Opening statement:
"Good fast practice in there today. Guys were taking the next step. I like the response – I really do – for how they went about getting things done today, and we have a lot of things going on the rest of the day in the meetings and stuff as we go back over stuff, even player meetings where they have meetings today to go back over how they exactly how they see things. There is a good communication process going on with players versus players, players and coaches and coaches and players. That is a good deal. We have been doing that here, but I have seen that pick up a little bit. It has been good to see that on the field, and hopefully, it transfers into the Sunday on the field also."
On if injured players made it through the practice week OK:
"They did, yep."
On what gives him confidence that General Manager John Dorsey is building a strong roster:
"He is from this league, grew up from this league. He has been around some good influential people that were good for him when he played and played this game at this level on some good teams and then who he worked with that taught him the parameters of building a team, too. That has been very good. He and I have had a relationship for a long time, back even from the playing days to the early scouting days. He is a tireless worker. He is also a person that is not afraid to ask opinion, and those are important. You have to get as many opinions as you can. You are never going to be fool proof. It is never going to be a fool-proof thing, but the more information that you can get, the better the process is and hopefully, the fewer errors."
On if it crossed his mind when preparing for the Chiefs that Dorsey put the team together:
"I talked to him every day and had him talk to people here, too, from a scouting perspective. There are certain things that we already knew, but there are other little bit of nuances behind the scenes, yes. That information was used, yes."
On who will start at LT:
"It could be either one, and we are just going to go into the Sunday with that. They are both rolling."
On how the Browns offense can help the defense:
"They did a good job last week, and the thing is anytime, whether it is the way we are now defensively, is that offensively you want to be able to control the clock time of possession. I have gone through lots of different people throughout the years where one of the best things in the world was to make sure certain quarterbacks are over on the sidelines for long periods of time. That is what good offenses do when you are also calling and managing games in a synchronized way. Offensively, we did a pretty good job of that last week. We have to do a better job of tackling and playing the way we are supposed to play on defense regardless of who is playing the positons. It does not make a difference. If you are at this level, you should be able to play. That is with John and that is with everybody else who helps with the roster and everything. You should be able to play. We have to do a better job at some of the fundamental aspects of that."
On if DL Myles Garrett is taking over games as needed:
"He is doing well, and this would be new this year would be a year of when he is playing because he is physically fit and doing really well on that. Now, you are starting to see – he will learn and he is week by week – how teams gameplan for him. Until you are known, they just assume things, but now there are specific game plans towards him and then what we have to do to counter and what he has to do to counter. That is just the learning process. It gets better, better and better throughout the experience."
On Garrett preparing for gameplans focusing on him:
"What we would say is protections are slid so there is more than one guy there. There is an added what we call a chipper or a nudger or an extra guy there in some of those. That is not all of the time so the times that it is not, take advantage of it. Those are the things that as a player you see. Every single time the offense lines up, they are telling us what to do. Can you see? The more you play, the more you see and the easier it is for you at this level. It is a different game until you get to this level here, and he is doing a very good job with that. Each week, he is doing a better job with that."
On how DBs Philip Gaines and Jermaine Whitehead are learning the defense:
"Good. They are fine, and they are smart enough and have impressed us on the time that we are spending with them. Some of the coaches are not getting as much sleep, especially with me. I have been having more meetings than they have ever had for a while, but also, I tell them all of the time with a smile on my face is if you do not want to listen to me in a meetings then have a player to talk to. What they do is – I tease them all of the time, 'You scheduled [meeting with] players [so] you do not [have to] talk to me, huh?' We started meeting with the guys at 6 a.m. this morning, the news guys. When they get off of the plane, we are meeting with them, and we have to do that to get ready to roll. Football is football, but it is a different language. All of a sudden, what is the term we are using? How do we call this? Is there a different way we go about playing a particular concept of scheme? How can we help you do that? Get everybody on the same page as well as we can and then now cut them loose and let them play."
On LB Genard Avery's development as he has started at WILL:
"Each game, it has become eye opening with him, but we have a plan we have been going with him the whole year. It is not somethings that maybe you guys do not get a chance to see as much because he has been practicing those things all of the time because you have to be ready for it anytime of the year for the next man up for him to be off the ball more. That has been really since he has been here. We have minimized certain things that he had to do but started maximizing that stuff really when the season started so it has been going on for several of weeks. Now, it is time to produce in those other places."
On having the practice week to adapt the gameplan with defensive injuries compared to in-game adjustments:
"We will be able to do some more. We should be able to do some more. We have been doing some more, but when you are in a ball game like that – this is what I mentioned to you before – it would not be smart for me to call things that I like to do when they can't do it and getting people settled down on how we had to change to do a few things last week just keeping people settled down from the minimal reps that they had before. They had more reps doing more things this week."
On what has impressed him most about RB Nick Chubb:
"His toughness, and at no time has he had big eyes. He is a tough guy, and his pad level is good, too. Do not want to jinx him, but his ball protection is pretty good, too. That is a huge part of this league, much more than it is at the level when you come out of college and high school anymore because of all of the spatial things that is going on with spreading people out. Very [few] times are you swarmed with multiple people at those levels. At this level with the ball in the middle of the field the hash marks are not the same, the speed of the players are much more relative that he has protected the ball well. Do not want to jinx him, but he has protected the ball well."
On Chubb's improvements, in addition to running the football:
"Protection, pass receiving, all of that can be overwhelming at times. He has not blinked. He has enough intelligence to process that. We as coaches have to have enough intelligence not to overload him. They have done a very good job of that. (Offensive coordinator) Freddie (Kitchens) has done a very good job with that in being the [running backs] coach anyways for those guys so he knows them pretty much inside and out."
On if he had a similar message to WR Antonio Callaway about having confidence in his abilities, similar to his message to QB Baker Mayfield:
"All of them. I am glad that you asked that – it is not just Baker. In the team meeting, I bring things up for everybody in the room. You can personalize that for yourself, but I bring things up for everybody in the room. We all have to take the next step of improvement, and no excuses. I say that, but that is somewhat not easy for some of the guys. They have made excuses their whole life. Stop making excuses. We all have to accept responsibilities and go. He is with a good leadership group in that room. (Wide receivers coach) Adam (Henry) has done a good job with him, also. The next step with him is being able to make some more explosive plays because he has that in him."
On DL Myles Garrett's offside penalties last week:
"Get off is an extremely fine line. Want him to be as anticipatory as he can, but can't hurt the team. One of his mentors in life is (Pro Football Hall of Fame DL) Bruce Smith. He had a problem with that, too. I tease Bruce with that all of the time. 'Every time I see Myles get off, I blame it on you' when Bruce is around. He and I have a great friendship. There is a fine line to that. He is getting better with that, too. You have to block out the noise. You have to block out the cadence. You have to block out some other things. He is improving in that area, but we have to minimize those situations of a new set of plays, of a free set of plays."
On Falcons RBs picking up the workload following Falcons RB Devonta Freeman injury:
"They have done a very good job with the increased workload of those guys. All of those guys have done well with time on task. Pretty much understand the stretch and the outside zone running scheme that they believe in and how they go. That goes back to a long time ago. I know the originator of the scheme. He used to be with the Kansas City Chiefs back in the early '80s when he invented that particular run scheme that now is rampant in the National Football League and college football, too. They have done a very good job with improving week by week in that area. I thought that they were at their best last week. We have to do a good job with understanding what they want to do and not letting them do it."
On if he has reflected on the benefits from lessons when he previously was a head coach:
"Every day should be a learning experience. When you ask that, I have a goal. Sometimes people shake their head when I say this, but I will not walk off of the field one single solitary day without learning something new. How do you do that? How do I do that? How do I process that? If I am as observant and semi-intelligent, watch how a player handles something, watch a situation, watch a player respond to something. That becomes valuable in how you are helping people later on respond in the same way. Sure, experience helps you understand what maybe is really important and what is not, and it is about making sure the players are comfortable in what we are doing and why we are doing it and then try to mimic as fast as you can the speed of the game without having unusual contact or unusual injuries in practice. That has been good. I learned that the hard way just growing up through the league and in what we do on that and be been able to apply that here, and guys are comfortable with that."
