Head Coach Hue Jackson:
Opening statement:
"Obviously, the game yesterday, not the way we want to play and not what we want to be as a football team. We have to get better and improved to get the results we desire. I will continue to ask more from our players and our coaching staff. That is the only way for us to become the team that we want to become. Our players are very disappointed about yesterday. It does get frustrating, but the men in our locker room are committed to getting better. We will stay focused, and I am confident we will achieve the results that we want because of the character of the men on the team and in our organization, but we have work to do. I think we all get that. We have series work to do. We are not going to run from that. We just have to put our heads down, keep working, stay together and hold each other accountable to get better."
On if there has been a decision on who will start at QB against Tennessee:
"I will make that [decision] by Wednesday. I am in the midst of it right now. Getting closer, but we will know for sure on Wednesday."
On reason to give QB Kevin Hogan another opportunity to start:
"What reason would I have? If I did make that decision, it would be because I think it would be best for the football team, if that is the decision I made. I haven't obviously finished the thought process to that, but that is what it would be. If I still thought that he would give us the best chance to be successful and if I looked at the tape and thought some of the issues that he had weren't self-inflicted, then that would be the reason. I am in the middle of doing all that and working through all that."
On what QB DeShone Kizer learned from watching yesterday's game on the sideline:
"I thought DeShone learned a lot of things. I think when you see some of the things that have happened to you in games and you can see it happening with somebody else that hurts your football team, you understand why you don't – the turnovers are putting the team at risk – when there is a chance, an opportunity to score points and here comes a turnover coming the other way, when sometimes the accuracy – you miss a ball, you throw it a little high or a little low or whatever all those things are – that it stops drives, and it doesn't give your offensive football team the best opportunity to have success. I think seeing some of the re-protection ID things that came up a little bit yesterday was very eye-opening to him, and I think it was a good experience for him."
On if Kizer should be the starter so the organization can find out if he can be 'the quarterback of the future', given the team will be playing a young QB no matter who is selected:
"That could be part of the thought process, there is no question. You said it, DeShone – I have said it; I have gone on record of saying it – he will be a huge part of the future here and that will definitely go into my thought process here in the next several hours about what is best for all involved, what is best for the offensive football team, first and foremost, who can get the job done and then what is best for us as an organization as we continue to move forward."
On the Browns defense allowing 14 touchdown passes despite its high NFL rankings in certain categories:
"Obviously, there are some things we have seen from teams that they have done a good job. There are still some things that we can do better on defense as I said. Earlier in the week, there are still some communication, fundamental things that we can do a little bit better. We have to continue to work at those things. We don't want to be a team that is giving up 14 touchdown passes at this point. We are going to work at those things extremely hard. I think our players are doing that. I think (defensive coordinator) Coach (Gregg) Williams is well-versed in understanding that this is an issue that we have to address and we are going to keep working at it. Six games into the season, it has been an issue, but it is something that I know that we will continue to address."
On if starting 0-6 feels like déjà vu and how to fight the feeling:
"It does a little bit – I am not going to kid you – 0-6 is 0-6. How you fight it is you keep working and we keep bringing in the right message to our football team and having them understand what it takes to win football games. That is not going to change. We are different than last year in the sense that I think there is more hope and I think we understand the situation we are in and what we are trying to accomplish. I think our guys know and I truly know that at some point in time this thing is going to flip and you don't know what might make it flip. I know one thing that can help it flip is we have to quit turning the ball over on offense, we have to keep getting more turnovers on defense and we have to continue to eliminate the penalties and the self-inflicted wounds that have hurt our football team."
On blocking out fans' displeasure with the coaching staff and front office:
"I can't speak to what everybody is saying about what they think, but I have said and gone on record many times saying that doesn't exist in our building and that we are working together. Anytime things aren't going right, obviously, anything is going to get said and a lot of things are going to come up. I think the only way to quiet any of that is we have to get to winning as fast as we can. Nothing is going to change the narrative that is out there from so many different places until we start winning. Until you do that, nothing changes."
On what can be different for Kizer and the team if Kizer returns to the starting role this week:
"I think two things. I think you said it, I think for him, he will be a little bit more team-protecting in situational football things. I think he will understand that better and really what it does to your team as you are in those situations. No. 2, I think he will demand more from the guys that play around him because I think he understands that every play matters and every play is a difference between having a chance to win or lose a game. Not that I don't think he was trying to be that, but when you are young and you are trying to make sure you are on top of the gameplan, let alone making sure that guys are lined up correctly but then making sure guys are in the right spots for you play, after play, after play, that is a lot of responsibility. I think he sees now how critical every opportunity is that you get. I think he will be on top of those things."
On if Texans QB Deshaun Watson is better than he expected he would be:
"No, I think what I saw from Deshaun Watson yesterday is what I anticipated he would be. He is a good football player. They have a good system for him. He is playing good football. Obviously, we had some other chances to get our hands on balls. We didn't finish those, but obviously, he did some great things. You throw three touchdowns, and what is it? [12] touchdowns in three games? He is off to a fast start. I am not surprised by what he is doing."
On how the Browns could 'miss' on Watson and not draft him:
"How can we miss on him? We made a decision. He is in Houston. They picked him. We made the pick that we decided to take. That is how that works. He is not on our football team. He is on the Houston Texans team, and we didn't pick him."
On clarifying whether he texted Watson the morning of the 2017 NFL Draft:
"I don't recall a text message to Deshaun on the day of the draft saying to him that we would draft him, and I think he made that very clear. If I texted him and said, 'Get ready,' or whatever it is that everybody is saying I said, it probably was 'Be ready for the draft,' and not to become… I think he said that very clearly. I think we are making more of this than what it is. I wasn't saying, 'Hey, look, we are about to draft you,' or 'We may draft you.' I might have been, 'Here is draft day, congratulations. Here is a big day. Be ready to go,' regardless of where he went. I know that me and him did text quite a bit way before the draft. He was a guy that I was fond of as a person and as a player, but I knew on draft day exactly where we were heading and what we were trying to accomplish. Like I said yesterday and I will stand by it, I never would have said the way it came out that everybody is trying to make it seem like I texted him with the thought process that we would draft him and put him on our team. That wasn't the case at all."
On the decision process of not selecting Watson with the 12th pick in the draft:
"There were other quarterbacks obviously that we were into, too. I don't want to go into what the thinking was on draft day or any of that because I don't think any of that matters. He is not on our football team. He plays for the Houston Texans. We made the decision to take DeShone Kizer. I think that is the end of that discussion."
On viewpoints of the Browns' ability to evaluate QBs after the team decided not to select Eagles QB Carson Wentz and Watson, who have played well:
"I hear what you are saying and I respect what you are saying. At the same time, we make decisions for our football team and where we are. I think that is what is important. We all come together and make decisions with what we think is best for our organization, and that is where we are."
On WR Kenny Britt being inactive on Sunday:
"As I said – I think it was on Friday – there was a groin issue. I wanted to make sure exactly that he was totally healthy before we put him back out there. That is exactly what played into that."
On if the Browns sustained notable injuries in Sunday's game:
"No, there were a couple of bruises but nothing that we think will be significant."
