BEREA, Ohio -- Another sign of a new regime: The Cleveland Browns are willing to practice outside in the cold.
Mike Pettine had his team outside three days this past week, moving inside only on Friday due to snow on the field.
"I've told the players a couple weeks ago -- I guess when we were getting ready to play Tampa -- that the weather is not changing here in Cleveland," Pettine said. "The franchise isn't moving and global warming is a myth."
No political comments, please.
Pettine said he likes practicing in the cold because it gets his team accustomed to the conditions.
"Being a northeast guy, this is business as usual," Pettine said. "Especially coming from Buffalo [in 2013], this is nothing."
Different coaches have different philosophies. One of the more memorable approaches was when Chris Palmer practiced indoors all week and turned the heat up to 90 degrees for a game in San Diego (where it rarely goes above 80). A year ago Rob Chudzinski felt the team got more work done inside, so he mainly practiced indoors in the cold. Pettine values working in the conditions -- until it's not safe to be in them.
"From a cold standpoint, I think you can always protect yourself," he said. "But I think if the field freezes and it's just too slick out there for guys to have footing and it's unsafe -- that's when that would push us inside."
In other Browns news heading into Sunday's game against the Houston Texans:
Tough to say how the injury to Phil Taylor will affect the team. He was trying a little too hard and getting out of position early in the season, but in the one game back he was disruptive. His injury clearly affects the defensive line depth.
Pettine praised the work of Sione Fua, who was signed during Week 7, saying: "When he's in the game, you don't notice him because he doesn't show up on the stat sheet, but all he does is go out there and do his job. We've gotten some quality reps from him. His workload will have to go up."
The Browns are second in the NFL in interceptions with 13.
The Browns are one of 18 teams to enter Week 11 with a winning record, which ties for the second most entering Week 11 in NFL history, per ESPN Stats & Information.
Also from the stats folks comes this gem: The entire AFC North enters Week 11 with each team at least two games over .500. It's the first time an entire division's teams are at least two games over .500 at any point in the season since the Western Division did so in 1935. History buffs take note: The Western Division in 1935 included the Bears, Lions, Packers, Chicago Cardinals, St. Louis Gunners and Cincinnati Reds.
More history: George Halas won the West that season with the Bears. Keith Molesworth led the team in passing, with 13 completions in 39 attempts. Beattie Feathers ran for 1,004 yards. The Browns were not even yet a gleam in Paul Brown's eye (There's a gleam, men).
