Quotes of Note: Browns on Facing Titans
The last time the Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns met, it was the former that made a statement.
The Browns had been the talk of the NFL leading up to the 2019 season, but the Titans went into Cleveland in Week 1 and drilled the Browns 43-13. Sixteen weeks later, Tennessee was a playoff team about to embark on a run that reached all the way to the AFC Championship. The Browns were 6-10 and were postseason spectators for the 17th straight year.
They meet again Sunday at Nissan Stadium. Both teams are 8-3 and look to be well on their way to the playoffs.
Here is a roundup of some of what Browns players and coaches had to say about facing the Titans this time:
On Mike Vrabel
• Coach Kevin Stefanski: “He does an outstanding job. I know a few of their coaches. They are really, really well-coached. They do a great job. He coaches within the rules. We try to do the same.”
• Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer: “They play hard. They have guys who they take on the personality of their head coach, who is a tough guy. He was a tough guy when he played. He is a tough guy as a coach. That kind of trickles down to all three of the phases – (offense), (defense) and special teams.”
• Tackle Jack Conklin: “Vrabes is a fiery guy. It was the first game of the year last year, and he was all fired up. It is hard to tell which game he is more fired up about throughout the year because every week he is raring to go, and he is just out of control. You would think he had drank coffee all day. You never see him slow down. That is what makes him such a great coach is just his competitiveness and just the amount of energy he puts into every day.”
On A.J. Brown
• Defensive backs coach Jeff Howard: “A.J. Brown does a tremendous job with yards after catch. He is a very strong runner. He is a big guy. He is like 230 [pounds]. You really have to bring a load to get him down, and if you do not, he has enough speed to circle the defense, which he has shown the last couple of weeks.”
• Coach Kevin Stefanski: “He is extremely impressive. He is big. He is fast. He is strong. He has great hands. He runs a great route tree. A very, very tough player.”
On the Titans’ pass rush
• Guard Joel Bitonio: “They are always giving you something new and something to look at. They kind of have a flavor of the week where we will see what they bring this week. They do a lot of things. I know they do not have a huge amount of sacks, but they are pressuring the quarterback, they are getting hits and they collapse the pocket really well.”
On Tennessee’s wide receivers
• Cornerback Kevin Johnson: “Some teams, they have guys who you know you can book them for he is going to be a deep-threat guy, or this guy is an intermediate-option route runner. These guys, they have some good receivers who can go intermediate, they can go deep, or they can run all different types of routes. It presents a challenge to our defense that we have to be prepared for.”
• Defensive coordinator Joe Woods: “Across the board, you look at their skill positions, they have it the way they want it. (A.J. Brown and Corey Davis) are great receivers after the catch. When they get the ball, you have to be able to get them on the ground. … They have hands to catch the ball. They can beat you underneath and they can beat you down the field. But when they do catch the ball, they are very good runners after the catch.”
On Ryan Tannehill
• Coach Kevin Stefanski: “It appears to me he works very hard at his craft. He is very technically sound. Then I think just the scheme in which he is being utilized and the players that he has at his disposal, he is playing at a very high level. He is extremely accurate. He can hurt you in a bunch of different ways.
On Tennessee’s defense
• Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt: “That is a really good defense. Scheme wise, they are very multiple. They are going to give you multiple fronts in the base packages and multiple disguises in the back end in their sub package. It is a very big challenge. Their pressure packages are multiple, as well – different front spacing and different looks.”
On Tennessee’s offense
• Coach Kevin Stefanski: “They are a balanced attack. They can hurt you in multiple ways. That is a credit to their players and a credit to their scheme. They have multiple receivers that can catch and make you miss or get out in space. We have to stay tight in coverage. It is not a one-man show. We know how great Derrick Henry is obviously, but they are a very balanced offense so we have to make sure that we are about our business in our run fits and in our pass defense.”
• Defensive backs coach Jeff Howard: “I can’t give enough credit to [offensive coordinator] Arthur Smith, their offensive coordinator. He does a really good job. The whole scheme is really tied in together, just talking about base first and second downs. The run game and the pass game truly complement each other.
On Derrick Henry
• Defensive coordinator Joe Woods: “We can’t control how many touches he is going to have. Our focus is going to be on playing the best run defense and trying to eliminate the big runs. We acknowledge and realize that he may have a run here or there, but we really just have to eliminate the big ones and get him bottled up before he gets going.”
• Coach Kevin Stefanski: “It is not one person’s job to try to stop Derrick Henry. He is too good of a player. We have to take it upon ourselves as a defense to make sure we are gap sound and deliberate about our run fits, and then we have to get multiple people around the ball.”
• Tackle Jack Conklin: “Obviously, Derrick, he is great. He is going to be a handful and he is a great player. But our defense is up for the task and they are going to do a great job.”
• Cornerback Kevin Johnson: “Anytime you can stop that train from getting on the tracks, it is going to help a lot. If we can get to him early, the better. We just have to execute. Everybody has to be on their Ps and Qs and we have to get the whole team in there.”
• Defensive end Myles Garrett: “You just have to go in there fearless, grab a body part, gator roll him and take him down. Can’t be nervous. Can’t shy away from the challenge. He is going to be up on you in a quick second. He is athletic. He is fast and big. Just kind of like me back there taking the handoffs or trying to run you over. I would like to attack him just like those guys were playing me.”
