“It’s good to be back from Cleveland. Great trip. Things worked out well for us. It was a hard game. A really challenging game that called on us to really keep hanging until we could get our football going. We got off to a terrible start and they jumped right on us, got on top of us. It was really great to see at the end of the–first play of the second quarter, I think they scored their twenty points–from that point, the game kind of started to turn and our guys took charge up front and on both sides of the ball from what had looked like the beginning of a disaster. We regained an opportunity to get close at halftime and had a big turnover and scored early in the third quarter. We got going. We won a really difficult football game and a good one to get. Another really difficult environment. The crowd was great. Cleveland fans are terrific and made it challenging and all that. It’s really good for our guys to get through that and have another experience on the road knowing that we can go and play wherever it is and whatever the time frame is and play good, solid football by the end of it. Wasn’t a full, complete game in that the start was so off. We came back and regained it. I was really proud to see that happen. It was a good win. Really unfortunate that we’re losing Will Dissly. He’s been a fantastic part of our team. Just a young guy, but he’s made an impression early on all of us. We’re going to miss the heck out of him as he recovers from an Achilles injury.”
(On if he knows anything else about Will Dissly’s injury) “No.”
(On if he has spoken to Will specifically yet) “Yeah, we talked last night in the locker room. His attitude was incredible. He’s talking about 2020 already and you can count on me, and I can’t wait to get working. Just an amazing attitude. It was the attitude that took him through the past rehab. You hate to get good at something like that, but he’s prepared to take this on. He’ll do a fantastic job and will beat all of the time frames that he’s faced with and will do a great job returning.”
(On Ed Dickson’s status with his recovery) “Well, we still have a couple weeks before he can come back. He’s working really hard. He’s doing everything. He’s running and lifting and doing all of that. All he’s allowed to do. What will be telling is when he finally can come back on the field, can he do the football moves and the football regimen, respond, and be okay with that? He’s working to get ready right now. We’re very fortunate to have a guy like Ed come back to us with not too much of a space in there without Will. In the meantime, we’re going to count on our guys. You saw we had Jacob Hollister up this week. He did a nice job in the game for his first time out. We’re counting on Luke [Willson] to do a good job for us and we’ll build around that.”
(On if he is happy with what they have for that position) “We’re always working at it.”
(On if Ed will practice this week) “No. He can’t. He’s not ready to come back for two weeks.”
(On if the rule is that he can’t be in practice until eight weeks) “Yes. Then there’s a window period there and all that kind of stuff.”
(On confirming that Will Dissly will be out for the season) “Unless something miraculous happens. We won’t close the door on miraculous.”
(On the plan for Duane Brown this week) “We’ll wait and see. He feels a lot better this week than he did. It’s a day to day thing for us right now. It’s a race to see if we can get him back. We thought it might be two weeks if it didn’t go quicker than that. We’ll see. If he doesn’t make it this week, he should be in great shape to come back next week.”
(On if Duane Brown aggravated something during the Rams game) “Yeah, he had something that he hurt earlier and it just kind of went into the next week and it wasn’t getting any better. We had to take care of him.”
(On D.J. Fluker’s status) “We’re day to day on Fluke. He’s going to work out Monday, today, and tomorrow and we’ll just take him each day and see how he comes along and see if he can respond. We don’t know right now if he’ll make it or not.”
(On having Jarran Reed back this week) “It’s great to have J. Reed come back to us. He’s like a little kid at Christmas time. He’s so excited to be back with his teammates and be back with us. It seemed like it went kind of fast to us, but it didn’t for him. I asked him specifically that, seemed like it took forever. He’s been such an integral part of our club. It’s great to have him back in the locker room. His play is exceptional, too. I don’t know what to tell you about how it’s going to go. I haven’t seen him on the field yet. I know he worked really hard, from everything he said, to stay abreast with his conditioning and all of that. He looks strong and we’ll just have to wait and see how he handles it.”
(On how much time it takes for guys to be able to jump back it when they’ve been gone for a while) “It’s kind of like injuries a little bit. We haven’t seen him at all. This is the first day we’ve seen him in a month and a half. Generally, it just depends on each guy. I know he worked diligently from what he said and he’s routine. We’re expecting that he’ll be able to help us this week. I don’t know how much.”
(On what he thought of Jamarco Jones and George Fant’s performances Sunday) “Jamarco did another nice job. He was very consistent again and held up his end. That’s two really great showings for him. He did a fine job for us. George [Fant] did a really nice job with the running game. Had a couple opportunities in the past game and we’d like to clean up some of his sets. Pretty typical for a first-time out starter, had some good guys. He did a good job though. We were really able to maintain the style of play and everything with those guys out there. Joey [Hunt] contributed a little bit at tight end for us as well. I think the coaches did a really nice job of mixing and matching and keeping us on track. If nothing else happened, that’s likely the way we would go. There are some choices we’ll have with Phil Haynes comes back to us this week. We’re anxious to see Phil. He’s been ready for a number of weeks but having to wait for the six-week period to end. He comes to us and I’m excited to see what he can do.”
(On Demarcus Christmas will get mixed in as well) “Yes. Demarcus will practice also. Both those guys really worked out together in rehab and both those guys have been prepared to come back much sooner than this deadline. They’re in good shape, but again, they haven’t with us at all. So, we don’t know.”
(On if Greg Roman is using Lamar Jackson in the same way that he used Colin Kaepernick) “Yeah, he’s doing everything. He’s doing everything you can think of. They run every play. They’ve got every scheme. They’ve got every pass action. He can throw the ball all over the field. He’s down the field. He’s got quick games accuracy, on the move stuff. He can do everything. It’s a remarkable offense that they’re putting together right now and it’s very challenging.”
(On Shaquill Griffin almost getting an interception and his other big plays, continuing his solid play this season) “Yeah, again. He continues to play really well. His numbers are starting to add up about his passes defensed and all. He’d been very consistent. A huge play on the goal line. It was a great break on the ball. It was a great job of getting the ball tipped up so Tedric [Thompson] could make his play. Shaq has just been playing great football. The jump where he went year one to year two, which really didn’t happen, honestly, it just didn’t show as much, is now totally visible. He’s banking on all the two years that he’s had. Fit and strong and confident.”
(On what he saw from the pass rush) “The ball came out lightning fast. Threw a ton of quick game and their RPO stuff. They limited the amounts of times to rush. They did a nice job in that. We had a couple plays that got away from us. For the most part, we were able to maintain control of that. We just weren’t able to get to him. When you look at his passing efficiency for the day, we would’ve taken 50 something, whatever that was, if we knew that was going to happen regardless of how the rush was. We were effective. In pass rush, just the numbers, it stands out a little bit that we didn’t get to him.”
(On what he saw in the first quarter from the defense with Nick Chubb) “Made a big mistake on the long run. Just a fundamental error of getting out of a gap. When he got downfield, he did a great job of exploding and make a big play. We misplayed the tight end route. It’s a scheme that we understand. We’ve seen it, just it’s an intricate scheme and they did a nice job with it. Hit it just right. We should’ve played the play. Those are really the two back to back big plays. We had a couple runs in the first sequence. On the perimeter, we didn’t play as cleanly as we would like to. We were just off a little bit and just fitting some things up. Once we settled in, we did fine. They had 50 something yards in that one play. Nick Chubb is a terrific player. For the most part, after that, I thought we were okay with him.”
(On how the defense can improve now that Jarran Reed is back) “There’s no question that when he’s back to full speed playing, whenever that happens. If that’s now, it would be welcomed. He’s a big factor. He’s a big factor. The spacing that happens with a guy that causes problems there, in the sets that happen to take care of him, open up areas and spaces for the other guys. We’ve been rushing with Al [Woods] as a nose tackle playing a three technique. You’ve seen us with Poona [Ford], too. Those guys are nose tackles types and that’s not their strong point. They’re run defenders and terrific run defenders at that. When we mix it up now and we get Quinton Jefferson in there and J Reed, it’s going to be a better look for us. It’s going to be more of a problem for our opponent. Hopefully, that’ll open up things for everybody.”
(On Ziggy Ansah’s snap count being lower in this game) “It was just the way we were rotating and the commitment to the running game that we were maintaining throughout the game.”
(On what he saw from different combinations of the safeties) “We got some play from Lano [Hill], playing in the dime package. He was fine there. We got [Marquise] Blair. Blair didn’t play a bunch of plays. I think it was eight plays or something like that. He was out there. To me, it’s kind of like breaking him in and getting him going. We’ll see how he fits. He did fine in the plays that had. Drew a foul, which was good. It’s just a process. We’re getting these guys more activated and kind of ready to jump on the opportunities as they arise. We’re going to give him some more looks and we’ll continue to do that.”
(On how having a three man rush with more defensive backs made a difference in the game) “There was only a couple snaps in the game, I don’t think there was more than one in the game. It didn’t work very well. We had them covered for a while, but he had too much time and he finally got open and made a big play.”
(On if playing more defensive backs was a natural reaction to the Browns’ fast start) “I think it’s just one of the choices that you have in mixing it up on really qualified guys. You’ve got to give them everything. There’s no one way to play really good quarterbacks. I think Baker is a really good ball player. He threw the ball well, he and did a lot of good stuff; a variety of things, did a really good job of getting the ball out. We weren’t able to get to him.”
(On what Marquise Blair does that makes him feel like he has to have him in the game) “Just go back and look at his plays he had in preseason. He had some special plays, special hits, covered a bunch of ground, made plays on the ball, made plays on receivers. He had a couple great open field tackles, I remember one down by the goal line that was beautiful, perfect hawk tackle. He’s done a lot good stuff; he just hasn’t been out there enough to establish how far along he’s come and all that. He made a couple mistakes too, a couple big mistakes in that time which was pretty typical. With all the practice time that he’s been gaining and knowing that he’s got all this potential, that’s why we drafted him where we drafted him. We’re looking forward to him being a factor but, he’s got to show it, he’s got to prove it and that’s what the competition is all about.
(On Tedric Thompson’s performance) “He played pretty good yesterday. Competition is a beautiful thing.”
(On if Russell Wilson’s rushing touchdown was designed) “It was a designed scramble. No, he improv’d right there. The opportunity opened up and he has such ease in declaring that kind of opportunity and he just took off and made the most of it. But, they were chasing guys around the field and he saw a huge area and just took off. He made an easy touchdown.”
(On if he thought the referees missed a call on their first kickoff of the game) “Yeah, We’ll see. We’ll turn it in just to find out. We’ve just got to learn, find out what they’re calling. It was really right at the point of attack. I talked to the official and he said he saw it, he said he knew exactly what he saw. But we’re sending it in, we’ll get an evaluation.”
(On if Jason Myers was kicking the ball deep on the first kickoff) “Was he kicking it deep? Yeah.”
(On how Rashaad Penny is coming along with his hamstring injury) “We’ll find out during the week. He finished up the week in pretty good shape. We wanted to make sure that he got through the week, and put it behind him, and the weekend, and here we go again. I think he’ll be going full speed Wednesday.”
(On if this hamstring injury has affected Rashaad Penny and messed with him mentally) “I don’t think that at all. His attitude has been so determined to get back out there, and he’s competing to get back out, and he worked really hard to do it. He just didn’t quite feel right after the game a week ago. So, when he communicated that, we just thought we needed to make sure to get him through it. I don’t think it’s a factor at all, he’s raring to get back.”
(On how giving veteran players first class seats on flights back home started) “It started as an incentive. A little challenge incentive. I don’t know what I like more, the good part of the players getting moved up, or how much the coaches are pissed about having to move back. That’s a good tradition. I love sitting in the second class.”
(On which coaches get upset about moving back) “I’m not going to throw them under the bus like that. Use your imagination.”
(On if anyone prompted him to start that tradition) “No. That’s just something we just did.”
(On what it was like watching Russell Wilson call the plays for the offense after issues with not being able to hear through his helmet) “I was fired up, I was fired up for him. He lives for those kinds of opportunities. He did a great job. He took it over and made a couple great calls and moved the ball right down the field. Schotty [Brian Schottenheimer] was screaming to the guys to get the other helmet organized and to get it out on the field. He was busy doing that but, it was good opportunity, a good moment in the game for Russ [Wilson] to take charge of it and he did quite well.”
(On Michael Dickson’s punting) “I think Mike’s [Dickson] still finding his groove, I don’t think he’s really nailing it. I think he’s got more consistent, special kicks in him. Placement kicks and stuff like that. I think he’s got all kinds of kicks that he’ll show us. We’ve got a ton of games to play here. That was too bad on that one, he’d do anything to have that kick back. But, it’s too bad.”
(On Ethan Pocic’s injury situation) “We wanted him back, but we wanted him back healthy. He had a pretty serious injury that he was fighting back from. He was committed to playing through it, but he still had some soreness and still had some difficulties. We just thought it would be the best thing for him to get him well, and we could get him back in the second or third part of the season. It would be awesome to get him back. He’s a very versatile player, he did a nice job for us, played a lot for us when Mike [Iupati] was down. So, hopefully he’ll be available to us and we can turn this thing around.”
