Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

Angry fans to meet with Browns owner

CLEVELAND -- Two longtime Browns season ticket-holders organizing a protest at their disgust with the team's decade of losing will meet with Cleveland owner Randy Lerner.

Mike Randall and Tony Schafer have been urging fans to stay away from their seats for the opening kickoff of the Nov. 16 nationally televised game against Baltimore. The pair have a meeting scheduled with Lerner today at the team's headquarters.

Randall plans to present Lerner with more than 2,000 e-mails from fans since announcing the "walk-in" protest. Randall says he hopes to persuade the ultra-private Lerner to speak directly to Cleveland's disappointed fan base.

The Browns dropped to 1-7 on Sunday with a 30-6 loss in Chicago.

49ers prepare to be without Clements, Staley

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (San Francisco 49ers cornerback Nate Clements has undergone a CT scan on his broken right shoulder blade and left tackle Joe Staley had an MRI exam on his sprained right knee to further determine the damage.

Both players, injured during San Francisco's 18-14 loss at Indianapolis on Sunday, are expected to miss at least this Sunday's home game with the Tennessee Titans. They will probably miss the following game Thursday against Chicago as well considering the quick turnaround between contests.

Coach Mike Singletary said Monday that Clements wouldn't be placed on the season-ending injured reserve list and Staley said he didn't consider his knee injury to be season-ending.

In addition, defensive end Demetric Evans is nursing a sprained shoulder.

Banged-up Bills expect to promote WR Hardy

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. The Buffalo Bills expect to promote James Hardy to their active roster because the second-year receiver has shown he's fully recovered after left knee surgery.

Barring "something unexpected," coach Dick Jauron said Monday he's leaning toward promoting Hardy, who spent the first six weeks on the physically unable list. The 2008 second-round draft pick out of Indiana began practicing two weeks ago.

The Bills (3-5) are off this week and have until the start of next week to activate Hardy or place him on season-ending injured reserve.

Promoting Hardy would require the Bills to drop a player, potentially one of six receivers on their roster.

Four starters went down during a 31-10 loss to Houston on Sunday.