How's Everybody Doing?

Shapecity · Jun 7, 2009

(Opening statement) - "How's everybody doing? A little bit about today, today is sort of a catch-all day for us. We will go through the situations that we have been going through, but we will be putting in some install from different areas that we want to take a look at. Some of the stuff may be from our off-season studies; some of the stuff may be things that have worked for us in the past. It's not necessarily part of our core right now, they could potential become part of the core, but its more things that we want to look at, examine, practice and evaluate. That's how it will work. How it goes, we will have to see because there are a lot of install offensively and there are a lot of install defensively. We are talking about multiples of multiples and with that, there could be a couple extra laps here mixed in at some point. I'm cautiously optimistic."

"Another thing that has been nice about these days, in terms of getting to know the guys that were here, but also getting to know the guys that we brought in. Guys like Floyd Womack or John St. Clair, both of whom we researched extensively. We interviewed, we spent a lot of time with, and all of the reports came back about what good people they were, what good pros they were. Now to actually work with them in a classroom setting and on the field it's nice to have those things reaffirmed. I think they have been doing a great job integrating themselves into the offensive line, learning the system, getting to know the community and all of the things that we expected. It's always a positive thing to have those expectations confirmed."

"In terms of visitors today, we have do have a group of kids here from the Berea Children's Home that will be our guests for practice. It will be nice for us to spend some time with them here post practice and enjoy their company. "

(On how much Kamerion Wimbley can grow at outside linebacker) - "He has definitely done a lot of positive things at outside linebacker. He had a couple sacks against us his rookie season, and I think another one, one of the other times we played against the Browns in the past. What we are trying to do with Kamerion, like with all the defensive players, is the building of flexibility. Work him both on the right, on the left, work him at sub at different positions, so we can continue to build upon the base that he has and expand it. The more versatile he is, the more roles we can give him, the different matchups we can create. That is something that we worked hard on with Bryan Thomas who was another defensive end that made the transition and it's important."

(On if Jamal Lewis is here today) - "Jamal is not here today, no."

(On why Lewis isn't here) - "There's going to be different guys missing on each day and I've talked to all those different guys. There are a lot of different reasons. We may have an addition to the Browns family here shortly. That may be one of the reasons a guy is missing today, but we will wait until we have that news. Sometimes those are the reasons. Kenyon Coleman had a baby last week. It's all different types of reasons why guys are missing right now. Kenyon didn't have the baby (joking), his wife did."

(On if everything is okay between him and Lewis) - "Yeah."

(On why Braylon Edwards and Eric Steinbach practiced inside on Tuesday) - "Both of those guys have been doing a great job during OTAs and the voluntary camps. Sometimes we want to have guys work inside. There's a variety of reasons, it could be illness, it could be bumps and bruises, there are a lot of different reasons. There will be different days where guys are here but they may not be out at practice."

(On if the defense can get Wimbley to be an impact player like he was in his rookie season) - "What I am looking for from Kamerion is not just impact in terms of rushing the passer, but impact as an outside linebacker in this system. Sacks sometimes come in bunches. Sometimes there's a bunch of them and sometimes you go on a little bit of a drought. The key thing isn't to focus on the volume, the numbers. The key thing is to focus on the process. That's what we are doing with Kamerion and with all of the guys, is to focus on the things that he can do better as a pass rusher. The things that he can do better in the running game. How to vary up his pass rush and it's an ongoing process. I stress, it's not just Kamerion with that. We are always trying to give; here is your core move, what's your counter off of that move, what's your secondary move, what's your counter off of that move. The ability to move the player from right to left, get in the sub package, maybe have him as a walk around type of guy. All of those things can produce sacks. All of those things can take advantage of strengths. In order to take advantage of those strengths, you have to build in that flexibility and that is something that we are focusing on from a scheme perspective, and also individually identifying strengths and weaknesses, really working on the weaknesses and really trying to complement the strengths."

(On if Wimbley needs to get stronger physically) - "Sometimes the best way to demonstrate your strength is to play with better technique. That's a huge focal point for us, is always playing with good technique, hand placement and leverage. It's always about those things, leverage and angles, and how you take on the blocker and things like that."

(On how David Bowens can help the other linebackers) - "D-Bo, he's got a lot of experience. He is very smart. He has got good instincts. He can help share some of that experience with those guys. He has made some mistakes that maybe he can prevent other guys from making. He has been in situations that could be new to those guys and he could help them think about it prior to getting into it. We go through a lot of situational work during the course of the day. Covering four-minute, for example, we showed the (Brian) Westbrook play against Dallas where he broke through, he had a touchdown and they were up 10-6 at the time. There was 2:19 left, but instead of scoring, he stopped on the one-yard line and sat down, which means the clock goes down to two minutes. The team takes a knee and the game is over. He could have easily scored at that point, and Philly has to kickoff, and who knows what happens. By him making that split second and really selfless decision not to get the touchdown, to stop at the one-yard line, they won the game. That was a game-winning play, not by virtue of points, by virtue of not scoring and then giving Philly the chance to eat up the clock. We try to take those plays that have happened around the league, it could be plays from Browns games or anywhere else and show those. There is an emphasis on other sports too. There are some things that happen in other sports that we can show. The soccer player (Zinedine) Zidane, he had the head butt in the World Cup game and got kicked out of the game. He was their leading goal scorer and I think they lost by one goal in the shootout. That's an emotional one second decision where he gets thrown out of the game. Who knows, if he was part of that shootout, whether or not they would have won the game. That's in the biggest game in the world in soccer at that point. That's something you can teach off of. There's another athlete in an emotional situation that makes a poor decision that ends up hurting their team. Is it football? No, but it applies because we are all going to be faced with those decisions at some point."

(On if Bowens' main spot will be at outside linebacker) - "That was his starting point in New York, but he did end up starting five games for us at inside linebacker and did a nice job. The more that these guys can play inside or outside, now you are just moving the parts around. If they are looking for Bowens outside and now he is moved to inside and the inside linebacker is moved to outside and you just keep moving the pieces and things don't make sense. Now, its post snap decisions, its tendency breakers, but that has to be built. You can't just throw it out there."

(On if Wimbley can be versatile and play multiple positions) - "That's what we are trying to find out. I think that he has worked hard at learning the different positions. With Bryan Thomas, he went from defensive end to outside linebacker, and then he was able to do a good job there. He carved out a role in sub where sometimes he was defensive end; sometimes he was a walk around guy. I think those are two guys from similar backgrounds. So my anticipation is, with hard work and building on the reps that you get and anything is possible, but you still have to see it."

(On if you feel you can wait until the preseason before making a decision on the quarterbacks) - "Yeah, definitely. I want to go through the whole process, evaluate each phase. See it against other opponents, because each thing is important, but each thing is different. Training camp is different then the preseason games and it will be pretty clear as to who should have the spot, it just has to reveal itself."

(On what criteria he uses to judge the quarterbacks) - "The big one for me is huddle presence and the ability to run the offense. Who can most effectively run the offense? Who can look at the defense, understand what the coverage is and go to the right place with the ball? Who can see a blitz look and put us into the right play? Who can do the "check with me's," where you have two plays called and understand that this is the better of the two selections? Those things are huge because there is always going to be a right answer. The ability for us offensively, to get to the right answer, in a short amount of time, under pressure, that's what's going to drive the decision."

(On if he can only see that in exhibition games) - "That is the last phase in the process, but it's an important phase because you have looks that you haven't seen in practice, it's against different people and it does help make the decision."

(On if he can see that from last year's tapes) - "It's harder because you don't know what the player was told. You don't know what the thought process was going into the game. You don't know what they were facing defensively. If you're projecting, sometimes you are way off base. You think that he should have gone somewhere with the ball, but when you actually understand what was being taught or asked or anticipated, it's really not true."

(On how much the of team's success in your first season rides on how well the quarterback you choose plays) - "I don't believe it's based on one person, I believe its how we collectively play. In addition to that, it's how we collectively work leading up to our opportunities to play. Each day we all get a chance to come in and make decisions. How hard we are going to work, how hard we are going to study. If you put enough good decisions by enough people together, then you are making progress. You can't wait until we open a game and decide I want to play really well. That won't work, but if we collectively decide to do the right things day-in and day-out and build consistency, then I think we put ourselves in the best position."

(On how much the quarterbacks will affect the process) - "It depends. It depends on how good is the protection he is getting? Has he been sacked quiet a bit? How good is the running back play? Can he bring an extra guy into the box so they can have an eight man box and throw the ball more effectively? How well are their routes being run? How well are the guys getting open? What's the score of the game? Are we behind by 20? Are we up by 20? All of those things tie together."

(On if he will scrimmage any other teams) - "We are not going to do that this year, no."

(On if he is against scrimmages) - "No, I am not generally against it. I've done it, worked against some other teams over the course of my career. I think there is some real value to that. I don't think it's important either way."

(On if a scrimmage will take away from the learning process) - "Sometimes it's that. Sometimes it's the days that the other teams want to do it just don't really fit into your installation progression. It's got to fit right for both teams for us to do it."

(On Alex Mack's transition to the NFL) - "It's early, but I think he has done a nice job. He has shown a lot of the intelligence that we knew was there and anticipated him brining to the team. In terms of mic point outs, understanding fronts and things like that, he has worked hard; physically he has done a good job. It is just a whole new world for these guys. They are swimming, they are all swimming."

(On if Mack is in a tough situation because Hank Fraley was voted a team captain last season) - "There is always going to be competition every year for every spot. The veterans have been in positions where new guys are brought in. For rookies, this is a little bit new for them. I go back to Otis (Smith). It was every year someone was brought in to beat him out and every year he beat them out. Each guy has a chance to prove who should be the best player and the best player will play. That being said, with all of the competitions going on, I expect it to be a spirit of helping each other get better. That was the nice thing in New York with the quarterback competition; because those guys went out and worked hard every day then they were in the meeting rooms helping each other get better. That to me is what a teammate should do."

(On what he has learned from having three quarterbacks in three seasons with New York) - "They were all at very different points in their career. Chad (Pennington) was, I forget how many years in. He is incredibly smart. His ability to look at a situation, assess a situation, take advantage of a situation was impressive, really impressive. With Kellen (Clemens), he was a guy that worked like crazy, also a smart player, but didn't have the experience to draw on that Chad had. I liked his ability to rally the team, his huddle presence, things like that. Things we saw at the draft, but he just didn't have the same level of experience. With a guy like Brett (Favre), he was great to work with and we talked the same language because he had been in the west coast system for so long. Some of the things that he saw from an experience perspective were tremendous in terms of sharing that with the rest of the group and in terms of sharing with me. He is a really fun guy to be around. He has great enthusiasm. Just his wealth of knowledge was impressive."

(On how his experience with those quarterbacks will help him pick a quarterback here) - "What you are trying to do is draw on the strengths of each one, think about the strengths of each one, think about how those strengths played into the success or failure in games, evaluate that stuff then apply that information to these sets of decisions."

(On Donte' Stallworth falling behind on the field) - "There is a lot of information going in and this is a nice time to provide a base of information. Moving to training camp, the one that veteran players have over rookie players, and I keep trying to explain this to our rookies, is they have things that they can apply back to, or look back to. So, "40 Gut" is the same as what we called it last year, which was "Play X" or something they did with another team. That's how a lot of veterans learn; they apply concepts to concepts they already know. Those neurons are already in place. The rookies, they are building neurons, so it takes a little longer."

(On if there is anyone who hasn't played much before who is catching his eye) - "It's early right now. What I am looking for is for the group to collectively catch my eye, which a lot of days they have. I like the work ethic and I stress every day to practice with a purpose and don't confuse effort with results. You have got to go out there, what are we trying to get accomplished, how are we trying to get it accomplished, what's the plan to do that, and then coming back after and saying did we get it accomplished and if not why, what can we do better? Individually, getting each person into the mindset of I have one or two things I am going to get better at and go through those same steps. Have a plan to do it and have the honesty to look at yourself each night and say did I get that done? Did I do those things I said I was going to do? If you have that honesty you are going to make strides."

(On if his past defensive experiences will help in making a quarterback decision) - "One of the problems defensively is not knowing who the starting quarterback is going to be. That is always a huge problem defensively. I hated when I didn't know who their starting quarterback for the other team was. It's a huge, huge headache. From my perspective, I think where I can add value to the quarterbacks and to the offense is explaining why. Why does this route hurt the defense? Why does this play hurt the defense? That is what I am constantly trying to do. When I sit in that room say ok, here's what we are doing fellas and this is why it's a problem. If you do it this way, this is the bind you are going to put them into. I think that hopefully adds something to the system."

(On if both quarterbacks could see playing time) - "I would anticipate having a starter and moving forward with that starter, but I don't rule out anything."
Click to expand...

Source: Cleveland.com

Log in or Sign up

How's Everybody Doing?

Shapecity S2/JBB Teamster Staff Member Administrator

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

How's Everybody Doing?

Shapecity S2/JBB Teamster Staff Member Administrator

Share This Page

Useful Searches