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Browns Head Coach Pat Shurmur Press Conference 9-17-12

(Opening Statement) – “Preparation for week three, let’s just talk about the game for a minute. I think I hit my feelings last night after the game. When you sit there and watch it, I go back and I see some things that were mistakes, and some things that were good plays we got away with. I thought for the most part, we made progress without winning, which means you didn’t make progress. That’s number one, so let’s leave it at that. Beyond all that, I’ll answer your questions about specifics. We’ll get ready to play Buffalo, a team that bounced back and played a good game yesterday and beat a team that I think is pretty good in the (Kansas City) Chiefs. I haven’t had a chance yet to watch it. We’re just finishing up the corrections with the team. I feel good about the way the team came in today and I feel good about the week of preparation we’re going to have. I’ll talk to you about injuries if you have specifics, but for the most part most of the guys we talked about yesterday, we’re just going to have to see day-to-day.”

(On what mistakes ate at him the most after watching film) – “It’s hard to say. All the mistakes eat at me a little bit. I didn’t see anything that was repeated from the first game. Like I said, I thought our guys played hard. I think penalties are one thing you’ll talk about. Believe it or not penalties (are) the correlation to winning and losing. We can all look that up. Penalties hurt and you have to overcome them. Some of the penalties that we had, we didn’t overcome. The ones that I don’t like are the pre-snap ones, of course, that are correctable. The ones involving effort and all that business, judgment of whether it was or wasn’t, you have to coach against making those types of errors. It’s a fine line between then backing your guys off where they don’t play hard. For me, the ones that are avoidable, truly avoidable, are the pre-snap ones that put you behind on the downs.”

(On his reaction to Trent Richardson’s two big plays yesterday) – “I thought Trent played a much better game than week one. I think that’s a statement of the obvious. I still think he can do some things better when he doesn’t have the football, which means we probably ought to give him the ball every time he’s in there. I thought he ran hard, his legs looked fresher. He looked to me like a guy that practiced all week. I think that’s important for running backs no matter how many reps they get in practice they got to practice all week and get their turns.”

(On now that Trent Richardson and Chris Ogbonnaya are healthier if he can keep four halfbacks on the roster) – “I think so. I think that’s fair. You’d like to have a scenario where you have healthy scratches everywhere. It showed up yesterday. Ogbonnaya’s a very dependable guy, he caught the ball well. There were some pick-ups in protection that were good. Not to say the other backs can’t do that. That’s how we used them yesterday. Montario (Hardesty) was there if Trent needed a break. Trent doesn’t ever need a break now it looks like. We used Montario on third-down situations. Yeah, I think you can have four.”

(On if he will keep the same two starting cornerbacks this week) – “We’re going to look at everything in making this team better. We’re going to look at playing, number one the guys that are healthy and give us the best chance to win. That’s what we’re going to do.”

(On how injured is Sheldon Brown) – “He was limited throughout the week. I’ve mentioned it before. I’ve been with Sheldon a long time and I’m a big Sheldon Brown fan, and I’m his coach. I think his role will change here as it goes along. There’s a good chance you’ll see him in there more this week. He was banged up through the week and I don’t think that’s going to be an issue as we move forward.”

(On if Brown’s streak of playing in consecutive games was the reason he was in for one play) – “He was in the game. Those are important things to him as an individual. I think if you ask an unselfish guy like Sheldon, he will tell you, he would give up a streak for a victory. I think that’s what you’d get from him. Just like if you asked Doug (Dieken) that. I’m sure he’d say the same.”

(On Buster Skrine missing some tackles) – “It’s interesting when I watched the game; I flew through it on the plane coming home. The Ipad thing is really cool. They were making plays on both sides. We were making a couple plays. There were a couple times when I thought Buster lost his footing, where it would have helped him either get a little closer to the catch and tackle him without yardage or maybe make a play on it. I think there was a little bit of a footing thing there.”

(On if Skrine has to be better in technique since he is smaller) – “I don’t care how big you are, you can’t slip. I think that’s fair to say. He’s quick and he’s a guy that challenges. I don’t think it’s significant to his size.”

(On if Skrine was timid in the game yesterday) – “No, he wasn’t timid. He was playing at times against a very good receiver. No, I didn’t see him play timid.”

(On if Trevin Wade could move to the outside cornerback position) – “I think what you do is you draft corners that you think can play outside, and then decide who plays inside. That’s where he’s at right now. At some point here, he could play outside.”

(On with Joe Haden out is Wade playing outside an option) – “I think with Joe out, we’re going to look at all options to make sure we play the right combination of guys.”

(On Wade’s mistake on Andrew Hawkins touchdown) – “We were actually in two deep man under. I talked about yesterday, when a quarterback leaves the pocket, it’s very easy to see ball, get ball. It’s important that you just stay tight to your coverage. On that same play, D’Qwell (Jackson) had the back, then all of a sudden, they started to scramble. He could’ve gone and sacked the quarterback, so he whipped around and tried to cover the back. They caught us in a two-man coverage and then the scramble. Once the ball was completed, then everybody’s got to rally to it. We have to get what ends up being a good play for them and not let it turn into a great play. I think that’s what happened.”

(On consistency in pass-rush game and why they are getting more pressure on the quarterback) – “It starts with the talent of the guys doing the rushing, I think. I think at least in my time here, we’ve upgraded that position with guys where you can roll a few guys in there and I think that’s important. It looks like teams are trending. I think it’s the same thing, where you have eight or nine guys that you roll them in there and you keep them fresh and go. I think we’ve had a good little rotation there and I think we have to keep it up.”

(On Jabaal Sheard getting more attention after a positive rookie season) – “I think he is. I wouldn’t say he’s played poorly. I think he’s played well. I think in the eyes of those of you that write about it and report on it, that you look at just the pure production to see whether he’s had a good game or not. I think that can be a little bit misleading, because pressure on the quarterback is important. Sometimes the worst pressure on a quarterback is when it’s right in his face (and) he can’t step up and make a throw. I think that’s where Brandon, if I can flip it, there were a couple of throws yesterday where he had some pressure in his face where he got the ball out. To me, that’s where he made a little progress, because there were a couple of times where we got a little bit of push.”

(On the differences in Mohamed Massaquoi from last year to this year) – “I think he had a chance to have a true offseason. He was healthy. Anytime you put in that much work, I thought he has done a good job of getting himself in shape. He’s making it happen on Sunday. I’m pleased with where he’s going. I do see a different Mo this year and it’s showing up.”

(On what changed about Weeden this week) – “I talked yesterday about and again I always go back to the process. I watched a pretty good process week one and I watched a really good process week two. I’m looking for an out of sight process this week, because you have to take yourself through the paces. That’s where sometimes this becomes a tough league for guys, because you have to do it over and over and over. I saw him make strides in how he prepared. I saw him throw the ball confidently. I saw him hit some check downs. Sometimes it’s hard to take a guy who is a great thrower and say listen, take a check down. That ball to Trent in the red area was a check down. We were trying to throw the ball down the field first to our right, and then it was a route design to go to Ben (Watson). They just covered everybody and he said ‘Oh my goodness, nobody’s covering Trent,’ which was good for us. We threw it to him and he got a touchdown. You saw later in the game, in the last drive, when we went down and got a field goal. We were calling plays to take shots that they were legislating against and boom. He kept hitting Obie (Chris Ogbonnaya) on the check downs and we walked the ball down the field. There’s some learning there that took place, and as you might expect in my own little way, I’ve been trying to encourage that. They have to do it to feel it and I think that’s good.”

(On if Weeden has had more a progression as far as his pocket presence) – “No, I think he understands how to throw the ball from the pocket. You get used to how it all spaces out a little bit. I still think he can get better there.”

(On his take on touchdown celebrations) – “The league has rules about what they can and can’t do. We’ve already established I’m not a very flamboyant guy. I’m glad when they’re happy they get in. I just don’t want them getting penalties.”

(On him saying the punt-return touchdown was credited to effort from Adam “Pacman” Jones) – “No, I think what I said is, and again I don’t want to crush your question here, but we missed six tackles. After watching the tape, that’s still the case. The ball was punted in an area where we had a guy in his face. If you don’t make that tackle, then you have to make him go sideways. He didn’t make the tackle and Pacman went vertical. We had other opportunities to get him on the ground and we didn’t do it. No excuses for that.”

(On sense of urgency on not falling to 0-3 and the statistical chances of an 0-3 team getting to the playoffs and how he conveys it to his guys) – “We need to do what we can to win this football game against a team that’s coming off a big victory. I’ve got a lot of respect for Buffalo because they’ve, in my opinion, done a lot of things to upgrade their roster in the last couple of years. I don’t know about statistics, actually, I was a business major, but that was my least favorite class. It was all the way across campus, I took it in the winter and I had to walk there. I didn’t understand it. But we have to win this game.”

(On if he tallied up the missed tackles and if so how many were there) – “That’s a teaching aid for us. I’m sure you guys can see it. I know you all can watch it, so you guys can probably come up with a number.”

(On if the missed tackles is a point of emphasis today or during the week) – “Always. We always talk about missed tackles, missed assignments, dropped balls, penalties. All the things you might sit there and tally up Nate (Ulrich).”

(On if he needs two scores to win will he always go for the three points first) – “Absolutely. Here’s what happens is, we were faced with roughly two minutes right? (We’re) down by two scores. Here’s what needs to happen. You need to score once. You need to get the onside kick and then you need to score again. In and around getting the onside kick who cares what the score is. Had we gone for it on fourth down and not made it, game over. That’s philosophically where I’m at. Are we good on that?”

(On if he would go for the field goal first if they were on the one yard line instead of the four yard line) – “Yeah, I guess you would consider it. Somebody would have had to grab me by the neck and tackle me. You get the points, you make an effort to get the onside kick and you then you try to score again. I think that’s just where you’re at. I hope I explained that because in my mind, you have to make three plays. You have to score, you have to get the onside kick and you have to score again in any of those combinations.”

(On how you make corrections on missed tackles with limited tackling and pads during the week) – “I think in practice you try to simulate it the best you can with your drill work. Then you emphasize it. It’s like fighter pilots, they use a simulator. You try to simulate it the best you can, because we do know that if you’re tackling guys to the ground in the season then you have a chance to get guys hurt, which you just can’t do.”

(On thought process of challenging the ‘bobbled ball’) – “I think, in my opinion, I would have done it again, based on the information I had. It was away from me. Of course, from where I was standing I couldn’t see his feet. I had people upstairs that said they thought he bobbled it and they thought he was out of bounds. Even when we got an opportunity to see a replay, thought the same thing. Now in that situation there, if that ball is complete right there, they’re essentially in field goal range.”

(On if he thought the pass was incomplete) – “I did. That’s why we challenged it. The coaching tape that I saw, it’s not as clear. Of course, it gets other views. Based on the time of the game and the significance of that play, you challenge it.”

(On how he thought Dimitri Patterson played on A.J. Green) – “I thought A.J. played well. Dimitri will tell you when you go in there. You guys are all going to talk to him I imagine. He’ll be the first one to tell you that he can play better.”