D'Qwell Jackson's second surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle could spell the end of his career as a Brown.
BEREA, Ohio -- D'Qwell Jackson, who's playing on a one-year contract, will undergo another surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle, this time his right one.
Jackson, who suffered the injury on Aug. 10 in training camp, sat out the final 10 games of last season after tearing his left pectoral against the Steelers in week six. It could spell the end of the road in Cleveland for Jackson, the Browns' second-round pick in 2006 out of Maryland. The linebacker was placed on injured reserve on Saturday.
"When it was initially injured, the thought process was to give it time, let it heal and then progress him back out," said coach Eric Mangini. "Unfortunately, it just didn't respond the way that we hoped it would as we increased the amount of reps, the amount of stress, so we had to make the move."
Jackson returned to practice Wednesday on a limited basis and felt good after that session, but experienced tightness and fatigue on Thursday and stopped practicing. On Friday, he said he was discouraged, but that he planned to try again this week. Further tests, most likely an MRI, revealed that Jackson would need to undergo another procedure.
Jackson, who led the NFL with 188 tackles in 2008, signed his one-year tender of $1.759 million in June after it became apparent the Browns wouldn't sign him to a long-term deal. Last year, he spent about six months rehabbing after his surgery before receiving full clearance to practice.
Hillis the man: Mangini was asked if the Browns are going to stick with Peyton Hillis after his 144-yard outburst against the Ravens.
"Yes," he said. "I really felt strongly about Peyton when we had the chance to trade for him, really strongly about him. I had seen some of the things that he had done against our [Jets] defense, which I felt was a good defense at that point and against other good defenses. I think he's a good player and I think he's very tough with the ball in his hands.
"He had close to 200 yards of offense between his carries and his catches. To me, that's not a fluke."
Mack not the only one: Another player has accused Chiefs defensive end Shaun Smith of foul play during a game. This time, it was 49ers rookie right tackle Anthony Davis, who retaliated and was flagged 15 yard for unsportsmanlike conduct at a crucial point in the 49ers 31-10 loss.
"I'm happy to hear someone else stood up," said Browns center Alex Mack, who complained of being struck in the genitals by Smith a week ago.
Will the league crack down on Smith, a former Brown, now?
"I hope they do," said Mack. "It really isn't our concern anymore. I'm not going to see him again for another year, if that."
Mack admitted he was still steamed about the incident when he drilled linebacker Derrick Johnson and received a unnecessary roughness penalty. It led to Phil Dawson missing a 42-yard field goal soon after.
"No excuse," said Mack. "You've got to be under control and you can't play out of your head."
He was fined $5,000 for the late hit, a punishment he's appealing.
"I don't want to be classified as a cheap player," he said. "I want to be seen as a hardworking player that's going to be aggressive and do things. I'm not trying to be known as someone who's going to give a lot of late hits."
Will he sent the bill to Smith?
"It's still my fault," he said with a laugh. "I can't be diving over piles and hitting people late."
Working hard to return: Linebacker Marcus Benard, who leads the team with 2.5 sacks, was inactive in Baltimore with an ankle injury suffered in practice.
"I'll just ice the ankle up and come back strong," he said. "It was frustrating to watch game. I definitely feel I could've helped."
He said he expected to play against the Bengals.
"I'll definitely be out there," he said. "Marcus Benard will not be sitting on the bench anymore. It's not going to happen anymore."
QB decision: Mangini said he wasn't sure if Seneca Wallace would start for the third straight week.
"I think that pretty much everybody on the injury report, I would anticipate practicing at some point this week," he said, referring to the injured Jake Delhomme. "That's my initial feeling here on Monday, but Wednesday could be a totally different story."
Backing up the call: Mangini had no problem with Wallace's long sideline pass to Josh Cribbs on third and two with 4:05 remaining. Wallace made a poor throw out of bounds.
"It wasn't a decision to throw deep," said Mangini. "We had a one-on-one matchup with Josh. Seneca liked the matchup. We need a better throw to give [Cribbs] a chance ... but [Wallace] has that ability to make those decisions."
Watson regrets penalty: Tight end Ben Watson spent the first six years of his career in a disciplined New England system. So it was uncharacteristic when shoved Haloti Ngata to the ground to draw a 15-yard penalty and effectively kill a third-quarter drive with the Browns trailing, 14-10.
"I've known him a long time," said Mangini. "He's as sick about it as you can be. He knows it was dumb, it hurt the team. It makes you feel good for two seconds. I wouldn't expect him to do it 99 out of 100 times.
"I can't imagine he'll ever do it again in his football career."