QB Josh McCown:
On his right, throwing hand:
"It is good."
On his right, throwing hand being swollen:
"Yeah, it is swollen, but it will be alright."
On when he hurt his hand:
"I am not sure when it happened. Sometime during the game."
On if it altered his ability to throw during the game:
"I don't think so. I don't think so because I made throws up until that point, too so I don't think it did."
On if he was re-examined today any injuries:
"No, everything feels good."
On if he needed a couple series to get back into the groove:
"I don't know. I don't want to say that. We just didn't get started fast. I feel like the week of work was good. The preparation was good. I don't feel like that was an issue. You never know, but I don't feel that way."
On if he will miss any practice time:
"No."
On if he was able to step into his last throw of the game:
"No, I didn't and that is part of it. I wasn't able to finish the motion the way I wanted to so I didn't get as much on the ball as I'd like."
On if he was able to step into the first down throw near their end zone to WR Travis Benjamin toward the end of the fourth quarter:
"I was able to get into that one. I didn't get it up early enough. There were a couple guys to his side. You just are learning and growing with Travis and his speed. The off-coverage that they had and there was a safety help on that side, I really didn't think he would get past those guys like that, but Travis is so fast. He got on top of them. The ball got up late though. That one was on me, for sure."
On his decision to throw the ball outside to Benjamin down the sideline, which resulted in an interception:
"Had I been able to throw the ball the way I wanted to throw it, yeah, I am OK with it. Could we have checked it down and got some more yards that way? Yes, absolutely. That is hindsight. You never want to turn the ball over. That is for sure."
On if he just has to tip his hat to Raiders CB Charles Woodson for making a great play on his interception:
"Yeah, he made a good play. Again, like I said, the location of the throw was not where I wanted it. It was not the type of throw I wanted to make. I felt like with everything I did on the play – my intention was to hold him and do what we did was good – it was just getting enough on the ball. That is the main thing. That being said, he made an excellent play on the ball. To catch it and keep his feet inbounds was an excellent play."
On if he intended the pass to Benjamin to head toward the goal line and not the window between the Raiders CB and S:
"Yeah, that was my thought process."
On his first extended playing time for the first time in five to six weeks:
"Yeah, we were talking about that. I had the 19 plays against the Jets, but since the third quarter of Tampa, it is. Like I said, we came out and had a good week of work last week, and we finally, a little too late in that game, got a little groove going and started moving the ball around. That is the one thing, offensively, we need to build on. We need to pick up where we left off in that sense in how well we were moving the ball and keep that going."
On if the Browns didn't run the ball as much yesterday as a function of the score:
"Yeah, probably so. Their front did a good job. They did a really good job on the edges with (Raiders DE Khalil) Mack and (Raiders LB) Aldon Smith and their big guys inside. That is something we have said here from the beginning, that we are going to be able to run the ball. We have to do a better job of getting that going. Some of it is a function of how the game went. All of a sudden, you are down a couple scores. The throw count gets up, but it is certainly something we want to focus on and get done. That is what we said, how this team is built and that is what we want to do, for sure."
On the Browns needed to attack more early in the game:
"I don't think that we weren't attacking. I think we just have to execute better earlier. We just got done watching the tape. It felt like everybody took a turn early, took their turn. In offensive football when all 11 guys aren't firing, it will stifle you quick and it slows things down. I think that is what contributed to it more than anything. Obviously, we were attacking later in the game as far as throwing the ball. We were throwing it more. We talk about establishing the run with the team and how our team is built. That is something we won't ever get away from. I don't necessarily think we weren't attacking. It is more of where we were execution wise than anything."
On how and when he hurt his right, throwing hand:
"I don't know. I don't know. I came to the sideline and it was bleeding. They patched it up, and I was looking at pictures while they were doing it. I wish I could tell you."
On if it is more likely that he hit his hand on a helmet or it was stepped on:
"I think it was stepped on. I think it was stepped on. I don't know when. If I was guessing, it seems like I remember it after a sack or something in the third quarter, but I don't know. I don't know. I will have to look at it."
OL Joe Thomas:
On the Raiders game after watching the tape:
"Any time you lose, there is always an overreaction, and every time you win, there is an overreaction. That is just one of the truisms of the NFL. Obviously, I think we did some good things, but we didn't do enough good things to win the game. We had a slow start offensively in the first half that put us behind the eight-ball going into the second half. Coming back in the NFL is a difficult thing to do when the other team has a significant lead. The margin for error is really small. We came close at the end of the game, but we put ourselves in too big of a whole early on to come back and get the win."
On looking sluggish to start two of the Browns first three games:
"I don't know if that is necessarily true. I think in the Jets game, we jumped on them pretty quick in the beginning of the game. I think we were up 10-0 right off the bat. We had a tremendous 19-play drive to start the Jets game. I wouldn't say that was true. I think we started fast in our first two games, and this was a game we didn't start fast enough. When you look at it, it comes down to being able to stay on the field on third downs. Especially early on when you have a three-and-out early in the game and you put your defense behind the eight-ball, not getting the rest that they need, it becomes tough on them and you don't get the opportunity to extend drives, to get the plays called that you want and set things up. It minimizes the number of plays you get in a quarter or a half and that is tough on a team."
On if the wide-zone running scheme has been put on the shelf:
"We used it a lot against Tennessee. You saw it work really effectively. This week, we just didn't have a lot of carries. I don't know how many normal down-and-distance runs we had, but it may have been in the single digits. I think we had 14 total runs in the game, which is really low as it is. A couple of them were on the goal line. Your normal down-and-distance stuff is where you are going to naturally see a lot of that wide-zone stuff. We just didn't have a lot of opportunities. In addition, they had two outstanding guys on the edge that make it tough to run wide-zone when you have (Raiders LB) Aldon Smith and (Raiders DE) Khalil Mack. When you are running the wide-zone, you are putting your tight ends one-on-one usually on their defensive end, outside backer types."
On his assessment of the offensive line:
"No matter how we think we are playing, when you are 1-2, you have to play better. That is the story for the whole team."
On if the pressure on the QB and lack of running lanes is more reflective of opposing teams' execution or the offensive line needing to do a better job:
"Any time you lose, everyone has to do a better job. It doesn't do any good pointing fingers the day after the game because we are all in it together as an offense. When you don't get the win and you don't get the production you want, it is everybody. It is a team sport."
On not scoring from the 1-yard line in the first half:
"When you are on the 1-yard line, you have to score touchdowns. That is the bottom line in this business. It is about touchdown percentage when you are in the red zone. The closer you are, the more you need to get a touchdown. Obviously, we needed a touchdown right there."
