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Dan Peters
Sports Editor
Suburban
Journals of Chicago
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Bears Lose to Cleveland 19-9 Rookie Olsen
Injured and Status in Doubt.
by Dan Peters
Another near
perfect night for preseason football, Sunny
with the temperatures in the
low 70’s.
The Chicago Bears,
coming off their fourth consecutive preseason win dating back to last
season, battled the Cleveland Browns at Soldier Field as a final tune
up of the 2007 preseason. A game that really meant nothing for the
Bears.? Or did it
Bears suffered their
first key injury of the preseason in Thursday night's 19-9 loss to the
Browns when rookie tight end Greg Olsen sprained his left knee with
2:00 remaining in the first half.
The first-round
draft pick from Miami limped off the field after being tackled by
linebacker Clifton Smith on a 3-yard reception. Olsen is scheduled to
undergo an MRI exam.
“We’ll check him out
every way we can and go from there,” said Head Coach Lovie Smith. “He
fell on his knee. That’s basically it. He went down hard. It was a hard
tackle. He
made the catch and came down on his knee.” Bears coaches and teammates are hoping that
Olsen’s injury isn’t serious. The 6-5, 254-pounder caught nine passes
for 75 yards with a long reception of 23 yards in the preseason.
“[Losing him] would
hurt a lot,” said quarterback Rex Grossman. “When he’s in there, a lot
of the plays are designed around getting him the ball. He’s a great
player and hopefully he’s OK.”
“Hopefully he’s not
going to be out too long,” said offensive coordinator Ron Turner. “He’s
a very good player. We’ve got big plans for him. But we’ve got a lot of
other good players too and we’ll just pick it up and go and see where
it is. That’s part of the game.”
Rumbling, Bumbling
and Stumbling….
Danieal Manning
turned a kickoff return into a Browns safety late in the first quarter.
The second-year pro juggled Phil Dawson’s kick at the goal line and
then was stripped at the
6 by Jason Wright. The ball skidded out of the end zone, giving Cleveland a 5-0 lead.
“I was trying to run
before I fielded the ball,” Manning said. “Then I tried to spin and he
tried to make the tackle on me and hit the ball out of my hands."
Rookies impress….
David Ball and Mike
Hass made outstanding leaping catches in the right corner of the end
zone on back-to-back plays midway through the third quarter. First, Ball soared through the air and
snared Chris Leak’s pass with one hand. Unfortunately, the un drafted
rookie receiver from New Hampshire came down out of bounds.
“I should have got
both feet in,” Ball said. “I was drooling really. Once I heard the play
call, I knew I was by myself over there. I knew they’d been playing
man. I knew I was going to have a jump-ball situation. I made a nice
catch, but I should have given myself more room, and hopefully it will
pan out better next time.”
Hass followed on the
next snap by leaping over Browns cornerback DeMario Minter to haul in a
9-yard TD pass. Cleveland challenged the play, but the call was upheld
after
a replay review by referee Terry McAulay. “It was just a corner route and I took it
to the back pylon and Chris threw
it up there and I made a play over a guy, and that’s what I’m supposed
to do,” Hass said.
“That’s a scary
thing when they review your play for a touchdown, but I dragged my foot
and it was good, so it was
a good feeling.”
© Oak Park Journal photo
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