Browns notebook: Carter has baseball connections

The swiftest Cleveland Brown will fly to the TV tonight when the Indians hit the fast lane of the American League postseason.

<p class="MsoNormal">"All of the pro teams here feed off each other," wide receiver Tim Carter said. "It's good to see a lot of success coming to Cleveland."

<p class="MsoNormal">Carter has more than a neighborly interest in baseball.

<p class="MsoNormal">He is a cousin of two big baseball names, Dwight Gooden and Gary Sheffield.

<p class="MsoNormal">Gooden, who retired with a 194-112 pitching record, pitched for the Indians the last time they were in an American League Championship Series, starting and losing Game 4 against the Yankees.

<p class="MsoNormal">Sheffield still has wheels at age 38. Playing for the Tigers in 2007, he, Grady Sizemore and four others were the only AL hitters with at least 20 stolen bases and 20 home runs.

<p class="MsoNormal">"I played baseball until my senior year in high school (St. Petersburg, Fla.)," Carter said. "I was playing center field and swinging that bat.

<p class="MsoNormal">"I switched to running track because I had already committed to Auburn for football, so my overall focus went to football."

<p class="MsoNormal">Carter ran a 10.4-second 100-meter dash to win a Florida state high school championship, months before the Indians played the Florida Marlins in the 1997 World Series. Sheffield played for the Marlins, hitting a home run in pivotal Game 3, in which the Indians blew a 7-3 lead.

<p class="MsoNormal">Now in his sixth NFL season, Carter wonders now and then what would have happened had he focused on his cousins' sport.

<p class="MsoNormal">"That's a game you've gotta really love," Carter said. "They play 162 games.

<p class="MsoNormal">"I was good at it, partly because I looked up to Gary and Dwight. But the game I love is football. Those guys love baseball the way I love football."

<p class="MsoNormal">Carter explained how he is related to the baseball guys: "My grandmother's sister's daughter's son is Dwight. Gary is Dwight's sister's son."

<p class="MsoNormal">Gooden has been out of baseball for a while. Sheffield is a nine-time All-Star who topped 20 stolen bases for the first time since 1990.

<p class="MsoNormal">"I love to watch Gary play," Carter said. "He can still run. When he was younger, he could very easily have been a running back."

<p class="MsoNormal">Carter is trying to get a foothold with the Browns after five years with the Giants. He's a threat to get open deep any time, which makes him a good fit with big-armed quarterback Derek Anderson.

<p class="MsoNormal">On Sunday, against Miami, the two fastest men on the field probably will be Dolphins wideout Ted Ginn Jr. and Carter.

<p class="MsoNormal">Both will be thinking home-run ball.

<p class="MsoNormal">Buddy-buddy

<p class="MsoNormal">Quarterbacks Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn seem to have a lot of fun together in practice.

<p class="MsoNormal">Before Thursday's session heated up, Anderson punted a few balls over the head of Ken Dorsey, who was playing catch with someone else. Quinn chased after the punts as if he were a wide receiver.

<p class="MsoNormal">Internally, the Browns have agreed there is no rush to play Quinn, with Anderson showing such promise.

<p class="MsoNormal">"When Quinn's time comes, it'll come," head coach Romeo Crennel said. "Like I told him, he is one play away. He almost got in during the game the other day."

<p class="MsoNormal">That was when Anderson suffered a mild neck stinger at New England.

<p class="MsoNormal">Bentley watch

<p class="MsoNormal">Center LeCharles Bentley is eligible to come off the physically unable to perform list as early as Monday.

<p class="MsoNormal">Bentley, trying to come back from patellar tendon surgery, could be activated, placed on injured reserve or released. Crennel would only say the former Pro Bowl center is "rehabbing."

<p class="MsoNormal">The Browns will have five weeks to make a call on Bentley. Media members occasionally see him in the team complex, but there are no indications he'll be activated soon.

<p class="MsoNormal">Defensive back Gary Baxter, also recovering from patellar tendon surgery, is likely to miss the Miami game. "He's not ready yet," Crennel said Thursday.

<p class="MsoNormal">J-Lew deja vu

<p class="MsoNormal">What is it about running backs the Browns signed away from the Ravens?

<p class="MsoNormal">In Game 5 of the 2000 season, the Browns lost running back Errict Rhett to a foot injury. He never played another NFL game.

<p class="MsoNormal">In Game 5 of the 2007 season, Jamal Lewis strained a foot while taking off on an 11-yard gain. He missed the rest of the game.

<p class="MsoNormal">Lewis' injury apparently isn't dire, but he missed practice Wednesday and Thursday, increasing the chances his earliest return could be Oct. 28 at St. Louis, coming off a bye.

<p class="MsoNormal">Lewis' playing status will be a game-day decision. If he doesn't suit up, 2006 Round 55 pick Jerome Harrison will. Harrison has been inactive the last four games.

<p class="MsoNormal">Jason Wright would start in place of Lewis.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Jason tries to make 'em miss more than Jamal," Crennel said. "He's an effort kind of guy who has some suddenness."

<p class="MsoNormal">In Lewis, the Browns have a back with 8,183 career rushing yards. Wright has 328.

<p class="MsoNormal">Extra points

<p class="MsoNormal">- If the Dolphins' season keeps spiraling out of control, the team will get more heat for not spending its first-round draft pick on quarterback Brady Quinn.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Just because you don't take a guy with the ninth pick of the draft doesn't mean you don't have a high opinion of him," Miami coach Cam Cameron said. "We went the direction we went."

<p class="MsoNormal">The pick was wideout Ted Ginn Jr.

<p class="MsoNormal">- Cameron said Ginn hasn't lost a step since leaving Ohio State: "This kid can really run."

<p class="MsoNormal">- Left tackle Joe Thomas isn't talking about getting struck at the end of a last-second play by Mike Vrabel on Sunday. Eric Steinbach, who lines up next to Thomas, thought it was a cheap shot. Crennel said, "I looked at the film," but that's all he let out.

<p class="MsoNormal">- Crennel smiled when asked if he would admit to having thought in the preseason that getting to 3-3 before the bye would represent a success: "I won't admit to that," he said.