S Karl Joseph (12.21.20)
S Karl Joseph:
On if last night was his best game as a Brown:
“I thought I made some plays to help our team win. Hopefully, it is not my best game as a Brown. My focus and goal is always to continue to get better every week and keep raising the bar for myself and for our team. Hopefully, it is not. I thought I made some plays to help our team win. We walked away with a win, and that is what is most important.”
On his role on the punt team last night:
“I have been the backup on that special teams unit all year. (S) Andrew (Sendejo) went down, and he is usually the starter there. It is next man up mentality. That is what the scheme is about and that is what this team is about. Our coaches and Coach (special teams coordinator Mike) Priefer made sure I was ready and prepared. I was ready to step up. The team needed me to step up, and that is what I did.”
On if he allows himself to think about potential playoff implications with a win this week:
“No, I think our coaches and (Head) Coach (Kevin) Stefanski do a great job of making sure we stay focused on the task at hand. That is just going 1-0 every week. That is what we talk about every week, just going 1-0. Right now, we have earned a 10-4 record, and that is all we have earned. We have to prepare this week and get prepared to go play a good Jets team that just came off a real big win. That is our focus. We are not looking too far ahead. We have to take care of business this week and then the following week, and then see where that gets us at the end of the season.”
On how important it is for the Browns to get off to a fast start against the NY Jets, who earned a significant win yesterday:
“This is the NFL. They have guys that get paid well, as well. Any given Sunday. You can’t take any team lightly. It shows that week in and week out any given Sunday anybody can win. It is the team who is most prepared and who is ready to battle for 60 minutes that is going to come out with a win. We have to prepare this week like we have been in the past, and we can’t look at them as a lesser team or we are going to go in there and get punched in the mouth. We have to get ready and prepared and act like this is a playoff game for us. Just go 1-0.”
On if he believed this type of season was possible when signing with the Browns, given the team’s recent past records:
“I definitely thought so. That is part of the reason I came here. I felt like I saw the potential that we had obviously with the talent we had on the offensive side and I know the talent we had on the defensive side, as well. Obviously, I did not know much about anything else as far as the coaching staff, but I knew that they were putting a good staff together that was going to come in and try to build this thing up the right way. I am happy I made that decision to come here. Like I said, we are 10-4 right now. We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves. It is exciting to be where we are, but that is all we have earned. We have not earned anything else. We have to take it one week at a time.”
On why the Browns have been able to have this type of success in 2020:
“Obviously, it starts with us buying in. It starts with the coaching staff. That is where it always starts off from the top to bottom. It starts with the leadership up top and making sure that we are prepared every week and us buying in and doing all of the things we are supposed to do. Obviously, this year is different than a lot of past years. We have to do a lot of more meetings on Zoom. The staff and the coaches, they have been doing a great job of making sure we are prepared every week. Like I said, countless hours of Zoom calls and I am sure guys get tired of it and all that, but we have been buying in. We have been buying in and doing what we are supposed to do, and it is paying off on the field.”
On how defensive coordinator Joe Woods has handled adversity and missing defensive players this season:
“He has been doing great. We preach that. Coach Woods, (pass game coordinator/defensive backs) Coach Jeff Howard, (assistant defensive backs coach) Brandon Lynch and everybody – (defensive line) Coach (Chris) Kiffin on the line, (senior defensive assistant Ben) Bloom and (linebackers coach Jason) Tarver; we have a lot of guys rotating at linebacker, D line and secondary and we have been having to play a lot of people – and I think the coaching staff been doing a great job of just making sure everybody is prepared. It does not matter who goes in there, the level of play should not go down. The standard is the standard. He has been doing a great job of that and making sure we are all prepared and ready, week in and week out.”
On the stop on fourth-and-2 and his pass defensed in the end zone:
“The fourth down, that is a play we actually worked on a lot during the week, and we actually happened to be in the perfect play call, too. That is a play call we worked against, and I just knew it was coming. The running back made a great cut. I tried to get to him. I am glad I was able to kind of get something and trip him up a little bit. (S Sheldrick) Redwine and (DT) Sheldon (Richardson) did their part to stop his momentum. I think that is all part of preparation, like I spoke about earlier. We have been preparing for these moments and these situations. The other play, a play that we also worked during the week. That is all about preparation and execution. Just was able to be aware, had some good awareness on that play and made a good play to take some points off of the board.”
On how much pride he takes in delivering in clutch moments like during last night’s game and if that provides him a confidence boost:
“Not really. You guys do not know me well yet. I am a very humble guy. I do not get too high or too low. I expect those things of myself so I do not get too high on it. It is a big play for us to get points off of the board. That is what is about is keeping points off of the board and getting the win. I do not get too prideful about myself about it, but it is just a good play on my part to be able to help get some points off of the board.”
On if he has seen any aftereffects of COVID-19 for DE Myles Garrett, given Garrett’s recent comments on it:
“No, I have not seen it. Myles obviously is a tough guy. He is not going to be a guy that shows any weaknesses and show if something is bothering him. I am sure if he had broken leg, he probably would not tell anybody and he would probably still try to stay out there and play (laughter). I would not notice it. He was out there, and I thought he was Myles. I did not see any lack or decrease in his play or anything like that. I had no idea about that.”
# # #