Included below are select quotes from interviews with the following Browns players during today's media availability:
- LB Demario Davis
- DB Joe Haden
- WR Rashard Higgins
- DB Tracy Howard
- WR Ricardo Louis
LB Demario Davis:
On the Bengals offense:
"They have a lot of good players – good quarterback, good receivers, good running backs, good offensive line."
On the Bengals run game this season:
"They have some tremendous running backs. (Bengals RB) Jeremy Hill can really run it in between the tackles. (Bengals RB Giovani) Bernard can do a lot of things in the running game and in the passing game. They have very capable players."
On Bengals QB Andy Dalton:
"Smart guy, knows where to go with the football."
On the boost it would give the Browns defense if DB Joe Haden is able to play Sunday:
"A huge boost. He is one of the best players on the team. It is always great to have your best players playing."
On younger players stepping up on defense:
"They have done a good job. It is a lot to ask of our young players. They are stepping up and responding to the challenge."
DB Joe Haden:
On how he is physically:
"I am getting better. Getting better, just working hard every day trying to rehab these groins."
On if he will be able to play Sunday against the Bengals:
"That is the goal. I am trying to do whatever I can to get out there, but it just is what it is. I can't really control how that feels, but my goal is to be out there on Sunday for sure."
On if he has been able to run and test his groin this week:
"I am in strict rehab right now. I am trying to get to that part. (Head) Coach Hue (Jackson), he does a great job. It is on him. It is his call so he is able to go out there with us before and just see, wee where we are at, see how we are moving. He does a really good job of that, but all me and (WR) Terrelle (Pryor Sr.) basically can do is just do as much treatment, as much rehab, be here as much as we can trying to make sure we can be out there."
On if the groin injury is related to the previous groin injury prior to the Dolphins game:
"It is the other groin. Happened the same exact day. It was on a Thursday of practice, and then it is just going through and just playing defense, opening up and then you just feel it pull. Something like that Coach Hue usually sees it so he pulls me out of practice once it happens, and then I just go to try to get rehab."
On if he and other Browns players plan to attend the Indians World Series games and show some support, similar to Cavaliers players:
"I think we are going to try. We are working on something right now as far as a suite. We have individual tickets, but that thing sold out so fast. Just trying to see if anybody in the organization has any plug or pull to get us a suite (laugher)."
On the excitement being part of the Cavaliers' and the Indians' success:
"It is so, so bittersweet. I mean, I love it. I am so happy for the Cavs and so happy for the Indians. At the same time, I am on a professional sports team in the same city where they are doing a lot of successful things so it just pushes us. We want to be successful. We want the city to embrace the Browns. We know that this is a football town, but we want to start getting some Ws so they can show the same love and support that they have been showing for the other teams."
WR Rashard Higgins:
On if he is getting closer to earning more playing time:
"Yeah, with (WR) Terrelle (Pryor Sr.) being a little hurt, I feel like this is my time to step up, and (Head) Coach (Hue Jackson) is putting me in the fire. He believes in me, and I am going to get the job done."
On Head Coach Hue Jackson's statement that it has wanted to have Higgins on the field more often:
"He drafted me for a reason so obviously he sees potential in me. I'm the man for the job so when my number is called, I have to make the play. I can't wait until Sunday."
On how anxious he has been to be more involved in the Browns offense:
"It's been a long time, man, but it goes down to practice. I practice hard every day so when the game comes around it will be so easy. I will be ready."
On recovering an onside kick against the Titans:
"(Special teams coordinator) Coach Tabes (Chris Tabor) went over that with us. It was something that happened, and I'm glad I gave our team a chance to try to win the game at the end."
On if he knew whether or not the onside kick was going to come toward him:
"Did I know it was coming? Hey, sometimes I know when the ball is coming, and it came. I was in the right position at the right time."
On how much more difficult it is to get open in the NFL:
"It is pretty hard, especially coming in and being a rookie trying to get a feel for things, but you just have to practice hard. The great looks that the scout team guys give us, it will come easy during the game. It all comes down to practice."
On his relationship with QB Cody Kessler:
"Me and Cody are real tight. We work after practice every day just about – spot throws, just little stuff – and it will translate to the game when his time comes and my time comes."
On Pryor and what he has taught the WR corps:
"Terrelle is a great leader. He does everything at a high level. He demands a lot out of us. When we are slacking, he comes over and he will yell at us because he sees potential in us. He is a great guy, and not only that, but when we are in film study, he tells us how we could have done things better. He is always interacting with us. I'm always following him and (WR) Andrew Hawkins. I have some big shoes to fill so I will be ready for it, and I'm the man for the job."
DB Tracy Howard:
On when he started feeling comfortable that he would be a Brown:
"When I first came in, at rookie minicamp, I got into the feel of things. I thought to myself, 'This is going really well for me.' It is a great opportunity for me with everything that is going on. Early on, I kind of got comfortable but not comfortable. I never get comfortable. I just felt comfortable with the defense. I picked it up kind of fast and things like that. I feel like I was ready to go."
On getting his first NFL start:
"It is going to be the same. I don't make it too big. I just go out there and play football. There is really no pressure. There is really nothing to it. It is just football at the end of the day."
On facing Bengals WR A.J. Green:
"He is a good player. We have a lot of respect for him. At the end of the day, we are good players, too. I think we have some good corners that can get the job done. We respect him. He is a good player, but at the end of the day, we have to play football. That is really what it is all about."
On transitioning from CB to S:
"It wasn't that tough for me because I always pride myself on being a smart player. I kind of like safety better than corner to be honest. I get to be more involved. I get to be more involved with the defense and things like that. That was the biggest thing."
On his chemistry with DB Ibraheim Campbell:
"Throughout preseason, we all just built a bond. Anybody back there, we are going to be comfortable with. In the secondary, we are a brotherhood. At the end of the day, whoever is in there, you have to communicate with him and be comfortable. We have a lot of growing to do, and once we get rolling, we will be alright."
WR Ricardo Louis:
On Head Coach Hue Jackson saying that he is a perfectionist and where that comes from mentally:
"Just wanting to do everything right. You work so hard and when you get an opportunity and you lose an opportunity and you don't make the best of it, anybody will feel like that if you want to get it back. I'm hard on myself, but at the same time, I still come in with the mindset and come to work like, 'Yo, you have to get better. You have to work on the things that you need to work on.' Then moving onto next week, you capitalize on things you did well and fix the things you did wrong and you can move forward and get better."
On possibly receiving more playtime with WR Rashard Higgins and how Higgins is coming along in practice:
"He has always been coming along. Every day we go out there and get better. We are definitely taking strides and we are definitely commanding the offense and learning all the plays and just mastering the position. That is the main thing. You come in as a rookie, you want to master the position and get out there and play and do your best, and that is what he has been doing. I think that once we get in the game and once he starts to play more, you will definitely see the greatness."
On his close relationship with Higgins and how much he is looking forward to being on the field with him:
"Oh yeah, definitely. We want to make the game fun. It is a tough game, a lot of adversity, but at the same time, you want to have fun doing it. This is the game that we love. This is football. When you have somebody who is out there with the same mindset – he wants to make plays and do good and once you get in the end zone and score, you want to have fun and get the crowd into it, get the team confident and get the team momentum – it gives the team something to want to do again and score more and more and win."
On what QB Cody Kessler has shown this season:
"Cody is a beast. He got thrown into the fire, but he just ran with it. He has the heart of a lion. He goes out there every week and just whatever the gameplan is, he commands it and just goes out there and takes over. He is a leader that everybody looks up to."
On if he had any idea that Kessler would find him down field on the play during the Titans game when scrambling:
"We work that, the scramble drill a lot, before every practice. I just saw him rolling out, and throughout the whole game that happens so my mindset was just get open, and hopefully, he will see me, and he did. He has great vision. That shows how much vision he has. On the run he saw me coming from the backside and threw me open."
On if he has more responsibility if WR Terrelle Pryor Sr. can't play Sunday:
"I would not say more responsibility, but it definitely opens a lot more opportunities for each and every one of us that is out there. I don't know if he is going to play or not, but that just means that we are going to have to step up and make more plays, show what we can really do."
