QB Baker Mayfield (9.19.21)
On injuring his shoulder on a tackle after throwing an INT:
“Obviously, not an ideal situation. Trying to force him back inside. I think he realized it was me standing right there so he put his head down and ran right after me. It kind of popped in and out, but I will be good. Nothing too serious.”
On if there was any chance he was going to miss a snap following the injury:
“No.”
On responding following the early loss of WR Jarvis Landry to injury:
“I feel like we have had to preach the next man up mentality quite a bit. We have been trying to tell D-Felt (RB Demetric Felton) that he needs to be studying (WR) Jarvis’ (Landry) stuff quite a bit, just because when they get the ball in their hands, good things happen. Obviously, that showed today. You never want to lose a player in the caliber of Jarvis but even more so the leadership he brings. When things are not going well, the stuff that he can say to the guys and is just another voice who we have to lean on. It sucks, but hopefully, it is not too serious and we will move on.”
On evaluating the Browns offense’s performance:
“Not real great. We did not start well. We made the plays when we needed to later in the game, but turned the ball over twice again. It is just not good. We are hurting ourselves. We need to learn from these mistakes. Obviously, this week it is better to learn from a win than a loss, but we just have to be better and take care of the ball. We knew that is what their defense is all about, and we gave two balls away.”
On if he was concerned for his shoulder when running the ball, including the TD run:
“I am pretty sure I used one arm on the block. The touchdown, I was just going to get in there no matter what.”
On if WR Anthony Schwartz cut his route short on the interception:
“It is just one of those things that I am trusting him to be in a certain spot, and he has to roll it in there. It is going to be a bang-bang play. That is what this league is. We are going to learn from it, but we just have to take care of the ball. That is just plain and simple. We have to take care of the ball and stop hurting ourselves.”
On how we felt throwing the ball, given he only has two incompletions today:
“I really wanted the incompletion before that [interception] back, just throwing the ball to the hitch on the outside right on our sideline and just taking a completion and coming on. I thought our guys did a great job of securing the catches, and we did a good job of just taking what was there.”
On DE Myles Garrett calling him ‘Favre 2.0’ after playing through the injury:
“I am not doing it for any gratification or anything. I put in the work during the week and come out on Sundays because I truly love this game. Blessed to play it as a job. It is just one of those things. You are just going to have to grit things out, and I am not the only one dealing with injuries – by no means is that the case. Everybody is fighting through something. The healthiest you are the whole year is when you show up for camp. After that, it is all downhill. I am going to tough it out because these guys are, as well. I am not getting hit every play so when I do, let’s just go. Let’s roll with it.”
On if he’s had a shoulder injury like this in his career:
“I think a few times. I do not know. It is my left, though. God gave me two (laughter).”
On the receiving room stepping up after the injury to Landry:
“I thought those guys played well. Obviously, when you have a receiver go down, you are going to have to change personnel up a little bit, and those guys stepped up in a big way. We definitely had them out on the field a little bit more than we would have thought throughout the game. They did a great job and executed. We ran the ball well when we needed to, and those guys made plays in the passing game.”
On how much the shoulder injury hurt during the game:
“I was feeling it a lot – thanks for asking (laughter). It was alright. Played the rest of the game, didn’t we?”
On the luxury of having a RB like RB Nick Chubb and the factor Chubb can be for the team:
“Yeah, I thought Nick had as few runs that you could kind of feel were getting the crowd going when he was breaking a few tackles, and (RB) Kareem (Hunt) was real close if he did not get tripped on that one. Those guys run so hard. We are really blessed to have the offensive line that we do and those two backs. To be able to put one of them in that is fresh and go out there and do their thing, we are very lucky to have that. Like I told those guys after the game, we are going to lean on them. That is just the case. When one side of the ball is not working, we are going to have to lean on the other, and those guys did a great job of capitalizing.”
On how surprised he was when Texans QB Tyrod Taylor did not play in the second half due to injury:
“I actually got to talk to him after the game. He is such a good guy. I thought he was showing a little swag down the sideline, but he felt his hammy. I was pretty shocked. It is a long year. Stuff like that, he is going to try and get back healthy. He is a tough guy, as well.”
On RB Demetric Felton’s performance and what Felton means to the offense:
“We said it early on, he is going to be an important key in this offense, just because you can kind of see bits and pieces of when he was getting the ball just in his hands. That showed today on the screen play. We are going to continue to try and get him the ball and see how teams are going to try and defend him because he is one of those hybrid guys that may create some mismatch problems, and if they want to take a safety or another DB to cover him, then that means one of our tight ends has a linebacker. We have to play it to our advantage, and we are lucky to have him.”
On the atmosphere playing in a full FirstEnergy Stadium:
“I thought it was great. Obviously, a full stadium. I did not realize (Head Coach) Kevin (Stefanski) called everybody out to get there on time, but it was a great atmosphere. That is what it should be like. I said that – whether it was last year or two years ago – it needs to be loud when people come play in Cleveland. This is a traditional and very historically rich franchise that it needs to be a place where people when they have to come here they know it is going to be loud. We have another home game next week. Hopefully, we get the same atmosphere.”
On how the team finished better this week:
“We made the plays that we needed to down the line in the second half. We need to put a complete game together. We did not start fast. We hurt ourselves. We need to put a complete game together. We definitely made the plays when we needed to. That is an improvement off of last week. Just take it one step at a time, keep ironing these mistakes out and get better.”
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