BEREA, Ohio--Brandon Weeden said he feels the Browns offense wasn't as far from being successful against the Dolphins as many might think.
"We had a lot of missed opportunities, whether it was hitting a guy in stride or a lot of small things," he said. "Missed opportunities that we could've extended plays a bit to put ourselves in better situations and we missed those opportunities."
Weeden was 26-of-53 for 289 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions in a 23-10 loss to the Dolphins. This week he'll face the defending Super Bowl champions, who gave up an NFL record seven touchdown passes last week to Peyton Manning and the Broncos.
"You have to know they're a good defense," Weeden said. "They were the Super Bowl champs. Everybody is winging for them because they got the golden prize and that's a Super Bowl ring."
Weeden said a lot of the Browns problems on offense boiled down to their play on third down.
"As a unit, we were''t able to get anything rolling, especially on third down we sucked."
Weeden was asked what they can do to avoid another 1-of-14 performance on third down.
"Staying out of third and long," he said. "We can do better than we did last week and fix some mistakes.
"I'm hoping we can learn from the mistakes we made in the first game, the little things we did to extend those drives and be confident in that," he said. "It goes back to the confidence I have in the guys around me, the guys in this locker room on offense, defense and our confidence in our ability to play and try to find a way to win games."
Ravens coach John Harbaugh said in a conference call with Browns media, the Ravens respect Weeden.
"I think he's in a good system with Norv Turner," he said. "He's a guy that we have a lot of respect for and think highly of."
Lauvao, Rubin not Ruled Out: OL Shawn Lauvao missed practice Wednesday, as well as the opening game with the Dolphins, but Chudzinski didn't rule him out for the Ravens game. He said the same thing about Rubin.
"We'll hold (Lauvao) out today and continue to get treatment and see how he is tomorrow," Chudzinski said. "He's getting better."
Lauvao didn't say much before practice when asked about the possibility of him returning.
"We'll see how it goes."
T.J. Ward (shoulder) and Rubin (calf) were on the stationary bike, and Lauvao was not on the field. Ward was in the locker room before practice.
"(The shoulder) feels pretty positive."
Chudzinski described Ward's injury as being a 'sore' shoulder.
Dominate Joe: Ravens QB Joe Flacco has played against the Browns 10 times since he entered the NFL and his record is unblemished at 10-0. In a conference call with reporters, Flacco downplayed it.
"It's hard to take (the Browns) lightly," Flacco said. "We've had so many good games versus them. It's hard to believe they haven't won any of them."
Former Ravens: RB Bobby Rainey joined the Browns after being with the Ravens last year on the practice squad and this year until the final roster cut downs.
"We think Bobby Rainey is a heckuva player," John Harbaugh said.
Besides Rainey, the Browns have other former Ravens in LB Paul Kruger, OL Oniel Cousins and K Billy Cundiff.
