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Browns Head Coach Pat Shurmur Press Conference 8-12-12

(Opening statement) – “Good practice today. So I could get good speed, we wanted to work on a different couple of phases. I took the pads off of them so we could get good speed. The guys handled it well. Again, there was plenty to do today to clean up the mistakes from the game. It’s always fun to win the game, but I did feel like there are some things we have to improve on. We made all our points and I think the guys handled it well. We came out here and did corrections and now we move forward. We’re into our next week, next phase and with that our minds will start to drift towards Green Bay as we get towards the middle of the week. So with that, I’ll take your questions.”

(On Travis Benjamin and Scott Fujita not practicing today) – “(They are) Sore from the game so they’re not out here today.”

(On updates regarding the players injured in the game) – “Again, they were nicked up in the game so we’ll have to see here as we go.”

(On if any of the players injured during the game sustained a serious injury) – “No, I don’t know. It’s hard to tell when those guys will all be back. They got nicked up in the game and we’ll see.”

(On if he regards the second game as his dress rehearsal) – “I think what’s happened over the years is that’s become part of an industry deal that the third game is the dress rehearsal. I think you learn things in each game and you work on different things. The guys that line up as our ones will play half the game this week and that’s typical of what happens in most of the third games. The uniqueness of our year is its Philadelphia and it’s our opener and the guys that are lining up as the ones will play around a half this week.”

(On if he expects Brandon Weeden to play more on Thursday) – “He’ll play a half.”

(On Josh Gordon’s week, his first game and today in practice) – “Well, I think he’s a rookie in the NFL so he learns everything by doing it. He’s an extremely talented guy, but he needs to do it and he needs to be inspired and motivated. His first game was a little bit like I might have expected. I think when you get playing (in) a game as opposed to practice, the speed and the urgency and all the stuff just tends to pick up a little bit. I would anticipate as he plays his way through this preseason he’ll get better and better.”

(On how he works through Josh Gordon’s ups and downs) – “You just keep working. If you’re an older player or a guy that’s been in the league a few years and you’re making lots of mistakes then we have to talk about different issues. For young players that are going through things for the first or maybe the second time then you’re a little bit more patient with that as they develop. As we all get closer to the season we become less and less patient about everything.”

(On rookie defensive tackles having to step up due to players injuries) – “I think it’s a good opportunity for them. The lines are shorter there so they’ll play a handful more reps in each game which will help them. I think that’s a good thing.”

(On how John Hughes and Billy Winn did in their first game) – “I thought they did a good job. I saw some of the things I’ve seen in practice and they have to make huge improvements before they’re at the level that we feel they need to play at. They had a good start.”

(On Josh Gordon playing inside at practice being part of his natural development) – “That was just some of the way that we’re (in) formation and things today. He was inside a little bit, but that’s part of it. Whether you’re an outside player there are times when we line up in a two-back slot where you can tend to be inside.”

(On if Josh Gordon has limitations in his route running) – “No, I think he can run all the routes necessary to be a good player in this league. There are no limitations on him.”

(On if Mohamed Massaquoi suffered a concussion in the game) – “You know how I feel about tweets and twitters number one. I told you what happened and that’s what happened so I don’t know. I only hear what gets tweeted, but he had a concussion and we’re treating it as so.”

(On if he has a policy on tweets) – “I don’t like them, that’s my policy. I encourage them not to and I think it’s important that they don’t. I don’t think you can totally harness social media. I’ve come to that realization, but what I can do is encourage and inspire them to be very professional and not talk about Browns business. That’s just my feeling on it. That’s a big thing to harness, social media.”

(On if it could get to the point with him that he will ban Twitter) – “No, I’m not going to sit here and pick a fight with Twitter. I don’t want to do that because I want to deal with our guys as professionals. I want to deal with them as men and that’s part of society at this point, social media. I think it’s important that I encourage them and inspire them not to do it and if you ask me a question about what happened in the game and I tell you the process then that’s how it happened.”

(On how concerned he is with the number of guys who missed practice today) – “The guys that are not here, the next ones move up and we practice with them. The guys that aren’t here will get the mental reps in the meeting room if they’re not at practice. If they are here at practice and they’re not practicing, then they’ll watch it all happen. From that stand point, I think you ask me this question every day about how concerned I am. Of course I don’t want anybody to be injured. Anytime we have guys that aren’t at practice, it keeps them from getting one day better on the practice field. We have to find ways to keep them going. When they get back, and our guys do a great job of getting them to come back, when they get back, then we get them back out here.”

(On how much significance he places on winning the game in the preseason) – “I think it’s important that you go through the process, and we were in a situation where we had to come back and win it at the end. So going through that process there’s something you learn from that. I talked about the players getting that winning feeling and getting selfish about wanting it every week. There are things you talk about, but of course we know as we go forward it’s important as anything is seeing how this roster competes and learning about the players. So when it’s time to get this thing whittled down to 53, we pick the right guys. I think that’s as important in the preseason as anything. Of course, at the end of the game, you’ve got your back-ups and role players in there doing their thing, so when they go down and win the game, you’re happy for them because they’re competitors. I think that’s important. ”

(On how Trevin Wade fits in the role of nickel and how he played in the game against Detroit) – “I thought he did a good job. They tried a double move on him, he was right there. They tried to throw a deep ball on him, he was right there. From what I could tell he played pretty well. When I went back and watched the film in detail, it held up that way. He’s making good progress. He has a very, very good feel for the game and I think it showed up the other night.”

(On how he prevents penalties) – “We coach against them. What’s punitive about guys committing penalties is maybe not obvious to you, but we emphasize that we don’t. I think it’s important that we don’t have as many.”

(On if things ever look better after reviewing film) – “No, this was one of those games that played out on film a lot like I thought I saw it on game day. Sometimes it’s way different. There were some good plays. We pointed out the penalties, which I think is not good. We made an emphasis about catching the football. I’ll just speak to it from a defensive stand point, we had two opportunities to intercept balls and we did it. I think that’s a plus. I thought for the most part the guys played hard. I talked about after the game, I thought our special teams units, now we left two easy ones on the board. We had a chance to down two punts inside the 20 and we didn’t get it done. Those are two layups you have to take. As you know Bubba (Ray Ventrone) was right there, and then we had Spencer (Lanning) who stretched out his leg and kicked about a 100-yard punt. Those are, because we know the percentages of the offense scoring when you pin them in inside the 20 it goes way down. That’s the stuff that you talk about after the game.”

(On Mitchell Schwartz’s performance Friday) – “There are two things going on in this game. Number one I think they are a very excellent pass-rush team they are schemed to pass-rush and get after the quarterback. I think there are some things he could learn from that performance. He’s going to get lots of reps. We left him in there for a half, when we took the other ones out for a quarter. I think he did some really good things in the game as well. I’m not going to paint a picture of his performance. I just think he’s going to learn to become a very good player at right tackle and he’s going to get a lot of reps.”