Browns Quotebook After Blowout Loss to Baltimore on MNF

The Cleveland Browns had another rough night yesterday falling to the Baltimore Ravens 16-0 on national television. First and foremost on everyones mind was the status of Josh Cribbs who was injured on the last play of the game and taken off on stretcher. Eric Mangini said after the game:

(Opening Statement)- “Sorry about the delay getting in here. I was just checking on Josh (Cribbs). He has feeling in all parts of his body. Really the reason we took him off on the board was more of a precautionary measure than anything else, from what I understand. He’ll get some tests now, but that’s the information that I just got. “With the game, what we talked about at halftime, the points that we stressed at halftime, just came out in the third quarter and did the opposite. We had a blown coverage on one long pass play, followed up by two turnovers and a 0-0 game turns into a 16-0 game. I thought defensively, outside of that one series, I thought there were a lot of good things. I thought there was a lot of good things from an offense that’s difficult to play, difficult to adjust to and I thought overall the communication was good. If you have a breakdown in the secondary, usually those are going to lead to big plays. A point of emphasis is protecting the football, turn over the ball with the Ravens, give them good field position, it just makes it tough. I thought there were points offensively where we moved the ball. We couldn’t protect well enough, couldn’t sustain drives well enough. [We] just missed some opportunities and that’s disappointing.” (On if it matters who is at quarterback)- “I thought, especially through the first half, Brady (Quinn) did a nice job running the no huddle offense. We went no huddle the whole game. I thought that the shifting, the motioning and some of the things that we were doing there helped us. [It] took away some of Baltimore’s ability to disguise things, took away some of the typical things that we face against them. I thought he was really efficient with it. Our ability to sustain drives, to protect the football, those things continue to come back and hurt us each game.” (On if Cribbs had movement and feeling)- “Yes, both.” (On what he can do to get the offense going)- “That’s constantly what we’re looking at. I’ve tried a lot of different things and obviously it’s not been successful enough. We’re going to have to keep trying things until we get to the point where we need to be. Running the ball as efficiently as we possibly can, but also to me, it comes down to third down, being able to sustain the drives on third down. We just haven’t done the effectively enough.” (On if he thinks there is a lack of execution or talent)- “I think it’s breakdowns at different points, at different times. One guy has a breakdown, and there’s 11 guys, one guy has a breakdown on a different play, you have 11 different plays that aren’t quite what they should be and it hurts drives.” (On if good teams can overcome a breakdown by one player)- “It just depends on what the breakdown is, Jeff (Schudel). It depends on what it is. It’s like if everybody had one penalty a game. It just really depends on what it is. You have one breakdown in the coverage, it sets up a scoring, if they got the ball down to there, but a significant change in field position. We had been doing a really good job throughout the game in that, now [there is a] dramatic shift in field position. That was one play out of 60, I don’t know how many they had, 65, 70, whatever it is. That one play, I don’t know what it went for.” (On if you can be successful without passing downfield)- “It’s not like we were avoiding that part of the field. We lined up twice to do that on different plays and this is a pretty good pass rush and on those plays we got either sacked or hit both times. [The Ravens have] a] pretty significant front seven and then the mixture of the blitzes that they have, it really wasn’t high percentage football at that point. At the times we were looking to do that, it was either your quarterback’s getting hit or sacked.” (On if he thinks the team has enough playmakers)- “I think that there were times where we moved the ball really efficiently. Both those interceptions, I don’t know, I couldn’t really tell from where I was, whether it was a function of not quite there or batted up and not caught. I have to look to see where that was. I think both plays we were open and we had a chance to get first downs.” (On it seeming like they ran the same play each time out of the Wildcat)- “There were actually quite a few plays that may have ended up looking similar, but in terms of the numbers that were at the point of attack, some were designed as off tackles that got stretched. The outside linebacker penetrated and the tight end sealed, so Josh bounced it. It may have looked like the same play, but it was different numbers, different designed penetration points.” (On Quinn’s block on Terrell Suggs)- “I didn’t see it. He was on defense at that point. I assumed he was trying to make the tackle. I didn’t really understand the call, but I didn’t see that part of the play.”

Here is what the other members of the Browns said following the loss to the Ravens:

QB Brady Quinn (On the penalty chop block on Terrell Suggs) – “I was trying to go for the ball carrier. I was trying to make the tackle on (Chris) Carr. I would never wish that upon anyone. I was upset about it on the field. He was someone I worked out in Arizona with. I will be praying for him. Again, we are sorry about that. That was never the intent. Again, I am sorry to Terrell and the rest of their team.”

(On apologizing to the Ravens and Terrell Suggs)- “I apologized to the team as much as I could. I talked to Terrell as well, but he was in pain in that point in time and I don’t know if he even heard.”

(On the offensive struggles)- “We tried something a little different with the no huddle offense. We ran it effectively to some degree but once again, when we put ourselves in a hole, you become one dimensional and that never helps against a team like Baltimore.”

(On having enough talent on offense)- “We feel like we do. Again it comes down to execution and finding a way as players to make things work out there. Sometimes as football players, that’s what it comes down to.”

(On the interception return for a TD)- “I need to give the receiver a better ball. That’s what it comes down to. I am going to be accountable for everything I do out there. That was the right reach and I’ve got to get them a better ball.”

(On not scoring a touchdown in 6 out of 9 games) –“We’ve had some moving parts. We are trying different things. As a team, not executing the way we need to. I don’t know why that is. It is hard to answer and put a finger on at this point.”

(On Josh Cribbs’ condition)- “Our thoughts and prayers go out to him. We hope he’s alright. If everyone else can pray for him, we would appreciate it.”

(On the fourth quarter game plan vs. what the Ravens gave him)- “Part of it was some of the game plan. We knew up front that they had a good rush on the passer. From what we had seen in our film coming into the game, we felt like we would have to catch and run with ball in order to make some plays. From our preparation, that is what we felt would be most effective. As you can see, we tried to do some movement. I tried to find (Joshua) Cribbs in different windows and passing lanes - things like that.”

(On encouraging things that happened)- “ The first half, the way we ran the offense and the no huddle, it was something a little different for us. I think we did a good job executing as a team. Again, if you make a couple mistakes in the second half, it is going to come back and get you. It hurts as an offense but really if you take away some of those mistakes you are still right in that game.”

(On lack of execution)- “You have got to give a team like that credit. They made some adjustments and caught us with some looks and things out there. Again, it falls on us as well. We can always adjust as players on the field and try to do something to make a play. It comes down to the fact that we are football players and it is our job. If something doesn’t look, right try to make something happen.”

(On the frustration of losing)- “It is frustrating for everyone - myself included. The only thing I know is to keep working and keep working hard. I had the opportunity to start a game. Obviously, this is going to be a great learning experience for me but you would rather do it with the expense of winning and not losing.”

(On making things happen in practice)- “We had a great week of practice. I had two weeks to prepare. We had a ton of different looks and I felt like we were prepared for everything. I thought we executed well. If you asked our coaches and players I think they would say the same. It’s one thing here and one thing there on each play that seems to take away from executing or making a bigger play than it is.”

(On facing the Baltimore defense in his first game back)- “I don’t think it hurts. That is a team in our division. We need to be prepared to play them regardless of who is the quarterback.”

(On how hard it is to make throws without footing)- “It’s tough at times. I have to throw on the run but I think I am athletic enough to make those plays. We have to find ways of working the ball downfield or making things more effective underneath. We just need to keep working and going forward.”

WR Mohamed Massaquoi (On tonight’s offensive philosophy)- “We started out hot and we weren’t able to rebound like we did in the first half, when we came out in the second half. So we need to see what derailed us, so we can move forward and continue to move the ball and put together some consistent drives.”

(On second half turnovers)- “When you play a team like the Ravens, and they are able to create havoc and turnovers, the offense is going to capitalize on that and score. They are very talented in the secondary. They have a lot of veterans and when we did turn the ball over, they went out there and made plays and made us pay for it.”

(On Josh Cribbs’ injury)- “Well, hopefully it’s not too serious. Our medical staff is going to do a great job to make sure he is healthy and look out for his best interests. If he’s not able to go, some guys are going to have to pick up the slack. He’s a tough guy and we are going to make sure he comes back as the same old Josh.”

TE Robert Royal (On Cribbs injury)- “He was cracking jokes down there, so that was a good sign. He was waving his limbs. We don’t know the extent of the injury, but at the same time we think he will be alright.”

(On the team’s performance)- “When you look at the team, when we do things the right way it gives us a chance, but when we do things the wrong way, that’s when the game gets out of control. Overall, we all contributed. We could have played better in the second half, but we need to continue to go to work and prepare.”

(On deflecting the pass that was returned for a Ravens TD)- “Brady read the coverage and I read another coverage and I was just able to stick an arm up. At the end of the day, we just need to look at the tape and get on the same page.”