Browns, Eagles in London, Turn to Pregame Exercises

The Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles arrived today for their Aug. 6 preseason NFL exhibition game and headed straight to a famous London landmark to work out.

Both squads landed at Heathrow airport, the Browns beating the Eagles into London by less than an hour. Within two hours of their arrival, the players were out training.

“Everybody is excited, but we’re all a little tired right now,” Bob Eller, a public relations officer with the Browns, said after his squad went through a 45-minute stretching routine in downtown Hyde Park.

“It was pretty chilly. We were expecting much warmer weather,” Eller said.

A summer-long heat wave in Britain gave way today to more seasonal temperatures in the mid 60s.

Eller said one of the Browns’ players, right tackle Cody Risien, was left at home for treatment on an injured elbow. The rest of the 80-man squad made the trip, he said.

“This is a great opportunity for us to work against another team in preseason rather than just practice among ourselves,” Eller said.

Players on both squads were to attend receptions tonight. On Tuesday, they will hold a news conference at Crystal Palace stadium in south London.

Sunday’s game at Wembley soccer stadium, called American Bowl 89, is the fourth in the annual series of preseason NFL games in Britain and is being televised live by NBC in the United States.