Concussion Could Keep Browns S Tashaun Gipson Out Sunday

By DARYL RUITER, 92.3 The Fan Browns Beat Reporter November 12, 2014 2:13 PM

Cleveland Browns safety Tashaun Gipson / (Photo by Daryl Ruiter CBS Cleveland)

Daryl Ruiter

Cleveland Browns beat writer and member of the Pro Football Writers of...

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CLEVELAND (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Browns have been playing shorthanded on offense, and this week they could be on defense.

Safety Tashaun Gipson was diagnosed with a concussion and did not practice Wednesday. Head coach Mike Pettine didn’t want to speculate on Gipson’s availability for Sunday’s game at home against the Houston Texans.

“I think it’s too early for Gip,” head coach Mike Pettine said. “I think it’ll be a tight window. We haven’t ruled Gip out yet, but he’s in the protocol. We’ll always adhere to that very strictly, and we’ll see how the week finishes.”

Gipson, who was hit in the head by Bengals running back Jeremy Hill’s knee when he stripped him of the football with 12:21 left in the second quarter, complained of headaches after returning from the weekend off following Thursday night’s win in Cincinnati.

Gipson leads the NFL with 6 interceptions this season and he also leads all NFL free safeties in Pro Bowl fan voting, receiving 48,674 votes with 5 weeks of voting left.

If Gipson can’t go Jim Leonhard and Jordan Poyer would rotate in his place according to Pettine.

“It would really depend on the personnel groupings,” Pettine said. “We do have the one personnel grouping where we had three safeties out there. Certainly, Jordan would step into that role, but we’ll be prepared to go either way.”

Competitive Understanding – Although he tried avoid direct criticism of the Browns or coaching staff Tuesday, it’s clear that running back Ben Tate isn’t a happy camper.

Tate has had to share carries with rookies Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell this season after signing with the Browns to be the primary back.

“Ben is a competitor,” Pettine said. “While I don’t think it’s good practice to air how you feel publicly, it’s understandable. If you sat with every player and said, ‘What’s your agenda? What’s your goal? How do you think your playing time should be handled? What do you see your role as?’ We’re not going to bat 1,000.”

Tate, who missed 2 games due to a sprained knee, is second on the team in carries (104), yards (342) and touchdowns (4) this season. West leads the team in carries (107) and yards (396) while Crowell is tops with 5 TD runs.

“Ben is a guy that wants the ball, wants to be out there, wants to be the guy, so it’s understandable when we started Terrance over him and had the results that we had,” Pettine said.

Center of Attention – The odds of the Browns needing to start their fourth center this season Sunday against Houston diminished immensely Wednesday.

Nick McDonald, who left Paul Brown Stadium Thursday in a walking boot and rode the bike Tuesday, practiced Wednesday. McDonald sustained a calf injury against the Bengals but is O.K.

“We’re going to take it day-to-day, talk with the trainers and coaches and see how it goes,” McDonald said.

The long weekend also helped him recover but just in case Ryan Seymour has been taking some reps this week at center.

The other option if McDonald is not available against the Texans is to revert to the original plan when Alex Mack went down and that is shift John Greco left which would be news to him.

“As far as I’m concerned, he’s going to be out there,” Greco said. “But he was able to help us win last week, and we have to put that together again this weekend.

“As far as I know. He was out there today with us, and I wasn’t even aware that was a ‘potential’ that he would be missing.”

Outkicking His Coverage – Punter Spencer Lanning proposed to his girlfriend after Tuesday’s practice and posted a picture of their engagement on Instagram.

“I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” Lanning said.

Lanning planned on proposing this week but with the weather about to turn for the worse he had to expedite his plans Tuesday to take advantage of the sun and warmth with the encouragement and assistance of a pair of teammates – Billy Winn and Christian Yount.

Lanning casually rushed to get her to Edgewater Park under the guise of taking some pictures of one of the few remaining nice days in Cleveland before winter while Winn and Yount hid in the bushes nearby so they could capture the moment for him. He got on 1 knee but didn’t have the ring in his hand as he did it giving her pause, and then complete surprise as he pulled it out of his pocket and popped the question.

Injury Report – DNP: S Tashaun Gipson (concussion), S Johnson Bademosi (concussion), TE Jordan Cameron (concussion), DE Phil Taylor (knee), LT Joe Thomas (not injury related/rest); LIMITED: WR Andrew Hawkins (thigh/knee), C Nick McDonald (calf); FULL: DL Desmond Bryant (wrist), Barkevious Mingo (shoulder), DE Billy Winn (toe).

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