RB Jerome Ford (11.27.23)
I know it’s been about two months now where you don’t know exactly who’s starting a quarterback depending on what week it is, but how are you guys dealing with that again after watching DTR (Dorian Thompson-Robinson) go down yesterday?
“Just the same way we’ve been dealing with it, knowing that there’s a job to do and that we have more games to play and that whoever’s up at quarterback, we’re going to rally behind them and trust that they can do the job and just believe in the coaches and the coaching scheme that we have.”
Have you gotten to spend any time with Joe Flacco yet? And is there a comfort level having a guy with that much experience?
“Haven’t had to spend much time with him besides meeting rooms and stuff like that. But of course there’s comfort in having a guy like Joe Flacco, with everything that he’s accomplished, being in the same meeting room as Joe and on the same team as Joe, and we’re just pretty much looking forward to what he can do to help the team and how we can help him and build a relationship.”
Jerome, the run game has been the strength of this team all season long. You guys have been finding ways to keep it going on the ground, but in a game where maybe that’s not the game plan, that’s not where you guys are focusing heavily, how do you personally stay grounded and focused on the game plan? Whether it’s you running hard or the game is going to be in the air?
“Like coach said before the game, it’s a do your job game. So no matter whether we’re running the ball, I’m in pass pro or running a route, I’m out there to do my job. And that’s pretty much all I focus on, is whenever I’m on the field, whatever played called, I’m just out there making sure that I do my job.”
And then kind off of what Scott (Petrak) was asking with Dorian (Thompson-Robinson) and the inconsistency kind of situation at quarterback this season for you guys is what you have dealt with these first several weeks of the season maybe a way for you guys to learn from it, as you might have to deal with more change at quarterback?
“I just feel like we have a thing called S.T.A.R.T. and the R in S.T.A.R.T. stands for resilient. I just feel like the resilience that this team has and just keep pushing no matter what’s going on. Who’s at quarterback, who’s down, next man up and rallying behind the next man up and making sure that the next man up is ready.”
Jerome, how have you guys been? You’ve been talking about next man up. And that just from a mental aspect. How are you guys handling dealing with all these injuries? I mean, the guys have already gone down and then yesterday you lose Amari (Cooper), DTR (Dorian Thompson-Robinson), Myles (Garrett) gets banged up. Just what’s it been like for you guys week in, week out, having to weather the storm, if you will?
“Like I said before, rallying behind the next man up and letting him know we have his back and praying for a speedy recovery for those who are injured or may not be able to play. And if they are able to play, we rally behind them, too. We work with who we got. Pretty much like we all we got type of thing. And whoever’s playing, that’s all we got. And we get behind them and we push them and let them know that we behind them. And we fight to win games.”
And I know you do your part when your number is called. Yesterday, you seem to have some success running the ball, albeit in limited carries. Do you do any lobbying when you feel like you got it going? And how much are you hoping that maybe those opportunities increase as the weeks go along here for you?
“Just like I said before, not really paying attention to carries or who gets the ball or how the ball is distributed or what plays we run. It’s more so when a play is called doing my job, I feel like we’re in good hands with Coach (Kevin) Stefanski and those guys upstairs calling the plays and we just follow their lead and trust in them. And that’s what’s been helping us so far, so pretty much going to continue to do that.”
Hey, Jerome. It seemed from the very beginning of the game that you in particular were having success running the ball. You only carried nine times, but it looked like it could have been a career day. If you had more attempts, why were you so successful against Denver? I know they weren’t very good against the run, but what was working in the running game with you in particular?
“It wasn’t just me, it was the offensive line. And they’re doing their job. They’re pushing dudes off the ball, resetting the offensive line, I mean, resetting the line of scrimmage. And everybody just giving me the opportunity to make good reads and coach calling the right plays. I feel like that’s pretty much what it all boiled down to, just everyone doing their job.”
Sometimes a guy can feel if he’s having, like, a career day in store for him. Did it ever cross your mind in the early going of that game, the way you were running?
“No. At no time in a game I worry about personal stats or what the day could be. The most important stat, and I think in all of our opinion is a W. So whatever was being called out there for us to get a W. That’s what I was going to go with. Whether it was we’ll talk about a career day after the game and then meetings on Monday, but during the game was probably the last thing on my mind.”
Jerome, I want to commend you, brother. I saw with My Cause My Cleats that your cause was gun violence and you’re donating to the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence. Could you tell me why did you picked that? And again, I want to commend you because that’s one of the major ills that is affecting this entire country. Thank you.
“Just pretty much all my life, growing up, pretty much as a kid up until now, there’s people in my life that have died from gun violence. And more recently, one of my good friends I’ve known him since elementary school, ran track with him in middle school, ran track with him in high school, always been around. And one of my good friends recently just passed away due to some nonsense with gun violence. It was just something on my heart and I feel know a lot of gun violence also in Ohio and Cleveland is something I felt in my heart that needed to know a light shine on it. And that was one of the things that I wanted to do with My Cause My Cleats.”
Hey, Jerome, following up on what you had mentioned earlier, it sounded like there was an acronym S.T.A.R.T. You said R was for resilience. Can you tell us more about what the rest of that stands for and how those are pillars for what you guys are trying to achieve?
“Yeah, smart, tough, accountable, resilient, team. And I think resilience has been showing up for us and resiliency has been showing up for us. And I think the most important one to us is the word team and us all being together. If you walk through our facility, you’ll see that we have the T on the wall and we all signed it because we’re all here for each other. And as long as we have each other’s back, we feel like we’ll win a lot of games and we’ll be a very good football team.
I’ll ask you quickly about pass pro. There was one play in particular that really caught my attention yesterday that looked like a really good job in pass pro. Obviously, this room’s gotten a lot of attention this year with Nick (Chubb) getting injured, and you guys have continued to be productive running the ball. But how much emphasis do you personally spend in working on that part of your game and being good in pass protection?
“We spend a lot of time on it, actually. We actually dedicate a meeting to it and throughout the week we have a walk through for it and coaches put cut ups of teams and files for us to look at in our off time so we can see those looks over and over again and know what to expect. We spent a lot of time on it. I feel like it’s really important to protect the quarterback because one of the most important players on the team, but everybody looks at like, oh, that’s a nice pass, or, oh, that was a good run, but nobody really looks at the blocking that goes into it. And I feel like blocking is a really big part of pretty much passing here.”
# # #
***Visit the Browns Media Center for materials provided by the Browns communications department, including media schedules, press releases, quotes, photos, media guides, rosters, depth charts and more.***