Opening comments …
"It's obviously a quick turnaround. We have a good opportunity to reiterate some things from yesterday afternoon, and make sure we make the correct revisions and move forward in a positive way. With the corrections from yesterday, we will move on to the Browns very quickly.
"Cleveland comes in here, obviously not having the start to their season that they wanted, but there is a lot of football left. We have to be ready to play great football. They've done a good job of moving the ball on offense, particularly by the pass. They have a couple backs that have done a good job, and their quarterback is doing a nice job throwing the football. We have to play well. Offensively, we will get a handful of pressures and so forth. So, we have to handle that as well."
What's the biggest key in preparing for a short week?
"We have to let go of last week, quickly. We have to let it go, erase the cards, and move forward. Put it behind, and move forward mentally and physically. We have to get their bodies right. Hopefully we made steps towards with that last evening, and early this morning. We need to get our minds and spirits back."
You can do a good job of that, but how difficult is it to get back physically?
"They'll be back and ready. This team whipped our tails last year. So, we will be ready."
Mentally yes, but some guys physically are pretty busted up...
"Our guys will be ready. We will have 46 able guys ready to play football Thursday."
Darqueze Dennard and Shawn Williams have made big plays the last two games. When you have guys that aren't starters making plays, does it show that you need all 46 guys throughout the course of the year?
"It's expected. Those guys are legitimate players, and just waiting for an opening to happen. I think they keep making statements towards that. As we move forward, we have to be attentive of that and understand that. The guys that they are playing behind feel that pressure as well."
Do you have any opinion towards Thursday night games, in general?
"My opinion doesn't really matter, so I'd rather not say it (laughs).
Does that topic ever come up in meetings during the offseason?
"I think the ship has sailed on that."
Mike Pettine said today that Josh McCown is day to day. Does that change how you prepare?
"No, I don't think it does. We have to prepare for the Browns offense. If Johnny Manziel is the quarterback, we played him last year. We've seen he's had some opportunity this year in the regular season. Our guys will be aware of that, and we have to adjust on the fly."
Last year's Cleveland game was a bad one for the team and particularly for Andy Dalton, it seemed …
"I don't know how much of it was Andy, and how much of it was our football team struggling in general. The quarterback always get the blame. We struggled and didn't play very well. After that, we righted our course. This is a big football game. It's a division game, it's at home, and our people will be loud. It's a very important game for us. Right now, we have two wins in the division, this would be our third win, and we will be half way through the division and holding serve."
Does it help that it's a division game, since you only have three days to prepare?
"As coaches, we spent time on them a week ago during the bye week. We've basically formulated our first and second down plan. We took a look at them and did the things we need to do to study. We spent time on them before we spent time on Pittsburgh, so we would be ready to go."
It's pretty obvious that the town is excited about the way you've started. Does it mean anything to you at all to be a part of something like this?
"A lot of people emptying their closets lately, huh?(laugh) It's great that people are having a good time. It doesn't really change much for us. But, that's great. I'm happy for the people in this building, who don't have as much say about what happens on the field, because they really get a chance to enjoy it, and that's really cool, as well as around the city."
Have you noticed that growing as you've been out and about?
"Yeah, I have. I've never seen so many people in orange and black."
