Opening statement:
"Good team win. Played well in all three phases. Played in a good, synchronized, complementary fashion. Good to see a couple of young guys step up and do some good things. A couple of the new guys that came in off of the streets, (General Manager) John (Dorsey) and those guys did a good job. I think that the coaches did a really good job. They had hardly any sleep this week with catching up some people that were new to the team. I thought (QB) Baker (Mayfield) played well, ran the team well, ran the clock well and did a good job there. It was nice to see (RB Nick) Chubb get a franchise record with a pretty good run."
On offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens mentioning earlier in the week about installing the wishbone formation:
"I am glad. When he joked, I am thinking, 'Oh, here we go' because it was [in the plan]. He has experience in that area as I have experience in that area, too. We have a good package of things that we wanted that group of players to come onto the field. We also wanted to see how they would respond. How would they visualize or see the package? We had a good package of plays. We had a little no-huddle concept, also, if we needed to try to keep that package on the field. Very well-thought out on Freddie and the offensive staff on utilizing what we have here."
On if Mayfield cut it loose, given his message to Mayfield to do so:
"The thing is that if you take a step back and watch how he managed the game in the huddle, how he managed the clock, how he managed the check systems and how he managed the overall communication on the offensive side of the ball, a good next step for him, yes."
On LB Joe Schobert returning from injury:
"It was nice to see him back. I do not know if he ever wants to coach when he gets done – he has a lot of playing time, he is a young player – but he is that smart and that conceptual aware. That did help us there. I thought (LB) Tanner (Vallejo) stepped up and did some good things there. We packaged all of those guys in and out. The secondary, we packaged those guys in and out pretty well. We had a little bit more rested snaps with the defensive line because we were able to do that with how we were managing the clock with the offense, defense and special teams."
On Mayfield distributing the ball to multiple targets and the Browns offense's weapons:
"Won the day. That is the big thing. Without looking ahead, we won the day. They did a good job, and he did a good job on where you think he is going to go with the ball and how he was able to move things around and keep people open all over the field. He did a very good job with that."
On Mayfield completing his first 13 attempts and the importance of it:
"[Very important] for his confidence, and it also goes back to show how he worked this week and the little nuances that he corrected this week was right. That helps the confidence on continuing to push that same way with a few little technique things that he had to do. If you have not played the positon, it is the balance of the throwing positon. He corrected his balance and was very accurate. It was good to see."
On DB T.J. Carrie's forced fumble at the start of the second half:
"It is not the first time that he has done that. He does that in practice. He has had several of those already this year. It was very big. We had to match the takeaway battle. That was good. Also, the fourth down stop, anytime you have fourth down stops, it turns over to takeaways the same way, especially a fourth down stop in the scoring area. That sends a lot of messages back across the field. It also sends messages to the confidence of your own team."
On the gameplan to contain Falcons WR Julio Jones:
"The big thing was to try to understand conceptually what they were trying to do, stay on top of him and try to make it as difficult as possible to find him.
On the significance of the win after coaching changes and losing consecutive games:
"All wins are important. In all honest, all wins are important. We talked about that even in that last two weeks. How do you win today? How do you win this meeting? How do you win this argument? How do you win? It is a way that you understand that is important. This right here is the confidence that we have a long way to go yet and we have more games to play. They need to get fresh, they need to get rested, they need to get clear minds and get ready for the long haul when they get back."
On Mayfield's success managing the clock:
"The entire game. Opening kickoff. Opening kickoff on. I have been pretty fortunate to understand that, and I have been with really good people that understand that before on how we have done that before. We have done it well. For both games, we have done that well."
On earning his first win as head coach in a long time:
"Take that away. Do not worry about that with me. I love it for them."
On the Browns defense's goal line stand:
"Showed tenacity. Showed a will to protect the goal line. We talk about it every single day in practice, whether it is a walkthrough or whether it is a practice or it is a game. That takes the next step in confidence, too. That is not the first time since I have been here that we have done that. That is something we have done quite a bit in practice and quite a bit in games and have to keep on doing it. It does help in the confidence factor that we know what we are doing."
On what Chubb has shown since taking over as starting RB:
"The other day when we were talking about it – whatever the question was the other day, and again what do I do? Knock on wood. – protect the football. He is a good runner. He has good vision, and then once he gets out there, he is not easy to bring down and can run away from you. He showed his runaway ability, also, to separate and finish the play. That was excellent."
On if winning heading into the bye helps create momentum:
"I will always say every win helps, but we are taking it one day at a time, one game at a time. Now when we get ready to come back the next opponent – the Bengals right? I have not looked that far ahead. We will be working all time as coaches and give them a little time off too, but we will spend very detailed work on self-scout work this week. We always do defensively. We always do that, but we will get ahead and try to get a jump on the Bengals, but we have to get refreshed."
On if Mayfield proving he could play with confidence and lead the team:
"I believe it is important for the quarterback to have that, but more important I believe as important –for everybody else to see that he is charge and now the confidence that each person brings to him. They have to bring their own confidence to him."
On if he felt he had to work to convince himself this game was winnable:
"No, every day is competition. My whole life every day. Wherever I have been at whatever level, it has been that as a position coach, as a coordinator as a head coach, and then that is what they have to understand, too. Every day, be on time. That is a winnable situation. Do not be the last in the meeting room. Do not be the last on the practice field. All of those little bit of things from a disciplinary and accountable things, that is how you take the next step or how I believe and now how we believe we take the next step."
On if OL Greg Robinson starting at LT was a coach's decision:
"Yes, it was and we made a decision all week long. Des (OL Desmond Harrison) was doing well, but it came down to me. The final trigger was that he would be better coming out of the bye, and let's not push things too fast and felt comfortable with how we were doing last week. Felt comfortable with the plan of how we move people around on injuries – next man up this situation, and it worked out well."
On if there is still a competition for starting LT:
"Yes it is, and really it is every day, and it is not only that position. It is the receiver position. It is tight end. It is linebacker and defensive back. That is how it is on all positions."
On if anything happened over the last couple days that gave him a hunch that they would win:
"I thought all last week the way we focused in practice and I thought all this week, too, and that is the only way that I or any of us can feel good about is how you get out of each and every day. You do not want setbacks. You do not want setbacks in practice. You do not want setbacks and distractions. You do not want setbacks in those fashions. These guys, give them credit now. Seriously, give them credit. They have done a very good job blocking out lots of different things and doing what needs to be done to be in this position."
On Mayfield not having any interceptions or sacks after being told to play aggressively:
"Excellent."
On the halfback pass that resulted in an interception:
"We repped it all week long and conceptually, had that not been a zone [coverage], it could have been out the gate, but it is just one of those things and they happened to be in a zone coverage over a man coverage. Had it been the other one, it just is what it is and we will coach better off of that too in respect of throw it away. Maybe I need to have Baker teach (RB Dontrell) Hilliard about 7 on 7 drills or something. It was a good concept, and give the Falcons credit and the zone concept that they had. We just have to do better."
