Cleveland Browns

Browns coach Eric Mangini met with reporters Thursday morning. Here is a transcript from the press conference:

Browns Head Coach Eric Mangini press conference 12-30-10

(Opening statement) -- “Good morning everybody. Today Peyton’s (Hillis) going to miss, Floyd’s (Womack) going to miss and then Kenyon (Coleman) is on the normal rotation.  Vick (Lawrence Vickers) is back, he just had something related with his teeth. It wasn’t anything serious, he just had to have it fixed but he is back and that’s it on that front.  In terms of practice yesterday, I thought it was good energy, good tempo, good focus, didn’t think the field was the best in terms of it was a really hard surface so guys had to focus that much more on transition, playing with their feet underneath them.  It was good from that perspective but we’ll go inside today just to get a little bit more work done than what we were able to do with the surface yesterday. I think everybody’s excited about the plan for Pittsburgh and playing Pittsburgh, it’s different than other games we play and they’re ready to go.”

(On how the football philosophies have meshed from him, Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert) -- “I think it’s going pretty well.  I know in terms of Tom and I, I’ve really liked getting to know him. I really like the relationship that we have.  He’s been great and I think philosophically there are different ideas as to whether it’s players or approaches things like that but we talk through them and it’s been really good.  I’ve really liked him a lot.  Then with Mike, that relationship has been good as well.  There are difference in terms of what he’s run historically offensively but with that being said, what I’ve always tried to do whether I was in New York or here is ideally take the best of a lot of different systems.  That was the approach in New York where we got (Brian) Schottenheimer who was from the digit system, a lot of shifting, a lot of motioning that type of thing.  Then the New England philosophy which is different, it’s more a stationary read, see the defense that type of thing. Then bring in Bill Callahan that was a take of the West Coast and the elements of that system and infuse it in and take the best of each one and you put together your system.  It’s the same thing really defensively. There’s a lot of components of you start at the base of what you did.  For me it was really in New York the 3-4 stuff that we were doing and then as you go to the next place a guy like Rob Ryan comes in and he’s got the 4-6 and all the things his dad did, we infused a lot of that stuff into it and then as new coaches come there’s new ideas.  You’re constantly adding to what you do.  It’s funny even the meetings we have defensively when I’m in there with Rob, Jerome (Henderson) as a player, (Bryan) Cox as a player and as a coach say, ‘Okay, remember that defense we ran in New York in ’97 against so and so?  I really liked that. I think that will work.  Let’s start that up.’  Then Rob and I will talk about a defense we ran against Tennessee, it was a night game we had to deal with a scrambling quarterback.  You’re going through the whole progression so now you’re pulling things out of historic defenses and it’s like ties, they come back in style and you wear them again and they look good.  Long answer but that’s kind of how it goes.”

(On how the players know what this rivalry means) -- “It’s everywhere Jeff (Schudel).  It’s in every newspaper, it’s on every TV, it’s on every person’s lips. It’s like Colt’s (McCoy) experience, it was a Friday where he went to the gas station, I told you guys this story didn’t I?  The father came over and he signed the hats and the two little kids are in the car seats yelling Steelers suck.  It starts at birth.  You get your Browns shirt and your I hate Pittsburgh shirt.”

(On how the players get a sense of the rivalry when football is so transitory) -- “We don’t all live here, they all go home and they’re out.  Whether it’s at Jake’s school where the kids are wearing the colors and they’re talking about it.  He’s in first grade and they’re talking about the Steelers and how they hate the Steelers and they love the Browns.  It’s pretty much ingrained from infancy.”

(On if he still feels good about Peyton Hillis for Sunday) -- “Yes, he’s better than yesterday and we’ll see how he is tomorrow but I feel pretty good about him.”

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Browns coach Eric Mangini met with reporters Thursday afternoon. Here are some of the highlights from the press conference:

• Mangini said running back Peyton Hillis (ribs), right guard Floyd Womack (knee) and defensive end Kenyon Coleman (knee) will miss practice today. Mangini said he's still optimistic Hillis will be able to play Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• Mangini said fullback Lawrence Vickers will return to practice today after sitting out Wednesday.
• Mangini said wide receiver Josh Cribbs looked really good last week against the Baltimore Ravens, the best he's looked physically in a while. Cribbs has done a lot of good work against the Steelers, and the game plan will include Wildcat packages for him, Mangini said.
• When asked if he'd be willing to change his offense if Browns President Mike Holmgren asked, Mangini said he expects to have those conversations after the season. It will take care of itself, Mangini said.

Browns coach Eric Mangini met with reporters Wednesday morning. Here is a transcript from the press conference:

Browns Head Coach Eric Mangini press conference 12-29-10

(Opening statement) -- “Good morning everybody.  Today it looks like Peyton (Hillis) will miss and Floyd (Womack) will miss and should be full go with everybody else.  In terms of our prep today, we started the work obviously on first down on the Steelers.  There are a lot of similarities in what we faced last week with what we face this week in terms of another really impressive defense. They’re in the top 10 in I think 19 different defensive categories and they’re able to generate pressure whether it’s three man, four man or any of their multiple blitz looks.  All their linebackers do a nice job of pressuring the quarterback and they bring them in so much different combinations and variations that it’s really important that we can come out ID the front, anticipate what we can get and then be able to block it up.  That’s true both in the passing game and in the running game and I thought Colt (McCoy) did a nice job with that the last time we played them.  It’s going to be important again here today.  Offensively, just like last week this is another strong armed quarterback, another guy who can hurt you in a lot of different ways.  He can make any of the different throws and where Ben’s (Roethlisberger) really impressive is the plays where he’s able to extend the plays and it happens every single game where it looks like you’ve got him and because of his strength, because of his mobility he gets out of trouble.  The receivers are so in tune with him in terms of reading out and finding an open place especially a guy like Hines (Ward) that they’re able to generate a significant amount of big plays off of those things.  They’ve been running the ball effectively, they’ve been running the ball consistently and a guy like Mike Wallace is a homerun waiting to happen on any play.  On special teams, it’s a tough, physical group that plays sound both in the coverage game and the return game and we’re going to have to be able to match that and create some opportunities enough so we do a good job of containing their returners.  They have a range of guys whether it’s (Emmanuel) Sanders, (Antonio) Brown, (Antwaan) Randle El, a range of guys that have returned for them this season.”

(On if Hillis is missing because of his knee or ribs) -- “It’s the ribs.”

(On on if he thinks Hillis will be ready for Sunday) -- “I do.  We’ll see, get him some rest here today and just see where he is, see where he is tomorrow.”

(On if there is an advantage for Colt McCoy or the Steelers since they have already played each other once this year) -- “I think it cuts both ways.  This will be I think the first time in the two years where we’ve actually had a quarterback face the same division opponent two consecutive games so it does help because he does have familiarity with their scheme, he’s played against it, he’s seen the speed with which they bring their pressures.  It is a different speed.  Some teams will pressure and they come hard but the Steelers do a nice job of timing it up and they also do a good job with disguising it so you really have to be in tuned with what you’re looking for to make sure that you can communicate it out to the group and get into the right checks.  I thought he did a great job especially considering it was his first time and having that experience will help him, but on the flip side it’s also their second time of working against him and they have the tape of us and him against that defense and the things he did well, things he did poorly.  There’s some upside to that too.”

(On if it said anything about McCoy when he stood in the pocket with James Harrison hitting him on throw to Evan Moore during the first game) -- “It was a great throw.  It was a really outstanding catch as well.  He had a couple of those throughout the course of the game and it’s not easy to do.  Standing in there and get it off the way that he did so I thought that that showed a lot.”

(On cornerback Charles Woodson and safety Troy Polamalu and if the cornerback or safety position is more valuable to a team) -- “There’s value in both spots.   When you got a player like that (Charles Woodson) where you can take him, feel comfortable putting him against the opponents best receiver that allows you to do some things where you can shift the coverage to the other guy or combinations of double team or blitzes. There are things that you can do when you have the ability to handle a huge threat by your opponent with one player.  The other part of that is you’ve got a guy like Polamalu, he affects the running game.  He affects the running game dramatically when he’s down in the box and he is an outstanding blitzer.  He’s got really good instincts in the passing game some similarities to Ed Reed in the sense that he instinctually knows where it’s going and gets a jump on a lot of plays.  He’s made some amazing plays in the passing game, just amazing interceptions, things like that, break ups and he can affect the whole field as a safety.  My perfect world you’d have them both, then you’re in good shape.”

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Browns coach Eric Mangini met with reporters Wednesday morning. Here are some of the highlights from the press conference:

• Mangini said running back Peyton Hillis (ribs) and right guard Floyd Womack (knee) will miss practice today. Hillis should be ready to play Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mangini said.
• When asked if he can live with rookie quarterback Colt McCoy's three interceptions against the Baltimore Ravens because he was trying to stretch field, Mangini said, "No."
• Mangini said Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace is "a home run waiting to happen on any play."
• The local chapter of Pro Football Writers of America selected Hillis as the Browns' Player of the Year and offensive lineman Joe Thomas as the Dino Lucarelli "Good Guy Award" winner. "Peyton, he's had an outsanding season in so many different ways, running the ball, catching the ball, the threat that he's added to the offense, the amount of touchdowns," Mangini said. "All that, and then also the guy. You guys have talked to him enough times. You know what kind of person he is. He's gonna be a productive player here for a long time with a chance to be really an outsanding player. And then he's also gonna be a tremendous part of the community."

Browns coach Eric Mangini met with reporters Monday afternoon. Here is a transcript from the press conference:

Browns Head Coach Eric Mangini press conference 12-27-10

(Opening statement) -- “Good afternoon everybody.  In looking at the tape and meeting with the guys, it’s what we consistently talk about in terms of turnovers.  It’s hard to win with turnovers against any team, and it’s significantly harder against a team like the Ravens or teams of that caliber because the win/loss margin for error is very small.  I thought the players played hard throughout the course of the game.  I thought we had opportunities throughout the course of the game that we weren’t able to capitalize on.  I thought they worked hard through the week, and my expectation this week is the same thing, to have a good week of practice, to prepare to play Pittsburgh.  It’s another difficult team coming in here and I think that’s what the guys are looking forward to as well.”

(On if it is satisfying that the team is playing hard despite games having no playoff implications for them) -- “It’s really what I would expect from these guys and from this group of people.  These guys care about each other, they care about this team, the organization and this city.  There’s a deep level of character and there’s a commitment to improving.  It always hasn’t gone the way that we’ve wanted it to, but they come back and they look at things and they see how they can improve.  I think I’ve seen it week in and week out.  Joe Haden, his interception to me was a result of him improving a technique that we’ve talked about for weeks, where as he was driving back with the receiver, he made sure he was flush with the receiver before he looked back.  That’s something that he and I have talked about throughout the course of the season, and he’s worked on it.  He’s worked on it in practice and it’s a habit that he’s had since college, but he’s gotten better at that.  That was a proud coaching moment for me to see that, and he and I talked about that today.  There are a lot of examples like that, whether it’s Brian Robiskie and the strides that he continues to make game in and game out and right on down the line.  That’s what’s been really satisfying.  That improvement is going to continue and we are going to continue to improve as a team.”

(On if he told Randy Lerner when he was hired that there would be a certain time it would take to turn this team around) -- “I don’t think there’s any one timeline Jeff (Schudel). I think what you have to do, philosophically, when you’re discussing it, it’s how do you want to build the winner?  You can look at it from a short-term perspective where you are going to do everything that you can  to just win that year, or you’re going to look to build a team and an organization that can compete year in and year out, and that’s what I believe in.  I’ve been a part of that and there are a lot of things that go into that.  Ideally what you have is you create something that each year is at a high level, like a lot of teams in our division are.”

(On if it is fair to judge his progress in two years when he is a long term thinking type of guy) -- “Jeff, that’s not my position to judge.  The thinking hasn’t changed in terms of building something for the long term from my perspective.  Whatever decisions are made, are made, but that’s something that is out of my control at this point.”

(On how he would say they have succeeded thus far despite it not showing in their record) -- “I hope it’s apparent in terms of the way we play each week.  We haven’t been on the plus side of as many games as we wanted to, but they have been close games.  I think there has been significant improvement in every single area.  I don’t expect that arrow to change and point down any time soon.  These close games, as you learn to win consistently, will shift in our favor.  It’s going to happen.”

(On it being difficult, but necessary to find progress in losses, even if it’s not showing up Sunday at four o’clock) -- “I think we are seeing it Sunday at four o’clock.  It’s not showing up in the ultimate category, which is what we are all here for, to win games.  That’s what needs to continue to improve, but I think the progress is showing up every single week in the way that we play, the style that we play, the consistency and all of those things, I think, are apparent.”

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Browns coach Eric Mangini met with reporters Monday afternoon. Here are some of the highlights from the press conference:

• Before Browns coach Eric Mangini began his news conference, fullback Lawrence Vickers and cornerback Sheldon Brown went to bat for him. Both players presented cases why Browns President Mike Holmgren should retain Mangini for next season. Said Vickers: "I love Mangini. He's a good guy, so I want him back. … We want to keep fighting for our coach. … Hey, he coached us to finish, and that's what we're trying to do." Said Brown: "What you have to do is go out play like you want to save his job, not talk about it. … He's treated me like a man since day one. … I can't say anything negative about him."
• In response, Mangini said it's meaningful when his players voice their support for him because it's indicative of the mutual respect they have for each other. "There's a sense of community in this team," Mangini said. "That doesn't happen by accident."
• When asked about his team continuing to fight despite no hopes for the playoffs, Mangini said "it's really what I would expect from these guys."
• Without being asked about either player, Mangini praised rookie cornerback Joe Haden and second-year wide receiver Brian Robiskie for improving their techniques and making strides as of late.
• Mangini said rookie quarterback Colt McCoy did a good job changing protection calls at the line scrimmage against the Baltimore Ravens. What was McCoy's most important lesson learned after losing the Ravens 20-10 on Sunday? "I think he's got a much deeper appreciation for (Ravens safety) Ed Reed," Mangini said. … "You can't take the same chances  on the deep ball with a guy like that back there." Reed recorded two of McCoy's career-high three interceptions. Mangini said he doesn't have to be too hard on McCoy because McCoy is usually so hard on himself.
• Mangini on end of the first half against the Ravens, when the Browns had to kick a field goal on third down with six seconds left because of questionable clock management: "The goal there is really to have three chances to run plays before you kick the field goal on fourth down. … I was off by a couple seconds. You definitely want that extra down to do that. You don't want to kick it on third down. And I thought we were gonna have that. I just was wrong."
• Mangini said running back Peyton Hillis' back is really sore, but he should be fine for Cleveland's upcoming season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Hillis was hit in the back by Reed early in the first quarter.
• Mangini said there was some "slight nudging" by Robiskie when he was called for offensive pass interference in the third quarter against the Ravens.
• When asked about his fate with as Cleveland's coach, Mangini referenced a saying he's heard before: "Don't worry about the future. It comes soon enough."

Browns coach Eric Mangini met with reporters Friday morning. Here is a transcript from the press conference:

Browns Head Coach Eric Mangini press conference 12-24-10

(Opening statement) -- “Happy holidays everybody.  The only guy that’s not practicing today is Robert Royal and we’ll just have to see with him. We’ll take a look at him tomorrow, maybe game time to see where he’s out but he will not be able to practice today.  In terms of what we’re doing today is we’ll go through our normal Friday prep. We’ll review third down, work on the red zone and really follow the pattern.  The only thing different that we’ll do is that we’ll have meetings after practice today and then the guys will have some time tomorrow morning to spend with their families and kids and things like that. We just shifted the schedule around a little bit to try to give everybody a chance to spend a nice block of time with their families and kids, enjoy the day.  Then we’re back at the hotel tomorrow night and clean up whatever we need to clean up.”

(On if he is going to spend the day at home tomorrow) -- “We’ll have some people over the house tonight and that will be fun and then tomorrow morning the kids I’m sure will be up early.  Jake’s already taken me through his timeline.  I told him he can’t get out of bed until seven o’clock but he’s been negotiating that pretty steadily in terms of what he has to do.  They’ve got it all plotted out so I’m sure there’ll be a new game plan tonight when I get home.”

(On if Peyton Hillis is going to be able to do more in practice today) -- “He’ll do significantly more today than he did yesterday and he should be fine for Sunday.”

(On if Colt McCoy was fine yesterday) -- “Colt was fine. I really think it was one of those bugs that guys get.  Kind of came on quick, left quick which is a good thing as opposed to lingering.  He was no problem yesterday.”

(On if he knew Billy Cundiff had such a good leg when he was with the Browns last season) -- “I don’t think he had any touchbacks for us when he was here.  Going to have to pick his brain in the offseason to see what he did to change that or to create the touchbacks that he has.  He’s done a really outstanding job with that.”

(On if they have noticed what Ray Lewis said about Hillis recently) -- “The great thing about Ray Lewis is he says those things and then he usually backs it up.  Anybody can call their shot, it’s just whether or not they can back it up and Ray over time has been able to back it up.  That’s always what happens.  If you put it out there, you have to be able to go do it and he’s done it a lot of times. It’s no secret how impressive he is as a linebacker, as a leader, as really all the different elements that you look for in that position and in the leadership position.  He’s amazing.  He’s going to the Hall of Fame.”

(On how practice has gone) -- “Practice has been good.  The guys have been focused and very efficient in our operation at practice.  The last two days have been cold, it’s back to Cleveland weather.  That wind yesterday whipped through people.”

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