The Sports Xchange

BEREA, Ohio — Mike Pettine is about to embark on his second regular season as Cleveland Browns head coach. If he stopped to think about it he’d realize he needs to win only four games to become the team’s third winningest coach since the Browns returned in 1999.

Pettine did not get all his questions answered in preseason, but he learned enough to have his team ready to face the New York Jets on Sept. 13 in the season opener at MetLife Stadium.

Still unknown is what kind of player Terrelle Pryor will be. Pryor, intriguing because he is trying to convert from quarterback to wide receiver, did not catch a single pass in preseason. He missed the first three games with a hamstring injury.

When Pryor did get his chance against the Chicago Bears in the fourth preseason game, all he did was line up at quarterback twice to run the wildcat. He handed off once and the other time ran for seven yards around left end.

“I still can’t open up,” Pryor said. “There’s something keeping me out of the last couple gears. I can’t take off like I want to.”

Pryor also lined up as the personal protector for punter Andy Lee. Just having him doing that will make opponents have to spend time planning for a possible fake.

Whether wide receiver Dwayne Bowe starts against the Jets remains to be seen, but he better be saving his best for the regular season or the Browns are in trouble. Bowe, in his first year with the Browns after nine seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, missed the first two preseason games with a hamstring injury. He was targeted three times and didn’t make a catch against Tampa Bay on Aug. 29. He was targeted twice and made one catch for eight yards on Thursday in the preseason finale against the Bears.

Pettine did get clarity on some issues. Midway through the preseason he wasn’t sure who would win the starting job at running back, but he has settled on Isaiah Crowell over Terrance West. Crowell is a more decisive runner and runs with more power.

“Terrance has had his – it’s been well documented – ups and downs,” Pettine said. “He flashes at times just brilliance and then other times where he gets a minus on the grade sheet, and that’s always been, some of the issues that we’ve had with him. We know he can do it. It just has to be on a more consistent basis. That’s one of the reasons why we felt like he needed to get a good amount of work last night.”

Those words were a sign of what was to come as West was traded Sunday to Tennessee for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2016 draft.

Pettine is hopeful the run defense will carry the improvement it showed in training camp and preseason into the regular season beginning with the Jets. Veteran defensive lineman Phil Taylor was cut when rosters were reduced to 75 on Sept. 1, but Pettine is confident Jamie Meder, originally signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted rookie in 2014, will more than adequately replace Taylor as a backup to rookie nose tackle Danny Shelton.

Meder showed Pettine’s faith was justified by making four tackles in the final preseason game – the most of any Browns player in the front seven.

–The Browns’ first three opponents – the Jets on the road and then the Titans and Raiders at home – won a combined seven games last season. The Jets were 4-12, the Titans 2-14 and the Raiders 3-13. The Browns were 7-9.

–Quarterback Johnny Manziel’s sore right elbow has improved to the point where the Browns decided they needed only two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster – starter Josh McCown and Manziel. Pat Devlin was cut and the contract of veteran Thad Lewis was terminated on Sept. 5.

–Offensive linemen Cameron Erving was the only backup lineman on the 53-man roster set Sept. 5. The rookie first-round draft choice can play right guard, left tackle or center. The Browns were then awarded tackle Austin Pasztor on waivers from Jacksonville the next day.