On the name of the WR Jarvis Landry handoff play the Browns ran last week:
"The Landry handoff play is called – it is just a regular running play. It is just a misdirection. We call it pike, one-back power. You just hand it to the wide receiver."
On deciding to call the Landry handoff a second time and if the decision was made to do so after seeing an indicator on the TD:
"(LB) Luke (Kuechly) knew, he knows what we were running most of the time. Just kind of playing off of that changing his eyes. We flipped the ball earlier in the year off of the same formation. I know that he did not think that we would run it two times in a row, but he is a good player and they are good players because they know the tendencies of offenses. We kind of played off of that a little bit."
On the importance of getting Landry more involved in the offense last week:
"Anytime you make big plays, whoever is making them, it energizes the team as a whole. Jarvis is definitely an electric kind of personality and player. Anytime that you can get the ball into Jarvis' hands, it is good."
On Landry's contested TD reception:
"That was great. He split the coverage, and he caught a contested ball. Good receivers in this league catch contested footballs. He made a good play on the ball. It was where it was supposed to be. He made a good play on the ball and a big play for us."
On what WR Breshad Perriman has showed since joining the team:
"Size and speed are the first things that he has shown. He showed that he had good hands. He can get open. Receivers have to get open, and they have to catch the ball when they get open. He has done that. We are going to keep finding ways to try to get him the ball and keep him active"
On Perriman's impact on offense, in addition to the long reception:
"A guy with that kind of size and that kind of speed of course has an impact when he has the ball in his hands, but really what I saw, there was a play that went for like a 2-yard gain earlier in the year when we handed a speed sweep to him. He was not afraid. He took on the tacklers on the edge. It ended up being a 2-yard play, but when he had the ball in his hands, he brought it. I like physical, big guys like that that can play and that seem to enjoy playing the game. It is all about playing the game with those guys. When you have a guy that loves the game of football, of course that is an advantage."
On his play calling decisions as it relates to being in a 'coaching with nothing to lose' situation:
"I do not know that I agree with your term 'nothing to lose.' I think every time you step on the field you have something to lose. I am a week-to-week kind of guy. I call the game, the offensive staff prepares for the game and the players prepare to win the game on a week-to-week basis, even a day to day basis. That is the way that I approach every call I make. It is not necessarily to win the game with that call, but you are either setting something or to be successful. You do not call plays to be unsuccessful. I do not care. I am calling the play to win that game. It does not matter at what point of the year I started. I know the way I was going to do it from the very beginning, and that is not going to change. It does not matter what game, how big the game was or whatever or who we are playing. I had a coach a long time ago tell me that those games that you are supposed to win, people would like to call those not big games. 'Well, this is a big game.' Hell, if you lose one of those games that you were supposed to win and then see how big it is. That is kind of the approach I take to calling pays."
On when he knew he would call a long pass on the opening play of Sunday's game:
"Wednesday, Thursday, something like that."
On the potential impact that the opening pass completion had on the rest of the game:
"Anytime that you can start fast, of course it gives energy first of all to the crowd and to the team. Some guys that may have doubted – I do not think that we had anybody that doubted but some people may have doubted – whatever it is, who you are playing, they come into play sometimes with that. It just gives confidence to the group that hey, we can do what we said. When you tell them that we are going to do something and they knew that we were going to do that the first play of the game, when you tell them that you are going to do it and you do it and it is successful, then you have built some validity to the fact of what you wanted to do, what you tried to do and what they were going to do. That is what happened."
On if he would prefer to have the ball to start games:
"It does not matter to me. This is a team game. We discuss that as coaches. Whatever we decide to do in the present time, it does not matter to me. Offense, defense, it is a team game. That is the way that we approach it. That is a team decision."
On if he is involved in the decision-making process for the coin toss:
"Yeah, everybody is a part of it."
On new things he is learning about QB Baker Mayfield each week:
"I do not know that I am finding out anything new about him. I think he is continuing to grow. First off, Baker is a competitor. When you compete, you come back like you did against Houston and you play well in the second half. Not to say everything was right in the second half, but he competed. That is the way that he is on a week-to-week basis and on a day-to-day basis. We have these competitive periods during practice and that is the way that he is then. In saying that, he is the type of guy that any challenge you put in front of him, whether it be during the course of the week or during the game with one particular play, he is going to treat that play and attack that play with the utmost respect from the standpoint of being prepared to accomplish that play. That is what he impresses me with. Each play, he wants to be successful. Sometimes that is bad, sometimes that is good but most of the time, that is a very good quality in a quarterback."
On Mayfield developing in pocket awareness and handling pressure in the pocket:
"I would say this about a quarterback: if he knows where his eyes are supposed to be, then he is comfortable staying where he is at. That is the thing that we tried to work on, that (quarterbacks coach) Kenny (Zampese) is working on and everybody is kind of working on making sure his eyes are in the right place so he knows where directly to go with the ball if his first read is not open. I think that is what he is getting more comfortable with and more comfortable with. But also with some of the bigger plays now, just because you move around in the pocket does not mean you do not know where to go with the ball. Sometimes you are just buying yourself just a little bit of extra time. Like he did on Jarvis' [touchdown], he is not escaping. He is shuffling around to find a throwing lane or whatever to get the ball to Jarvis. He has done that very well."
On if Mayfield can now feel the rush better:
"Yes, and I think that comes with a little playing experience and knowing where his eyes are and knowing the timing of the certain routes when he needs to buy a little bit more time. It does not have to be but six inches, eight inches. Just moving a little bit in the pocket gets him into the position to throw the ball where the ball is supposed to go on any particular play."
On if feeling the pass rush can be developed or is an innate ability:
"I think it is experience. I think it is something that of course you can learn, but you have to see yourself do it wrong and then correct that and know that you have to take the feeling that you have had when the play was going on and equate it to the film. Then go back and say, 'This is the same type of situation.' It becomes a feel, if that answers your question."
On if the first down pass play to Perriman late in the game was designed as a roll out or if it was improvisation:
"It was a designed roll out to get him away from the middle of the field, and Perriman was the second read. Breshad did a great job of staying on the move and giving him somewhere to throw the ball because the ball was supposed to go to the flat to (RB) Nick (Chubb), and they took Nick out. Both of them stayed on the move and made the play."
On if Broncos OLB Miller is more dangerous when the Browns have to use a silent count:
"I have trust that he is going to make the plays, I have trust that the line is going to protect and I have trust that the receivers are going to make the play when he puts it in the air. I told you guys a long time ago that this is about trust and respect, and I think we are building that."
On Miller and Broncos OLB Bradley Chubb:
"I think stats indicate that they are two of the best in the league. Hopefully, we can protect and hold up. I think those guys are up to the challenge up front for us. We are going to get their best shot, but they are going to get ours. We will see how it goes."
On what makes Bradley Chubb so special, specifically reference Chubb dropping into coverage:
"He is just a good player all around. His size, strength and length all of it are good qualities for a defensive player, especially when they rush. Hopefully, they will drop him all day."
On how OL Chris Hubbard has improved and Hubbard's contribution to the offensive line only surrendering one sack in three-plus weeks:
"I think all of those guys but Chris in particular has played better the last few weeks. The thing that people do not understand about offensive line play is that those guys have to kind of be a unit within itself, and they have to play together a lot. They have to trust each other inside that the other one has their back and if they set a little wider, that guy is going to be inside to help them a little bit more. I think it is all a cohesive type unit thing where he has gotten better with his technique, and a lot of offensive line play is just technique and if you can be good with technique, which (offensive line coach) Bob (Wylie) and Hut (assistant offensive Line Coach Mark Hutson) have been really coaching well the last couple of weeks and hammering their techniques. I think you have seen the results of it."
On factors impacting whether the team receives the kickoff or defers:
"The timing that the ball is kicked off. With a night game we like to just… No, I am just kidding (laughter). Several factors go in it as far as what kind of offense they have, what kind of defense that they have, what kind of kicker that they have. Several of little things. I could not really tell you in particular. It changes week to week what is the most important factor that we feel is in a game."
On how OL Joel Bitonio has played throughout the season:
"I think Joel has played very well, and I think he has had his best couple of games as of late. I think all of those guys up front are doing a great job in the run game and the pass game. Sometimes they have done some things defensively that has taken away from some of the runs. Then they picked it up in the pass protection. I think those are guys are doing well and are competing every day and hopefully it continues."
