OL Joel Bitonio:
On little mistakes adding up and those attributing to the loss:
"As an offense, I think the main thing was turnovers. We only ran the ball nine times, but I think six of those were effective runs where it is like four yards, a first down or a touchdown. We just can't turn the ball over four times and expect to win on the road. I think those are big things. It might be little things during the play, but turnovers are big things this week and that is what cost us. You never know what happens if one of those (WR) Antonio Callaway touchdowns was a touchdown. Then you are right back in it. You get another stop, you go down and you get another drive going. You never really know. If we can eliminate some of the turnover a little bit, I think that would have helped us."
On if it is more frustrating that turnovers and errors may have been self-inflicted:
"They are a good defense and they made some plays, and their offense did some good things – ball control – keeping us off of the field, but it is frustrating when you see you can be successful. (QB) Baker (Mayfield) threw for 350 [yards] in the second half. You are like, 'What if we could have done that in the first half, as well?' Those things are frustrating. You want to play better and you want to put up a better performance, and when you dig yourself that big of a whole it is always hard to come back from."
On if the Texans defended differently in the second half:
"I do not think so. I think their plan was to try and contain Baker in the pocket. They did not really blitz us too much. They were dropping a lot more guys into coverage. Most teams this year have been blitzing a lot. Baker has kind of been dicing them up the last couple of weeks. This week, they sent a few back, but I think we just executed better, we took care of the ball better and made some more things happen [in previous weeks]."
On not allowing a sacks for the third consecutive week:
"It is good. I think we had some help this week. The running backs were doing a good job chipping. The tight ends David (Njoku) and Seth (DeValve), (WR) Jarvis (Landry) all really helped us. They chipped some of those guys settle them down a little bit, and I give (OL Chris) Hubbard and (OL) Greg (Robinson) some big time credit. They had a tough matchups on the edge, and they both stepped up. There were obviously a couple of plays they wanted back, but for the most part they blocked those guys, and most teams have not been able to this year."
On if the Browns OL should get extra credit for not surrendering a sack, given the OL is typically blamed when sacks occur:
"Sure, if you guys want to. Like I said, though, there is a lot of help. There is a lot of help this week. We had a good gameplan, and the running backs were in there chipping bodies. It was fun to be a part of. It is good to protect that guy and you guys see when he gets taken care of, he can make some throws."
On Mayfield's ability to bounce back from three-interception game:
"It is pretty impressive. I think he already bounced back in the second half. I think he improved a bunch from one half to the other, but his mentality I think he forgot about it by halftime. He is going to be ready this week, and I think he is going to want to improve on his overall performance. The great thing about him is he can play the next play, but he will come back like today on Monday and be his biggest critic. He knows he is trying to improve everything and he wants those throws back, and he is going to be ready to get out there and improve those."
OL JC Tretter:
On the Browns OL's relationship with QB Baker Mayfield and Mayfield's leadership:
"His leadership, especially as a rookie coming in, it is so genuine. It is a genuine leadership of you want to be around him. People gravitate towards him. That is big because he has had to take a big step being a rookie in the locker room, as well as leading older veteran plyers. It is one of those things where if you push too hard and are deemed fake, then people are going to push back on you, but that is the thing, Baker is just such a natural leader, such a genuine, good person that is has made it really easy to have the older guys kind of gravitate towards him, work with him and be excited to play for him. That is really a testament to Baker as a leader to have that quality."
On Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy:
"I really enjoyed my four years in Green Bay. It is tough kind of how things go down, but that is just kind of the business we are in. Tough last year for him with A Rod (Packers QB Aaron Rodgers) getting hurt, and things just did not click this year like in previous years. I have always enjoyed working with Mike McCarthy. I think what he has done in his career in Green Bay has been extraordinary. I think that there are not many franchises that would trade what he has done or pass that up. I think that he is a great man, too. I really enjoyed working with him. I really do not have a bad thing to say about Mike McCarthy. He was really an awesome leader and an awesome coach. Coming in as a rookie to go into that program and to be coached by him was really awesome for my career to set me up on how this business works and how the game of football is played."
On if McCarthy could be a good fit in Cleveland:
"I think so. I think so. I think that the guys upstairs, though, they are going to do what is best for this team. That has been proven since they have gotten here. They have made all of the right decisions on how to lead this team and move this team forward. Whoever they pick, I have all of the faith in the world."
On if General Manager John Dorsey would may ask his opinion to get a player's perspective on McCarthy:
"I think that they know enough upstairs. They have (Assistant General Manager) Eliot (Wolf), (Vice President of Player Personnel) Alonzo (Highsmith) and other guys from the Green Bay organization. I do not think that I could bring anything more to the table that they do not already know. They were with him for longer than I was, and they were upstairs with him more than I was downstairs with him. I think they know everything they need to know. I am just looking forward to seeing the direction that they go with this team."
On if McCarthy may be open to bringing a newer style offense to the team:
"I would imagine. Again, I think that Mike is a good coach. He did a really good job when I was there. I think that is all going to be figured out upstairs with Dorsey and the rest of the leadership up there. I think that there is not much that I can bring to the table than that. I think that they will do the best job of finding the best option for us."
On if a member of the OL can feel possible tension between a QB and head coach:
"I think that whole storyline gets a little overblown. I think that there are just two very competitive people there with Aaron and Mike. They both are competitive in the same direction in that they want the team to win. I never see it is a competing competitiveness in a bad way. They just both are very confident in what they think is best for the team to win. I never really interpreted it as a bad thing. Again, you have to put the results on the field and they were able to do that for a decade together. Then the last couple of years have not gone that well. I never looked at that as this is a negative of two people who just desperately want to win and want to make their way towards winning the way they think is best. They always worked well together, I felt like, combining their ideas. That is the business that we are in. Things eventually move on."
