Going up
Joshua Cribbs’ rushing statistics the past three years: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Year | Att. | Yds. | Avg. |
2007 | 9 | 61 | 6.8 |
2008 | 29 | 163 | 5.6 |
2009 | 55 | 381 | 6.9 |
BEREA — You can be half blind sitting in the outer limits of the nosebleeds and still recognize Joshua Cribbs in the crowd on a football field.
He walks a certain way.
“It’s confidence,” he said. “I guess it’s a swag.”
Then the action starts. You notice him then, too.
Counting returns, runs and catches in 2009, Cribbs gained 2,510 yards for the Cleveland Browns. Nice, but numbers just don’t explain his magic.
Even now, as he awaits his sixth NFL season, you wonder. Is there more?
Now that the grow-a-kid-at-QB program is over and 35-year-old Jake Delhomme is the man, will there be new chances for Cribbs? With wildcard quarterback Seneca Wallace also in the house, will it be harder than ever to decipher what Cribbs will do in the offense?
Why shouldn’t he have a career year? Shouldn’t Mike Holmgren’s influence mean something? Having turned 26 this month, shouldn’t Cribbs be at the peak of his prime?
If you asked him, he’d say — with that warning of a glint he gets in his eye — why not?
Look for Cribbs to stay on as the kickoff and punt returner. He made All-Pro as such in 2009. It would be hard for him to be much better on special teams.
Offense?
“I want to score more touchdowns on offense this year,” he said. ‘So ... more to prove.”
BROWNS, EX-PLAYER SETTLE: A settlement has been reached in the lawsuit over a staph infection that benched former Browns receiver Joe Jurevicius.
The terms of the settlement will be kept confidential, Fred Nance, the attorney for the team, said Tuesday.
Jurevicius sued the Browns and the Cleveland Clinic last year, saying the team misrepresented the cleanliness of its training facility. He blamed doctors with negligence over the 2008 staph infection in his right knee.
Jurevicius was released by the Browns in March 2009.