Defensive Coordinator Mike Rutenberg (9.17.26)
How do you explain what happened out there on Sunday? How do you account for that?
“You know, I think Todd (Monken) used this word, I’m going to steal it from him. Anytime things don’t go the way you want it to, you own it and you fight like hell to fix it. And you move forward and you take your focus to your next opportunity, which started with our review on Monday into yesterday’s practice and then today’s practice. And one small step at a time, getting ready for Sunday.”
Just the pressure up front. I know Jared (Verse) and some of the other guys talked about not generating the way they would hope, and Jared talked about dealing with the doubles and the chips. What’s the path forward to a young edge rusher sort of working through those things?
“You know, it’s all facets of the game where we want to continue to get better. It’s not just one thing, it’s not just pressure. Collectively, we want to make everything better, and that’s been our focus this week, and we’re off to a really good start.”
When you reviewed the game, was your first thought, like, ‘I had to call it better,’ or ‘I have to coach it better,’ for the guys during the week so they go out there and execute it better?
“It’s always going to be collective. We didn’t coach it well enough, we didn’t coach it to our standard. I know the guys hope that they play better and play above the line, and that’s going to be our focus this entire week. It’s that every week. No matter a great game or a poor game, you always want to do it better, getting ready for the next week.”
How do you get your guys to tackle better than they did last week?
“You know, I thought in the open field we had a lot of really nice tackles. And there’s always going to be missed tackles, you never want them, and some of them occurred where the runner bounced off guys. But every week we have winning ways and every week there’s a focus on tackling. It doesn’t matter whether we tackled poorly or we tackled well. We work the fundamentals every week, and tackling and getting after the ball are things that we work every week.”
There’s been a lot of talk this week about you playing more zone than these guys who were accustomed to a year ago. How do you feel about that? Do you need to tape off to figure out what they do better?
“You know, every week, Tony (Grossi), it’s figure out what we did well, figure out what we didn’t do well, build on what we did well, fix what we didn’t do well, and then, what do we think’s coming the next week. So, so again, collectively, we’re going to do everything we can, fight our butts off to fix what we need to fix and then build on some of the things that we did do well.”
Philosophically, do you believe in playing more zone than they had played in the last couple of years?
“All I care about is putting our players in the best position and letting their awesome talents fly. And whatever we have to do to do that, we’re going to do that.”
What’s the advantage or the big difference between playing the zone versus the man, and is that like a week-to-week decision that you make?
“You know, again, it’s all about getting the players in the best position. Sometimes zone turns out to be man. Sometimes man can have zone feels. And the truth is, collectively, we’re going to do everything we can to put our best effort forward on Sunday. And again, starting with yesterday’s practice today and focusing then on tomorrow’s practice.”
What about Baker Mayfield? What do you think of Baker and then the fact that he’s coming off a three-fumble game? What does that mean for you guys?
“A great amount of respect for Baker Mayfield. He’s one of those guys in the league that, as you watch, as a fan and a coach, his competitive spirit, the way he plays the game, and then obviously I got to see that firsthand, how great of a player he is, just going against him last year in Atlanta. Man, he’s such a competitor, great quarterback. And you hear people all the time just talk about his competitive spirit.”
What about the fact that he’s coming off of a three-fumble game?
“Mary Kay (Cabot), it’s always about focusing on the next game, and not what happened with anybody. It’s just us focused on doing our job more than anything there.”
You mentioned a few times putting your players in the best position. So, I guess, what was the failure in doing that on Sunday?
“You now, our whole goal is always to put them in the best position and let our style come through. And that’s all we’re working on this week. And like I mentioned, going back and reviewing it, telling the truth, figuring out what we did well, figure out what we did poorly, fight like hell to fix it, and then take that process through. Always having the humility to work through each week to get him in the best position.”
Mike, you were with Zac Robinson in Atlanta. What’s the DNA of his offense that you see with what he did in Atlanta and now what he’s doing with Tampa Bay?
“You know, Zac’s a close friend, and he’s a super, super smart guy. It’s always strange going against your close friends, but I’m really excited to see him. He’s a great offensive coordinator, really great smart mind, who’s constantly working the same like we are to put his guys in the best position.”
When it comes specifically to Jared, he was talking about that it’s a lot of double teams and chips that he’s faced in the past. So how do you help him learn to overcome that? He said that’s what he’s got to do, he’s going to see more of it. So how do you help him beat those doubles?
“For sure. Anytime we’re facing different things that offenses are trying to do to us, whether it’s chips, whether it’s run schemes, route combinations, we’re always working with our players through what their strengths are to have a plan for those. For example, to have a chip plan, if that’s necessary, or to have a certain front plan or coverage plan with whatever they’re doing. And that falls in the same category. We put our heads together, find out what offenses are doing well, find out what they’re doing to our defensive line, our linebackers, or our DBs, and give them the best plan.”
He mentioned he thought he was pressing. He thought you guys got down so he was trying to make plays and got outside of the scheme. Did you see the same thing and what are those conversations like?
“You know, anytime you don’t perform the way you hope, there are going to be a million different reasons. All we’re focused on right now is just building on what we did well, fixing what we didn’t do well, because that’s our job, and fighting like hell to fix it, and then getting ourselves ready for this Sunday.”
Ted Hurst (III) came out of nowhere in the fourth quarter for Tampa last week and helped them keep the game close. Do you think he’s a prominent player going forward for them?
“Absolutely. I mean, their whole receiving core, Tony, is really prominent players. He’s not the only one. Between Emeka (Egbuka), Jalen McMillan, Chris Godwin (Jr.), the tight end Cade Otton, their backs. I mean, so really. And we talked about Baker, offensive line, got all-pros in that line. It’s a really, really good offense. And Ted did a great job in that game, but they all really did, they moved the ball well.”
He also mentioned that he was trying to do his own thing, those are his words. So, when you guys start losing, is it difficult to make those guys stay in their own assignment rather than trying to do too much?
“We got an awesome, awesome group of guys who has bounced back, whether we had a bad practice in training camp or OTAs, and they’ve been awesome so far this week. Again, if it’s not going the way you want to, we just got to do everything in our power to fix it. And we’re a family, and we’re connected with each other, we respect each other, and we help each other move forward.”
What would you say are some of the things you said that didn’t go well last week you’re looking to build on this time?
“You know, it’s just collectively starting with coaching. And then I know I hear the players say they want to do better. Just working on our execution and doing our job, both playing and coaching.”
I didn’t see Tyson Campbell out there today. Is your expectation he’ll be there Sunday and what’s the plan if he’s not?
“I’m going to leave all those comments to Monk in terms of that.”
You substituted freely in the very first defensive possession, I think. Is that a concession to the weather and is it going to be one of those fatigue games? Lasting fatigue?
“Oh, Tony, every game, we have a plan of substitution of doing our best to keep our guys fresh. It has nothing to do with weather. It’s just doing our best to put our guys in the best position and keep them fresh. And there’s plans and contingency plans and contingency plans off the contingency plans.”
Do you anticipate any personnel changes this week and lineup changes?
“Mary Kay, we are working as hard as we possibly can just to get ready for Sunday. I’m not going to discuss personnel from that perspective, but I’m super confident in our group. I’m super confident the way we came out in yesterday’s practice and today’s practice, and I’m excited for Sunday.”
How do you think Maliek (Collins) looked in his first game back from the quad?
“It’s awesome having him out there, isn’t it? I mean, I just think of that play where he ran all the way down the field and tried to punch the ball out. Love having him out there. I know he’s really excited about being out there. Was excited to see him do a great job, and I’m excited to see him continue to do it. I saw it in practice last two days. Excited to see him continue to do it.”
Did it feel like Mason (Graham) was one of the bright spots? First full sack in two years, I saw him in the backfield a lot.
“That’s pretty cool that he had a sack, isn’t it? Yeah, I thought Mason did some really cool things in there. I’m okay to acknowledge that certain people had bright spots, and Mason is one of them for sure. But collectively we’re owning it that it wasn’t to our standard, it was below our line, and we’re going to bust our butts to fix it.”
How about the job Carson (Schwesinger) did? I mean obviously he was out for a decent portion of camp, so just kind of getting back into things with him, what did you see out there?
“It’s cool to hear you guys talk about these guys because they deserve the praise. Like Carson Schwesinger, he’s unbelievable to be around. For him to fight back from not being out there and to bust his butt to get out there, and he’ll only continue to get better, which is already at a super high standard. So that’s just him raising the bar as high as humanly possible, and he’ll continue to do that.”
# # #
***Visit the Browns Media Center for materials provided by the Browns communications department, including media schedules, press releases, quotes, photos, media guides, rosters, depth charts and more.***