Browns 24, Jaguars 13
Q. How do you feel like it went for your starters on offense?
DOUG PEDERSON: I thought it went well for them. Yeah, a couple field goals early and the touchdown drive we ended the one there, I wish we would have finished the other two with touchdowns. But I thought for the first time they did some good things. It wasn't perfect, but did well both sides of the ball.
Q. Could you tell by the third drive that they were more comfortable?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, and that's why I probably played him a little longer than expected. I think 25 or 26 snaps, something like that. But I just wanted them to kind of (indiscernible) the game and go back out. I thought that -- because sometimes in camp, conditioning becomes an issue, and you kind of want to see those things. I thought they did really well with that, and just overall there's some things to learn from obviously we can get better at. But yeah, played well.
Q. How concerned with (indiscernible)?
DOUG PEDERSON: Offensively? I mean, listen, it's still early. We're trying a lot of things, doing a lot of things, seeing a lot of people. You don't game plan a lot, so you're not really focused on them as much as it is us. So not a concern at this point. We've just got to keep going to work and get better at it.
Q. What do you feel like was the high point tonight?
DOUG PEDERSON: Well, the fact that we scored. I wanted to see execution. I wanted to see physicality up front with the offensive line, move the line of scrimmage, things like that, and end up either with kicks or touchdowns, and we did that. Those are all positives that we can build off of.
Q. The secondary got a takeaway tonight (inaudible)?
DOUG PEDERSON: (Inaudible) game, and the flipside of that is we have to take care of the ball. That was kind of the difference in the game, the touchdown there or the interception that was just really ripped out of our hands right before half, and had a nice gain there in the fourth and turnover -- just things like that, just can't happen. But yeah, it was good to see the defense get their hands on some balls.
Q. Jalen had a nice tackle on 3rd down early in the game, also two holding penalties. What did you see out of him?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, I think he's doing well. It's hard -- I'm going to obviously watch the film and see it, but I think overall he did some really good things out there. He's disruptive, and kind of picked up where he left off last week, and it's good to see him and Josh Allen both out there at the same time.
Q. You mentioned game plan. Last week you didn't plan for the Raiders in Canton. You said you didn't do much now this week. Next week when you get ready for the game here against Pittsburgh, do you almost treat that like a regular game where you've really got to implement what Pittsburgh is doing both offensively and defensively?
DOUG PEDERSON: You can a little bit to try to have some success on offense and defense. I still think it's difficult, especially with the amount of players that both teams are playing this time of year. And obviously we have two games under our belt where they'll have one, so there's not a lot to go off of.
But you still want your team to have success going into the game, so you try to prepare them a little bit for what they may see. But again, it kind of just boils down to doing your job and how you're coached and what you're coached to do assignment-wise, and I think tonight, especially in the second half, we had a number of mistakes that cost us, and it hurt us at times.
Q. (Indiscernible) is that a focus of yours going into the season, that you really want to be physical up front and run the football a lot?
DOUG PEDERSON: Well, I mean, yes. I did want to see the offensive line in the run game, and I wanted to see Travis in the run game just to see how we could handle that.
I think you go into each game trying to establish the run, and sometimes you can either keep it going or sometimes you have to switch gears.
But it was just I think a mindset for me to see that offensive line and Travis really be physical, especially early in the game.
Q. Are you going to be looking to utilize Travis in a number of ways, more of a weapon like he was used in college?
DOUG PEDERSON: Maybe.
Q. Defensively how do you think the group did getting pressure on the quarterback?
DOUG PEDERSON: Did well. Did well. Early on I thought we did a nice job of putting pressure on Deshaun, and defensively -- we had a couple chances for some turnovers early. We had some, but I'm talking about interceptions there. But yeah, the front seven I think are going to be really good. Our 3rd down pass rush can be special.
We've still got some work to do before we get to the season.
Q. That was the most extended time Travis has actually gotten in an NFL game. Without going back to the film, what did you see from him?
DOUG PEDERSON: It's kind of interesting because I thought he did some things really well. He stayed disciplined in his path, in his track, and I thought maybe sometimes he got a little antsy and tried to make some moves that probably weren't there. But that just comes with time, as you know, and he hasn't had the time. These are valuable reps for him. He's going to get better. He'll watch the film either tomorrow or the next day and make the corrections.
But I thought overall for the first time back out, it was good to see him and put him in those situations.
Q. Is that why it was important for you guys to see him out there?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yes. Yeah.
Q. The 32-yarder to Zay to sort of get things going, how did you feel about that play and how Trevor played in general?
DOUG PEDERSON: I think overall he played well. It was good to see. It was a good throw and catch. He made some other difficult throws, the 4th down to Evan, the touchdown was a good throw. But yeah, to start the game down the field, those two connecting, Zay being new to the football team, it was good to see. It's something that we can continue to build on and build upon.
You know, you bring guys like Zay on your team and Christian Kirk and Evan and those guys, offensively they're weapons and they can just add value to your football team with your Marvin Joneses, with your Agnews when he's healthy, Laviska. It's just another piece that we can utilize, and it was good to see them connect a couple times tonight.
Q. Was Christian close? Could he have gone?
DOUG PEDERSON: If it was a normal game, I think he would have been fine, yeah, but I didn't want to put him out there and risk setback.
Q. When it comes to Trevor, how do you feel about his poise in this game (indiscernible)?
DOUG PEDERSON: I think this guy is very mature, handles a lot of things well, doesn't get too high, doesn't get too low, stays pretty even keel. Yeah, it's steady. Nothing is too big or too small for him, and handles it well.
Q. Will Richardson, is there any update on him?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, right now I think it's an ankle again. It just got rolled up on. We'll get further tonight. When the guys come in I'll have a better update on all the guys that got hurt tonight.
Q. Arden came out, too; is he --
DOUG PEDERSON: He'll be fine. I think he got poked in the eye.
Q. I don't want to be the Debbie Downer, but the tackling second and third quarter especially, the second front seven (indiscernible) you're going to have another heavy week, Monday especially. Is that some things that you're prioritizing?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, we've got to tackle better, and some of these guys are fighting for roster spots. We know that. We don't want them to put any added pressure on themselves, but at the same time when the plays come to them, we ask them to make the play, and tonight there was just a few of those that didn't make the play.
We just need to keep working at it. We've got a couple good practices coming up this week and we'll emphasize that and make sure when we get to the next game that we're better, we're better in those areas.
Q. Seemed like Evan really showed off his athleticism on the touchdown. What were your thoughts on how he performed on that play?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, I thought he did well tonight. Not only in the pass game but the run game. That was just a well-executed play by our offense. Those are things you want to see from your offense in a 4th down scenario that scores the touchdowns there. It was good to see him and Trevor on the same page there. Evan is just a good athlete overall and gives us great value on offense.
Q. Last year I believe it was only two first quarter touchdowns. Even though it was preseason tonight, what did that say that they put up 13 early?
DOUG PEDERSON: Well, I think it's a step in the right direction, number one. Teams -- things I've studied over the years, too, is teams that score early and kind of build that lead in the first half tend to win games more than lose games. It's just an aggressive mindset. It's just focusing on doing our jobs and executing.
We pride ourselves as a staff, we put together a first 15 or openers, and we try to score on those, maybe eight or nine, ten plays.
It was good to see tonight. We did get a couple of field goals early, which was good, and then ultimately the touchdown there in the second quarter. Yeah, that's something that we consciously make an effort to do, and that's score early.
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