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CLEVELAND BROWNS COACH PAT SHURMUR

(Opening statement)- “Holy smokes.  Let me get through the injuries here, I’m sure you’ll have questions about them.  Sheldon Brown sustained a groin injury, that’s why you saw Buster (Skrine) in there and I thought he stepped up and did a good job.  We’ll have to see (how he is) as we move forward.  Again, I don’t have many details about that.  Phil Taylor, you saw, we had to give him some attention early in the game.  (It was an) MCL sprain, but he went right back in there.  I told him it’s the biggest knee in Ohio so you can’t be hurt, but he went back in there and played and he did a good job.  I think we had the normal bumps and bruises you get in a game like that so there may be something that comes up tomorrow, but I don’t think there’s anything at least according to Joe (Sheehan) right now that I need to report.  As far as the game, we all saw it, it wasn’t pretty.  I’ll first have to talk about the defense.  The defense did a tremendous job of battling play-to-play.  I challenged the guys to string a bunch of good plays together and I thought defensively they battled.  They forced a turnover then they missed a field goal, they did some things that you need to do when offensively we weren’t quite clicking, just off on some things so I give them credit.  At the end there, to spot them 30 yards in penalties and then shut them down with a field goal to win it, that’s great stuff so they’re to be commended.  Offensively, I think we saved our best for last.  I think Colt (McCoy) was eight-for-eight on the last drive and found a way to get us into the end zone.  We had some guys this week as you saw, skill players that we hobbled to some degree and went out and all battled and I feel good about that.  It wasn’t pretty.  During the middle of the game, they were giving us opportunities by throwing inside to the tight ends and you saw that it ended up being productive for us.  I thought Montario (Hardesty) stepped in and did a very nice job, took a big workload.  We tried to get Armond Smith in there a little bit to spell him, but Montario wanted to go in there so good performance by him.  I thought the offensive line; I don’t think we gave up a sack.  Now we were scrambling around a little bit and Colt got the ball off, but they’ve got to big time pass rushers when they get in Nickel and I thought they did a nice job.  All in all there’s plenty, we all saw it you can ask me about it, there’s plenty to correct.  I mean plenty.  I said a boatload (before), this is a freighter load of stuff to correct, but we’re moving on.  I’m proud of the guys because whether it’s one point or one second, they hung in there and found a way to win and I think that’s the important message on a football Sunday.”

(On if Colt McCoy’s final drive can accelerate his growth going forward)- “I think the message for any player is to just hang in there.  Hang in there because you’re going to get your opportunities all the way to the final gun and he found a way to lead us on a drive.  Colt knows how to win games and we’re learning about each other, he’s playing his way through this.  I think he battled at the end and I’m proud of his effort right there at the end.”

(On being off the mark for the first 59 minutes offensively)- “I don’t know if we were way off the mark.  You can be off by a little bit and it looks like a lot, I think that would be the message.  I wouldn’t say we did anything particularly well and it’s a credit to them.  I really did feel coming into this that they had a very talented defense, and they played well. I think when we look at the tape, we’re going to see we left a lot of yardage, field position and points out there.  It’s always better to correct stuff after a victory and I think that’s the important piece.  But we’ve got a lot to do and again, I’ve never said it and I will never believe it, but this young team we have set the new direction.  We’ve got a long way to go, we’ve got a long way to go.”

(On how they were able to put that last minute drive together, but not move the ball offensively all game)- “Throwing it every down, I don’t know.  There’s a mindset that changes in two-minute and our guys found a way to make plays.  I’ll tell you what, when they know it’s a pass, that’s when that offensive line has to do a tremendous job pass protecting and they did a good job.  I can’t explain it other than the fact I’m glad it happened.”

(On what adjustments were made at halftime)- “When we came in at halftime, we felt like we were just a little bit off on some things and we felt if we went out there and executed (we would play better).  You’ll notice we do a decent job of moving the football if we don’t hurt ourselves.  You get a positive run or a positive pass or when you run in twice, the second one cant be for a loss, those types of things.  Keep it in manageable third down situations and then you’ve got a chance.  Until we find a way to throw it all the time or do whatever we’ve got to do, I think that’s what we’ve got to do.”

(On what he told McCoy going into that last drive and if they had special plays reserved)- “It was a two-minute drive, but we had the ability when the clocked stopped to get in the huddle and we had plays ready to go.  Some of them were strictly two-minute.  Those were the ones Colt was calling and then the other ones (we could call if the clock stopped).  Obviously when you’re in the huddle and the clock stops, we have our full arsenal of throws and that’s what we tried to use.”

(On if he said to anything to McCoy before the drive started)- “Get in the end zone, get us in the end zone.  We knew the scenario.  I think the coaches in the box did a good job of counseling me on when to use the timeouts so we maximized our time and timeouts.  We knew what we had, we practice it every week, two-minute drills and they did a nice job.”

(On Mohamed Massaquoi’s and Joshua Cribbs touchdown receptions)- “You’re talking about two playmakers, two guys that we ran a double move on the last play.  Actually the ball wasn’t designed to go to Cribbs, the one he threw to him, but it was a keeper and (McCoy) got out on the perimeter, saw him open and made a play.  That happens sometimes.”

(On the personnel package used on the last drive)- “We had some guys that were a little sore from the week, it’s been documented with some of the time they missed in practice.  Those guys (Brian Robiskie and Jordan Norwood) stepped in and did a nice job.  We did some two tight end, two receiver sets.  We did some three receiver sets pretty much exclusively.  I feel we’ve got playmakers at tight end, so we have an arsenal of plays that we can use in that situation involving two tight ends and two receivers.”

(On the penalties at the end of the game)- “You can’t have them, that’s the answer.  We spotted them 30 yards in a situation where they need a field goal, unacceptable.  Now, the first one was a celebration.  I might have been in there if I was out there, but you can’t do it though.  There are rules against that and we’ve got to be smart.  We’ve got to make sure we keep our composure.  I probably do that to a fault sometimes.  I get really excited some times trust me.  I just try and hold it back.”

(On playing on no matter what happens)- ‘I think so and I mentioned that to the guys after the game that what I was proudest of was (how we kept playing hard) when it wasn’t pretty.  In fact, in times it was very ugly, but they hung in there and competed and I think that’s the message because you don’t know.  I’m sure when you’re watching the 1:00 p.m. games today that there were a lot of games coming down to the last drive.  If you get it in you win, if stop them you win.  Its just the league we play in and again, I’m excited for the guys in that locker room, coaches, players, administration and the Cleveland Browns that we have two victories in Week 3 and that’s what you’re looking to do.  Anything aside from that, I said that in my first press conference, anything aside from the goal of winning is a distraction and I’m proud of the way they found a way to win.”

(On Mike Adams’ interception)- “He came up big with the interception.  They got it to, I think, fourth and ten and they were out of field goal range, so they had to make a play on it.  Typically, you are trying to throw the ball at the sticks.  It’s hard to count on a catch and run in that situation when it’s the last play.  I thought our guys did a good job of covering it.  As soon as the ball was picked off, your natural reaction is go down because there is too much craziness that can happen, but Mike did a good job.”

(On calling a timeout to start the last possession)- “To start the drill, they came out a little bit different than we thought and I learned from Week 1.  I saw a couple guys I couldn’t see right. Did you see how quick I was?  (I called) timeout because I didn’t want that to happen again.  I might have jumped in the lake.  But, that was what I saw and I burned a timeout.”

(On Peyton Hillis affecting the game plan)- “We talked about Peyton all week.  You know he came down with a sore throat or strep throat in the middle of the week and he was making progress.  We are getting him ready to play and he woke up this morning and came in, we were going through the same process getting him ready to play and he felt like he couldn’t go.  It was typical of illness like that, I felt it was best to just send him home so he could get rest.  So, beyond that, I think there is nothing else to talk about.”

(On if he changed the game plan because of Hillis’ illness)- “No, and I probably should of commented on that earlier.  I thought Montario stepped in and did a nice job.  He had some good runs and he played a really physical game, probably more than I expected he would play in Week 3.  So he should be credited for that and then we just made the switch.  We put Carlton Mitchell up and so we were really short-handed at running back.  We really had only three runners.  We had Armond (Smith), we had Montario, and our fullback Owen (Marecic).”

(On Joshua Cribbs not on kick return because of injury)- “He was less than one-hundred percent and he wanted to play.  We tried to do what we could to get him through the game and he did a nice job.  He got in the end zone and scored a touchdown.  I thank him for that.”

(On Colt McCoy’s demeanor on the game winning drive)- “He was very poised.  Well, he was away from me enough where I was kind of just yelling at him basically, but he handled it great.  His poise in those situations is very good.  I think he is very comfortable in the shotgun.  He is very comfortable in that type of scenario and I thought he executed well.”

(On the defensive line making plays)-“Absolutely, I think we had five sacks.  We got pressure on (Chad) Henne and I thought they did a nice job.  They have some explosive running backs now.  If you give them a crease and get them to the second or third level, they can score with it.  I thought they battled.  They had a good little rotation going in there.  We used the whole roster there and they played well.”

(On Dick Jauron changing his blitz looks late in the game)- “I think so.  I think as the game went on, we felt like we needed to pressure them and we did that.  I thought our guys did a good job of disguising some things, which makes it tough on the quarterback.  The receivers, we were up in bump and run quite a bit.  We were right up on them and you saw Joe Haden was really tracking Brandon (Marshall).  I knew he was a good player.  He lined up in front of me one time and I was like, ‘Holy cow, this is a big, looking guy now.’  You know when he’s up close in personal, he had a little bit of height on Joe, but Joe battled him and he did a nice job.”

(On the emotions of the first win at home)- “I am happy for Cleveland.  I have said it in the past, what a great sports town.  What a great football town and I think back to the high school games that were played.  My son is involved in freshman ball and then last night, Ohio State. So, this is a good weekend for the city of Cleveland.  The celebration of Jim Thome, there is a lot of good stuff going on and I think it’s to be enjoyed.  Then we wake up tomorrow, all of us, we go to work and get ready to play the Tennessee Titans or whoever we play.  I do know this, Ohio State plays Michigan State.  So there is a lot going on, but for these short hours we will enjoy this victory, get a good night sleep and get up and ready to go.”