Opening statement:
"Good practice again today. As we finish the week on pace, this is the last really fast practice. Obviously, on Saturdays we come in and do it from more of a walkthrough mode. We still do all of the mental strains and the mental stresses and all of that kind of stuff. Finished pretty good this week. Three good days, and now, it is time to go into the rooms right here and finish in the meetings strong here as we finish up the day. One of the thing that we do today here, too, is that we do player only meetings today. It is important that they see things the right way. They will bring things to our attention that maybe still need to be cleaned up a little bit. I think that is very, very good. I learned that from (former NFL defensive coordinator) Buddy Ryan a long time ago. (Former Browns head coach and Bengals special assistant to the head coach) Hue (Jackson) was already doing that here and we have been doing that here anyway, but I always liked the fact that there are players-only meetings so that their voices are heard and that everything has been sorted out in their mind."
On RB Damarious Randall's status and if he may miss Sunday's game:
"Do not think so. Just making sure that we are taking care."
On if OL Austin Corbett's foot injury could be season-ending:
"I still do not think that. Although, we are doing what is right, we think. Just from all of the people that have given us advice, we are going to sit him down this week."
On the Browns' backup C with Corbett out:
"One of the things is that I tried (offensive line coach) Bob Wylie the other day, but (assistant offensive line coach) Mark Hutson is younger and used to play the position (laughter). Now, we will have Mark, but I am not going to mention on how we are doing all of that."
On if Randall has been involved in the gameplan enough to play on Sunday:
"He practiced. He has practiced Wednesday, Thursday and today. We are just going to make sure that we are right. Tomorrow will be good, too. Yes."
On if he sees some of Texans DE J.J. Watt's strong attributes in DL Myles Garrett:
"Yes, I do. Those are things that will only continue to get better with more and more experience. I smile, I was talking a little bit yesterday about the anticipatory traits and the instinctive traits. When you are really, really good, no matter what sport you are in, you are not afraid to guess. The really, really, really good players have a lot more right guesses than they do wrong. When you do have a wrong guess, what is your immediate response to counter? J.J. and the really good players that I have had the luxury to learn that from understand that. It does not make any difference if it is baseball or basketball. Anything athletic, there is that process that goes on, and he does that very well."
On if he uses Watt as an example for Garrett to learn:
"Yeah, I use a lot of different people. One of the things that has been a mentor to him that you can't have a better example is (Pro Football Hall of Fame DE) Bruce Smith. There are lots of different things. I have used several different pictures and clips when he first got in of (Rams DT) Aaron Donald, (Dolphins DE) Robert Quinn and (former Titans and Eagles DE) Jevon Kearse. It goes on and on and on. I do not want to leave out names and everything, but there are people that have played at those very extremely fast pace levels at our league that all of those are good examples. Now, there is nothing secret. They go online and find all of the old backup film anymore, and they come in and show things to us. I think that is cool when they show things to me. It shows me how important it is to them. They are doing the research. They are wanting to get better so it is important."
On if he would still take Garrett No. 1 overall in the draft, given the QBs and other plays in the draft, specifically Texans QB Deshaun Watson:
"Yes, I would. I really like him. I was involved with some of the processes here in a background role of they had me evaluate the quarterbacks, too, and they had me evaluate a lot of the top players on the other side of the ball. I think you do good things like that in successful organizations that we have been with before to help here. I am not afraid to get other people's opinion. Get the opinion of a defensive guy on an offensive guy. We do the same thing. Get the opinion of an offensive guy on a defensive guy, and we have them. You can't burden everybody with too much to look at, but things that you are trying to find all of the little itty bity things before you make the final decision, I think those are important."
On Texans S Tyrann Mathieu:
"I know so much about him because he was being recruited at the same time my other son was being recruited. They were in the LSU camps together when LSU was recruiting him and my son, too. He came into camp down there at LSU and not anybody knew anything about him. He left the camp as the MVP of the camp with about 120-160 players at that camp. Everybody started saying, 'What?' He did the same thing when he was in college. As he has come on in the league when playing at Arizona, we were in the same division so I knew a lot about him playing him twice a year and watched him grow in the league. (Former Cardinals defensive coordinator and current NY Jets Head Coach) Todd Bowles and how Todd Bowles was using him down there at Arizona, there were some similarities on some of the things that we do defensively that he would do here. Instincts. Measureables are one thing. Maybe all of the size, weight and speed things do not tap out to be the highest thing in the world, but he has played at a very high pace. He has always played at a very productive level. I think he is doing a really good job down there of bringing some spirit to them."
On Watt's work ethic and motor:
"He was a walk-on, too. Offensive lineman. How did that happen (laughter)?"
On if Garrett can play at that same high level every snap of a game and if it can be coached:
"Sure you can. You do. You can. You are striving to do that. As we have now gotten to a point in time of the season to where I think we can do a better job – me do a better job – on getting him some rest. That was one of the things that back in the early 90s when I was with the Oilers we were doing some things on how we were resting our linemen coming in and out. (Pro Football Hall of Fame Head Coach) Jimmy Johnson saw that at the Cowboys and started copying us at the Cowboys doing some of that stuff. Other people started doing it at other places during those times. We had to get through some young learning curves early in the season here with some new people that were not in camp, were not in spring practices and were not in anything with us. We have had enough time on task, hopefully, that we can keep him fresher."
On his evaluation of Watson when entering the draft:
"Really liked him a lot. Really did. He had all of the makings. When we evaluate, all of us have made mistakes, but when you continue to confirm that what I said at the time was pretty favorable about him, it helps me again when I see similar traits or similar things later on with other people. That whole class of guys turned out to be pretty good. I thought that he did very well. I had the opportunity here when he came through here in the interview process to also just do some talking with him. That does not happen at a lot of places where you crossover on a 30-man interview from an offensive guy to go in and talk to an offensive guy or a defensive guy going and talking to an offensive guy. I think that they do things really good upstairs here. They were doing that before I got here."
On the Browns ultimately ending up with both QB Baker Mayfield and Garrett:
"Good. It is not anything to do knocking Deshaun at all how it ended up with him. People saw how much they wanted him with the interest level down there of what the Texans went about doing it. Pretty good here, too, on how it has all shaped out. Whoever could predict their future did a good job (laughter)."
On Randall's strongest trait that may not be as well known:
"He is a smart player. He is not somebody that has to be told things over and over again. He can pick up conceptual things. You do not want robots. You have to have the conceptual awareness of stuff. He has been well coached in college and well coached at Green Bay. I have a lot of respect for the guys and what he was doing there at Green Bay. There were some similarities before he got here. Have to continue putting his hands on the ball more and doing everything he can to make plays. That is why we wanted him here."
On Randall playing CB at Green Bay and S in Cleveland now:
"He played safety in college. I like the fact that he was playing a different position from the safety positon that he showed the skillset to do more than just safety. A lot of times as a DB, maybe safety is the last stop for a DB. There are some corners that can't play – and I say this with a smile on my face, but it is true – are you tough enough to play nickel because you are getting in there with all of the beat-ups. Can a corner be tough enough to maybe later in his career play safety? Now, you are in the box. Can you do that? That position flexibility helps."
On what makes the Texans' rushing offense so effective:
"Their ability to stick to the play called. Their ability to do a good job on body on body. Their blocking. The technique that they are going about and running the stretch play that they do with a few other gap schemes that they do. The vision of their backs has been very good. Those are things on the really good ones, you can't coach. You can say, 'OK, we are going to have a one cut here, we are going to have a one-cut here. Where are you cutting to?' Do you have the vision? Once you make the cut, now do you have another cut? Or, there may be a press.' They have done a very good job with that concept. It is working out for them."
On the Browns' rankings in rushing defense:
"Number of plays we have played. One of the things now that we have started – I take a smile on my face – is that when you are behind, you are going to play more runs. When you have four overtime games, you are going to play more runs. You are going to have more shots at doing that. The yards per play, that is not at the level of places where we have been. We have to do a good job with that. This is a big part of this game. When we have made that the priority, our guys have responded well, but we have to play strong and dominant in the run game. We have to do that because we do not want to give them the alternative of being able to not have to do some things, and maybe we can affect the pocket."
On dating himself with his historic football reference:
"I know. I am sorry. I am hoping that my genetics are blessed that I look a lot younger than I feel. I say that all of the time. I still get the calls from the parents at home that thing I am still a teenager and I am not doing things the right way in their minds. There are some people back in those days, the tradition of the game, I do take a great respect for all of the people that have done it way before. I will tell you this, too, if you guys need any pictures sometime of (General Manager John) Dorsey playing, I have some creative pictures. Some pictures that he cannot run away from, I have those. Just let me know any time that you need them. Make sure that he hears this because I know that he is a little bit nervous about some of the pictures that I have."
On Pro Football Hall of Famer Paul Brown:
"I think it is unbelievable on some of the things that he was so far ahead in in not only from the football acumen and the football scheme things but the business. His big picture of where this NFL could go and how he went about running the business back when maybe looked upon as one of the first ones to have that type of a very stoic behavior on how he managed and mentored people that way. I love reading the things about him and all of them."
