G Joel Bitonio (11.18.21)
On the Browns’ inconsistency recently:
“It really comes down to executing each week. It seems like when we play well, we play pretty well, and when we have been playing bad, we have played pretty bad. We have had a couple of blowouts in both directions the last couple of weeks. We just want to be the same team every week. I think (Head) Coach (Kevin) Stefanski does do a good job of being the same guy every day and having the same attitude, and we just need to take that approach as players and really just show up every week and perform to the best of our abilities. It really is every guy going in the huddle, and they are 1/11th each play and just being like, ‘What can I do to make this play work?’ – on both sides of the ball, really. We do need to find a way to be more consistent, and it starts this week.”
On the Browns being more consistent last year and what is different this year:
“It is hard because we have pinpointed some things. Third and fourth down have been really bad on both sides of the ball so we are trying to figure that out. Just little things like that where we are trying to be more consistent. We looked at it this week, and we are like, ‘Hey, we were not good enough on third and fourth down,’ – pretty much all season, but that is something that we are going to try and focus on this week and try and really improve.”
On the team facing unique challenges with COVID-19 last year and how Stefanski is handling new and different challenges this season:
“I think he has handled it well. In the NFL, something is going to come up every year – last year, we had a lot of COVID [challenges] like you said – but he has done a good job. His door is always open so if there is ever an issue on this team, you can contact him instantly, and he will listen to you, he will talk to you and he will tell you how he feels about it. It is really an open door, and if someone has feelings, we go to him and we will try and straighten it out.”
On how the Browns can improve execution on gameday:
“We have really tried to focus on it in meetings and in practice. We talked about having the best week of preparation of practice and of focus all year. Like I kind of said, you focus on the little details because little details become big things. If you run a bad route in practice or you have a bad twist pass-off in practice, you need the quiet time afterward and something to redo it so that correction is in your head. You are really just focusing on those little things, and each player has things. Even though the score is 45-7, not every play every guy is getting destroyed. A lot of times, it is one guy on each play or two guys on each play, and those things add up. If everybody can focus on those little things, you can turn that into a little bit better.”
On the Browns’ having a lot of success after Thanksgiving last year and if the team believes it still has everything it wants to accomplish ahead of it with that date approaching:
“I think it is. If you look at the No. 1 goal of pretty much every team is to win their division, and we are within striking distance. We are not where we want to be, but we have everything left. You have a 17-game season so you have seven games left. It is one of those things where there is a lot less room for error now, but we are good. We are going to take it one week at a time. We have the Detroit Lions, who played really well against Pittsburgh last week. We know they are going to come in here and try to get their first win so it is a big test for us to really bounce back.”
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