Opening statement:
"Obviously, yesterday is not where we want to be. Do not want to play that way. I do not have an excuse for it. As I told you guys yesterday, I am not going to make excuses for our football team. We did not play well. That starts with me. All the way down, we have to get better. We recognize that. The team is starting to watch the tape. I am sure that they are starting to recognize that. To a man, I think that they want to go back out. We have another opportunity this week to go out and rectify our problems and play better. It was disappointing in front of our fans. Even if we are on the road, that is not the way that we want to play. That is not the football team that I envision us becoming. We need to continue to work and do the little things at all times that give us a chance to win. We broke down fundamentally in a lot of different places yesterday. We will clean those things up as fast as we can, and we will start moving forward. I am disappointed about yesterday, but I am not discouraged by any stretch. Our players are going to continue to work extremely hard and harder than we ever have to rectify our issues so that we have the best chance to win a football game starting this week."
On if the Browns and General Manager John Dorsey will look to add an experienced WR, following the injury to WR Rod Streater and youth at the position:
"No doubt, we would like to have more [experience] if we can get it and if it is the right fit for our football team. I am sure as you just mentioned that John is looking around everywhere to see if we can improve there. At the same time, as the head coach, I can't worry about those things. He is going to his part. I am going to do my part. We are going to take the guys that are here and put them into the best position to have success. We have some other guys that can contribute. We just have to use every resource that we have in the building to be the best that we can be."
On LB Joe Schobert's injury:
"Schobert has a hamstring. He will be down for a little while. How long that will be, let's go week to week with that and see where he is. Hamstrings are tricky. Some last longer. Some end up shorter. We will see how all of that unfolds."
On WR Rashard Higgins' status:
"Higgins is still week to week."
On status of QB Baker Mayfield's ankle:
"Baker is fine. Baker is fine."
On if Schobert playing every snap, including through three OT games, contributed to the injury:
"We looked at it – I am glad that you mentioned that – we did look at all the data from that. That is not the issue at all. I think he hurt it the play before running over to sideline because when you watch the play where he pulls it, he is just dropping. He is dropping into Cover 2, he turns and he immediately grabs his hamstring. I think it was the play before that started it because he was chasing the ball down the field. I think that was what led to it."
On filling Schobert's position and if LB Christian Kirksey may transition to MIKE:
"We are going to talk through that this evening as we get done watching the tape with the players. I think we will have some answers there. We feel good that we will still be able to put a really good defense out there that can play well. We feel good about that."
On if the Week 6 loss feels different than previous losses this season:
"It felt worse. It felt worse because I think that we were ready to make the next jump. I think the football team expected that. We expected that. Here is the chance for us at home to win a second game in a row. That was the intention. We did not live up to that. We did not do our part. I thank or fans because our fans were there and they were into it. We did not give them back what they gave us. We have to account for that."
On if the Browns have to fight through inconsistencies with rookie WRs, specifically with dropped passes:
"Yes, it is. This is not the first time that you all have seen that. We have played with some young receivers here since I have been here. Sometimes, those are the things that happen. You do not want them to happen. You have to work through those things with them. You have to get them to be a little bit more consistent. It is when the drops are happening. There are potential touchdowns and third downs and those things. We just have to work through that they best that we can. I am to going to get down on the players. We are just going to coach them. We are going to coach them and try to get them better and get them to respond positively when those opportunities come."
On challenges developing rookie WRs with a rookie QB:
"It compounds it. We all know that it does. I said it yesterday, we are not going to make excuses. We have to coach well. We have to put them into the best situations. We have to help everybody on this team offensively, defensively and on special teams to be as good as we can because nobody else cares about what is going on in Cleveland as far as what players are playing, our injuries or anything like that. It does not matter. We will find a way."
On WR Jarvis Landry catching two of nine targets:
"Sometimes the ball has gone over his head. I think sometimes we just have not made the connection. Sometimes I do not think that you guys get that some of those balls are being thrown away. All of them are not being thrown away, do not get me wrong, but there are some that are. All of a sudden you guys see them as targets, and we do not see them as targets. We see them as throwaways. Do they need to connect more? Yes, they do. We have to find a way to do that better. At the same time, yesterday was not really good in that area between those two. I do not think that it was anything to do with Baker. I know that people maybe feel that Baker needed more time with Jarvis. Well, that was not the case when we played the Jets. Nobody felt like that then when they made plays. They have to make those plays when those plays present themselves, and I am sure that they will."
On if the Chargers figured out how to keep Mayfield in the pocket after more film of Mayfield was available:
"I am not going to say that they figured out a way to keep him in the pocket. I think that they did a better job than some other teams, let me say that. I think we can do some things better so that when Baker needs an escape route that there will be one there for him. I think it is a combination of everything. You said it, there is going to be tape built now on Baker and how to defend him. That comes along with the territory. That is just a part of it."
On if the tone of the game may have changed if the Browns caught either of the two drops in the end zone:
"No doubt. I think it changed the tone of the game. When you get opportunities like that, it obviously excites your whole team. It excites everybody in the stands and everywhere. Yeah, we needed to make those plays. We did not."
On Ratley rebounding to play well after the dropped pass:
"Yeah, he did. I thought he made some plays. Ratley played a lot of football. If I am not mistaken, almost 65 snaps on offense and then you factor in all the special teams snaps, this guy probably played somewhere close to 80 snaps in his first game. That is a lot of football. He made plays. Obviously, there are some plays he wished he had back, but the thing I liked about him is he kept competing. He never backed down, kept competing and kept getting better, and that will serve him well later on in the season as we go."
On Chargers QB Philip Rivers checking into plays after reading the Browns' defense:
"They did a great job. Can't take anything away from that. You rush for 244 yards, they have all of the answers. Nothing I can say about that. I am not going to say it was just like that, but they made enough plays to where obviously they had a good feel for what they were trying to accomplish."
On if the holding call in the first half should been a safety:
"No, I think that was happening as a little bit before him being in the end zone. I think that is what the official said. That is the way they played it out so it was not in the end zone."
On establishing the running game:
"I think it is always important to get the run game going. I think we have bene one of the better run teams. We have to be able to run the ball. We have to be able to throw it, too. Can't score enough points in this league just running, and I think we get that. We have to be able to do both and they have to play off of each other."
On getting RB Nick Chubb more carries:
"We need to get more. There is nothing else to say. We need to get him more chances, but I think sometimes the game changes, you get behind and you need (RB) Duke Johnson (Jr.) out there because that is what he does well – catch the ball and run it. I think that is what you were seeing yesterday. As these games get a little closer, they do not get too far away and we can get up whatever that is, we do need to give Nick Chubb more carries."
On if the Browns run defense made adjustments as the Chargers running game continued to produce:
"Defensively, it did not look like anything got better. No, nothing got better. We made some adjustments. Towards the end, I think they tried those particular runs, and we made those plays. We started setting the edge a little bit better, but from early in the game to the middle of the game to the third quarter, we did not play the run very well."
On if Landry became frustrated:
"I think our whole team was frustrated."
On Landry typically getting fiery when frustrated:
"We are all fiery. I think everybody was frustrated. It is not what we intended the game to be, but like I told the team, you decide that. You have to make that choice and that decision about how these games go by how you play. We have to play better. It is that simple."
On LB Jamie Collins Sr.'s play yesterday:
"I think defensively it was not one of our better performances by any stretch of the imagination and not just one player – all guys. Call it like it is, we did not play well defensively. We did not play well offensively neither. The one improvement I saw from our team was special teams. I thought there were some things we did better. We gave up a return, but outside of that, I thought we returned the ball better. I thought we blocked better. I thought the PAT protection was better. I think that was improvement. That is the one area I thought there was improvement. We need to have improvement in all of the areas starting this week."
On if he speaks with players about leaving the locker room prior to media having an opportunity to interview them postgame:
"I will. I did not know that. I am disappointed that happened. There is nothing to run from. When we played well, everybody stayed. When you do not play well, do not run. There is nothing to run from. We have to do everything the right way so I appreciate you letting that be known."
On if Mayfield was making the right reads since he was holding onto the ball for so long:
"There were some times where he could have gotten the ball out of his hands a little sooner. I do not think everything was meant to go long. I think there were some times where the ball – we might have had a guy running underneath where he could have got the ball to him and maybe he could not have seen him. We just have to continue to create more throwing lanes for him. He has to be able to see it, understand the offense and all of the little things that we are trying to accomplish. He will get there."
On injury updates for LB James Burgess Jr., OL JC Tretter and Ratley:
"Tretter has an ankle. That will be week to week, as well. He might miss a little practice time, but I feel better about him than I do some of the others. Ratley I think will be fine. Burgess will probably – it is going to be week to week, but he might be out this week."
