Head Coach Todd Monken (8.22.26)
Opening statement:
“I’m proud of the way we started the game. Second week in a row, I felt like we started well on both sides of the ball. We didn’t do a great job finishing our third drive, ended up with a turnover, a little behind, and certainly could have made the catch. We didn’t finish at the half, and then it got away from us in the second half. Bottom line, it doesn’t matter who takes the field for us. It’s about the expectations we have of ourselves, their names on the back, and the expectations of us as an organization for how we’re going to play. That wasn’t good enough in the second half, and it never will be. It wasn’t good enough last week in the second half either, and that’s coaching and playing. We’re in this together. I love our guys, and I love the way we work, but it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. We had a great Thursday and a really good first half in a lot of ways, guys making plays and throws, converting, our defense getting stops, but it was the same story in the second half. It got away from us again, that can’t be us.”
How did you think Shedeur (Sanders) performed today?
“There’s a lot there to like. He plays with a certain amount of confidence, and he’s gotten a lot better at getting rid of the ball. He obviously wants to make a play. I’ll give you an example: on the third-and-13 or 14 we converted; he held onto the ball and let the receiver clear. There are going to be other times where that sweet spot is and he has to check it down, but he did a great job progressing, the red zone touchdown. I think he anticipated the tight end breaking out, the backer was matching it, and then JT (Jermaine Terry II) decided to break in a little behind. He certainly could have caught that. I’d have felt a lot better if we’d finished off that drive. Two of the first three drives, really. But I thought he did a lot of really good things. I’m really proud of him and how far he’s come from the moment I got here to now. Very impressive.”
You said on the pregame show that you’d probably have a decision on the starting quarterback early next week. Do you still believe that’s the timeline for that decision?
“At some point I’m going to have to decide, right? I’m saying it kind of jokingly, at some point we’ve got to get that guy the reps, so I’m not going to paint myself into a corner. Optimally, you’d like to give one player all of the reps and you know who the one is, and we’ve done the best we could as a staff trying to work through this. Like at any position. This is just one part of it. It’s just like Thursday was. We’ll watch the tape tomorrow, because all I’ve had a chance to do is watch it like you guys did. I was looking at things live, and everybody had a hand in it. I already know, looking at it and watching, we had too many issues with us, that had nothing to do with them. We’re playing some guys who just got with us, but alignment, assignment and communication, Browns hurting Browns, really. You’re not going to have a chance when that happens. You’re just not. Just getting lined up, and then at the end, it was like, really? That was some s***** football. I don’t care who goes out there. If I could have taken a knee, I probably would have. I mean, what the s***. I don’t know what to tell you. It doesn’t matter. We work on cadence and operation, and we’re going to continue to do it, because you can’t be leading the offense when you’re not leading the cadence. In the first half we did, we had a shot. We got them to jump offside, we wanted to take a shot and we jumped, and we had another time we could’ve tapped. We got them in the neutral zone. That’s one thing Shedeur’s going to continue to get better at. We had a chance on third-and-12 to take a shot, he has to see the flag down, we checked it down but didn’t convert on third-and-eight. We were really good at cadence in the first half, but at the end there, it’s not good enough.”
Do you need another week before you name a starting quarterback?
“Again, I’ll wait until I see it tomorrow. Again, I’m just going to wait until then, until I get a chance to watch the tape and talk to the staff.”
Todd, you have three punters in camp. How would you assess the competition at that position?
“We’ve got Corey (Bojorquez), and we’ve got a couple of other guys we’ve been looking at, and there’s nothing like playing in these games. I don’t care if it’s a punter or any other position. It’s different, just is. That’s why people ask, ‘When does the quarterback have to go? When does the other guy have to go?’ That’s all part of it. You can practice with somebody, but when you get out there and have to stack plays and work through the ebb and flow of a game, there’s a lot to it. There really is. It’s the same with the punters. They kick the h*** out of it in practice, and then when you go on the field, it’s just the way it is. We’re assessing every position the same way, trying to get the best 53 we can. That’s what we owe our team, our fans and our organization.”
How do you feel Deshaun Watson played in his opportunities today?
“Well, I was disappointed for us collectively that we didn’t play well offensively, I’ll just put it that way. We had to get back on track a bunch. It happened in the first game. When you’re behind the chains, it’s hard. It’s just hard. You can’t force the defense into certain looks, put yourself behind the chains. I’ll have to wait to see the tape, but I’m proud of the way he’s worked to get to where he’s at, and that’s part of it. Right? I know you’ve asked him, hey, how it feels to get booed?’ It’s a pretty easy question, it sucks. I don’t want to get booed. It comes with the territory. You don’t want to get booed? Let’s play good football. Let’s play good at quarterback, on offense and as a team, and then you won’t have to worry about all that, because it can turn just like that. Win, play good football, and everybody will be fine. That’s just part of it. I told him, ‘You good? We’re good.’ That’s part of what we do.”
What did you see on the interception?
“There was a window there for him to get it there, but he was probably a little late seeing it, so by the time he got to it, I think he rushed it a bit with the backside. Again, it’s hard because we haven’t advanced the technology enough to get the full video. We have to look at pictures. You guys got me to vent there a little bit. But for God’s sake, from what I could see, but he certainly could have checked it down at that point. Once he got rushed, he needed to work to check it down, and we would have been able to punt.”
Mike Hall Jr. was working at defensive end. Can you give an update on Alex (Wright)? How much have you guys planned to work Mike Hall Jr. in there before what happened to Alex?
“First of all, I don’t have any more information on Alex. But Mike Hall Jr. is an explosive player who loves playing football, and we’re always trying to find ways to get our best four D-linemen on the field. That’s part of why we looked at Mike on the edge. He’s powerful, he can dip, he can get underneath tackles, and he’s relentless. He’s worked awfully hard to get back to where he’s at, so I think it was a good idea by our defensive staff to get him some reps there. I can’t speak to it. He only played the first quarter, and I’ll have to watch the tape and see. But he’s fun to watch as a player.”
Do you have to make a decision on who starts the next preseason game by Thursday, or is that not necessary?
“I’m really not there yet. That wasn’t our best foot forward here, the last four hours. So, I’ve got to see the film before I say anything, because right now, that’s not fun. It’s not fun to come off the field playing like that. It’s not the time for me to go anywhere with any personnel with where I’m at now, because I’m frustrated with how we ended the second half. That can’t be us. It is what it is. I don’t care who takes the field. You represent the Browns, you represent yourself, and that wasn’t good enough, coaching or playing.”
Is there concern that you could be without Alex for an extended period?
“Just couldn’t help it, could you? I get it. I don’t know yet with Alex. We’ll know a lot more once we get through the weekend.”
Would you expect whoever you name as the starter to show improvement once he’s getting all the reps?
“For sure. There has been – and had we not done this with either quarterback, I really am jacked with how we did it. Some other people might not see it that way, but in order to make an educated decision on both players, we needed to see them both practice and play. That’s just part of it. I usually try as best I can to tell the truth, and it’s not the easiest or most ideal, but it gives us the best opportunity to see who gives us, when we got to Jacksonville, the best chance to win and score points. Because ultimately, that’s what matters. There have been some really good moments with both of them in the first half of both games, and there have been some others that haven’t been as good. We can do a better job as coaches playing around them.”
You’ve talked about how the players on the field decide who starts and gets that position. Do you feel that, given how you’ve talked about both of them, that they have made this a tougher decision than you expected?
“I wouldn’t put it that way. That’s a great question. I wouldn’t say they’ve made it tougher. To me, I don’t think this is tough. We look at the film, we look at what we do schematically, we decide if we like what we’re doing and whether it fits who we have, and then we work like heck to fix it. That’s what we do with all of our players. That’s why we gave both of them opportunities and let everybody compete. Dillon’s (Gabriel) had reps, maybe not the same number, but that’s what you do. We’re here. That’s the building of the Cleveland Browns. Getting both of those guys reps was the best way I thought we could go about it, and I still believe that. But we’re at a point now where we’re going to have to decide and get them the reps, because the more reps you get, the more you’re going to improve. So, you’re exactly right. At some point you have to say, ‘This is where we’re going, this is where we are starting,’ and then see where we go from there. We’ll really only know once we get our ones, the guys who are actually going to be playing in the game and collectively work together. We just got our O-line back together, and once we get our skill guys out there, and then we’ll really see where we’re at. We won’t really know until we go up against Jacksonville. We got a little taste of that against the Bills’ ones. They were missing some guys, we were too, but we were okay. We’ll come back Monday, go to work Tuesday, figure out who’s playing Thursday, and keep fighting.”
How have you been handling the Dae’Quan Wright situation? It seemed like he is in the college transfer portal but out at practice, but then you saw him warming up after the rain delay today.
“Man, isn’t this s*** crazy? I don’t even know what to say. As far as I know, he’s had a medical issue that wasn’t allowing him to practice. That’s a medical issue. It has nothing to do with me. He was cleared, so we dressed him just in case we had to have him, but when you don’t rep, it’s hard to put him on the field. JT was out there, so we didn’t want Blake (Whiteheart) to get hurt, and he’s only been with us a week. We had a number of things where Browns hurt Browns, which to the naked eye you won’t see. And we had a number of things that way when you’re putting in guys who haven’t really been here, and some of it isn’t good enough from us as coaches once they’re out there. I don’t know what to say. I wondered why Lane Kiffin reached out to me a week ago, now I know. I didn’t call him back; I guess I should have.”
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