Head Coach Hue Jackson:
It was another tough one. Obviously it wasn't the type of season we'd like to have, but we've earned the record of 1-15. Again, I'm going to tip my hat off to our players, to our veteran players, Joe Haden, Joe Thomas, Gary Barnidge, Tramon Williams, Andrew Hawkins. As I told those guys in there, 'Thank you for allowing me to coach you, and this staff to coach you,' because I think those guys have been the glue that have kept this team together. As you can see, this team will fight. They fight hard. We don't fight smart all the time, but we fight hard. We give ourselves a chance. It's unfortunate because of how hard they do fight. It looks like we have chances to win games, and we don't finish them. That's part of growing. That's part of playing with a bunch of young guys that need to continue to grow and get better. Turnovers were the key today. You can't turn the ball over against good teams and win. Regardless of who was playing for them that was still the Pittsburgh Steelers. We had our chances, and we didn't nail it. The whole team and everybody involved with our football team and our organization has to grow from this experience as we move forward. These games we want to be in, but we want to be in them trying to win the division and trying to fight for other opportunities to keep playing. We have a long way to go to get there, but I feel good about the changes in the culture, the work ethic of our players, and how they prepare. We just have to get better.
On the overtime possession inside the five-yard-line, did the Steelers' defense read the swing pass to Hawkins correctly?
Yes. They made a play. That's all we can say.
How do you summarize finishing 1-15?
It doesn't feel good. We've lost more than our fair share of games. It's not where we want to be. Again, I appreciate the fight in the player, but this is about winning and losing. I think we all know that. I think that's what our guys are going to be motivated to do when we get back. We need to try to start winning more than we lose.
Are you going to meet with Jimmy Haslam when you return to Cleveland?
No. All these reports and things that are being said, I don't know where any of that comes from. Obviously I'm going to speak to Mr. Haslam just because that's what I do. We just need to continue to get better and stick to our plan of working through it and get to where we need to be.
Re: Sashi Brown relying on you to evaluate players:
Let me say this and I don't want to answer any more questions about it. Me and Sashi are in lock step trying to get this football team to be the best it is. We're going to get there. That's all I can tell you. We are together. We know what we're doing. We have work to do. We have to get better at what we're doing and we all understand that. This is hurtful for the whole organization, not just me. Sashi and Jimmy Haslam and Dee Haslam and Paul DePodesta and Andrew Berry too, we're all in this together. There's no divide here. We just need to get better. That's what we need to do from the top down, and we'll do that
Do you take any consolation in Terrelle Pryor getting 1,000 yards on the season today?
I'm happy for him. Again, he made those plays to give himself an opportunity to do that, but I'd rather take the win more so than anything because I think that's what we're out there playing for. I'm sure he was out there trying to win just like everybody was. Again, all the individual things I think we would all trade for more victories.
Do you know how bad Cameron Erving's knee is?
I think we'll find out more about it tomorrow. I don't think it's something that's good.
Have you seen enough this season to give fans a reason to believe you can turn this thing around?
I do. There's no question. I know our fans probably don't feel that way. I get that. I respect that. 1-15 doesn't say you're heading in the right direction. It says that things are status quo and not as good, but I would hope that our fans would hang with us. I think that if people would look at our team, they'd see a young team that fights hard and some veterans that play hard, and a team that's together. I don't think there's any faction within what we do or how we do it. We just need to continue to get better in all areas. For me, I'm going to go back and look at everything from top to bottom. We'll do that and take our time in doing that, because my charge is to get this organization and football team where it needs to be along with our executive group. I know that's their charge. That's my charge. That's what we're going to do. It's not going to be easy decisions that we're going to have to make but there will be some that we have to make to get this organization up to where it needs to be. I feel comfortable that the support is there and that's what we'll do.
Are you closer than your record would indicate or do you feel like you've earned the record?
I feel like we've earned it because that's what it is. You can't sugarcoat that. It is what it is. I would hope we get a chance next year to earn a different type of record. That's where it starts. We're 1-15. I never would have thought that in a million years, but we are. We can't run from that. Hopefully everyone has a fire in their bellies to change it because I know that's what I'm going to do. I'm sure that's what they all want to do.
Can you sum up what you've seen from Robert Griffin III in his last four starts?
I've seen him get better. I see things to keep growing from. I'll watch it more in detail. I thought there were some good things today. I thought there were things that he can improve on. I think every week he went out there and got better. I still think there's another level for him to play at. We'll evaluate and see if it's the right thing for us as we move on.
Do you want to take time to decompress?
I want to dive in as fast as I can. I'm probably as I say all the time, more determined to fix this now and faster than I ever have been before in my life. I don't like this. I have colleagues and people that I compete against, and I never would have thought we'd be 1-15, but we are. I don't like to be associated with that. I'm the head of it, so to me we have to fix it as fast as we can. There's a plan, but we have to work our plan and do it right to make sure we get to where we need to be. I don't want to feel like this anymore.
Do you appreciate the opportunity to pick number one in the draft?
Honestly, I know everybody talks about that. Maybe it is as important as you sit here now, and it's over with. What I thought was more important was the locker room and our players and their grit and their fight to win. You didn't see a team that laid down. You saw a team that was trying to win, had a chance to win and should have won in my opinion. We just didn't do enough of the right things to finish it. As I told you last week, we were coming here to win the game. We weren't coming here to get a number one pick. Those guys gave it everything they had. I'm proud of them for it.
