G Joel Bitonio and RB Nick Chubb (10.30.19)
Included below are select quotes from interviews with the following Browns players during today’s media availability:
- G Joel Bitonio
- RB Nick Chubb
G Joel Bitonio:
On how he would assess his performance against the Patriots, given the obscure first quarter:
“I think I had probably three of the weirdest plays I have been involved in in like a five play period for me. That was weird for me, but it just comes down to executing better. My foot caused a fumble, which I have never seen that happen before. I do not know what I am supposed to do in that situation, if I want to try to run through him a little bit more or what, but that was a one-in-a-million play. The shovel pass, I am supposed to get back and block that guy. He penetrated a little more than I thought he was going to penetrate. If I execute better and maybe shot out at him a little bit quicker, we could have had a better run there. I had a hold on a screen play which in reality, I should not have let him beat me inside and put me in that situation. Do I think I held him? No, but I should not have been in that situation to begin with. If he doesn’t beat me up the field, the ball would have been gone. I tried to let him go and turn around and screen him off but the ref thought I hooked him I guess there. That was bad. Some of those plays are plays that are going to happen once in your career, and you have to really just move on. It is unfortunate that it cost us the ball a couple times, but you have to move on and make the best out of it.”
On if he is surprised by the lack of efficiency with the two-minute drill at the end of the first half:
“It was unfortunate. Like you said, we were trying to get back and score before half and get the ball back and score again. They had a good rush plan for us. They were bringing zero blitz when we went empty or had nobody so (QB) Baker (Mayfield) has to get the ball out quick. We do not have enough guys to block their guys in that situation. When they were not doing that, they were running five-man games and we have to figure out a way to pick those up. It is one of those things we keep working on. We have periods of practice where we work on our two-minute drill and we work on our things. We have had success in practice and in those situations. It is one of those things that (Head Coach) Freddie (Kitchens) emphasizes every week is trying to get that score before half because the teams that score before half usually have a better record than the teams that do not. It is pretty telling.”
On the game being in reach after blocking the Patriots’ FG attempt:
“Right, we got the ball and we scored after halftime anyway and so it was 17-10 and we had a chance to get it pretty even there. If we had scored before half, got a field goal or something, it might have changed the outcome.”
On the difficulty making changes at the OL and how that impacts continuity:
“Yeah, it is part of the game, though. We have been blessed as an O line the last couple of years to be relatively healthy. O lines a lot of times are rotating guys with injuries and being banged up so you are used to getting reps with different guys. In practice, it is not the ones getting every single rep together. J Mac (G Jason McCourty) had been getting reps at left tackle all year in case of an emergency, and (G) Wyatt (Teller) had been in there, too. It is one of those things where the more you play together, the better you are going to get, but I do not think it is a continuity thing where we are like, ‘Man, we have not worked together enough on this block.’ We have to figure that out, and I thought we were prepared enough to go out there and play.”
RB Nick Chubb:
On if the team was able to shake off the loss to the Patriots:
“Yeah, you have to try your best to get over it and I think we did that today. We got over it and we have to focus on Denver now.”
On if he feels he did a good job of putting mistakes and fumbles behind him to rebound during the New England game:
“Yeah, I did. There are some things I could fix, but I corrected it and knew if I could do things right mentally and stay focused, it would not happen again.”
On if his first fumble was kicked out of his hands by G Joel Bitonio’s foot:
“Yeah, that is what the film showed. I honestly had no idea what happened during the game. I just saw it popping in front of my face, but yeah, the film showed that it was a kicked ball.”
On moving past his second fumble during the game:
“Probably just my teammates and my coaches picking me up and just encouraging me and supporting me. I put it on myself to never let that happen again and just continue working hard. That is what I did. I put it behind me. I went out on the field and I let loose. I just wanted to win that game so bad. I felt like I let my team down, and that is why it was easy for me to put it behind me. I knew I had to keep going forward to give my team a chance.”
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