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Browns Offensive Coordinator Brad Childress Press Conference 9-20-12

(On if the check down, catch and run to Richardson last week was good)- “It was good, it was a score so I don’t know how it can get any better than that. Any time you can make people miss that’s a plus. We would like to say we got them all blocked up on every play, but his God-given athletic ability showed up big time on that.”

(On if Richardson has a nose for the end zone)- “I think he can get in there a couple of different ways. He can make you miss and get in clean air and he can also lower his pads and run through you to get in there. It’s nice to be able to go a foot or horseback.”

(On if Richardson was embarrassed or wasn’t himself the first game against Philadelphia)- “You know I don’t think he was embarrassed. I just don’t know that he had that many opportunities in air. Most of his runs were in-line and he was never able to bounce or catch the ball out with a little bit of air to be able to turn his shoulders and square up on a defender. I think it’s probably just circumstances that happened in that second game.”

(On how important Brandon Weeden’s pocket awareness was last week)- “It’s just how you expect the quarterback to play. We talked last week about being in the 65th percentile and I think he accomplished that. I think some of the things you don’t see were him standing strong in the pocket, the pocket courage. You talked about sliding in the pocket, but just standing there in the teeth of a couple of throws and getting hit in the nose. That’s an important facet and not moving your feet when you don’t need to so he did some of those things as well let alone orchestrate and do a good job with the game plan.”

(On if he has talked to Weeden about staring at the pass rush too much and not staying with his receivers)- “No, we really haven’t caught him doing a lot of that. Because he can see and he’s taller in stature, he’s usually focused down the field. Now, we always say you have to feel the rush, don’t look at it and I think he’s got a decent feel for sliding up in the pocket and moving from side to side and periphering the rush and not looking at it.”

(On if he could see signs that Weeden was going to have a game similar to what he did and what he sees for this week)- “You’re never happy with a loss and a loss as close as that first one was particularly when you had some culpability in terms of how it played out with the four interceptions. He had his jaw locked, he’s a competitor and I know he didn’t want that to happen two weeks in a row and he was ticked that that was his first outing and it turned out poorly.”

(On if he saw anything any signs in practice that things were going to be better)- “No, I wish I could tell you that I was clairvoyant and that I knew that he was going to throw for 70% and all that kind of stuff. I just saw just him approach it very resolutely and go about his business.”

(On Weeden saying he was greedy in college throwing into tight spaces and if it’s tough for a quarterback to learn to pick his spots)- “You do. You don’t want them to be cautious, you want them to kind of live on the edge and have that kind of ice water, but you’re right, you don’t want them to think every time, ‘I am going to throw it through the eye of the needle,’ because that’s not necessary all of the time. There are times when you have to make a power throw and you have to put a little extra oomph on it, but I would much rather have him be an anticipatory thrower as opposed to a guy that saw it late and threw it hard, throwing early as opposed to throwing hard.”

(On if he has seen improvement week to week from Weeden in terms of his progressions)- “I have. You said it exactly right from week to week, if we’ve only got two there’s only really a body of work there, but I’ve seen that all the way along and saw a particular jump, trust in the fact check downs have got to get the ball to. The ball can’t always get pushed up the field even though that’s the intent of most offenses is to look high and bring it down low and you’ve got to understand the importance of having a tempo and going from first and ten to second and four as opposed to first and ten to second and ten because you put a ball up that was down the field and it should have maybe been intermediate or short.”

(On if he knew about Mohamed Massaquoi before he got here and what has he noticed about him in the first two games)- “I was familiar with him coming out of college and kind of lost track of him. I knew he had been up and down here. I knew from coming through here last year in training camp that he was hurt. I can’t remember if it was a foot or something like that and then he wasn’t practicing and that’s all I knew. Then I got to know him a little bit through the winter time and saw that he was a talented guy. He had a very good spring set of practices and I expected it to carry over to the season and it has.”

(On if he thinks the amount of work that Trent Richardson is getting right now is about right or if he is ready for more third down action)- “We kind of use him as we see fit. We had Obi (Chris Ogbonnaya) written into the plan last week and for right now he’s doing a good job with that. That’s always some of the hardest things to learn is picking up the protections and that type of thing, but we’ve got guys that I believe many hands make light work. You want to use guys whose particular skill level really kind of fits that situation and I think you’ll see Trent grow into playing more and more on those third down situations.”

(On if missing all of training camp delayed Richardson’s growth)- “You want him to do the things that he’s mastered and the other stuff you’re always trying to refine and get better. It surely couldn’t have helped to miss those three weeks and all the blitz drills that we’ve had and those type of things.”

(On what he worked on with Massaquoi that he is now able to get open more frequently)- “I wish I could take a bow for that, but I can’t take bows for that. Mo had a great offseason. As I’ve mentioned to you he had great summer/spring practices. I think that Nolan (Cromwell) and Mike (Wilson) have done a great job with all of those receivers and bringing a young guy along that just got here really at the 11th hour. Guys like Mo and Greg Little, guys that have been here and then getting them to evolve and know how we want them to play football. I think we’ve just seen the start of things for Mo. I think he can get better and better and improve his game every week.”

(On things that Mitchell Schwartz needs to work on and what he has seen from him)- “He’s a very smart kid, Mitch is. You see him in a blitz meeting this morning, he takes copious notes, and that smarts combined with he’s a pretty quick study too. You know, the smarts don’t get you by, sometimes you’ve got to get beat. Sometimes you’ve got to be told. He’s a guy that can usually be told and put it into play on the next play as opposed to be told, be told, be told and not be able to get it in the play on the next play.”

(On if he’s seen improvement from Schwartz)- “Yeah, I have. I just think that he’s probably more confident in what we’re doing scheme wise. He’s a little more confident in some of the technique stuff that he’s doing to be able to combat premium defensive ends. He’s going to face one usually every week. Just because he doesn’t play on the left side doesn’t mean he’s not going to play against a good play every week. He plays against a good guy every week.”

(On if he talks to Weeden different than he would a normal rookie because of his age)- “I talk to them all the same. I’m not going to give them a bunch of, ‘Dudes,’ and, ‘How you doing dude?’ That’s kind of not my style.”

(On how Weeden talks to him and if he is a different type of kid)- “He’s wired the right way. You can just tell kind of the fiber he’s got running through him, and maybe some of the paths he’s traveled, he’s already been there done that in some ways. He hasn’t been here, done this, but I think that’s probably helped him in his life’s experience so far. You can just be very direct with him, not sugarcoat things. I don’t sugarcoat much.”

(On if Josh Gordon’s lack of receptions is because of limited opportunity going his way or if he isn’t putting himself in the right spot)- “I just think it’s a feature of people going through progressions. Sometimes, as I mentioned before, you can have the greatest intentions to want to throw him a ball on this particular play, but you can’t stuff a ball to him that doesn’t belong there, or you end up with a game like Brandon had the first game. I think he will get his share. We kind of pride ourselves on being able to move the football around and not throw it to any one person. Different routes, he’s different spots in progression, it’s not because he’s not wiggling free or not getting open.”

(On taking advantage of using Alex Smith as an h-back)- “They’ve always used him that way here, and we’ve continued to use him that way. He has the ability to be able to play on the line of scrimmage, which not every fullback can play on the line of scrimmage standing next to a tackle, so he can do that. He can also take himself back in the backfield and play. You would call it h-back or fullback type responsibilities, as well as taking himself out in the air. He’s valuable from that standpoint that he can do a lot of different things. Every one is useful, no one is necessary.”

(On Smith’s blocking)- “He’s a good blocker. What he lacks in any kind of technique, he’s usually going to make it up with his effort and tenaciousness.”

(On the challenges that Mario Williams presents to Schwartz)- “Oh boy, speed, size, length, reach. For being a 6-7 guy, he plays with pretty doggone good leverage and leverage wins in football. If you’ve got two, big tall guys, the guy that can get lower is probably the guy that’s going to have the best of it. He an athletic guy with the ability to power rush as well as be able to speed rush.”

(On if Williams is good against the run too)- “He’s good against the run too. He’s no slouch.”

(On how good the Bills defense especially the front four)- “I would say outstanding. They wave different guys, and I don’t think (Kyle) Williams gets enough credit for the way he plays in there. He may be one of their very best defensive linemen. He was hurt last year, but I can remember him when he came out of LSU, everybody said he was an undersized guy. The guy is a tenacious guy, and everybody kind of plays off of him in that defense front. I know there’s Mark Anderson, I know there’s Mario Williams, but that guy is kind of the straw that stirs the drink.”