Written by Dave Kolonich

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As the glow of Saturday night’s preseason opener still hangs over most of Browns Nation, a darker reality has begun to emerge.

No…not that dark.

Grossi – Browns Scrap the Brown Pants

The Browns ditched their brown pants and are wearing white-on-white, as the Packers chose to wear their dark green jerseys. Last year the Browns debuted their brown pants look here and kept it for all road games. No word yet on whether this means the Browns will return the brown pants to cold, cold storage in 2010.

Wait a minute – whatever happened to Papa Bear’s moratorium on jersey related matters?  Weren’t Brown pants on Grossi’s legendary ten-foot-pole list?  What’s next?  A complementary piece on Eric Mangini?

And for the hard-hitting news you always seek…here’s more sans-pants….

PD – Mary Kay Cabot – Monday Report

R.I.P. brown pants: Mangini confirmed after practice that he has retired the team’s brown pants look. “It wasn’t very well-received,” he laughed. When told that uniforms are quite a hot button issue with fans, the coach said, “I hope we can get to the point where we can wear fruit on our heads and people wouldn’t notice.”

Or, if fashion just isn’t your thing – after all, orange pants and brown jerseys are the only logical choice – here’s a great piece of fluffery for you…

Browns Making Nice Home for Delhomme

Awww - isn’t that sweet?  And can you only imagine how different this story would have been if Delhomme threw three picks this past Saturday?

Anyway, speaking of changing the narrative – let’s get serious here.

As in seriously injured…

Zastudil Done for Season

Cleveland Browns punter Dave Zastudil is out for the season because of a right knee injury.

Coach Eric Mangini said Zastudil’s surgically repaired knee was not responding, so the team decided to place him on injured reserve, ending his season before it started. Zastudil missed eight games last season with a torn patellar tendon in his plant leg.

Womack Out for Preseason

Browns right guard Floyd “Pork Chop” Womack underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, a source said, and will miss the rest of preseason.   But he could be back in time for the opener Sept. 12 in Tampa.

Of course, Zastudil and Womack are just the tip of the iceberg – or ice pack – in Berea.  Currently, the following Browns are suffering from some type of injury setback.

Montario Hardesty

Johnathan Haggerty (since waived)

Mohammed Massaquoi

Robert Royal (of the eternally injured variety)

Tony Pashos

Shaun Rogers

D’Qwell Jackson

David Bowens

Eric Wright

Add in Womack and the damage is a bit unsettling, as the entire right side of the offensive line, two potential offensive skill players and three layers of defense are currently out of action.

Of course, perhaps I’m being a bit dramatic.  Wright is essentially already back at practice, along with Massaquoi.  As for Royal, I’m just pretending that he’s injured.  Rogers hasn’t gone anywhere, as he just hasn’t been cleared to resume action….much like in the case of David Bowens.

However, the losses of Hardesty and Jackson could prove problematic.  Without Hardesty on board, the Browns will become more reliant on Jerome Harrison – who is not exactly a workhorse back.  Jackson’s absence – while it should open a door for second-year players David Veikune and Kaluka Maiava, instead has served as a broken portal for the likes of Eric Barton.

However, things are not so bad regarding this rash of injuries.  First, none – besides the ultimate fate of Haggerty and Zastudil – are season-ending.  Second, in the cases of Womack, Hardesty, Bowens and Wright – younger players have been given a chance to earn some future playing time.

In a most welcome development for a franchise that traces its lineage of draft day failure back to Dwight Clark, the Browns started three of their top five picks Saturday night in the form of Joe Haden, T.J. Ward and Shaun Lauvao.  And while all three rookies faced their share of bumps, it’s incredibly positive to think that already April’s draft is beginning to yield fruit.

After all, for this team to truly progress in 2010 – the play at cornerback, safety and along the right side of the offensive line will have to improve.

Perhaps we may be onto something here.

After all, if the NFL is anything, it is a league of opportunity.

Finally, a final (for now) word about Zastudil.  While I’ve joked before that Zastudil’s legs and feet have essentially been crippled, thanks solely to the Browns’ lackluster offense of the past several seasons – I think there may be some actual truth found here.

Because Zastudil was forced into more action than virtually any other punter in the league in the past, it’s possible that last season’s injury – along with this offseason’s slow recovery – is emblematic of the Browns’ offense, more than a reflection on the player.  How ironic, considering that  the passing offense showed its first signs of life since 2008’s MNF contest.

Much like all the injuries catalogued above will ultimately show, football is truly about living in the moment…something that unfortunately Zastudil is quickly realizing.