Pro football teams are not allowed to reward players for good plays by sticking buckeye leaves or tomahawks or brownie elves on helmets, so the Browns coaches have come up with another idea – bones on dog collars.
Too gimmicky for millionaires in their mid-20s? Think again.
A collar hangs from a hook on the right side in the locker of each defensive player on the team. Medals shaped like dog bones with the name of an opponent stamped on them hang from golden rings on the collar. The bones jingle when the collar, black with silver studs, is shaken.
‘The defensive staff got together before training camp and we wanted to develop a unique way to keep reinforcing ‘playing like a Brown,” defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil said before practice on Oct. 30. ‘It’s something we preach to those guys constantly.
‘It’s not something that necessarily shows up in the stat sheet. It doesn’t have to be a great play. It could be a 30-yard gain where the defensive lineman chases down the running back and it’s just an exceptional effort.’
O’Neil said he wanted to make the reward system unique to the Dawg Pound, so the dog collar and the bones were a natural fit.
The bones are not awarded freely, either. On Mondays, the position coaches break down the film of the previous game and when they see a worthy play, jot down ‘PLB’ for Play Like a Brown and then prepare to argue their case for their player.
A typical game involves about 70 offensive plays for each team, which means there is potential for awarding 770 bones in each game. O’Neil said a great performance would merit a player five to eight bones each week.
‘It’s passion, competitiveness, mentally tough, physically tough, accountable,’ head coach Mike Pettine said during the draft when asked to define what ‘Play like a Brown’ means. ‘Bundled up in that, it’s a list of intangibles. It’s not how high they jump; it’s not athletic ability. It’s a definition for us (in the traits the Browns seek in a player).’
Inside linebacker Karlos Dansby is the unofficial leader with 11 bones. The bones are added to their collars on Tuesdays and are back on the locker hooks for the players when they report for team meetings on Wednesday mornings. Dansby wasn’t sure how many bones he has, so a reporter took the collar from him and counted his hoard.
‘It’s slick, man, it’s pretty cool,’ Dansby said. ‘Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes.
‘A lot of bones, man, a lot of bones. A lot of different games, a lot of bones. I never even thought about counting them. I’d be all day.’
At last count, linebacker Barkevious Mingo had four. Cornerback Buster Skrine said he should have eight, but he is still waiting for a bone or two.
‘You feel good to get them for making plays,’ Skrine said.
The Browns have to win for coaches to get bones. O’Neil had his collar with him at his news conference and was proud to display his four bones.
The race is on to see which player has the most after the season reaches the midpoint when the Browns host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in FirstEnergy Stadium on Nov. 2.
‘I told the guys that I don’t want to know until this time next week,’ O’Neil said. ‘Then we’ll announce the top three, and I’m sure there are guys in the locker room kind of eyeballing other guys’ collars to see who’s got the most tags on it.’
O’Neil didn’t announce what the bone leader at the end of the season gets as a reward.
