, ESPN reported Sunday, citing an unnamed source.
Garrett is a strong candidate to become the No. 1 overall pick in April’s draft, and the Browns are on pace to own the top selection.
Such a leak reeks of the Browns wanting to let the league know their asking price for the No. 1 pick would be astronomical and/or bracing their fan base for the possibility of forgoing a quarterback. The Browns also own the first-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles.
ESPN also reported Browns scout Lake Dawson has spent an inordinate amount of time scouting Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer.
Extra points
• A veteran cornerback, Williams played safety when the Browns employed their nickel package. “I kind of know all the moving parts to it,” said Williams, who had never previously played safety in his 10-year NFL career. “So the transition throughout the week really wasn’t hard at all.”
• Cornerback Jamar Taylor didn’t want to discuss the three-year contract extension he signed Saturday.
• ProFootballFocus.com’s highest grades for Browns defenders went to outside linebacker Cam Johnson, cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun, end Stephen Paea and Ogbah, in that order.
• The best grades on offense went to left tackle Joe Thomas, right guard Jonathan Cooper and right tackle Austin Pasztor. Cooper was making his first start as a member of the Browns in place of John Greco, who was lost to a season-ending foot injury.
• The Browns’ four sacks were their most since Dec. 13, 2015, when they had nine against the San Francisco 49ers.
• Linebacker Jamie Collins notched a career-high 15 tackles, along with a sack and two tackles for losses.