Head Coach Hue Jackson:
Opening statement:
"Obviously, yesterday was disappointing. Like I said yesterday in our press conference, you can't turn the ball over the way we did and expect to win. I thought our defense hung in there long and hard and fought. There are some things that we will shore up and get better at over there, as well. I thought our special teams made some improvement from Week 1 to Week 2. Obviously, the turnovers were a huge undoing not just for our offense but for our football team. Anytime you turn the ball over like that, I was surprised the score wasn't worse than what it was. I think we will grow from this. We will learn from it. We played two of the better teams in our division. There is still one more to play. We get that. We are 0-2, but the feel in the building, the feel with our football team is nothing like I felt a year ago. I think our guys are excited about getting back to work as fast as we can. We know we have a big game in Indy this week. We have some things to clean up – there is no question about that – and we will go from there."
On WR Corey Coleman's status:
"Corey broke his hand. Corey will have some time out. It is the same hand [that he injured last year], different bone. It is unfortunate, but those things happen. The guys work so hard getting ready for the season, but we know these things happen in football. We just have to have the next man up mentality and move forward."
On if Coleman will have surgery on his hand:
"Yes, he will have surgery. That will be today. As a matter of fact, it might be happening [now]."
On how much time Coleman is expected to miss:
"Don't know that timetable, but hopefully, we will get him back."
On if Coleman will be placed on injured reserve:
"We will see how that all unfolds. Until everything is done will we know exactly which direction to go that way."
On losing Coleman and the status of the WR corps:
"Hey, next guy up. We have to go coach the guys that we have here. There is nothing else. There is nothing magical that is going to happen that way. I know (Executive Vice President of Football Operations) Sashi (Brown) and his team will do everything they can to see if there is somebody else that can help us, but I don't look at it that way. I think the guys that are on our football team have to step up and play. Just like we saw (WR) Rashard (Higgins) go out there and play extremely well yesterday and do some good things, who is going to be the next guy that steps up and take the opportunity and make something happen? That is what we have to do."
On if Coleman was improving as expected after last season:
"I think he was getting better. There is no question about that. He was definitely heading in the right direction so it is unfortunate. It almost feels like… I know to him, the same time, different year around the same time, here comes the injury and it is unfortunate, but it is something we go through and we have to get through it."
On knowing an expected timetable for Coleman's return last year but not this year:
"I don't want to tell you that because we are talking about a surgery that is involved. Until we know and until I know exactly what that is can I tell you for sure what that timetable will be."
On if Coleman underwent a hand surgery last year:
"No, there was not."
On WR Kenny Britt not producing high numbers and a perceived lack of engagement:
"We have to play better. We have to play better as an offensive unit. I know we direct it at one guy… I know your question was about Kenny. We have to play better as an offensive unit, and that is the way I am going to leave it."
On if it is fair to have high expectations for Britt, given the contract he received:
"Oh, I think that is fair. I think what you said is fair, but like I said, we have to play better as an offensive unit."
On if he is pleased with Britt's effort:
"Am I pleased with his effort? Again, we have to play better as an offensive unit all the way around – at receiver, running back, everywhere. We have to play harder, and that is what we have to do as a football unit."
On Higgins stepping up in Coleman's absence:
"It was good. I thought he had the potential to do that. That is why we elevated him and gave (RB) Duke (Johnson Jr.) some more opportunities in the backfield. It worked out. Duke made some plays in the slot, as well, but Rashard made quite a few. That was good. We have to continue to get guys to step up and make plays for our football team."
On if QB DeShone Kizer was affected by the migraine after he returned to the game:
"Oh, not at all. It had nothing to do with that. None to do with the migraine at all."
On what led the Browns medical staff to ultimately evaluate Kizer:
"There was a play that DeShone I think knows extremely well where we send the motion and the motion didn't happen, and then he ended up looking to a different side so that had not been the way he responded. When he came off and I asked him about it, he wasn't very clear to me about what it was so then I knew then that something wasn't happening. He told me, he said, 'Coach, my head is kind of pounding' so I knew then that something was not right."
On if the Browns aware of Kizer having migraines in the past:
"Yes."
On if Kizer's migraines are a concern going forward:
"I don't think so. Our medical team says we should hopefully be beyond it. We know it can happen, but hopefully, we are beyond this situation."
On why the Browns believe Kizer's migraines should not be a concern moving forward:
"I hope we are because normally when he has had them, he has had one episode of it and then it doesn't come back for about another six or seven months. That is kind of the way it has worked for him. Some people get them every two weeks. Some people get them every three months. It just comes in episodes that people deal with. He knows when his are. It has been a five or six-month window when those things have normally happened to him."
On if Kizer had any further tests done today related to his migraine:
"No. I think they conducted every test that they needed to yesterday and again, along with the concussion test. It felt like he was exactly where he needed to be."
On if the Browns would consider having Kizer wear a wristband to help speed up the offense at the line of scrimmage:
"No, I don't think we need it. That is not what it is. I don't think it is that. Like you said, it is within our process once the play comes in making sure that we can get that to the whole unit but the whole unit is in there. We played with a lot of different pieces yesterday. Sometimes that happens. We had some guys playing out of position, guys weren't sure where to be, a guy went down here and another guy went down there so we had to work through that. I think that was the culprit more so than anything, but then we do still as a unit need to work faster and move faster. We will do that."
On if 14 carries for the RBs is a number conducive to winning in the NFL:
"Yes, it is if that is what it takes to win. If that is what gives you the best opportunity to win, when you are backed up because of penalties – third and long, second and long – and you look up and the score is different, sometimes that is the way games go. We will run the football. I know you all want to hear that and how do you protect DeShone, the interceptions and all of that. Trust me, this is the National Football League. Our job is to win. It is not just run. It is not just throw. It is what it takes to win the game. We did what we felt it took to win the game to give us a chance. It didn't work. That happens sometimes. It is easy to say, 'Well, if you would have run the ball, this would have been better.' Well, you don't know that. It all depends on how they play and who they put in the game to handle what we are trying to do because when you play against that base personnel, now you have (Ravens DL Michael) Pierce and (Ravens LB Tim) Williams on the field at the same time. If you guys watch, those guys were standing on the sidelines sometimes. That is an advantage to us, and that is why we do certain things."
On if Kizer's interceptions are correctable:
"Oh yeah, all of these things are fixable. Guys, listen, this guy is a young quarterback. I appreciate and I have the same expectation that you do that every ball that is open that he will throw it straight and that he will hit every ball with pinpoint accuracy and there will be no issues. This is his second game in the National Football League. We just played the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens. He didn't play as well yesterday, but the sky is not falling down by any stretch of the imagination. This guy is everything I think he is. It is unfortunate that it happened the way it did yesterday, but I'm glad it happened now than later because this is where growth happens. It doesn't happen when you play pretty well and all of you guys say, 'Wow, DeShone Kizer did some great things. Here we go.' It happens when all of a sudden a guy has been humbled. That is why I say quarterbacks have to well start on their knees. You are going to bring them to their knees so you might as well start off on your knees so get down there. That is where he is today. He will grow from this. It is unfortunate for our team. I don't want to lose any game because we are turning the ball over or we are not helping our football team, but at the same time, I anticipate that these things can happen to a young quarterback. I don't want four or five turnovers in a game. I never want to see that again, but at the same time, I know that it can happen and we are going to work through this with him. He is going to get better. He is going to work his tail off this week, and he is going to come out and play great this week."
On how Kizer responded today:
"Great. He is. He gets it – taking responsibility for it, knows that he needs to continue to work harder and better, understands in the National Football League that it is about accuracy, that you have to put the ball where you want to put it at all times and that the other team can't touch your ball. That is so important for our football team. Our margin for error is not very big, and I think we get that. We have to be as close to perfect as we can be, and it starts at that position. He would be the first to tell you that. He knows that, and that is what we are going to work towards."
On challenging Coleman's incompletion late in the second quarter:
"There was a chance. One, when you go to another team's stadium, they don't play that replay very fast. They hold it until the last minute, and they are going to get ready to put the ball down so you have to get ready to make a judgment call. At that time in the game, I go, 'Hey, what do we have to lose here? If we are not sure about it and they are not going to play it, let's take a shot at it.' Corey was saying he caught it. It was way over there away from everybody on the other side. We were trusting because Corey normally makes that catch. Obviously, it didn't come up that way. We will have some challenges every now and then that we have to make judgment calls based on where we are because some teams will not play that replay fast enough for us to see it."
On DL Myles Garrett's status and if he is ruled out for this week's game:
"I'm not going to do that yet. Obviously, we are getting closer, but how close we are I don't know that for sure. I think we are getting closer to him having the opportunity to be back out there."
On if Garrett will be able to do more physically this week:
"I hope so. We will see where that is by Wednesday."
On if LB Jamie Collins Sr. is in the concussion protocol:
"Yes, he is. Jamie is in concussion protocol."
On DB Jabrill Peppers playing deep in the secondary and if that is due to strategy or a lack of confidence in the cornerbacks:
"A lack of confidence? No, this is more about strategy. This is more about we discourage the opportunity for people to throw it over our head. If you don't want to get the ball thrown over your head, just make sure that there is somebody deep enough where they don't try to throw it over your head. True? That is how that works. That is part of the strategy of our defense. It is not about the corners or not having confidence in the corners. This is something we truly believe discourages teams from trying to throw the ball over our head. You have not seen a ball go over our head that way. I think that is a credit to the strategy that (defensive coordinator) Gregg (Williams) and the defensive staff have put together that way."
On if playing a safety that deep allows underneath routes to open for opposing offenses:
"I don't feel that way. I think we are able to rally. Now, sometimes they will get in a hole, you feel like a combination route and we may get off a guy a little bit sooner than we should underneath and it looks like, 'Wow, if that guy was tighter, he would make the play sooner.' I can see you guys saying that, but that is not why we feel that those things are happening."
