BEREA, Ohio _ Terrelle Pryor said in September he would do anything to help the Browns win, even cut off his finger.
Now the middle finger on the right hand of the quarterback-turned-wide receiver is causing him excruciating pain. He suffered a torn ligament near the knuckle at the base of the finger.
"I meant what I said to you guys a long time ago about the finger, and now I'm here," Pryor said Tuesday after practice. "It's the finger that's off pretty much, so it's time to go. It's time to live up to what I said."
Pryor vowed to push through the injury to play in the final two games this season. The Browns (0-14) will face the San Diego Chargers (5-9) in the home finale Sunday, then visit the Pittsburgh Steelers (9-5) on Jan. 1 for the season finale. Pryor said he'll have surgery on the finger the day after the last game and expects to be fully recovered in two to three weeks.
"I owe this organization that to go out there and give my best the next two games and I owe my teammates that," Pryor said. "So it's important to me no matter the circumstance to get out there, and I'll get that done.
"We haven't won a game yet, but our push and what's motivated us is not to go obviously and have a full, total losing season. So it's important to us and important to me that I'm out there. No excuses. I expect to catch every single ball that comes my way and I will."
Pryor fully participated in practice and caught every pass thrown his way during the 30-minute portion open to reporters.
"He ran around and caught the ball well," coach Hue Jackson said. "It amazes me. These fingers are tricky, but I know he is taped up and practicing. He did a good job."
Jackson acknowledged it wouldn't be unprecedented for a player to throw in the towel during a winless season. He's witnessed it in similar situations.
"Absolutely, I have," Jackson said. "I know what they look like, feel like, act like and all of it. I have seen it. I have not seen that in this group."
In Sunday's 33-13 loss to the Buffalo Bills, Pryor suffered the injury during the offense's first play of the third quarter when he slammed his hand into the ground as he caught a low pass from quarterback Robert Griffin III for an 8-yard gain.
"Every single time I bent my knuckle, my knuckle felt like it got smashed with a hammer," Pryor said.
The injury hindered Pryor in the second half because he couldn't consistently straighten the finger and made a couple of catches with it bent.
He practiced with a contraption on his hand that straightens the finger and wore a cast over it. He'll do the same against the Chargers.
"I caught a lot of tough balls today," Pryor said. "It's something I was excited about. I was really worried about it, and I'm glad it cleared up."
In his first full season as a receiver, Pryor leads the Browns with 67 catches for 877 yards and four touchdowns, but his production has plummeted the past two games with quarterback Robert Griffin back from a fractured shoulder he suffered in week one.
He had just one catch for 3 yards on three targets Dec. 11 against the Cincinnati Bengals, then four catches for 19 yards on eight targets against the Bills. He dropped two passes Sunday.
"We're just going to have to stick together, and we've got to make him look good," Pryor said of Griffin. "Like those throws, he hit me perfect on that comeback I dropped without the finger thing. I've got to make that play for him no matter what, and there's things like that we've got to do. It's not all on him. It's on us as well. We've got to answer the bell. We will. I know I will, and I'm not dropping anything this weekend.
"There are a lot of big plays ahead to be had these next two games and these next two weeks. ... I'm just excited to get out there and catch every single ball that comes my way and make some big plays and try to make some explosive plays."
