QB Baker Mayfield (10.13.19)
QB Baker Mayfield:
On his hip:
“Kind of tender right now, but we will see.”
On how much the hip affected his play:
“A little bit, but that is not an excuse. It hurts, but it’s a physical game of football.”
On if the injury occurred on a scramble in the first half:
“Yes.”
On if there was a conversation on the sideline and if he insisted to return to the game after the injury:
“There was no conversation. It was not even a thought.”
On if the Browns showed their best rhythm of the season early in the first half:
“Yeah, we played well in the first half. We left some points on the board, but for the most part, the first half was how we wanted to come out. There is still a lot of room for improvement.”
On if getting rid of the ball at a faster rate suits his style of play:
“Yeah, when we get a completion. I would not say just getting rid of it weekly is the point. I think getting it into our playmakers’ hands is the point.”
On his second interception of the game late in the first half:
“Just dropping back, I threw it a little behind (WR) Jarvis (Landry). Trying to keep him away from the safety but (Seahawks CB Shaquill) Griffin made a good play on it.”
On what the Browns showed in terms of passion, desire and character playing in front of the home crowd:
“I think the effort was always there and trying to overcome every obstacle, whether it be the turnovers, the self-inflicting mistakes that we had. The defense. We almost had a complementary football game and overcame a lot of mistake, but we never quit. There are a lot of things on this tape that we will learn from. That is the hard part. It is a loss, and we are sick of losing. We will look at the tape.”
On if it is more heartbreaking to lose in front of the home fans at FirstEnergy Stadium:
“Any loss hurts. Losing at home sucks. We have played three games here and lost three of them. It hurts, especially when it was a game that we really felt like we needed.”
On if the Browns feel like a 2-4 team or if they feel better than the record shows:
“I think we have played better at times than 2-4, but the fact is we are 2-4. There is no getting around it. There is no way of hiding it. That is what we have to learn from to get better.”
On if the Browns take any consolation knowing all team goals are still achievable:
“Yeah, big-picture mindset, we still have everything in front of us, but right now, this one hurts.”
On RB Nick Chubb’s performance and his uncharacteristic fumble:
“Nick is an incredible player and somebody that we rely on. Mistakes are going to happen. He is going to be a whole lot harder on himself than anybody else in this whole world can be. We trust him whole heartedly, and we are not going to stray away from getting him the ball.”
On if the Browns made an effort to get WR Odell Beckham Jr. the ball more today or if it was just a result of what was available from the defense:
“I think it was a little bit of both. Definitely trying to get it into the playmakers’ hands like I harped on all week. He can make plays, and when he is hot, he is going to make plays.”
On Landry’s blindside block penalty:
“The refs are never an excuse. I will probably get fined for saying this, but it was pretty bad today. The guy is squared up with him, running at him and he is lowering his head into Jarvis. What is [Landry] supposed to do? Avoid him? This is not bull fighting. I don’t know. It ticks me off.”
On a missed facemask call when Chubb was stopped short at the goal line:
“Yeah, I was calling it out. Yeah, they did not see it. It is in the middle of a pile. Another one that we had to overcome.”
On his reaction after the Browns’ series being stopped at the 1-yard line late in the game:
“The emotion is definitely angry, but there is a whole lot of time left on the clock. You have be able to flush it. Short memory.”
On if he was surprised Landry was not given a TD on the challenged play at the goal line:
“Yeah. It was definitely one of the angles on there showed that he scored, but we wound up scoring so ultimately we overcame that one. There were a few more that we couldn’t.
On if he would like the Browns to play angry because of how some things have gone early in the season:
“I play best when I am angry. I can’t speak for everyone else. Whatever everybody has to do to play their best, whatever their mindset is, we have to do that.”
On if he is angry:
“Yeah, we lost. I am pretty pissed.”
On if he was angry at the start today’s game:
“Geese, guys. You are like my counselor right now (laughter). No, I mean I try and get an edge but I am not angry.”
On what the Browns can take away long term from close games against playoff teams from last year in the Seahawks and Rams:
“The great teams learn from their mistakes. They learn from games like these. The certain plays that you can look back on and say, ‘This would have made the difference.’ You learn from it and you move forward. This hurts, but the good teams learn from it. Down the road, our plan is that it is going to be better for us in the long run and that is how we have to look at it.”
On the interception on the pass intended for RB Dontrell Hilliard:
“The corner backed off. The linebacker buzzed the flap trying to get it to him before he gets there and kind of throw it on his back hip. Tough catch for him. Just seems a lot of those bounces right there are not going in our favor.”
On if he said anything to Hilliard following the INT:
“Trell played great. Obviously, there is a lot of stuff that we can look back on and learn from. Stuff like that is going to happen. It is just the timing of it is obviously not great. Tried to protect him on the throw, but it is a tough one.”
On his sense of how good the Browns could be if they eliminated self-inflicted errors:
“If we don’t hurt ourselves, this team can go where we want to go. I said it earlier in the week, we found out the problem and it is self-inflicted mistakes that is holding us back and shooting ourselves in the foot. If we can eliminate that, we can be a great football team. If you have to constantly overcome things like that, it is tough.”
On if there is any sense encouragement corrections can be made, given only six games are complete:
“Absolutely, going into the bye week and be able to learn a lot from it. We still have five division games left. There are some very important road games later in the year. We will see what we are made of.”
On if the Browns’ talent and self-inflicted errors are the most frustrating aspects of the team’s record:
“Yeah, hurting ourselves is definitely the most disappointing part. I think ultimately the four losses is you can’t get around it.”
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