Included below are select quotes from interviews with the following Browns players during today's media availability:
- WR Corey Coleman
- K Travis Coons
- LB Demario Davis
- DB Joe Haden
- K Patrick Murray
- DL Danny Shelton
WR Corey Coleman:
On his status this week and if he will play Friday night:
"That's the plan. I'm back practicing, and it's important for me and some of the guys who have been out to get some good work in."
On Head Coach Hue Jackson saying it is important for him to play this week:
"Yes, I think it's important. I haven't played in an NFL game. I think it's important this week to go and practice against Tampa and play in the game and do what I need to do."
On if he has to weigh playing now with remaining healthy for the regular season:
"Right. That's why I sat out the games, just to make sure I'm full go. I was released by the trainers to do everything."
On WRs Josh Gordon and Terrelle Pryor playing with him and how opportunities will be shared:
"I think it's going to go really good. Our main focus is about winning. It's the whole team. I don't see anybody being selfish or anything. Our main goal is to win. Whatever it takes, that's what we're going to do."
K Travis Coons:
On training camp:
"Training camp, preseason are going good, other than that last kick. That PAT, pushed it. Other than that, just a couple ups and downs here and there but it's stuff that I can fix and it's nothing different so I'm ready to go."
On how much Browns coaches emphasized getting more lift on his kicks this past offseason and how much he worked on it:
"Actually a lot. That's pretty much all I did all offseason was try to work on getting lift on the ball, which I think I did. Even sometimes, like the other day in practice, I've been getting a little too much and the wind kind of like takes it away from me, but that's another thing that I can work on and get honed in on."
On if there is a significant difference to get the lift that he wants:
"No, not really. It's just hard trying to find the balance between getting it up as high as I need to versus how much I need the trajectory of everything versus what kick I'm hitting. It just depends on what the hit is."
On where he stands in the kicking competition:
"That's up to (special teams coordinator Chris Tabor) Coach Tabes. I don't know. I'm not sure. I'm just out there trying to do what I know how to do and just kick."
On what kind of feedback he been getting from the coaching staff about the kicking competition:
"Everything is positive. (K Patrick Murray) is doing good things. I'm doing good things. It's all fun. It's all good."
LB Demario Davis:
On if he's looking forward to going against Tampa this week:
"Yeah, it's going to be an interesting dynamic being down there practicing against another team. One of the things you do realize is that it's immediate feedback between the practices and understanding who they are and getting live matchups all week then you go right into the game. It's going to be an interesting week. I'm looking forward to it."
On if he's ever participated in joint practices:
"This will be the first for me so it's kind of a new experience. It's just another opportunity to get better playing in the games and practices. The practices lead up to the game and you're going to see those same formations, same personnel so it gives you that immediate feedback. You don't have to wait until the game to know exactly how it's going to look. You're going to see it right after that Tuesday-Wednesday practice. Then Thursday, you have that mock game and then go into the regular game so it's going to be a different dynamic, but you kind of know what to expect."
On the first two preseason games and where the Browns defense is right now:
"The thing I see is that we have a long way to go. We're doing some things well, but there is still tremendous room for improvement just in the run game, in the pass game and creating turnovers and getting after the quarterback in the red zone, in short-yard situations, just tremendous room for us to get better, which is good. You want to be able to improve and the good thing is it's not Week 1 yet. We still have time to get it right, but that window of opportunity is closing. Our coaches are telling us everything right. The players are committed. We just have to and each individual player has to keep working on their craft and getting better, keep getting better and be ready, especially in Week 1."
DB Joe Haden:
On if his recovery is like riding a bike and getting back into his routine:
"Yeah, it is. It feels good to be back out there. It feels really good going against other players, lining up, back-peddling, breaking on passes. It feels good."
On if the timing is fortunate to return to compete against Tampa this week:
"Yeah, I think it is, just to be able to get some competition against another NFL team that's really just going after you. It's going to be some real competition, and I think being able to go back full go finally against another team trying to get after it. I think it's going to be really good for me."
On his recovery the past few weeks:
"It's been going really well. I haven't had any setbacks. Ankle has just been getting better and better so I've just been doing more and more – breaking, jumping, do a little bit of everything. Now, I'm able to do team 11-on-11 stuff full speed, full go so just getting better and better."
On if he's on pace to be where he needs to be Week 1:
"Yeah, for sure."
K Patrick Murray:
On training camp:
"Camp has been going great. I'm loving every minute of it, especially coming off the injury that I'm coming off of just to get another opportunity is a blessing. Every day out here, I've just tried to put my best foot forward and make the kicks that I'm given. That's what I've done and I feel good."
On if entered camp believing there was a real opportunity to win a starting job:
"I approach every opportunity like it's a real opportunity for me to win a job. That's the way you have to be in the NFL. These opportunities don't just come around all the time. That's my approach."
On returning to Tampa and playing against his former team:
"It's another game. That's it. Another game, another opportunity."
On what it's been like working with special teams coordinator Chris Tabor:
"Great. Coach Tabes, he's a great special teams coach. He knows when to be serious and he knows when to really push your buttons, but at the same time, he knows when to give you your space and when to make it light, too. He's got the perfect balance and we work well together."
On if he feels as though the starting K spot is his job to lose at this point:
"Coach Tabes said go kick the ball. I went and kicked the ball. That's about the height of it."
On if he ever doubted that he would be able to recover and return from his injury:
"No. Confident. Never. No doubt. Zero doubt."
On when he felt back to 100 percent health:
"I was cleared in the middle of May so about eight months, and I felt great. I feel great right now. I had the best surgeon in the world, and I had the best support system around me. I feel incredible."
On what he still needs to improve:
"Getting to know these guys more. As a kicker, you're judged on consistency. The more I can get to know my long snapper and my holder, the better I'm going to be, and the better we're going to be as a unit."
DL Danny Shelton:
On the Browns run defense:
"I feel like we have some good players, players who do what they need to do for the team when they're in so I'm not really worried about what the preseason statistics say right now because I know what our guys are capable of. Once we're put in that situation, we'll be able to handle business, but at the same time, I'm disappointed in any player that's in that would kind of take away from our goal of being a top defense. This last game was disappointing, but at the same time, I want to continue to work with what we got and stay focused on the Bucs."
On his performance:
"I think that I've been improving. The first two teams we've had some zone read, a little changeup to what we've been working on. I think it's preparing me for the season. It's giving me a chance to work. I definitely can do better, and we definitely can do better as a D line. It's just hard to kind of reenact that in practice when you don't have the guys who can run so lateral and stuff. We try to do as much as we can to represent the Browns organization and we need to continue to do better at that. I'm glad where we're at now because it's given us the chance to be humbled. A lot of people expect a lot from us. We expect a lot from us. For us to face these two teams and not come out with the outcome, it's putting more of a chip on our shoulder. We can use that for these next couple weeks finishing this preseason."
On playing against former Browns and Falcons C Alex Mack:
"It was pretty good because I've seen Alex during the offseason in Cali. We worked out at the same gym so it was pretty cool to play against him. He definitely didn't change from the Alex Mack that I remember coming into my rookie year. He's still that guy who peaks to be a Pro Bowler. Just going up against him, I feel like I got better just facing that zone scheme. I feel like Atlanta does a really great job with how they run the zone scheme just as far as making the D line have to run and getting right back on to the ball and doing it again. It definitely prepared us for the season to be ready for that."
