Opening statement:
"What we have to refrain from doing right now is overreacting. It is one game in a 16-game schedule. We are very disappointed in the lack of discipline that we showed, the loss of composure that we showed at times and just overall not doing a good enough job from a coaching perspective and a player perspective to get the job done in a positive manner. The atmosphere was incredible for that game, for an opening game, a day game and all those sort of things. Really have never been in that type of atmosphere before. As a testament to our fans, we are going to continue to make corrections in how we prepare from a discipline standpoint and a lack of composure standpoint. I think that put us in some bad situations that we were not able to overcome enough of those situations, put us behind in the game and ultimately out of reach because of those things. We will get better next week and we will see where we are at. Any questions?"
On avoiding an overreaction and the Browns players responded as desired in terms of accountability today:
"I did get that response. How do I avoid the overreaction? We have preached from the very beginning about blocking out the outside noise and we got to continue to do that. Recognize the problem and then rectify the problem. We talk all the time all throughout training camp that they were put in situations where problems arose so we identify those problems and then we rectify the problems. That is how you get better as a football team. I fully expect that we have the men in the locker room that are going to do that."
On corrections the Browns can make during the week:
"A lot of it was losing composure at times. [Bad] technique causes you to be in bad positions to commit penalties. We need to continue to work on our technique in the back end of things on defense and upfront. It is about maintaining your composure and being the smarter football team. We understand that problem, and we will work on fixing that problem."
On keeping Browns players disciplined as opponents get under their skin, given the person who retaliates is typically caught :
"No doubt. That has always been the case. That will continue to be the case, but it is understanding what is going on in the moment and refraining from doing those sorts of things. That way you do not put yourself in the position for people to say that you lost your composure. That is what we are going to do."
On T Kendall Lamm's status and if the Browns will need to look for an additional T:
"We are always looking for people, but we have not got a definitive length of time or anything like that on Kendall yet. Unless we got it from the meeting to this press conference, we have not yet."
On if Lamm has a knee injury:
"Yes sir."
On QB Baker Mayfield's status:
"X-rays were negative, so we are good to go."
On if Mayfield will miss any practice time:
"We are just now a day after the game so we will have to see how he feels. I am pretty sure that he will be fine. I can't say anything definitive right now as far as missing practice time, but I am pretty certain he will be fine."
On if there are concerns about the Browns OL:
"I think what happens in a situation where you lose a tackle, you make a change and then you lose that tackle. I think those guys did an admiral job in hanging in there. They kept fighting. They kept giving us a chance at times. I am good with what they had to do overcoming a couple of tackles that were not there. We took seven guys to the game, and you really do not want to play but five. We played seven. When that happens, it is kind of a worst-case scenario, and those guys hung in there. They were not perfect by any stretch of imagination, but they did give us a chance."
On the Browns' OL yesterday, given the protection in the game:
"I think the protection aspect of things can't get solely put at the sole of their feet. There are other things that have to happen in protections. Tight ends are involved in protections. Running backs are involved in protections. Quarterbacks are involved in protections. That is how I will answer that question."
On if Mayfield held onto the ball too long yesterday after watching the film:
"I think he will continue to get better with his eyes and put his eyes in the right place. He will continue to get better, and the ball will start coming out quicker. On a couple of plays we had down the field, then it seemed like the protection broke down a little bit. I have to do a better job of putting those guys in better situations from that standpoint. That falls on me more than anything else. When you go talking about the offensive line's protection, that falls on me, as well. They have to play better, but I have to do a hell of a lot better job at putting them in better situations."
On some questionable penalties yesterday how that factors into discussing penalties with the team:
"I will answer that question by saying this, we are not going to make excuses for our penalties. We chose to do the things that we did to create those penalties. We are not going to complain about the officiating. Fans have every right to have their opinions. We are not going to create excuses for them. I was in Arizona, and when I got there, they were 4-12 and 5-11. They were not very good. We understand that you just have to play the game until you wins some games, and then questionable calls are questionable calls and hopefully they go your way sometimes. From that standpoint, we are never going to make excuses about penalties and all that. Those guys try to do a good job of officiating the game. Some of those penalties we had now were self-inflicted, too. Those are the ones that I care about. Those are the ones that are self-inflicted. Those that are directly correlated to being undisciplined and directly correlated to losing your composure. Those are the ones that hurt you. It is not the live action battlefield decisions per se that they have to make and react. It is those that you do not leave any room for error and it is a penalty."
On his message at Indianapolis that the team was 'not going to take anything from anybody' and if some penalties came from that mindset and retaliation:
"I would hope not. I would hope that we would play between the whistles, not after."
On players competing together for the first time may have factored into some technique issues leading to penalties:
"I do not think so. They need to play with good technique. They understand that. We need to do a better job of teaching the technique, and we understand that. I fully expect it to be better moving forward, that is what the expectation is for us."
On if WR Rashard Higgins will miss time:
"We have four guys that I have not got the final say from Joe and his guys yet, but we will have to see. I should know something here in the next few hours on some of them. Some of them will be wait and see until we get back out on the field."
On Mayfield not being as accurate or sharp yesterday:
"I do not think he was terribly sharp yesterday. I have to do a better job of putting him in better situations. A lot of that falls on me."
On reports that T Robinson will be fined and not suspended by the NFL:
"I have not heard anything definitive about that. I hope that is the case. Greg is very remorseful. It does not do us any good now. He understands what he did was wrong, and that won't happen again. "
On if the deep shots down the field were due to being aggressive or being behind schedule with the penalties:
"A little bit of both. We had six times yesterday offensively that we were either first or second and 20. Six times yesterday, we had penalties on defense and four of those six resulted in them getting a first down. Their first touchdown drive, 45 penalty yards. They got the ball at their own 13-yard line and we gave them 45 yards of that drive that ended up in a touchdown. Those are the kind of things that we identified as problems and are getting rectified. Yes, some of them did result in that. I hope I answered your question."
On how play calling can help with Mayfield's pass release time:
"You teach them better protection technique. You pick and choose when you can throw the ball downfield and when you can't. We are always going to be aggressive. I am not changing. We are going to be aggressive play callers. We are going to take our shots, and I have to pick and choose when to do it better."
On his confidence that the Browns penalties will not carry over to the NY Jets game:
"Very comfortable, very confident that they will not carry over. Here is what makes me say that. The men we have in that locker room, they are going to rally together, and they are going to be accountable to each other. They are accountable to each other. They understand the problems that we created for ourselves yesterday. They understand that we got the ball at the 49-yard line, down 22-13 and have a shot play called and we can't get it off – they understand that – and get a holding call on that play. That puts us into fist-and-20 again. We understand what the result of that play would have been if we could have gotten it off so we understand the problem. They will rectify the problem. We have a bunch of guys in there that bought in to what each other means to them. They will do that. I feel very confident that I know what we are going to get when we go to the practice field starting tomorrow, and I feel very confident in what we are going to get when we show up."
On the Browns DL's performance and bringing pressure from different spots yesterday:
"Here is what happens when you have a front like we have. You get chipped and you get bumped on both sides so that eliminates you and it gives the quarterback longer to throw the ball, and their receivers longer to run their routes and then you are more susceptible to getting defensive holding calls in the secondary. That is exactly what happened. To create pressure as coaches, we have to sometimes do things to create pressure and to put the pressure on the quarterback to make mistakes. Yeah, we did. It was planned."
On DT Devaroe Lawrence's sharing what he said to be flagged in the fourth quarter:
"We do not condone that. That was addressed with Devaroe and I. I am not going to talk about what we talked about. Devaroe Lawrence is very much a team guy. Devaroe Lawrence will make those corrections. He understands what he did wrong. He will make those corrections and that will not happen again. We are going to play with class. We are going to play with pride. We are going to play to the whistle, but we are not going to do anything after and certainly are not make comments to people that are in affect like that."
On K Austin Seibert's missed PAT and the impact of it:
"Eventually missed PATs hurt you. It does not feel like a big deal because of the final score, but yes, I agree 100 percent with you. His job is to make the kicks. He understands that. He is going to work to get better."
On if the missed PAT took the air out of the sideline as it did the fans:
"No, I do not think so. I do not think so. If you are into the business of finding excuses, there are a lot of excuses that you can find, but we are not doing that. We are about the result. Football is a production-based business. Individually, collectively as a team, individually, performance as a coach, as a player, everything – it is production-based. When you lose the game, you can find excuses anywhere you look. Most of the time, all you have to do is ask somebody or give them an out to use an excuse, and you will get it. We are not going to be in that business because we are only about the result. The only thing that matters is the final score, and we get there by playing each play the best we can do on that particular play, keeping our composure after the play and right at the end of the play with some hits on the quarterback and stuff like that. Offensively, we have to be disciplined enough to stay onside and know the snap count. We have to be technically sound enough to keep ourselves in good positons so we do not get holding calls that make us first-and-20. Those are technique-oriented penalties because they are holding calls and you get outside the framework of the body. We have to be disciplined enough to use our technique, do not press the panic button just because a guy might be lined up a little wider or a little shorter or whatever and get those things corrected. I think everything we just pointed out and identified in our team meeting can be fixed instantly so that is what we need to do. If we want to get where we want to be at the end of next week, we will do that on an everyday basis this week to identify and rectify those problems."
On the number of missed tackles against the Titans:
"I do not have the final number of those. I do not think I wrote those, down but it was not too terribly bad."
On the Titans' ability to produce big plays, including the screen pass fro a TD:
"That was a good play call on their part, and we have to do a better job of combatting that play call. That was on me, too."
On how he handles a situation like the actions and ejection of T Greg Robinson:
"I handle it with me and Greg Robinson and me and the team. That is all."
On if he felt the Browns abandoned the run game too early in his play calling against the Titans:
"I do not, no. In the fourth quarter, it was a 22-13 game with a chance to get close. I do not."
On if he was aware WR Odell Beckham Jr. wore a watch during the game that violated NFL policy:
"I was not aware that he had the watch on. As long as they are going to enforce that with everyone, I am fine with that. Let's just make sure we get it enforced with everybody."
On if the NFL has reached out to the Browns about Beckham wearing the watch:
"Yes they have. Did they want to put another flag on the field and give us 19 penalties (laughter)? I was being facetious, sorry."
On what needs to change to fix mistakes and penalties, specifically from an operational standpoint:
"We need to play smarter. That is what we need to change moving forward. We need to coach smarter. We need to play smarter. We just need to be a smart, tough, physical football team."
On if running no-huddle offense was part of the team's gameplan and if penalties hurt the ability to do it throughout the game:
"There is always that in the gameplan. It is just you pick and choose when to do it. You do it in spurts, and that was the plan. It is always the plan, though."
On starting CB Greedy Williams and his performance in his NFL debut:
"I thought Greedy played pretty good. He had a penalty on special teams as a gunner, but overall, I thought Greedy challenged the wide receivers and competed every play. I thought he did well."
On how Williams earned the start against the Titans:
"It was just over the course of the last couple weeks. We felt like throwing him out there first."
