C JC Tretter and LB Joe Schobert (12.9.19)
Included below are select quotes from interviews with the following Browns players during today’s media availability:
- LB Joe Schobert
- C JC Tretter
LB Joe Schobert:
On if he feels the Browns’ leadership structure is strong enough to pull the team through external noise:
“Yeah, I think so. Especially starting at the top with Freddie and the message from Day 1 in the spring since we all got here as a team is the only people that matter are the people in the locker room. Outside noise, good or bad, different or indifferent, it is just that. It is not going to affect us in the locker room as long as we trust each other, hold each other accountable and do what we need to do on the field.”
On any specific outside noise has played a part in any of the team’s seven losses on the season:
“No, when you get on the football field, you play football to win games. Nobody is thinking in the middle of the game or before the game about anything that is said outside of it. I do not think any of that has any bearing on that.”
On if he has been able to get to know WR Odell Beckham Jr. well and his relationship with Beckham:
“Yeah, decently. I sit close to him in team meetings, I see him around the building and we talk here and there.”
On the vibe he gets from Beckham’s desire to be in Cleveland:
“Good. He always seems happy. He just gifted the whole team shoes today so it was pretty nice of him. For everything I see from him, all of my interactions are all positive.”
C JC Tretter:
On how he feels today after playing through an injury against Cincinnati:
“A little sore. A little sore, but we will go with the same plan we had last week, let it recover the best it can and see where we stand.”
On if it is a relief to get onto the field and play the way he needs to play on Sunday, even when believing he will play that week:
“Yeah, usually I am pretty confident that if I can get out there to start, I can make it through the game so really just getting through the week and making sure I get to where I need to be to play. Then once I get going the adrenaline gets going, I am usually pretty confident I can make it through the rest of the time.”
On if he agrees with Head Coach Freddie Kitchens’ comment that the team is not negatively impacted by outside noise:
“Yeah, I think we stay pretty insulated and we try not to get too caught up in what is said and what is talked about. We have kind of dealt with that for the entire season now, starting in training camp and moving on. I think we are well equipped and well used to kind of how it has been going. I think we are fine.”
On if he can tell during a game when the team is not running the ball as much in the first half:
“I know whether it is a run or a pass, but I really do not keep track of it. We are more focused on what the score is. I have always been one to say a lot of it is just game flow related. You get asked about it all of the time whether we should run more or whether we should pass more, and a lot of it just depends on how the flow of the game is. Ideally, I think as an offensive line we love run blocking so I think that is always going to be what we want to do, but we are more focused on trying to win the game. That is why you have faith in the play caller and the coaches to get us in the position they feel like is best for us to win that game. I do not think that is something to where they are keeping track and asking. Not one person asked on the sideline, ‘Why do we not run more?’ Nobody is thinking about that.”
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