Tag Archives: Cleveland Browns

On if he’s been able to put the bad taste of the Jacksonville game out of his mind:

“Yeah, especially after today, getting out to practice again, getting into game plan for Oakland and stuff like that. It definitely gets you more focused towards Sunday. Like I said the other day, the best thing for us to do is learn from our mistakes and move on. Now, we finally get the chance to get back out on the field and take that first step of getting back out to play Oakland this week.”

On how important is it for the offense to get back to its formula:

“It’s huge. I think everyone knows this offense is built on the run game and that everything kind of plays off of that. Even though people are going to challenge that, we still have to be able to set the tone for what we’re going to do. I think we take that as a challenge, especially with teams like Oakland who are going to put eight men in the box. Kyle, like I said this before, he’s run this system for a long time. So, he’s dealt with that. There’s some different scheme that you can use, but for the most part, we’ve just got to get back to our basics and execute.”

On how different Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are when you don’t play well:

“I’m just angry. Even my wife said she doesn’t even want to be around me. She said sometimes she doesn’t want to be around me after we win, too, just because I’m so critical. She’s like, ‘You guys won.’ I’m like, ‘I know, but I could have done this better. Especially after a loss, it just lingers with you until you get a chance to come back out here and do something about it. Yeah, you can sit there and watch the film and learn from it, but until you get a chance to come back out, go through meetings this morning, then get back out on the field and really start setting your sights towards Oakland. I feel a lot better today after having meetings and going through practice. I’m just really moving forward.”

On if his confidence is tested after last week’s loss:

“No, that happens to the best. Three weeks ago everyone was saying (Patriots QB) Tom Brady was done with. He’s the greatest quarterback of all time. He had one bad game, and people are throwing him under the bus. I think when you see that even the great ones have bad games you know you’re going to have a few. Yeah, it sucks. You don’t want to go out there and not perform well. Obviously, we prepare our butts off all week to go out there and execute and play the best of our ability, but sometimes you have a situation where you don’t play great, and the other team plays well. It’s a bad combination. For me, really of all the games I’ve ever played that was the worst I’ve ever felt after one. That’s just something that you have to deal with, learning on the job. It’s not always going to be perfect, and you’re not always going to win the game. The games you lose, yeah you might have played well, but for the first time in my career in the NFL I played a really bad game. It sucks. I take a lot on myself, and that’s why I probably wasn’t very pleasant to be around for the past two days. That’s just the way it goes.”

On Browns Head Coach Mike Pettine saying that the offense needs to get back to its formula:

“I think he just talks about what I said before, back to the basics, getting back to better technique. Then also, when you are going to get challenged and our formula obviously is to run the ball and play action and nakeds and stuff like that, and really just don’t get away from it just because someone’s trying to take it away. I think that’s kind of what he’s talking about. Yeah, it’s going to be a challenge, but we’re up for that challenge.”

On if the coaching staff discussing whether or not to put in Browns QB Johnny Manziel bothers him:

“No, nothing was brought to my attention. It’s out of my control.”

On if overreaction by fans or media ever surprises him:

“No, like I talked to you guys on Monday, there’s overreaction when you win. There’s overreaction when you lose and especially at the quarterback position. When you win you’re the hero. When you lose you’re the goat. I think that’s just the way it goes. That’s the way this league kind of has become. It comes with the territory. It’s something that I knew going into it that’s the way it is. There’s not much you can do about it. You worry about what you can control, and that’s what’s going on in this building. The outside noise you just kind of try to block out, whether it’s good or bad. Sometimes, you can get caught up when people are patting you on your back. It feels good, and yeah maybe you want to check and see what they’re saying, but if you’re going to do that you better be able to take it when they’re saying bad stuff, too.”

On if he feels like he has to bring everybody together as a quarterback when things are going bad:

“Yeah, I think as a quarterback you’re the leader of the offense, and you try to get things going. Maybe sometimes you try to do too much. You try to make a play, but I think the biggest thing to me – which I always try to tell myself – is just one play at a time. Don’t worry about the last play. Don’t worry about the next play. Be in the moment. Worry about this play. Yeah, it’s frustrating when things don’t work out, and you miss a throw or whatever it might be. You get frustrated. It’s hard to be able to move on, but in the heat of the moment you have to be able to because if you let things linger it’s going to prevent you from playing to the best of your ability.”

On the relationship that he’s developed with Pettine help him get over having a bad game:

“I don’t even think about it to be honest with you. I know what goes into my preparation; I know that talking to my coaches that’s the farthest thing on my mind. Yeah, I don’t doubt that he has my back. I also know that if you have one bad game I think that people are just going to be calling for your job already, that’s just the way it goes but I know within this building I feel more than comfortable.”

On if he sees yardage available for him to scramble on a play-action pass:

“Yeah, there was one. I’d rather throw it than run it. We all saw what happened when I ran the ball last year. The only one in particular that comes to mind was where I kind of threw it a little bit wide to (WR Taylor) Gabriel on the sideline. I might have been able to run it for five (or) six yards but when you think to complete the pass, it’s sixteen yards. That is part of our training: one, two, and three – and if three is not there then run, you just keep running. You know one of these days it might happen.”

On if he’s concerned with the decline in his passing percentage after his game at Jacksonville:

“Yeah, I don’t even look at stats. Obviously last week was a little different type of game, obviously 41 passes, the week before I had seventeen, so you never know how it’s going to go. You go back to the Baltimore game at one point I was 20-of-21. Sometimes when you get batted balls or when you have to throw the ball away, but I’d rather throw the ball away than take a sack. It’s a team game. I don’t care about my stats I care about us winning. If I have to throw the ball away to avoid a sack, or whatever it might be, I’d gladly do that take a hit and my completion percentage.”

On how he came out of the Jacksonville game physically after taking several pressure hits:

“Good, I mean just the usual bumps and bruises. That’s the way that this game is and eventually you’re going to have some of those. You just go in and make sure that you take care of yourself and that’s something that I knew with the possibility of being a starter for a full season I try to prepare myself as best as I could and so far I’m holding up really good.”

On what stands out about the Raiders defense:

“You look at their depth chart and you’re like ‘geez, look at these players.’ They’ve got (Raiders DE LaMarr Woodley), (Raiders DE Justin Tuck), (Raiders DT Antonio Smith), (Raiders DB) Charles Woodson who’s- if you’re watching on film- he looks as if he’s young and playing the way that he used to. (Raiders DBs) Tarell Brown and Carlos Rogers, they’ve got big name guys over there and you watch the film and you see them making a lot of plays. I think that we know going into it that it’s going to be another challenge and especially with their front seven and the guys that I mentioned and their two linebackers in there. We know what we’re up for and there record maybe what it is but, as I talked to someone else that plays in this league the other day: Records don’t matter in this league, it matters about going out and executing on Sundays. The media and people like that they might get caught up in records but when you’re sitting there and watching the film and you’re watching the defense, (with) players like that, you don’t pay attention to the record. You just see what the film tells you and you be ready for that.”

On why was it difficult to get TE Jordan Cameron the ball during the last game:

“I don’t know. For me it’s something that- I’m definitely trying to go through the progressions and you’re trying to get to Jordan out there. You miss him in the end zone and obviously that’s points right there. It’s something that we’re definitely working on, and Jordan is always in the back of my mind to try and get him the ball.”

On playing another 0-6 team this upcoming weekend:

“I think it’s good that we lost last week. I don’t think that we underestimated anyone but now I think we see that no matter who we’re playing we have to be at our best and there are no excuses and we have to go out there and execute.”