Head Coach Hue Jackson:
On if OL Kevin Zeitler is 'ready to roll':
"Ready to roll. [He] practiced. Let's go."
On if Zeitler playing with a cast over his thumb will affect his blocking:
"Obviously, you would like to have all of your fingers to use when you need them, but we will see. Obviously, you have to keep your hands inside. That is the rule. You are not supposed to grab and tug and pull. That is called holding the last time I checked. Maybe this will help eliminate some calls."
On what QB DeShone Kizer, quarterbacks coach David Lee and he are doing at the facility at 5 a.m. each morning:
"We are not eating breakfast, that is for sure, and we are not just looking at each other. We are doing some work. I am going to keep that between us three, but there is a lot of good things that we do to prepare for a football game."
On if Ravens S Tony Jefferson made an impact in his first game with Baltimore:
"Yeah, he is a good player. He is a fine football player."
On the Browns not signing Jefferson as a free agent during the offseason and drafting DB Jabrill Peppers, and if that could have gone differently if the team signed Jefferson:
"Tony plays in Baltimore. We have Jabrill Peppers. We are very happy with our safeties so that doesn't matter."
On coaching Kizer to release the ball more quickly this week after the Ravens forced four interceptions last week:
"Don't give it to them. Just don't throw them the ball. They did a good job last week of being in lanes and tipping balls. They got interceptions in a variety of different ways. They have good players, and we respect that, but again, our job is to throw the ball to our open guy and then our guy has to catch it and make those plays. He just has to go back there, go through his progression and play football."
On Ravens LB C.J. Mosley's ability to record interceptions:
"I think he is very instinctive, and I think he has tremendous ball skills. He has good length, he is long, he can run and he can cover so he has all of the skills needed to play the position on top of being a physical player. He is a playmaker for their defensive football team. They have a lot of those as you look throughout their defense."
On OL Shon Coleman's performance against Pittsburgh:
"He did some good things. Like you said, he didn't stick out in a bad way. I think he did some things well and did some things better, but we all have to keep improving up there as a line. I think they just have to play together as a unit week in and week out, just the communication and how to do things when they are working together. I think that will get better as we go through this year."
On if he sent Steelers WR Antonio Brown's late-fourth quarter reception to the league office for review:
"Can't speak on that."
On the CFL banning all padded practices and how important those are to a team:
"We all have the same rules so I have to be OK with it, but I think you have to put on pads at some point just to keep the fundamentals sharp and just to keep your players sharp that way. We do it and we try to do it with them in the respect of their bodies and making sure that we take care of them that way, but this is football and you play football with pads on so I think there has to be some pads on that players wear."
On the keys to the Browns run defense's success against Pittsburgh:
"We played in our gaps. We played our responsibilities. We beat them to the punch every now and then, and we tackled well. Those are the keys of playing good defensive football."
On Ravens RB Terrence West:
"He is running well. He and the kid from USC, they had big games last week. Those guys rushed for 150-some yards. Their offensive line is where it starts. (Ravens G) Marshall Yanda – go check that guy out. (Ravens T Ronnie) Stanley and the rest of those guys, they are playing well. They are playing physical and they get after you. The backs run hard, they run tough and they run through tackles. They are a good, strong, physical football team.
On if defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has lived up to expectations:
"He is outstanding. That is why we brought him here. Gregg is very good at what he does. He knows how to get the best out of his players. He knows how to motivate, and guys follow guys who normally do that extremely well. He has done a good job of that. Our biggest thing is we kind of play off each other. This is a football team – offensively, defensively, and along with (special teams) Coach (Chris) Tabor and special teams – we are trying to become a good football team, and that is all we are chasing."
On naming a backup QB for Sunday:
"Not today. It is too early. Give me one more day. I don't speak to you guys tomorrow, right (laughter)? Bam."
On how QB Cody Kessler has handled his role:
"Kessler has been outstanding. He has been great for DeShone. When I am up here late at night, the guy who is with DeShone still is Cody. Cody has been through this so Cody has been a really good mentor per se for DeShone. He has been great in practice. He has always egging DeShone on to get the offense going, to get the rhythm going and to get the fire going. He has done a great job. He has been a pro about it. I think Cody knows his day is coming at some point. He is not concerned about that. In respect to the decision we made, he understands. I think that is what being a good pro in the National Football League is. Now, me saying that, does he want to play? Oh, yes. Is he competitive? Does he want to be out there? No question he does, but I think he gets the role that he is in right now."
On if he gives credence to an experienced QB mentoring a younger QB:
"I think there is something to that, but I also think like I said when this all started, if I'm worth a darn and if Coach Lee is, then we have to kind of breed some experience into this player. There is no question that when he leaves us that there has to be another piece of it. I think that is where the mentoring piece that you are mentioning with a veteran quarterback or a guy that has played or played in your system comes in. Is there something to that? Yes, I think there is, but the big, hard, heavy work goes on in this building and on the practice field. There is another side of it once he leaves here because you just don't want to lose what you have done all day. You don't want to lose that at night time or lose that before the next morning. Cody and Kevin both have done a good job of representing who that veteran quarterback who would have been because they have seen what we have gone through here and what we are trying to accomplish, and they are able to impart that into DeShone."
On if he has always considered himself a 'QBs guy,' given his coaching history with other positions and with the Ravens:
"No, I think my thing in my career has always been whatever position I coached, I coached. I thought you had to be the best coach at that position while still learning how to do other things. I just was fortunate enough that someone gave me a chance to coach quarterbacks at a young time in my career and call plays. That elevated me, and then you start to understand in this league, in order to have a good offense, you have to have a good quarterback. Then I started to go down that path. (Ravens Head Coach) John Harbaugh is the guy – I say it all the time – who really jumpstarted my career and really pushed me over the top by allowing me to coach his quarterback for those two years. From there, my career took off."
