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Cleveland Browns Back-Up Quarterback P.J. Walker Faces Biggest Challenge Yet vs. Seattle Seahawks

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Cleveland Browns Back-Up Quarterback P.J. Walker Faces Biggest Challenge Yet vs. Seattle Seahawks


Being a backup quarterback is one of the hardest jobs in professional sports. In many cases, nobody knows who you are until, for better or for worse, everybody knows who you are.

With backup quarterbacks there is no middle ground. You either save your team’s season, or you get blamed for failing to do so.

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Cleveland Browns backup quarterback P.J. Walker is immersed in that vortex now. With Cleveland’s $230 million injured quarterback Deshaun Watson having not pitched a complete game since the Browns’ third game of the season on September 24, the team’s quarterbacking was entrusted to rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson for one game – a 28-3 loss to Baltimore – and to Walker in the last two.

Both of Walker’s starts were wins, by a total of just three points: 19-17 over San Francisco, and 39-38 over Indianapolis. The win over the Colts technically wasn’t a start for Walker, but he replaced the injured Watson 12 snaps into the game.

With Watson still not healthy enough to play, Walker will get another challenging test on Sunday, when the Browns travel to Seattle for a game with the Seahawks.

In the Browns’ last two games the 28-year-old Walker hasn’t been great, but he hasn’t been awful. He’s been good enough. In 66 pass attempts he has thrown three interceptions, and no touchdown passes, but the Browns have won both games.

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For Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, that’s good enough.

“He’s getting comfortable with the scheme and with his teammates,” said Stefanski. “It’s not easy for any player, particularly a quarterback, to play catchup and understand different nuances to your scheme. So he’s worked real hard at that.”

Going up against Seattle’s vaunted defense and pass rush will be the next challenge for Walker, who is trying to win games while learning the nuances of Cleveland’s offense.

“Day by day, play by play, for me every rep you get is important,” said Walker. To come in here and try to learn the system as fast as possible, every rep matters for me.”

Stefanski isn’t expecting Walker to be a finished product as a backup quarterback. Limiting turnovers, and keeping the offense on track and on time are the highest priority. Learning each other is important for the coach and the quarterback as well.

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Over the last couple of weeks Walker says his relationship with Stefanski has grown.

“Just the back-and-forth communication, trying to figure out what he likes and what I like,” Walker said. “You can never have enough communication between the head coach and the quarterback. Anything I have a question on, I’ve got to bring it to him.”

Cleveland’s 39-38 win over the Colts last week was Walker’s finest hour in his brief tenure as the Browns’ emergency quarterback. In that game, Walker orchestrated an 80-yard game-winning touchdown drive at the end of the game.

Sunday’s slugfest at famously noisy Lumen Field in Seattle will probably be Walker’s biggest challenge yet as the Browns’ emergency quarterback. Not just the noise factor, but, for the relatively inexperienced Walker, being able to handle the noise, but also Seattle’s defense.

“They can pressure you with their secondary, they can pressure you with their linebackers, and with the front four,” Stefanski said. “So they have rushers on the right, on the left, and up the middle. They really have a balanced rush attack. We’re aware of it because it’s all over the tape. They are really aggressive rushers.”

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Walker said Watson has offered him as much help as he can in trying to solve the puzzle that is the Seattle defense.

“He’s been great,” Walker said of Watson. “I talk to him after every practice, just trying to figure out what he sees. . . I’m trying to see what he would do in some of the plays when I’m out there.”

Trying to keep a season from flat-lining due to an injured, or unavailable quarterback is a challenge many NFL coaches face every year. Stefanski himself gained experience in that area last year, when Watson sat out the Browns’ first 11 games as part of a suspension from the NFL for violating the player conduct rules.

As is the case with most backup quarterbacks, Walker’s is only a temporary job. Eventually the starting quarterback returns, and backup returns to being the backup.

However, Walker realizes he isn’t just auditioning for the Browns, he’s auditioning for all the other NFL teams, any one of which could be looking to add a quarterback to their roster next year.

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“I look back to 2019, when I wasn’t in the league at all, just sitting there, watching from home,” Walker said. “When opportunity presents itself, you’ve got to take full advantage of it. There are a lot of people who wish they were in my shoes, so I’ve got to take advantage of every opportunity I get.”



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Seattle, WA

M.A. Vignola's goal keeps Angel City in playoff contention with win over Seattle

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M.A. Vignola's goal keeps Angel City in playoff contention with win over Seattle


M.A. Vignola‘s first-half goal was all Angel City FC needed to earn a 1-0 road win over the Seattle Reign at Lumen Field.

Alyssa Thompson did a give-and-go with Vignola, who finished into the right corner in the 34th minute.

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Thompson has five goals and two assists in the last seven games.

On Thursday, Angel City (7-12-4) was fined $200,000 and docked three points for violating the NWSL salary cap. The win keeps them in playoff contention.

The Reign (5-13-5) fell to 12th place.



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Seattle, WA

Seattle Mariners send prospect to Rays to complete Arozarena deal

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Seattle Mariners send prospect to Rays to complete Arozarena deal


The Seattle Mariners’ trade for left fielder Randy Arozarena is now complete.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan: The 3 positions Seattle Mariners need to address

The team announced Friday that minor league starting pitcher Ty Cummings is headed to the Tampa Bay Rays as the player to be named later from the July 26 deal that also sent outfielder Aidan Smith and right-handed starting pitcher Brody Hopkins to the Rays in exchange for Arozarena.

Cummings, 22, was a seventh-round pick out of Campbell University in 2023. He’s outside of Seattle’s top 30 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline.

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In 25 starts with High-A Everett this season, Cummings went 4-5 with a 4.17 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 124 strikeouts over 116 2/3 inning pitched. Opponents batted .263 off the right-hander.

Smith, 20, is now the No. 9 prospect and Hopkins, 22, the No. 12 prospect in the Rays’ organization.

The Mariners made the deal for Arozarena, a 2023 All-Star selection, with hopes he’d help spark a struggling offense that played a major factor in the team squandering a 10-game lead in the American League West. However, Seattle still fell short of the playoffs at 85-77 and finished one game behind the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers for the second and third wild card berths.

In 54 games after the trade to Seattle, Arozarena slashed .231/.356/.377 with 14 doubles, five home runs, 23 RBIs, four stolen bases, 28 walks and 68 strikeouts.

Arozarena is under club control through the 2026 season.

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More on the Seattle Mariners

• Mariners name Kevin Martinez as president of business operations
• Morosi: What the Mariners’ priority should be this offseason
• Mariners Stats: Where players, team finished on leaderboards
• Morosi: How Mariners can approach contracts of struggling vets
• Mariners manager Dan Wilson reflects on stretch run, looks ahead
• The key things Dipoto said about Seattle Mariners’ offseason plans





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Seattle, WA

5 Giants-Seahawks questions: How good is Seattle, and more

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5 Giants-Seahawks questions: How good is Seattle, and more


The New York Giants face the Seattle Seahawks for the third straight season on Sunday. Out ‘five questions’ segment this week is with John Gilbert of SB Nation’s Field Gulls fills us in on things we should know about the Seahawks.

Ed: What are the Seahawks four games into the season? Three victories over teams that, honestly, are probably not very good. A loss against an excellent Detroit team in which Seattle gave up 42 points. What is your assessment?

John: You pretty much nailed my assessment. They’ve beaten the three bad teams they’ve played and they gave up 42 and lost by double digits to the serious contender they faced off against.

Most Seattle fans will argue that the defense is better than they played on Monday against the Lions because of injuries to several key players, including Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy, Boye Mafe, Uchenna Nwosu and Jerome Baker. However, even before injuries knocked Mafe, Williams and Murphy out the Hawks struggled at times to stop the run game of the Patriots. With that said, in terms of overall metrics, while the defense has been good, they’ve done it against one of the easiest schedules in the NFL, and obviously the rest of the schedule won’t be nearly as friendly, but hopefully it won’t be as rough as it was against the Lions.

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Ed: Leonard Williams was a very good player for the Giants. How has he done for Seattle? How important is he to the Seahawks’ defense?

John: Williams has been phenomenal for the Seahawks, and easily one of the best players on the defense both in the back half of the 2023 season and before getting injured in Week 3.

He was second on the defense in total pressures before getting hurt, and is still tied for the team lead in quarterback hits even though he’s only played five snaps in the last two games. He was limited in practice on Thursday, but that’s a lot better than not practicing like last week when he was inactive for the matchup against Detroit, so hopefully he’ll be back in action this weekend.

Ed: If you could take one player off the Giants’ roster and put him in the Seattle lineup who would it be? Why?

John: Last season when you asked me this my answer was Leonard Williams and then a month later the Seahawks traded for Williams and the rest is history.

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Thus, with the knowledge that Seahawks general manager John Schneider is going to trade for whoever I answer, I’d like to go ahead and advise Giants fans to enjoy Malik Nabers for the last few weeks he’ll be wearing a Giants uniform before Joe Schoen ships him off to Seattle.

The reason to grab Nabers is not just that he’s a phenomenal young talent, but also he brings a factor to the Seattle offense that is currently lacking outside of DK Metcalf. Metcalf’s speed is no secret, but the Seahawks have a lack of other receivers who can take the top off a defense. Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba are good, but they aren’t burners who scare defenses deep. The only speedy receiver on the roster outside of Metcalf is Dareke Young, a key member of the special teams who has played just 11 offensive snaps through the first four games.

Long story short, offenses need receivers whose skill sets complement one another, and the Seahawks have Metcalf and a bunch of possession receivers. It’s a great group of receivers, but there is a decided lack of a receiver who can challenge a defense deep and pull the safeties back when they want to target Metcalf in the underneath and intermediate areas.

Ed: Tell us about a couple of under-the-radar Seattle players we should be aware of on Sunday.

John: On the offensive side of the ball, it’s got to be the guards. Laken Tomlinson is the starting left guard and he’s been bad. Anthony Bradford is the starting right guard and he’s been bad and heavily penalized. Christian Haynes is the backup who has struggled when he’s played, but he’s the rookie third round draft pick, so he’s the lifeblood and savior for many fans who have been calling for him to see increased snaps. He saw his most extensive playing time in Week 4 against the Lions rotating with Bradford at right guard, and the porousness of the line at both guard positions to this point in the season means watching the interior of the offensive line is crucial every game.

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On the defensive side of the ball, the outside linebackers are an exciting group. Uchenna Nwosu is the veteran of the bunch, but he has yet to play this season after suffering a knee injury in the preseason. There is hope he could see his first action against the Giants, but even if he doesn’t go Boye Mafe and Derick Hall are a couple of exciting young players who have shown flashes at times of having the ability to develop into players who can make a serious impact on a game.

Ed: The Seahawks are significant favorites on Sunday. Is there anything about this game that concerns you? Is there a path to victory for the Giants?

John: It’s the NFL so it’s always any given Sunday, so there’s always concern that a team can pull an upset.

In this instance the biggest concern is Seattle either coming out flat after the Monday night letdown to the Lions, or looking ahead to the Week 6 Thursday Night Football game against the San Francisco 49ers.



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