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Browns Defensive Coordinator Dick Jauron Press Conference 9-13-12

(On the challenger of not having your best cornerback)- “It’s never a good thing, but the guys that have been here and have developed here have done a fine job so they’ll get a chance to go out and compete. You never want it to happen though, obviously you’d like to have Joe (Haden) out there playing, but that’s the way it is so we’ll be okay. We’ll be alright. It’s a challenge for anybody to play against their skill people. Their skill people are very good. They’ve done a nice job and they’ve done a nice job against us so we’re going to have to step up and play better than we have.”

(On A.J. Green making big plays against the Browns last year)- “He made big plays, no doubt about it.”

(On if Haden did a good job on A.J. Green other than two big plays last year)- “Joe’s done a pretty good job against everybody, but you can never eliminate the one play. The one play, no matter where it is, it could be the first play or the 78th play, they’re all critical in the course of the game. Definately as you all know very, he’s a very talented receiver. Size, speed, he’s got really good hands and they target him so the ball is going to go to him.”

(On how well his young linebackers played last week and if he envisions using more of a rotation with Scott Fujita being back)- “We’ll see how it works throughout the week, how Scott feels as the week goes on and how he holds up because he hasn’t obviously practiced much or played in a while. The young guys played well and they played like we would hope they would play. They played hard and fast and they had fun. We made enough errors to lose, but they really played hard and performed and were productive, they were very productive for us.”

(On what attributes L.J. Fort and Craig Robertson have)- “The first two things I would think of would be, number one, toughness. They’re both tough guys. Very competitive, very physical and they’re fast. They both can run, they’re athletic guys and we really like that about them. Obviously those are two qualities that you’re looking for in football players for sure and to this point they’ve been great teammates so they fit right in with us. Hopefully, they’ll just continue to improve and get better. If they’re not starters on the field, they’re they kind of guys that can be quality performers on special teams so they really do a nice job for your entire football team.”

(On if young linebacker’s speed shows up more in the run defense or the pass defense)- “I would say over time it would be both. They’re quick and fast. In the run game, they can get to people and overcome some things that maybe obviously that a slower player could. They can get to more players clearly so I would say in both areas they should help us.”

(On if T.J. Ward has shown that he is ready to break through to new level of play)- “He’s very into it. I think he’s more familiar with the scheme. I believe he gets more familiar every day, he’s talking more on the field, making more calls so these are all good signs. His toughness, nobody’s ever questioned his toughness. He plays really hard. Like most of our guys, he’s a very competitive guy. He likes to play.”

(On if not having Joe Haden affects his ability to blitz as much)- “I’m going to say no. We like to think we pressure enough, but we’re not a huge blitz team, certainly not an all-out blitz team, but it wouldn’t affect the way we call a game.”

(On deciding on who will cover Jermaine Gresham)- “Whoever we have out there, they’re going to have their hands full. Sometimes we put a safety on him, sometimes we have the coverage linebacker on him and particularly in nickel situations. Whoever is on him, he’s a handful. He’s a very, very talented football player, he’s got speed down the field, he’s got really good hands, he’s a big target so he can screen you with his body and catch the ball, that’s tough. And an accurate quarterback it’s a good combination for them, a bad combination for defenses.”

(On if there is a debate about what to do with Dimitri Patterson this week coverage wise)- “We have a number of options with Dimitri so there is a debate. We’ll just have to see how the week works itself out and where he ends up playing the most because we know we’re going to see a lot of three wide receiver groups from them. That’s how the whole league plays now.”

(On if it is a challenge to move from outside and inside as a cornerback)- “To move from outside to inside? It’s different there’s no doubt about that. He’s played a lot more inside for us than he has played outside.”

(On if game planning to play both outside and inside is a challenge for Patterson)- “I wouldn’t say it does necessarily because your sub package is different than your base. If he out there on the edge on a base package, but he moves inside he is very familiar with the inside. It’s been a long time, but I played in the secondary and you categorize things for yourself and I would think he does too. I wouldn’t think it would be that difficult for him to do that. Whether we will or not, we’ll have to wait and see.”

(On the differences between Dimitri Patterson and Buster Skrine and who would be most effective against A.J. Green)- “Anybody that plays on A.J. Green is going to have a challenge, on any team I think in the league. He’s really good so I can talk about Buster and Dimitri and their skills, but whoever plays on that guy is going to struggle. But both of those guys, they’re extremely competitive guys, they’re tenacious players, they’ll battle you on every down. It’s going to be a challenge for them. They’ll challenge whoever they’re on. I’m not sure it’s going to matter too much to them who they’re on, but they’ll certainly know when they’re on A.J. Green, but they would play anybody the same way they’re going to try to play him. That’s just their nature, those two guys in particular, how they play. They only know one way and we kind of like that way. We like how they play.”

(On if he has seen a major change in Pat Shurmur during his second year as head coach)- “No, I believe he’s more confident. He has said he’s a lot more comfortable on a number of occasions. He certainly understands gameday situations, of course he always did going in, but he’s had year’s worth of experience dealing with all the issues that can happen. As we know in sport and in football there are always going to be things that surprise you. No matter how much preparation you do probably as a player and as a coach something is going to come up at some time and generally it almost comes up weekly. It’s a unique situation and it makes it fun, but makes it a great challenge.”

(On how tough the first year being an NFL head coach is)- “You’re just really happy you’re a coach. I don’t know how tough it is, it’s really fun.”

(On if the players ever ask him about his playing career)- “No.”

(On if the players even know he played in the league)- “Probably not.”

(On if there was a moment in the game last week where he assured himself that he is better coaching in the booth instead of on the field)- “No, there never was. I don’t know that I’ve ever called a game where I felt like I called a great game. You make calls, some of them turn out really good, some of them turn out bad, some of them are bad, you make them at the wrong time and things happen. A lot of the time the players will make your call good or bad. They play it into something good so I’ve never really felt after a game, ‘Wow, I really did a great job today.’ It’s fun, you get a much better view and you can defiantly see substitutions and patterns better up there, but you sure miss being on the field too being down there where the action is.”

(On if his ability to communicate well with the players comes from his past playing days)- “I don’t think so. I’ve certainly thought about it. I always felt from the day I started coaching, I’ve felt it was an advantage to play on day one, maybe. Maybe, because you don’t know, all of the players don’t think alike, but they know you played, they know you were out there on the field so you can relate to them a little bit and they can kind of relate to that and then after that I just thought you better know what you’re doing because they’ll find out fast. Probably like anything they’ll know and they know.”

(On what percentage of plays he blitzed against Philadelphia)- “I think enough. I don’t know what you would like to be, it depends on how the game goes. I think you’ve got to pressure enough to try to keep them a little bit off balance.”

(On if they blitzed on half of the plays last week)- “Percentage-wise, it defiantly wasn’t 50.”