OC Todd Monken (10.31.19)
Offensive coordinator Todd Monken:
On changes to the Browns OL against the Patriots:
“It went fine. I do not think that was the issue. I thought (G) Justin (McCray) did some really good things. I thought he battled. This year as far as I know, he had not played left tackle. In the first game, I think he played right tackle and we moved Hub (T Chris Hubbard) over there if my memory serves me correct. I thought he really battled. When (G) Wyatt (Teller) got in there some at guard, there were some positives things to build off of. We are always trying at every positon to find the best mix of players that gives you the best chance to move the football and score points.”
On what makes the Broncos defense so solid:
“Schematically, they do a nice job of personnel groupings. You will plays some teams where you have a pretty good idea of what personnel groupings you are going to get so say you are in a pro set, you are going to get base defense. If you are in 11-personel or three receivers, you are going to get sub. Where this team, they will play base to your sub groups and they will play nickel to your bigger personnel groups so across the board from every formation, there are layers of preparation that go into making sure that when you have runs or protections in that you are set. It is probably from an earlier preparation standpoint than it is once when you get in the game to make sure what you are calling that you have answers for.”
On Broncos OLB Von Miller’s role in the Broncos defense:
“He is the No. 1 cog. You have to know where he is at all times because he can disrupt the game. He has for a number of years. You have to be aware of where he. There are going to be times where we have to block him. It is not every concept you can double him in the run game and not every concept from a protection standpoint when you can chip help or slide so there are going to be times where we have to man up and be able to protect. There are other times where you are going to have to make sure that you get bodies on him and make sure you do that. He is one of the elite guys, and it is obvious. Every team that you watch when they go against him, when you talk about players that get doubled or get chipped, No. 58 does.”
On the mindset behind passing as frequently against the Patriots in the rain:
“Some of it plays into what you have in mind and some of it plays into if you are going to be in the RPO world, sometimes that is where the ball goes. That is the short answer of it is you have run plays called up and the decisions you make to spin it on the perimeter. That is part of it.”
On how early turnovers and a large deficit can negatively alter an offensive gameplan:
“It is frustrating, yes, when you go into the game understanding how you know you have to win the game against anybody, and to not start fast on the road is frustrating. I do not think that it changed our gameplan any because there was not really anything different that they were doing. There was nothing different about what they did. It was something we had done. To change anything, we did not have to change anything and we just had to hold onto the ball. That was probably it as much as anything.”
On his message to RB Nick Chubb after his two fumbles against the Patriots, given Chubb’s reliability all season:
“It has not been an issue in the past. Like all of our players or us as coaches and anybody in the organization, we all have jobs to do. Nick is a great player. It is just unfortunate the way it turned out in that game for him because no one is more conscientious and no one works harder. Same with what happens to any of our players or when it happens to (QB) Baker (Mayfield) – nobody is fighting to be more prepared than he is and fighting with our receivers to be in the right spot and from a protection standpoint. There is nothing to be said. Everybody understands it, and we do, as well. You can’t turn it over and win. That is the way it is. Like I said, that has not been an issue for Nick. We do not expect it to be an issue. We expect every play, every week to play disciplined football and we expect to win. That is going to be our expectation this week. That was Sunday and starting with Monday, then a day off and with Wednesday we have moved on to the Broncos is the best way to put it, which we have.”
On if he expects Chubb to have a burning desire to bounce back this week:
“Oh yeah, he is a great football player. He has not gotten to this point without being able to move on from a setback. He has had more than a fumble here or there that has set him back probably in the past, and he has overcome that.”
On what the Browns offense must do to improve in the red zone:
“First off, if you are able to run the football, which we have been, that is the most difficult thing offensively to grasp. I have been to a lot of places where we have not able to run the football like we are here, and we are not accomplishing the goals we set out so far if that makes sense. That is the first thing is being able to run the football because if you can run the football, you give yourself a chance in the red zone to be able to score when you get down there. That is the first thing and then being able to protect and execute the route concept. Make sure you have a great plan and then make sure you execute once you get down there. There is really not a magical potion that you are going to spray over it. It is hard work and being able to run the football.”
On if he has experienced the ability to correct turnovers and penalties midseason:
“Sure, I do not think you ever expect to be undisciplined or turn it over. That happens throughout a game. You do not expect after it happened in the sequence we had the other night, I did not expect this to, OK, you have turned it over three out of the first seven plays and multiply that by 10 and say that we are going to have 30 turnovers, if that makes sense. I am not trying to be a smart aleck. I am just saying that there are all those sample sizes that say, ‘When do you start? When do you stop?’ The bottom line is it stopped. No matter what we have done previously has nothing to do with this Sunday. Just like a hitter in baseball, no matter what you done up to this point or the last week, what matters is today. For us, what matters is today and then this Sunday. Then we go to win that game. We can’t do anything about what was then. From now on, it is really these last we are wrapped. We are at this point so these nine games we have left, all that matters is the nine games and the stats we have moving forward in my mind.”
On if it is ‘a random thing’ that Chubb has produced a long run in almost every game:
“It has been wherever I have been. This has not been the norm. It is something that you do not count on because you are playing at the highest level. When you look at the runs that he has had and the way our guys have blocked it up front, it always gives you a chance because you are always looking to be able to run the ball and you are always looking to be explosive.”
On if he can sometimes guess when Chubb may have a breakaway run or if it is random:
“It is random. If we knew the ones that were going to be explosive, we would call those more often.”
On WR Odell Beckham Jr.’s comment that he wished the Browns took more opportunities to challenge Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore more:
“I think every skill player wants the ball. This is my 30th year of coaching – I think my math is right – and I have never been anywhere where a Nick Chubb does not want the football, Odell does not want the football, (WR) Jarvis (Landry) does not want the football or whoever our skill players are. They want opportunity to showcase their skillset. To me, that is normal. To me, that is nothing. That is not news. It is frustrating like anybody when you do not win, for all of us. To me, that is not news. That is normal.”
On Chubb’s yard per game total and the confidence it provides the Browns offense and its ability to turn around the second half of the season:
“Sure, we can. It starts with running the football. We have been able to do that. Now, can you count on that every game? I do not know. Up until this point, I know I said on one end we are going to take the sample size moving forward and what has happened has happened. Now I am kind of getting in the back, but we are hoping that we can carry that down the road in terms of continuing to run the football because that will always give you a chance because it takes a lot of pressure off of your quarterback.”
On if there was anything G Joel Bitonio could have done differently on the obscure plays that resulted in turnovers:
“First of all, Joel is an outstanding football player, one of our team leaders and someone we count on in a lot of ways not only as a player, and he carries the message for us to the staff. Sure, if you want to nitpick, did we anticipate the way the defender played it, could he have gotten lower, all of those things in a split second, though. It is one of those crazy things. I do not know what to say. I do not know how many years I have been coaching, how often we had a ball get knocked out by someone’s foot. It does not happen. Unfortunately, it happened to us. That is the way it goes. I wish there was some other way I could say it.”
On how Bitonio has played this season:
“Outstanding. Outstanding.”
On QB Baker Mayfield wanting to help everyone be held accountable and if that is too much responsibility for a second-year QB:
“I do not think so. Most quarterbacks I have been around, it is important to them. They are the closest other than coaches tied to winning and losing. They are. It is important to him, not only his performance but from a winning standpoint. We are as good here as anywhere I have ever been in terms of our quarterbacks communicating with our skill guys. That part of it has been outstanding, and it is going to continue to be until we get it to where it is right. That is the objective. It is not one – coaching or playing. It is all of us getting it right. It is important to him, and it is important when he takes the snap. It reflects on all of us, but I know he takes that personally. He is an outstanding player, an outstanding competitor and wants to win. I think it is good for us, I really do.”
On Mayfield’s performance against New England:
“I thought he played good. I really did. The two fumbles, but the turnover, that was a shovel pass where it did not work out like we hoped. From then on in the rain, I thought he threw it really well. You would have not of looked at it and said, ‘Boy, we did not give ourselves opportunities here.’ I thought he played really well. I thought he competed really well. To be where we were and to battle back and get us to 17-10 and still have some opportunities there, I thought he played really well.”
On if he wishes Mayfield would have done something differently on the shovel pass play:
“I do not think it is his fault. When you are having a shovel pass and you have misdirection, maybe the look was a little different than we had worked and maybe we just did set out like we liked, just some things that way that did not work. It stinks. I do not know how else to put it. It is one of those things you move on from, then you figure out a way to not do those things again and find a way to beat the Broncos. We are looking to be 1-0 this week. Everybody says it. That is last week, things that just happened to happen to us last week and that is just the way that it is.”
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