On the status of his hand and not throwing during the portion of practice open to media:
"Yeah, just getting better each day. We were walkthrough tempo today besides the individual routes that you guys saw so no need to try and do it today."
On if he expects to play on Sunday against the Bengals:
"I do."
On if he has thrown at all since the Steelers game:
"I have not."
On RB Kareem Hunt's performance since returning to the team and the Browns offense's production:
"Kareem has been a tremendous asset to this team obviously offensively, but just the change of pace that he brings to the game, playmaking ability and just the desire to win and be a good teammate, he has added a whole other perspective to us. It is a great thing for us."
On how many reps and throws he needs before playing the Bengals:
"If we communicate on the right depths and where we need to be, then we should not have a problem. It is all about timing and knowing that we have built chemistry and I need to put the ball where we talk about it and they need to have their depth and be there on time."
On confidence he will be able to play when he has not thrown since Sunday:
"Because momma did not raise a wuss."
On if he has received treatment for his hand:
"Couple of hand massages, just your casual everyday hand treatments."
On if the injury to his hand is a bruise:
"Yeah, from everything that they evaluated, just a nice contusion, bruise, whatever you want to call it."
On if the injury and playing is more about pain tolerance:
"Yeah."
On deciding when is the best time to scramble on a pass play versus trying to extend the play further:
"I think it comes down to trying to get the ball in the playmakers' hands. I am obviously not the athlete that a lot of those guys are so giving them a chance to make plays and trusting them to make more plays than I do."
On adjusting to throwing with a glove and if it is disconcerting to have to play with one:
"No, it just took getting used to playing with one. I have thrown with a glove, but I have not played with one so it was a little different, but I got used to it and I thought I played fine."
On preferring a bare hand to a glove when throwing:
"Yeah, normal grip to where you feel the ball, feel the touch and feel the spin of it when you release it."
On if he feels unlucky with the injury occurring when hitting a player's helmet during his follow-through motion:
"I would say if (Steelers LB) Bud Dupree was there just a millisecond earlier, it could have been pretty bad but pretty fortunate."
On DE Chris Smith being released:
"It is tough just because of Chris and who he is. We love Chris. We were all there for him not just because of what happened but because of who he was as a person so it is tough to see him go, but it was a decision they had to make."
On regrouping after last week's loss and remaining in the hunt for a playoff spot:
"We have to realize that no matter what other things are going on on the outside, we have to have that singular focus. If we do want to make the playoffs, we have to buckle down and win each game from here on out. It is just plain and simple. We can't have any slip ups and we have to win."
On Bengals DE Carlos Dunlap and Bengals DT Geno Atkins:
"The two of them have obviously been there a while. Phenomenal players creating a lot of players, but they also have (Bengals DE Sam) Hubbard and some other guys that are making plays for them, as well. They are playing well as a unit as of recently and they are making plays up front."
On if there is still a sense of urgency to find more ways to utilize all of the weapons on offense:
"No, we just have to make the plays that are there. We have to protect and be able to throw the ball down field, and we have to be able to establish the run. If we do our job, then the playmakers will get the ball and we will be able to do those things."
On his relationship with WR Odell Beckham Jr. and what Beckham is like behind the scenes, particularly given he does not have as many targets or catches as past years:
"I kind of addressed it a few weeks ago about how he wants to be the solution to helping us win, and he really just wants to win when it comes to it. Anytime you are losing, it is frustrating and it is not fun so he wants to help out in any way he can so we have to try and find ways to get him the ball. There have been a few things that are off here and there or else we would have some bigger plays and a lot more connections."
On if he will gauge each day whether or not he can throw in practice:
"Yeah, I will try and go tomorrow for sure."
On how numbing medication on his hand affected his touch on the ball when throwing:
"It was really the back side of the hand. I could still had the finger strength and feel that so it felt fine."
On Oklahoma TE and former teammate Grant Calcaterra retiring from football and if he spoke to him:
"Yeah, I did. It is tough to see him call it quits for concussion purposes. It is much bigger than just a game and that goes for a lot of other people that have to make that decision. He had a lot of advisory that he visited some doctors so it was tough for him, but yeah, I talked to him."
On what kind of impact Calcaterra could have made in the NFL:
"A great one. He is a guy that I trusted as a freshman playing with him at Oklahoma. What could have been but we can't talk about that. He is going to do a lot better things in life."
On frustration with his fumble at the Steelers:
"I felt like I tucked the ball trying to extend the play a bit. I tucked it, but they just poked it out. I tried to tuck it away last minute, but I have to take care of it."
On if WR Jarvis Landry changed his route on the interception late in the fourth quarter:
"No, it is just one of those routes where he is reading it, he is seeing one thing and I am seeing another. The Steelers did a god job of rolling, rolling safeties down and rolling a corner over the top so just a little bit of miscommunication."
On getting T Greg Robinson back this week and C JC Tretter getting banged up at Pittsburgh:
"Yeah, JC toughed it out through the game. Proud of him. Obviously, we came up short, but he showed his toughness. Having Greg back should be great for us. We trust obviously whoever we put in there, but Greg's presence adds a different dynamic."
On creating more success in late-game situations:
"It just comes down to everyone doing their job in critical moments. Not worrying about the score, just doing your job each and every play. It does not have to come down to critical moments. These games do not have to be close for us. If we just block everything out and do our job, we can be a great team so we are going to have to focus on that for the rest of the games."
On if 'doing your job' is more difficult than it appears to be:
"When the bullets start flying, you are running around and some things happen, you might have you are reading one thing, but you just have to be able to have that singular focus and focus on doing your job."
On how much pride he takes in being clutch in late-game situations:
"Obviously, we have had a few of those drives this year that we have not capitalized and a lot of that is on my part, but you have to take pride in that. You have to want to have the ball last and take advantage of your opportunity. It hurts not winning that one, especially that we had the ball with about 1:50 left. Have to be better next time."
On if he senses the Browns still believe the team can still accomplish their goals this season and reach the postseason:
"I think it felt better today than it did the past couple of days just because that one hurts. That is a huge blow to our chances and just we can't have any slip ups the rest of the way out, but we realize that if we win out, we have to have some things happen but we can't focus on that. We have to win out and do our job."
On if he has spent extra time looking at end of games scenarios and seeing what he and the offense could have done differently:
"We look back and we watch the film and then realize that a lot of the time we should not even be a close game scenario but then looking at the critical moments of what went wrong and what we could have done better and just focus on that."
On identifying themes from those late-game scenarios like the Rams and Seahawks games and how to improve:
"I would say just getting the ball in our guys hands. Just letting them make plays, especially with how much time we had and just making sure to give them a chance to change the game."
