Opening statement:
"I do not have any new personnel groupings for you all today (laughter)."
On OL Greg Robinson and his performance the past few weeks:
"Greg has performed very well. He has stayed hooked up as far as his knowledge and stuff and learning and continuing to work. We feel comfortable with Greg right now at left tackle. He is playing at a pretty high level. He probably had his best game to date last week. He certainly is going to need it this week."
On challenges facing the Texans defense:
"Certainly, their personnel creates some challenges from the standpoint of you have three guys up front that are top in the league at every category. Their supporting cast, they probably have the best front seven in football. They are playing at a very high level right now. We have our work cut out for us from the standpoint of just getting on them and just blocking them. We will go down and fight. We know what to do. We will see where whatever happens."
On what gives the Browns confidence it can be productive against Houston's defense:
"You play the game on Sunday at one o'clock, and we have guys that are going to go down and compete. Lay it out there on the line and see where we come up at the end. We are not going to back down from anybody. We are going to go down with a good plan, and we are going to see if we can go down and execute it."
On what separates Texans DE J.J. Watt from other DL:
"His athletic ability and strength combined with his relentless effort. His ability to move in short areas with his hands and things like that. Creates problems for anybody blocking him."
On why RB Nick Chubb has become more involved in the passing game:
"I do not know – when he is open, he gets the ball. I have never said that Nick does not have good hands. I do not know who started that rumor. Nick has good hands. We have three backs back in the backfield that have good hands. (TE) Orson Charles has good hands. It is just some routes we would rather have other guys run than Nick. As far as throwing him the ball, I do not have a problem with throwing Nick the ball."
On Robinson's efforts to maintain the starting LT spot:
"I think just win one-on-one matchups. You have to be able to do that at left tackle. He has won his share in the last couple of weeks. Not many pressures have come from the left side. As long as he can continue to do that and it benefits the team, then Greg is in there. He has accepted the challenge of going against guys on the other side of the ball on their pass rush, their moves and things like that. He has done very well."
On if he limits concepts in the offense for QB Baker Mayfield, given he is a rookie:
"I would not say that. I would not say that at all. I think that Baker has developed a good grasp of what we are trying to do offensively. As we progress, it is a week to week gameplan type of thing. He has gotten a good handle on each gameplan every week we have played. I expect nothing else this week. We are not holding things back on Baker. We want to continue to improve his development. You can't baby a quarterback into this thing. You have to throw him out there and see what sticks, and then it is my job and the rest of the offensive staff's job to decide what he is comfortable with at the end of the week. He has to be honest and tell me what things he is not comfortable with at the end of the week. It is an open line of communication there between him and I and him and (quarterbacks coach) Kenny Zampese. That is where trust comes into play. Right now, we are doing a good job of making sure that he is comfortable with the things that we have in the plan. As far as holding back, there is no holding back. There is not babying him into anything. He is doing a good job. He works hard during the course of the week. He puts time in after hours and before hours. He is doing a good job of staying focused on the task at hand inside of one play, inside of one read, inside of one practice and one game. That is how you continue to progress. It is not overwhelming him or anything like that. It is just continuing his progress on a play-by-play basis."
On how to instill a sense of belief in players:
"I am not sure. I think just you put them into positions to succeed. If they never can taste success and they do not know what that feels like, then it is hard to build confidence. This is a game that you have to play with tremendous amounts of confidence if you want to be successful. I think we are at a point where we are gaining confidence. We are very confident in what we can do. We are very confident that we can win one-on-one matchups. We are very confident that we can make the right reads. We win one-on-one routes. We can win in pass protection. Week to week, you have to go out and prove yourself again. This is a week-to-week business here. Next week, we are going to be either riding high or the worst team in the NFL. That is the way out goes. Everybody accepts that and is moving forward. We are going to lay it out there on the line, put it on the table and see where it falls."
On the positive effect the offense experiences when multiple players get involved:
"I think it is great. It is great for Baker. It is great for the guys catching the ball. It is great more importantly for the offense's success because you are not singling out any one person. To do that, you have to have the right people on the field because somebody can't get upset because they are not getting the ball. They have to understand that person got the ball for a reason. The quarterback has to know where his eyes are to get the ball into that person's hands because he is the one open and that is where his read takes him. They know that on any given play they can get the ball, and that enables the offense to be successful."
On who gets credit for not allowing a sack in the past two games:
"It is all of the above. The line has definitely gotten better the last couple of weeks, the quarterback has gotten rid of the ball and the guys have caught the ball. The backs are protecting well, and the tight ends have protected well. It could go onto that the receivers have run their routes at the proper depth and gotten their heads around. Everything factors into that from the standpoint of no sacks. The last two sacks we gave up a few weeks ago were [due to] mental errors. In saying that, we have our hands full this week. These guys can get after the passer."
On how players responded to Mayfield's postgame press conference comments about former Browns Head Coach and Bengals special assistant to the Head Coach Hue Jackson:
"First of all I do not have a problem with Baker saying anything like that. The guy spoke what he felt to be true. I do not know when it became big news to speak the truth. If that is what he feels, then he should voice it. Hard Knocks is in here and everybody is looking for a story. He is giving you a story; he is telling you the truth. Everybody wants an inside look of the truth. Well hell, that is the truth. We go down to Cincinnati and arguably one of the biggest wins – I know there are people in that locker room that have never gotten on a plane to come back here on road game with a victory so they did not know that feeling until then – but suddenly, it is big news if we do not want to turn it into kumbaya after the game and turn it into fist bumps and hugs. I do not think Baker disrespected anybody on what the said. He spoke what he felt. I do not know. I would say that I do not have a problem with it. At some point, everybody is going to realize that it does not matter what anybody else says – it does not matter what anybody says in Cincinnati, Baltimore, Pittsburgh or anywhere – it is about what is said here. More importantly, it is about our fans, our organization and our locker room most importantly. It is about what those guys in there feel, and when they start believing that, which they do, then you have something, and I think that is the point we are getting to."
On Mayfield's Instagram comments:
"I do not have Instagram so… I do have Instagram it is just private (laughter). I do not know anything about that, and I am not going to speak for that. Again, I promise you this, Baker is not going to blow smoke up anybody's ass. If he said it, that is what he feels, and I am standing behind Baker Mayfield. I do not care about anyone who does not work in this building and what they think about what he said. That is what I stand behind is him and the players in this locker room."
On how WR Jarvis Landry is handling receiving fewer targets:
"I do not think it is a problem. I think he would answer that the same way if I know him well enough. Jarvis understands that there is progression in routes and progression in reads, and if he is covered, somebody else is open. Baker has done pretty well the last couple of weeks of finding guys that are open. I think everybody tries to make things bigger than they are, and ultimately, it is about winning. When you start winning, people want to find other stories. I told you guys this in the spring, players chase stats and media chases controversy because both of them equal money. It is about how many hits you get on the internet. It is about how many viewers you have. Ultimately, if we can stay together in the locker room and not let anything like that divide us or any Instagrams or anything like that divide us, we are going to be fine because the only people that matter is in that locker room."
On if he has considered interviewing to be the Browns' head coach, given a media member's recommendation he should be interviewed:
"I found it funny. People did not know who I was before this all happened. Let me tell you how that happens. If you are not sending out propaganda and advertising for you next job, that happens. People know who you are at that point. I have never advertised for a job, and I never will advertise for a job. I had a coach tell me, (College Football Hall of Fame Coach) Gene Stallings tell me a long time ago if you want another job after the job that you are doing, then do that job well. That is what I have always tried to do. I have had jobs so I am going to continue to do that. I do not know about that. If someone recognizes that and they want to do that, that is fine, but I am not concerned about that at all. I am just doing my job right now."
On how many plays he agreed to let Chubb call if Georgia beats Alabama:
"I told him that he could call the plays if Georgia wins so we will see. I changed the play today to Roll Tide so he would not even run the play (laughter). I had to come up with something, and he would not even bet me anything. I tried to get (QB) Drew Stanton a couple years ago, Michigan State played Alabama, and you guys can try to find that picture by the way of Drew Stanton in my jersey. I tried to get Chubb to make that bet, but he would not make that. He said he could not put it on so we had to come up with something."
On what he gets if Alabama beats Georgia:
"No just kind of a charity deal there."
On why the team is starting faster as compared to earlier in the season:
"It strictly goes to the execution of those guys. They are doing a great job from just because practice ends on Friday does not mean you have work. You have work still that needs to be done from Friday afternoon until you kick off on Sunday at one o'clock. Those guys have done an exceptional job of cleaning things up and making it work on Sunday. They have been focused coming out of the games, and they have done their job and executed. It is all about execution, and those guys have done a great job executing."
On helping a team shut out distractions:
"First of all, it is very hard for kids these days to do that because of Instagram, tweeting and all that kind of stuff. It is very hard because they always have people telling them things that they should want or they need and things like that. Sometimes kids… That is what is so refreshing about Baker. You do not have to tell him what he wants and needs. He has got it. He can be honest with himself. In saying that, if everybody in our locker room stays together, which is harder in today's times than it has been ever, you have something special. How do you accomplish that? It is trust and respect. That is how you accomplish it. If you ever lose those two things, which are huge in our business, you have nothing."
