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Down memory lame

Ex-Browns returning to Cleveland, where losing took its toll

Lee Rasizer, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 17, 2006 at midnight

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ENGLEWOOD - The Bronx cheer is about to relocate to a Midwestern address.

"I'm ready to go back to Cleveland, my city," Gerard Warren bellowed.

So are Broncos teammates Kenard Lang, Ebenezer Ekuban and Michael Myers, better known as the rest of the team's starting front four on a group now widely known as the "Browncos," which is down a fifth member with Courtney Brown on injured reserve.

Just don't expect a warm welcome when the Cleveland castoffs arrive for Sunday's game, playing for a Denver franchise that isn't high on the list of favorites in that area of the country (see Elway, John).

At least when Broncos defensive linemen are greeted derisively by Browns backers, they won't be playing for the home team when the boos rain down. That was the case particularly toward the end of those players' losing stints with the Browns, tenures that culminated with little less than thank-you notes and a shove out the door.

"You know what the word is? Good riddance," Ekuban said of the group's exit from Cleveland. "I mean, Courtney Brown was a bust. Gerard Warren was a bust. Michael Myers can't play. He's just a backup guy. Ebenezer Ekuban, well, he had one good year but he didn't help the team win. I think it was just good riddance. But we all had confidence in ourselves that we were better players than our team showed."

When the Broncos (4-1) hit the road Sunday for a 2:05 p.m. MDT game, they'll encounter a Browns organization still trying to find the right side of the winning ledger.

Since March 2, 2005, when the Broncos used a fourth-round draft choice to acquire Warren and began the influx of Browns, Denver is 18-5 and reached the AFC Championship Game.

Cleveland, attempting to rebuild under the guidance of coach Romeo Crennel and senior vice president/ general manager Phil Savage, is 7-14, including 1-4 this season.

"You know they've got to be kicking themselves because I think they'd be a hell of a team if they still had those guys right now," said Broncos receiver Quincy Morgan, who was drafted in the second round by Cleveland in 2001 and played three-plus seasons there. "That's what they're missing right now."

With the Browns sporting the league's No. 31 offense and No. 22 defense and residing in the bottom third in nearly every major statistical category except special teams and pass coverage, it's clear there's more absent than just a handful of players deemed a bad fit in the locker room or within Crennel's new scheme, as the Browncos were.

And since Andre Patterson, a former Cleveland assistant, is leading the Broncos defensive line, the former Browns players are puffing out their chests some in told-you-so mode as this week approaches now that they're on one of the league's top defenses.

"It all goes back to two things - the coach and the team," said Lang, the last of the Browncos linemen to find a new home here March 17.

"We've still got the same coach, so what's left?"

Just memories is the answer right now for the old Browns gang.

Almost universally, the group praised the city and the fans they left, but they were harsher on a media they felt, at times, painted them individually and collectively in a bad light.

Warren, as the No. 3 pick in 2001, received the brunt of criticism and negative press among the group, especially after Cleveland lost in the wild-card round of the 2002 playoffs then followed it with 5-11 and 4-12 seasons.

He had his detractors in the Browns locker room because of his brunt style, and he likely rubbed ownership the wrong way, too, ultimately prompting his divorce from the club.

"Once the team went south after the playoffs, they had to find a finger to point, somebody to blame, and with me coming in and being a vocal individual and media friendly, always talking, it made me a target when things started going wrong," Warren said.

Brown had a similar pedigree as Warren as the first pick in 2000. But when his career became beset with injuries, he insulated himself with his quiet nature. His departure two offseasons ago came down to his relative lack of on-field activity vs. his big payday more than any kind of personality issues.

"I was a No. 1 pick in Washington and I got a lot of attention. I got half of what they got," Lang said. "When you're a small market like that, you have to make big things out of nothing in Cleveland."

And there was precious little to crow about happening on the field.

The losing culture that permeated the Browns franchise remains the biggest criticism in hindsight of the former Cleveland gang from its time spent there.

When Warren arrived in 2001, the Browns were coming off two- and three-win seasons under Chris Palmer as an expansion franchise.

"The (words) 'Super Bowl' (were) forbidden in the building almost," Warren said. "They didn't even think about Super Bowl. That's all I think. Teammates would look at me like yeah, 'I'm dreaming,' when I'm in the locker room talking about try to win a Super Bowl. They were like, 'You're on the Cleveland Browns.' "

The franchise cleared the decks by bringing in Butch Davis to run the front office and man the sidelines in 2001. He came with swagger borne from his time with the Dallas Cowboys and University of Miami heyday.

But the problems in Cleveland ran deep, with personal agendas getting in the way.

"A lot of guys were more into women," Morgan said of the locker-room mix. "We had guys having a competition to see who could bring the best- looking chick to the game. That's true, man. We had one to see who had the nicest car. It was a mess."

There was initial success under Davis' guidance. In 2002, his second season, Cleveland went 9-7 after going on a free-agent spree that landed Earl Holmes, Darren Hambrick, Robert Griffith and Lang.

The postseason, though, ended in nightmarish fashion. Holding a 17-point lead in Pittsburgh in the early stages of the third quarter, the Steelers rallied and stunned the Browns 36-33.

Warren, Brown and Lang played that day. That offseason, "They dismantled the team," Warren said.

He said key pieces were added that weren't necessarily better than the players they were replacing. Defensive line coach Ray Hamilton was fired and defensive coordinator Foge Fazio retired.

And a quarterback controversy took root when Kelly Holcomb threw for 429 yards in the postseason but had to defer to former No. 1 overall pick Tim Couch the next season.

The team then embarked on another downward spiral that Myers (2003, 2004) and Ekuban (2004) experienced with current cohorts Lang, Brown and Warren.

The defense finished 15th overall in yards allowed those seasons but couldn't stop the run. Jamal Lewis' league-record-setting, 295-yard rushing performance helped push Cleveland to No. 23 against the rush in 2003; the Browns were dead last, allowing 144.6 rushing yards a game, in 2004.

"If your offense is putting up six or nine points and your defense has to be on the field facing the run 40 times, how can you really justify your worth as a player?" Lang said. "It was a bad situation. But Cleveland's in the past."

And it's in the present, given the return there Sunday.

"I have a lot of mixed emotions about the place, a lot of mixed emotions," said Warren, who'll have family and friends at the game. "For one, I've got questions I still haven't gotten answered. How do we lose a game when we're up 24-7 (after) halftime? How does my defensive coordinator come and tell me in the third quarter he knows he's fired in a game we're winning 24-7 (after) halftime?

"There's a lot of dark areas with Cleveland for me. There were some beautiful days, some good days. But there are a lot of gray areas."

There are fewer dark clouds now in Denver, where Warren re-signed as an unrestricted free agent and is a key cog in the middle of the line.

"All I know is they didn't want me there and they wanted me here and welcomed me with open arms," he said.

Open hostility might be the reception Sunday.

"Anytime the fans are booing you on the road, you know you're doing good, so we're excited," said Ekuban, acquired March 30, 2005, with Myers in a deal for running back Reuben Droughns.

Broncos safety John Lynch recalled his teammates "playing with a little something extra" when he returned to face Tampa Bay for the first time two years ago after he was released by the Buccaneers.

"I'm sure we'll have that same emotion," Lynch said of playing with the former Browns. "But the important thing is that it's just another football game."

That's Myers' opinion because he spent one season in Cleveland and doesn't have the same kind of history as the other exes.

Lang also isn't getting overly worked up about it.

But Ekuban admitted to excitement about his return engagement.

And Warren? He's so jazzed he might be ready to play a couple days removed from the Broncos' 13-3 victory against the Oakland Raiders.

"It adds a lot of juice," Warren said of going back to "his" city. "It's not even payback. It's just, 'Y'all made it look like we were the problems when the organization wasn't winning.' We're gone now. And look at the success we've had."

Lang doesn't particularly care how he'll be received Sunday, except on one count.

"The only thing I want the stadium to be is quiet when we leave," he said.

"That's all that matters."

Meet the Browncos

• Courtney Brown, DE: Signed as an unrestricted free agent March 3, 2005. Currently on injured reserve (left knee) after starting 15 games, including playoffs, last season.

• Ebenezer Ekuban, DE: Traded to Denver with Michael Myers on March 30, 2005, for RB Reuben Droughns. Tied for Broncos lead in sacks (four) last season. Started all five games this season.

• Kenard Lang, DE: Signed as an unrestrict- ed free agent March 17. Was signed as a situational pass-rusher, but he has started all five games as Brown's replacement.

• Michael Myers, DT: Acquired in a trade with Ekuban on March 30, 2005. Has started all but one of 23 games during the past two seasons. Anchored the middle for the 2005 No. 2 run defense.

• Gerard Warren, DT: Traded to the Broncos for a fourth-round pick on March 2, 2005. Has started all 23 games in which he has appeared. Re-signed for six years, $36 million in March.

The other former Browns

The Broncos also have DT Amon Gordon, another former Browns lineman, on their practice squad; WR Quincy Morgan, a 2001 second-round pick by Cleveland, is the Broncos' kickoff returner.