CINCINNATI –Many words were said at the podium and inside the locker room after Cleveland's 31-17 loss to the Bengals.
These were the most important.
"It's disappointing — (it's a) tough sport. He's trying to make plays and battling as hard as he can, and these hits — these quarterbacks only have so many of these hits in their body, you know? Pretty soon, guys don't get up all the time, and that's what's been happening. It's unfortunate. It's just been happening way too much, so on we go." – Browns coach Hue Jackson on Cody Kessler's injury.
"I felt very comfortable out there. I felt good in the huddle, leading the guys and getting to the right plays. There are some plays you'd like to back. Obviously you want to protect the ball and put your team in the best position to keep the ball and go in and score. There are some plays I'd like back, but overall I felt very comfortable out there, and confident." – QB Kevin Hogan
"Just got to keep going. We're going to keep fighting and keep going. That's all you can do." – TE Gary Barnidge
"Kevin was a part of the game plan regardless. He just ended up having to do a lot more than we planned for. That's football and it's kind of been our story this year. No excuses. We've got to figure out a way to get it done." – WR Andrew Hawkins
"As a D-line, we didn't do our part. We weren't able to get off blocks, we weren't able to shed blockers and that played a big part in our defense. If we can't (stop) the run game, we're going to put a lot of stress on our LBs and DBs." – DL Danny Shelton
"We've just got to find a way to play sound defense. We want to start out fast and that's something we need to work on defensively. Our offense moved the ball today and executing but we didn't play our part and do our job." – LB Christian Kirksey
"I just decided enough is enough, you know? This team drafted me for a reason and I felt like I wasn't doing enough to help this team. I just gave it my all to do whatever I can to help this team win." – LB Emmanuel Ogbah
"It sucks, especially when it's a guy who has taken shots recently and fighting and playing hurt. That was an unfortunate thing. He was out there trying to make a play and took an unnecessary hit. He was just trying to make a play." – OL John Greco on Kessler's first-half injury.
"Anytime a guy catches one like that, it's tough. I'm looking at the ball in the air and it looked like it wanted to go down but A.J. kind of tapped it with one hand. He looked like he wanted to fall but something was holding him up to keep tapping the ball back to him and he just made a great play. Got to give him all the credit." – DB Tramon Williams Sr. on A.J. Green's Hail Mary TD catch at the end of the first half
