HC Freddie Kitchens Conference Call With Titans Media (9.4.19)
(on how Taywan Taylor has fit in so far with the Browns)
I tell you what, he can run, can’t he? Taywan (Taylor), he’s come in and kind of immersed himself into the offense and trying to learn. We’re still in the early stages, but we’ll see what he knows by the time we get to Sunday.
(on if Taywan Taylor has spilled all the Titans secrets yet)
He’s given us all of them, yes. I’m just kidding, I wouldn’t tell you even if he had.
(on what the atmosphere has been like in Cleveland with the eagerness for the start of the season)
Yeah, the excitement with the fans and everything, we just try to stay in the moment as far as the organization goes and just try to stay with what we do and how we prepare on an everyday basis, and let the fans worry about that, and just understand the expectations and the excitement has nothing to do with how we do and how productive we are.
(on how much it affects a team when the kicker is changed the Wednesday before a Sunday game)
Depends on if he makes it.
(on if he’s seen Cairo Santos at all)
No, I’ve watched him. We played Tampa in the preseason, so we saw him and stuff then preparing for him also and stuff like that, so we’re familiar with him.
(on what stands out about Marcus Mariota)
His athleticism, his innate ability to make plays when things break down. There’s so many of those in a game that a lot of times that’s how you get your explosive plays. You can draw them up all pretty and all that all you want, but at the end of the day, most of the big plays in the league come from broken down plays and he does a good job of that.
(on what allowed him to find the degree of success with Baker Mayfield when he took over as the offensive coordinator in 2018)
I think everybody from every position just started performing better. They did their job, they’re worried about their job on how it affected the team. The line started blocking better, the receivers started catching better and running routes better, the running backs started running the ball better and Baker (Mayfield) got more comfortable with his reads and his protection responsibilities. So, when everybody does their job, of course you’re going to have success and I think that’s what happened last year.
(on the strengths of the Browns defensive line)
I think when they perform well, they do their job and their responsibilities. That’s what you saw in Tampa. If somebody had the B-gap, they took the B-gap and it maybe frees up somebody else. If we continue to do that, we’ll be OK. From the defensive side of the ball, once you start kind of doing your own thing, things don’t tend to go very well. But they did their job, they played hard, they played every snap like it was the last one and we were successful.
(on if there is still much growth left in Myles Garrett’s game)
Yeah, I hope there’s growth in his game. He wants there to be, I want it to be, so we’re going to do the things necessary to continue to grow Myles (Garrett). He’s still a young player and he hasn’t got it all figured out yet, but he’s definitely put the time and the commitment into doing that, so hopefully we’ll see where he gets to. I really don’t want to worry about the end of the line, like where you’re going to get to, I just want to worry about that day, and that next day, and that next rep, that next period, that next rush, all those sorts of things. Then, you look up two, three months down the road and see how good you are then. But right now, just stay focused in the moment and keep doing what you’re supposed to do on an every play basis.
(on what adding a guy like Sheldon Richardson does for a guy like Larry Ogunjobi)
When you add him with the other two guys, it’s something. You can’t double everybody, so the single guys have to win. It’s no different than any other position. Football is a game about individual matchups in a team setting, and hopefully you can win your share of the one-on-one matchups.
(on how he can keep all the personalities in the Browns locker room steered in the right direction even when things don’t go right)
Well, you’ve got to get him to the point where I think we are, where we hold each other accountable, you trust each other – and that goes player-to-player, coach-to-player, player-to-coach. So, you build trust, you build accountability and then you surround yourself with a bunch of people that want to win. Hopefully we’ve got that, I think we do and we’re going to find out.
(on how Baker Mayfield is handling the publicity that the Browns have received this offseason)
He’s doing great. Baker (Mayfield) does a good job of just keeping his head down, blocking out the noise and just doing his job. He’s continued to do that, no different than last year towards the latter part of the year. He just keeps wanting to get better each and every day. I think he has and he’s going to continue to do that.
(on if he enjoys the attention that the Browns have received or if he’d rather fly under the radar)
I haven’t even noticed any of it. (Laughs) I’m just kidding. I enjoy getting the attention for our fans. They deserve the attention, they haven’t had much reason to celebrate. What I want everybody to realize, there’s still nothing to celebrate right now. We went 7-8-1 last year and the last time I checked, that’s still a losing record, but we did do some things that we could build off of organizationally, collectively as a team and some individuals. We just need to keep that mindset, just keep our head down and let’s see where we’re at the end of the year instead of worrying about what could be because could be could turn into not very quickly.
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