Opening statement:
"It is a beautiful day. What do you think? Should I do [the press conference] in sunglasses or not? I'm trying to get another pair for free so if I do a little advertising, maybe I will get another free pair. I don't know. We will see (laughter). I told you guys, I should have talked about something other than lozenges [on Hard Knocks]. I could have gotten a lot more things like alcohol, restaurants or I don't know (laughter)."
On his message to the Browns defense after last week's loss:
"We have to be better. You can only imagine with how we do. It starts up front. We have to play better on the line of scrimmage. Play better on the line of scrimmage, and it transfers all of the way back. Lots of really good things that get thrown away in the game. Lots of very good plays. Any of the explosive plays, you can't tolerate. When that is happening, we have to find a way to get to the next play. Block it out. Some of them let a few things go on to the next play thinking about too many things. Offensively, the best offenses provide distractions to the defense. You have to be able to get off of that play and get on to the next play. That has been the big message this week. We have to play the way that we are supposed to play and the way they have been playing. It has been sound. A few plays in that game we have to get better at."
On difficulty setting the edge in Week 6:
"It was not only on the edge. It was inside, too. It was hard to see on the inside part of it, but the inside part of it is that they were not blocking our defensive linemen. They were up the field and blocking everybody else, and the defensive linemen, that is not how we play. We do not let you get up the field. We set the edge. We set the force. Those are just the things that we did not do a very good job on. It has been a big emphasis this week and they have done a great job. Our guys have done a very good job on that. I am anxious to watch them play."
On if LB Jamie Collins Sr.'s effort was 'in question' last week, given some public criticism:
"Jamie is handling a lot of different things. All of those [critics], I have no idea – I don't read any of that stuff. Jamie does a lot. Everybody – it is not just Jamie, it is everybody – we all have to get better at that. We all have to get improved in the areas that we have to improve. Those things have been addressed."
On impact of LB Joe Schobert's injury:
"I started the meetings this week – I do not know how this is going to go when I tell you the truth because I will always tell you the truth – and I told the coaches this week that you have to coach better, and have to play better. Joe Schobert can't protect everybody. Joe Schobert protects everybody. He protects me on gameday. He protects other coaches on gameday because he knows it better than coaches do. It has been good this week. Obviously, it has been eye opening to every position coach and every positon player on the responsibility of not waiting for Joe to make the call. You have to be involved with it more. It has been good. It has been enlightening. It has been outstanding. We also have kept Joe active. One of the things is when you are rehabbing and getting ready to bounce back and stuff is you can't take plays off and you can't take time off. I have kept him involved, and we have kept him involved as a coach on the field. He has done a great job with that. He has played every single snap in practice and every single snap in the meetings he has played as if he is playing. That keeps the mind sharp. He even gets a lot more credibility in the room right now when somebody else is having to try to do his job. We will be fine. We have guys that are doing a good job with that. We have had a good week of practice this week on taking over in his place."
On DB Briean Boddy-Calhoun not playing as much as last year:
"A lot of his rotation on the packages we are playing are also on the performances of other guys, yes."
On grading Boddy-Calhoun's performance this season and what the team needs from Boddy-Calhoun on Sunday:
"At some point in time – I have a smile on my face – at some point in time when he is done playing, he wants to coach. He is like a coach on the field. He will get more time this week as go through the different packages and everything. I have a lot of confidence in him on the multiplicity of the positions he can play. Every player on our defense has to play more than one position. That is how you get position flexibility, and that is how you battle through injuries. That is how you battle through different types of things in the ball game is the next man up can do something who has already been playing, and we move the next best athlete up or the next best guy that fits into that package. Boddy can play multiple things. He will be fine. He has been doing really well, too. He has been very active in our plan. He also has such a high volume of plays in special teams. When you play as many plays as we have played this year, which is good – that is great, that is what we are supposed to be, a young team is good; it is helping a young team grow in that way – some of these guys are playing 90-100 plays per game defensively and special teams wise. It has helped Boddy a little bit on his production in the special teams to be able to have some impact plays there by not having as much put on him in the defensive part of it. He will be fine."
On preparing to face the Buccaneers' WR trio:
"I do not know if I want to get on the plane (laughter). They are all good. Our advance scout crew, they meet with the coaches on Monday night, and then I have them present the opponent the very first thing on Wednesday morning before we go into any other thing. There is a reason why they are the No. 1 pass offense in the league. Those guys are talented as all get out. We have our work cut out for us. It is a challenge, but it is a challenge that our guys are looking forward to. There is nobody backing off. There is nobody looking in the other direction. They are looking at having fun competing. That is a talented group."
On how DB Denzel Ward prepares to face a large, physical WR like Buccaneers WR Mike Evans:
"He has played against different bodies before. It is our job, too – we put him against those kinds of bodies in practice and everything. Time after time after time after time, he will improve though his career. You can't be prepared for everything so you have to fight through it, as you get opportunities in practice and in our individual drills, too. Denzel has a presence about him. He has a quickness about him. He is stronger and quicker at the point of attack than a lot of people give him credit for. His ability to match up with different types of speeds and bodies is good. That is a positive for him. He will have them all this week."
On previously stating all the Browns defensive players need to improve in areas and public criticism and that it has been addressed and how he addressed it with the team:
"I do not talk about all of those things so you are wasting your time asking me that question. It is over with. I am not talking about it. I am not criticizing those guys. I address things in there that you guys do not need to listen to and moms and dads do not need to listen to. I address it."
On who will play WILL with Kirksey moving to MIKE in place of Schobert:
"A lot of different positions. He is not moving in on that one spot. There are a lot of guys doing that spot. There is more than one guy playing Joe's spot, and there is more than one guy playing some of the other guys' spots, too. It will be dependent on the package of people that we put out there. I think that I have said this to you before, in our book we have 42 packages of defense. Since I have come here, we have only put in 18 of those packages. This week, we have eight ready to roll. It will be different guys playing that spot dependent on what the package is."
On Buccaneers QB Jameis Winston and the key to containing him and causing turnovers:
"You will love this, he is a competitive dude. You can see why he fits in leadership wise in the locker room and in the team. He plays 100 percent all of the time. If you have not played against him before, you do not understand how big his presence is in the pocket. He is not a small guy. He is a big guy in the pocket. He is a guy that will not go down easy. We have our work cut out for us in the pocket and getting him to the ground. Then when he has to worry about our presence in the pocket, then hopefully you can create some of those things down the field by a throw that is six inches bad or a throw that is 12 inches bad or a ball that is knocked out in the pocket. Those are the things that we have to do, and we have to continue to take the ball away on defense. We are doing a better job of that this year, but we need to do an even better job of it as we take steps the rest of the year."
On if the Buccaneer TEs are often overlooked due to the Buccaneers WRs' abilities:
"Yeah they are very, very good. They have a good mixture of on the line blocking tight ends, and they have got a good mixture of guys that can play the receiver position. The (Buccaneers TE O.J.) Howard kid, when I first got here, we had him in the Senior Bowl. He was on the team that we were coaching so I had a chance to see him a lot in the week of practice and have a lot of respect for him. He is a really good football player, comes from a well-coached background and the whole deal. He plays a lot like a big physical wide receiver when he plays, and he is even getting better in the blocking game. Those guys have done a good job. That staff, I go way back with a bunch of those guys. There are a lot of those guys on the staff that have been on the same staff with before so I know them inside and out. I have a lot of respect for those guys as men first and then as coaches second. They are doing a good job of coaching those guys and doing a really good job of coaching the way they need to play to have a chance to win. Our work is cut out for us. I see a lot of the things that I have seen on the practice field coaching against those guys on the practice field that they are still doing some of those same things and now our guys kind of recognize, react and then be able to match up, and some of the personnel matchups that we have to match up against."
On how the Browns can finish games on the road and end the away game losing streak:
"We have to play in a way that our dominance will allow us to play. The thing there is that we look at every single play, keep us in the ball game at the end and then rise up and make the play that wins the game, whether it is on defense, offense, special teams, but you have to stay into the game. Our league is such a great league where it keeps teams close all the time. We need to separate the score, and we separate the score on defense because we are scoring on defense, making them kick field goals down in the red zone and doing that stuff. Offense definitely puts some points on the board. I think you can see even more speed and excellence in our pass rush here, but we have to separate the score to do that. You have got to stop the run to get the opportunity and the honor of rushing the passer. You have to put him in those passing situations to do that, and now watch these guys go hunt, go rush the passer and do that kind of stuff. That is every day in practice. That is finishing the week right as the head coach was talking about hard with the players today and the coaches today. I think we had a really good week of preparation. Now, we have to come in tomorrow and do the things we have to do before we get on the plane and go down and finish down there with a win."
On if DL Myles Garrett needs to have more highlight games and plays, given Garrett's own statement that he wants to have more highlight games:
"Yes. Yes. Yes (laughter). However you want me to rephrase that, yes. He is a great, competitive player. One of the things that we all talk about is each and every one of us – me first, when I walk in that room – have to do more, and now you do. Each and every one of us, OK? Not just Myles. Not just Jamie. Not just Boddy. All of us do, and then when collectively all of us do that, do not be surprised of the outcome."
On if DB Jabrill Peppers found his effectiveness in the return game last week:
"Did he lose it (laughter)? That is kind of being facetious. I think the biggest thing is that everybody kind of took an intensity to it and took a little bit of pride amongst themselves. The guys had a lot of energy throughout the course of the week. It was a nice day and all of that. Everything kind of tied into being an advantageous day to catch a ball and run with it and block a little bit."
On if Peppers did anything differently as a returner last week:
"I think he worked the same as he has always done. He was always a good hard worker. I did not see anything noticeable during the week. He might have paid a little more attention to getting vertical. When he brings his pads, he is going to bring them low. Those kinds of things. He maybe had a little bit better vision of what was going on around him. I think that helps always with a returner especially. The longer that a guy gets into his defensive position in the NFL, much like I had with (Cardinals DB) Patrick Peterson in Arizona, sometimes you just have to go take a step back and look at it as a runner and not just as a returner. Those types of things help in that respect."
On how injuries are impacting the special teams units:
"First of all, attrition is always going to get you so you always have an in-game backup. I came here with the mindset that was probably one of the biggest things that the years in Pittsburgh and Arizona taught me. I think we had 270 substitutions in Arizona in a five-year period. We are getting pretty close to doing that here. You always have to have that next guy up mentality player wise and coaching wise. It is devastating when you lose a player early, particularly like we did with (WR Rod) Streater last week, but that is another man's opportunity. It is not anything that we do not prepare for. I have never not been a coach in college, high school and pro ball that we rep guys so that when I have to go to them on the sideline, they know exactly what is getting ready to happen. That is why they are attentive in meetings and we hold them accountable in that respect. From the standpoint if the next man up, it is not lip service. It can't be particularly in this league because you are only dressing 46. You have to be ready for that. Devastating when you lose a guy at any point in time, but when you lose him on the first punt of the game, it kind of throws everybody into a loop. What is the best avenue? Sometimes moving a guy to another position that he has probably worked in practice can kind of offset losing a guy completely in terms of not having a guy that is the best available in that respect."
On if K Greg Joseph was better in warmups last week:
"100 percent. 100 percent better."
On if Joseph was missing kicks in warmups two weeks ago or if his routine needed improvement:
"No, his routine was fine. You have to kind of take the same mindset with particular because of his youth. You want to see him make them in practice. You want to see him making them when he is kicking his sticks in practice. Your goal is for him to come out, whether it be with the sticks or it be with the team, you would like it to be in the 90th percentile. I think that was the biggest thing last week. It is the calmness about it for him. As a coach, you are always going to have a little butterfly, but it is kind of one of those deals there where it is something you want him to be able to go smoothly through the progressions of it so he does not get over anxious or start trusting something he should not be trusting or trying to do something he should not be doing. (Former Browns and NFL K) Dave Zastudil always said it, 'Trust your line.' That is what he kind of lived by and what he told the young (Buccaneers K) Chandler Catanzaro ironically when I had him in Arizona. You kind of just have to trust the first kick. Even if it did not go in, you kind of have to see what happens but do not panic. Do not hit the panic button and just start kicking all over the place."
On if he liked how Joseph bounced back after missing kicks against Baltimore:
"Yes, and I expect him to continue to grow this week. New adversity. You go down to the warm weather, different field and all of those things. He has to continue to progress. Each week is going to be different to him until he gets all of these stadiums mastered."
On Joseph being accurate with distance on kickoffs for touchbacks and helping that accuracy translate to FGs:
"Completely different. You have a tee [on kickoffs] – the ball is spotted off of the ground [on field goals] – and you are not going to hit the dirt when you swing through. It is really the leg strength on the kickoff is accentuated by the fact that you have a tee so the ball is higher so you are going to hit the ball in the sweet spot a little bit more and sometimes they are more consistent. Catanzaro is an 80 percent kickoff touchback guy. Those kind of guys that I have had that have strong legs, that is the elevation part of the tee is completely different really than a guy kicking a field goal off of the ground. They have to transition because of the height. Greg has a strong leg. Hopefully, he can continue to muscle it through because we know what is getting ready to happen with the weather and stuff like that. All of those things factor in. That is why if we kick a touchback, we are coaching on Wednesday or Monday when the team comes back in the kickoff coverage team as if that play was ran. We decide what we think they are returning, and we spend a lot of time coaching them on 'This is what you better be looking at' because eventually, somebody is going to bring those balls out or they are not going to be end zone balls and we are going to have to make sure we cover right. You kind of just have to keep coaching them in that respect because the touchback is good – it does not put a lot of pressure on the coverage team – but eventually, you are going to see teams that bring balls out or the weather is going to dictate that the ball is not going to go into the end zone."
