On DL Carl Nassib's progress report and how has he been in practice:
"He has practiced well. He is going 100 miles an hour. You know Carl. We will see where we are at the end of the week and see if we can get him out there."
On if Nassib's ability to play is based on pain tolerance or another factor:
"I think he has to help us in that process. We will talk to him and see how he feels, but he has had a good week."
On having Browns players' attention and enthusiasm and the record not being indicative of where they are as a team:
"Just how they work. They come into work every day so that is what I have to gage all of that off of right now. The guys have done a great job. They have been resilient. I think we have a group of fighters, and I think these guys will keep fighting."
On challenges facing Patriots QB Tom Brady and TEs Martellus Bennett and Rob Gronkowski in their first game together:
"Oh, it is a challenge. You just named three very good players. It is a tremendous challenge, but we face one every week. There hasn't been a week yet that we haven't faced a challenge from another team. Obviously, those guys are three of the better players in the National Football League. Our defense, we have to do everything we can to slow that group down."
On if RB Isaiah Crowell's conditioning needs work, given he was given a breather after a long play during the second half:
"No, I have been around a lot of great backs – to me, obviously, he has to earn that right for me to call him a great back – but when you catch a pass and you break several tackles like he did for a 14-yard run, I think he deserved the blow. That was an outstanding play by him. I have seen a lot of guys ask for one at that time so I don't feel that all of a sudden it was a run and he was looking to come out. It was an extraordinary play that he had. I think he needed a blow, and we gave him one."
On if there is a specific number of carries desired for Crowell:
"I said it yesterday, maybe I didn't say it in here, but I don't really look at it like maybe you guys do that this guy has to carry the ball so many times. It is the position has to carry the ball so many times. Himself and (RB) Duke (Johnson Jr.) combined, if you see that those guys are carrying the ball over 25 times a game, that position is getting enough carries. We just have to keep the production where it is and I think things will be good."
On anticipating that Crowell would be this elusive, given his number of broken tackles at Washington:
"I saw it. I'm not surprised by anything he is doing. That is why I made the comments I made. He is a tremendous football player, and he is only going to get better. If he will continue to grind and work at it and stay to it, him and Duke and the rest of the group, they will. They will get better."
On how Crowell has bounced back personally and professionally from his mistake on social media prior to the season:
"Personally, I can't tell you the turmoil that he went through other than what he shared, but I know he was very remorseful about what happened. I know that he wanted to do everything he could to make amends. I think that he has done everything that has been asked of him, everything that has been expected of him and more. I think it wasn't any issue of him wanting to do that. I think that is what he wanted to do it right. I give tremendous credit to, obviously, (vice president of communications) Peter (John-Baptiste) and the rest of the group who helped him navigate through all of this. It was a tough time. A young man made a mistake. We all truly believed that he made a tremendous mistake, and I thought he saw that and he has tried to make amends for it, and I think he has tried to do the right thing since then."
On if the Browns ever had a moment where they thought they could not have a player on the team who made that type of mistake:
"It was concerning. I think my first conversation with him, he called me. That made a difference to me as far as just I could tell that he knew that he had crossed a line and did something that was wrong. To me, that is the first sign. I didn't have to chase the player. The player chased me to let me know that he had made a huge mistake in judgement. I know we all make mistakes sometimes and there are mistakes that are unforgivable, and there are some that you work through. I think it was a legitimate mistake by him. I think he has owned up to that, he has taken responsibility for it and he has done the right thing since then."
On how important WR Terrelle Pryor Sr. will be on Sunday and his versatility:
"Oh, he is important in every game, as you said, because he can play. He can catch it. He can run with it. There are a lot of different things that he can do with the football. It is a game-by-game situation for us. We don't go out there and say, 'OK, this is what he has to do.' There are 10 other guys playing, but he has a huge role and he has a part that he has to play. He is very important to what we do on offense, but he has got to play a dual role as well as he can play it. I think that is what is important. Sometimes, it doesn't go all the time the way you want it to. He is still a young player that is emerging at his position. He doesn't have the skins on the wall at that spot like a lot of other guys do. I think he is understanding sometimes week to week things could change, from quarter to quarter it changes how people play you, but this would be a tremendous challenge for him because this team, they get up in your face, they put their hands on you and they don't let you go. He is going to have to fight through some things, and that is a good challenge for him."
On how long it might take to 'know what QB Cody Kessler is':
"Obviously, he is playing so I need to continue to watch and evaluate. The key to quarterbacks is it is not just them. It is the people that are around them. It takes 10 people to play on offense so there are characteristics we want to see from our quarterback. Cody has demonstrated a lot of those, but it is getting a whole offense around a guy, all of your pieces per say in place before I think you can truly ever evaluate anybody. Does that take a little time? Probably so, but at the same time, I have a pretty good feel for what he is and what he isn't, and that is OK. I think it is going to change from week to week, from month to month, from year to year because I think people are getting better and your team is evolving and changing. We will find out more about all of our players, not just Cody, as we continue to move forward."
On expecting the Patriots to double Pryor, given how Redskins CB Josh Norman takes credit for shutting him down:
"Josh is going to say what he says. I think I shut him down to be honest with you. I just kept handing the ball to the back. It is going to be like that sometimes. That is my point. Guys have to work through that. That is just part of it sometimes. Sometimes, coverages get rolled your way and you don't get the same opportunities you did earlier because teams see that they need to take you away and there is somebody else that has to make a few more catches like (TE) Gary Barnidge did for us, like (RB) Duke Johnson (Jr.) did for us. That is just part of playing football. Teams are going to try and take you away, and we have to find a way to get it to you. The one time we did, obviously, the wrong thing happened and the ball was going back the other way. We have to be smart in how we do it. We know that Terrelle is important to our offense, but there are 10 other players and some other guys that can catch it and run with it, as well."
On if there is any fear that the Patriots offense may be more unpredictable than ever given that Patriots QB Tom Brady will be playing for the first time this weekend:
"No, I think there is a good history of Tom Brady and what he is and how he plays. They are going to throw the football and they are going to run the football. They are going to attack us where they think we are vulnerable, and Tom spearheads that. I don't think there is an unpredictability that way. Tom is going to do what he does, which is throw the ball as well as anybody in this league to his guys. What we have to do is try to take those guys away. I don't think there is any fear. Like I said, I think week in and week out, there is always an offense we have to try to slow down. Last week, it was the Washington Redskins, who at the time was one of the best pass teams in all of football, and we were able to slow them down a little bit. Do you want to stop a team? Yes, but our job is to do everything we can to limit his ability to play like he wants to play. It is no different for them toward us. They are going to try to limit us with the way we want to play. That is just pro football and that is the chess match between coaches and staffs. That is how it works."
On the Browns special teams, given how the Patriots prioritize special teams and the Browns' field position in past games:
"We are playing a lot of young guys. I think you said it, they have a corps group of guys that have been there and know their system and have done a good job. (Special teams coordinator) Coach (Chris) Tabor has done a good job thus far with what he has been able to do. We have had to change kickers. We have had to do a lot of different things. Our guys are responding well and getting better. We are by no means a finished product yet, but our young guys are starting to understand. It is really interesting to watch a guy like (WR) Ricardo Louis who was not playing a lot of offense and was playing a lot of special teams, and now, he is playing a lot of offense and playing special teams. He has found out, 'Wooh, this is a little different.' It is a little shock for some of the guys, but our guys are getting better each and every day, and it is a huge part of a football team, the special teams. We have to continue to do it better and get better at it, and I think we will."
