On hiring assistant offensive line coach Paul Dunn:
"Yeah, that is in the process of being finalized. We are going to bring Paul Dunn on board. He will be (assistant offensive line coach) George's (DeLeone) assistant. I have a lot of respect for Paul. I have known for him a long time. He worked with (tight ends coach) Brian Angelichio at the University of Pittsburgh. (secondary coach) Jeff Hafley was there, as well. He worked with (wide receivers coach) Joker (Phillips) at Kentucky. He has coached in the NFL for a good number of years, First with Atlanta and with Houston a year ago."
On how former offensive line coach Andy Moeller and assistant offensive line coach George DeLeone previously split coaching duties:
"They split it equally. As with all lines, it is run game first, protections second. It wasn't like Andy did the run game and George did the protections. They worked on them both together."
On considering a title change for DeLeone:
"I haven't given that much thought yet. There could be. George right now is acting as our offensive line coach."
On his message to coaches after the Raiders game and how it shows up during the practice week:
"It is attention to detail. That is big part of it. Sense of urgency, planning for contingencies and making sure you go into a game with some healthy paranoia of just sitting down late in the week and doing all the 'what ifs' – 'What if this guy does down? What if this guy does down? What if they come out in this?' – from a preparation standpoint. In the week of practice, just making sure the players are going to reflect how they are. It is going to be a reflection of their leadership. I want to make sure our guys are on point and ready to go. If a player asks a question, they have the answer for them or if they don't, they know where they can get the answer."
On his assessment of the offensive line and if Moeller's departure had an impact:
"I can't put any type of number or say how much it's had an effect. When you lose your offensive line coach, a coach that is a quality football coach, it is going to have an effect. How much? I can't speak to that. I am not going to sit here and say it meant nothing."
On mixing up the OL rotation, considering OL Cameron Erving was a first-round pick:
"We are getting him in there some at the extra tight end, the jumbo tight end spot. We have talked about getting him to the point where we will work him in some. That has to be earned, and Cam is in good standing with us and is practicing well. You go through the logical spot for him to play is at right guard. (OL) John Greco has played well. There will be some opportunities as the season goes on, but it is not something we want to force. We want to make sure that Cam has all of his little details nailed down and that he is prepared as he can be and is ready to jump in there with that group and perform at a high level."
On how often the Browns use the wide-zone run package:
"I don't know the exact percentage. The goal this year was that was still going to be what we majored in, but we felt we still needed to have some complements to it when teams started to take that away, whether it was widening the front and widening the edges to run a little bit more inside-zone, misdirection gap scheme. When you are struggling in the run game, sometimes the best answer is to get double teams at the point of attack and get movement. That can free up an extra defender, but at the same time, you are maximizing your chances at the point of attack. It is still our primary scheme, but we feel we have developed some more complements to it."
On if Browns defensive players have had opportunities to make plays scheme-wise but not made them, considering missed tackles:
"I don't want to get into it or come off as a coach as 'Hey, it's not the scheme; it's the players.' I think it all needs to be better. There were times when we did have a guy at the point of attack, we needed to make a play and we didn't. There could be some other things where you could point to scheme-wise, but I don't want to sit here and make that statement. I think across the board, playing and coaching needs to be better."
On if running offense or defense is closer to being fixed:
"I don't know if I can pick one. I think they're both close. Look at how we defended the run in the first half, we did some good things. I don't know what the average was at halftime, but it wasn't nearly what it ended up. The big runs came later. That's been our issue is that we can stop the run over a period of time and then let up a big one. That's been the thing that's most frustrating, but that also leads you to believe that you could eliminate the big one, then you're close. As opposed to four yards a play, five yards a play, six yards a play and that's the average as opposed to short gains and a longer one. Offensively, we've been too inconsistent. When the line blocked well and the backs ran well, we saw the result against Tennessee. When it was either one group or the other where there were issues or what we were running, then you saw the results in the games where we didn't. Also, as you mentioned, it's also a function of the score sometimes, when you get to a point where you by the circumstances of the game have to abandon it."
On how the RBs performed against Oakland:
"Not as well as they did the week before. I thought we left some opportunities out there. I thought we missed the runs on the goal line – I know for sure that we missed. They were blocked well enough. You have to learn from it, move on. It's a poor reflection when you get in the bad habit of being a repeat offender. 'Hey, I made that mistake I need to cross that one off the list and not make it again.'"
On if RB Duke Johnson Jr.'s explosiveness has dropped off as a result of his previous injury:
"I don't see a big drop off. We need to get him in space a little bit more and get him the ball. I think we saw flashes of what he can do. No, I think the future is bright for Duke, and he's a big part of our plan this weekend and moving forward."
On the OL as the identity of the offense:
"I believe it is, but I don't want to put it all on one group. We want to base what we do around that group. I think our success comes from that because it goes back to just what our plans are. You have to stay ahead of the sticks in this league. Just look at the percentage of conversion on second-and-long and third-and-long, you can't put yourself in those situations. You have to be playing well upfront in order to do that. That's why we will always say that it's going to start for us upfront."
On potentially replacing DB Donte Whiter with DB Ibraheim Campbell:
"Just in regards to Whit, we're not at that point. We like Campbell, think he's going to be a good player. He's done a good job for Tabes (special teams coordinator Chris Tabor) when he's been in there, but we're not at that point. Whit's a competitive guy, and he'll be the first to tell you he knows he needs to play more consistently."
On LB Paul Kruger's change to strong side OLB and him needing to find his pass rush:
"In regards to Kruger, the (LB Scott) Solomon injury I think has forced him to play a little bit more on earlier downs. We would prefer to play Paul more in pass rush situations, but that's what our circumstances. When Scott went down, we needed to adjust and that was one of the answers."
