Select Browns Players (12.7.25)
RB Dylan Sampson
What happened on that fumble?
“It’s next play mentality, for real. That’s out of character for me, as I said. Nobody ever wants to make a play like that, but we got a game to play. Whatever I can do to go out there and play to put my team in a better position. I’m not going to dwell on nothing positive or negative.”
I’m sorry, I know you were asked this, but what happened on the fumble there?
“I should have put it away tighter. He hit the ball, made a good play. It’s fundamentals, fundamentals that cannot happen, especially on that side of the field.”
Talk about that big completion on the final drive…
“Like I said, you have to play ‘next play’ mentality. That’s how I am, good play – bad play, I don’t care what just happened. I’m trying to make more plays for the team. 12 (Browns QB Shedeur Sanders) told me before the play, ‘Let’s dial this up.’ He has trust in me, there’s that connection. Just try and put ourselves in a good position, a better position to try and win a game.”
What do you think of the job Shedeur did today, especially on that final drive?
“I think collectively, we kind of got together. You could just see his growth. Continue his growth. See his growth throughout the games he’s been playing. His mentality is he’s going to go and try to make a play. We got somebody like that, we got to keep fighting.”
LB Devin Bush
What did you see on that interception to get a takeaway there?
“I just kind of read the quarterback’s eyes, and the formation and kind of just made a play.”
You guys had some big plays, but also gave up some of those chunk plays. What was going on with the defense today in that regard?
“We just have to get off the field on third down, and give our offense a chance to have a good drive starter with good field position. We let them out of the gate a couple of times, credit to them and their design runs and stuff like that.”
How difficult was it for you guys to navigate some of the short fields, obviously you have experienced them before, but what was the mindset with that?
“Just to stop the bleeding. Of course we gave up a run if I can remember. It’s difficult facing a sudden change like that, but I mean if we call ourselves a good defense, we gotta be better in that situation.”
G Joel Bitonio
How frustrating is to come back with that failed two point conversion and come up just short against a team like that?
“We didn’t do enough early. The third quarter was just bad, I think we went three and out a bunch of times. Then, you turn the ball over and you give those guys a chance. I appreciate the fight from everybody and trying to make some plays happen.”
(WR) Jerry (Jeudy) and (RB) Dylan (Sampson) said those two-point conversions are plays you’ve been practicing since camp, does that add more to the frustration?
“Obviously, the first one was center-quarterback exchange. A new center makes it tough. I don’t know what the issue was. I think we ran both of those against the Eagles in camp, and there have been a lot of reps with those. We do two-point conversions every Friday, so we just didn’t execute.”
What did you see out of (QB) Shedeur (Sanders) today, it looked like he took a step forward there?
“Yeah, a competitor. I appreciated the fight, I told him that. He’s shown in his three starts now that he can make some plays for us. Those two two-minute drives just made things happen. I have to block forever, cause he’s going to try to make a play. There were some big-time plays that he made for us and kept us in the game.”
Are you seeing his (QB Shedeur Sanders) comfort level growing week to week? Is that something that guys are acknowledging and seeing out there on the field?
“His huddle, mechanics, and his comfort. I think he’s starting to see things. He flipped a protection this week once, and you know, got things on the same page. That growth is definitely there and it’s good to see.”
With that growth, how do you think you guys will be able to build on that?
“We have to keep fighting, we’re not where we want to be. It’s frustrating. We have obviously had some injuries on offense, now defense. Guys have to step up and keep fighting, that’s all you can do. This is the National Football League, so it comes every week and you have to be ready for it.”
Joel (Bitonio), what’s your mentally going into these final four games?
“Keep fighting. That’s all I know. Unfortunately, I’ve been in some of these situations before. But every time you go on the field it’s a blessing. Any time you put something on tape, that’s your resume. Your pride and your fight for your brothers, I think that shows in these waning times. We’ll see who has that self-pride and who wants to play for the Cleveland Browns.
S Grant Delpit
Why do you feel like you guys did have an uncharacteristic day?
“I don’t know, especially with our run defense, it was surprising. As we all know, just one person out their gap or whatever, it was open, six. And it happened twice.”
Why has the effort not completely shown up on the field and what is it going to take to really clean these things up and make a change?
“That’s a good question. We put bad ball on tape, bad film. It just starts to spiral. As we see, we started slow on defense and that kind of spiral. We were able to get the lead back at halftime but then, the turnovers and we didn’t stand up in the red zone, so that’s how the game goes. We just put a bad ball out there today.”
You talked about coming into the week, these are two teams with four combined wins. Knowing that, do you think the focus was there the way it needed to be, or was there more that could have been done?
“You can look back at any week and say we didn’t practice well, or we didn’t do this in the third. You just have to execute in the moment, and we didn’t.”
When you’re a rookie and mistakes like that happen, how do you bounce back from that?”
“Obviously, it’s tough on them to beat themselves up since they may not get a lot of touches, but you got to know that it is easily fixable stuff. At the end of the day, the greatest players mess up as well, but the greatest players also deliver when it’s time to deliver. It’ll be good for them to learn from.”
What did (QB) Shedeur (Sanders) show you at the end today?
“He (QB Shedeur Sanders) played with heart, man. I think the whole offense, they put up a lot of points. They had ups and downs, but he was throwing the ball not perfectly, but it looked pretty good and we just have to be able to have his back as a defense. He’s our quarterback, we have to get him the ball back when they put us in some hard spots.”
WR Gage Larvadain
How do you bounce back from a play like the two point conversion?
“You just keep your head down. At the end of the day you gotta figure something out. But just keeping your head down and keep being the best version of yourself and just keep working.”
Did you think it was open if (RB) Quinshon (Judkins) did pitch you the ball, like did you have open space in front of you?
“Why y’all keep saying (RB) Quinshon (Judkins) was supposed to pitch it, y’all know something I don’t? Nah, we called a play and he tried to make a play. He’s arguably the best player on our offense, you know what I’m saying? So he did what he was supposed to and tried and make a play.”
What do you think about the progress that (QB) Shedeur (Sanders) has made these last handful of starts?
“He’s a dog man and we knew that. We knew inside our building, it’s outside people that thought differently, but we knew what we had.”
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