Notes from the Browns Wednesday practice as they prepare to play the Buffalo Bills.

-The injury report is rather small as only James Michael Johnson and Alex Smith missed practice. JMJ is dealing with an oblique injury and Smith with a concussion. There was no mention of Sheldon Brown on the report.

-The Browns rotating 4th captain will be center Alex Mack. -Prior to practice getting underway today the team was brought into a huddle by Trent Richardson who wanted to let his teammates know that it’s time to win and he isn’t use to losing two games in a row. It seems like with a little success on the field that Richardson is growing into a leadership role despite being a rookie.

-Speaking of rookies Coach Shurmur was asked what was the biggest improvement from week 1 to week 2 for Brandon Weeden, “I’ve mentioned this a couple of times already, there are certain things about playing quarterback that point to efficiency and I thought he did some things better in terms of completions where we were trying to throw the ball down the field and he checked it down for whatever reason or go to his third or fourth receiver.

There were a couple of things there. Number one, he’s learning that completions are important and he’s also displaying to me that he’s more familiar with the progressions because typically it’s one, two, and three.”

-Preparation was also a conversation piece as Shurmur had a great way of saying Weeden was much more prepared in week 2, “I thought he prepared well for the first game. I thought he prepared better for this second one. We’ve talked about that in the past, that’s part of being a pro that you need to prepare well. That doesn’t surprise me and now what he needs to do is do it even better.”

-Later on the locker room Weeden admitted that it was much easier in college to go over film, while now he has a ton of variables that he has to take into consideration as he prepares each week.

-The Bills come in to this week’s game with CJ Spiller averaging over 10 yards per carry. Shurmur was asked what stands out about Spiller, “He’s an explosive guy. I’ve got to believe he’s one of the fastest guys on their team and if not in the league.

When he gets some space, and they do a good job on offense of giving their runner space, he has a chance to turn good ones into great ones and great ones into touchdowns. Some of it has to do with what they do on offense, they do a very good job coaching their guys and some of it has to do with his skill and ability.”

-Shurmur was also asked about the Bills defensive line that gets a ton of love for Mario Williams but Coach Shurmur knows there is more to them then Williams, “(Marcell) Dareus and (Mark) Anderson, yeah, I know who they are. The one thing about Chan Gailey and Dave Wannstedt and their scheme is they try to create havoc with four, and then they can play coverage that is less aggressive and that’s good.

That presents a challenge in itself, where some teams must and have to bring pressure on all corners of the field to get heat on the quarterback. As a unit up front, that’s one of the best d-lines we’ll face all year