(on if he's interested in coaching the Browns full-time next season)"Absolutely. I'm very interested in coaching the Browns. I've come to Cleveland and I've fell in love with the community, I've fell in love with the people. It would be fun. I could stay here and coach for a long time."
(on why the Browns have struggled so much)"I think a lot of things have happened to us during the course of the year. We, like a lot of people in the National Football League, have a lot of guys hurt. From the off start of it when we lost our tight end (Kellen Winslow) who we thought was our best player, that hurt us a lot. We ended up losing the right guard that we signed because we needed a lot of help at that position. That hurt us a lot. I think once we found we had a lot of injuries and we had to go into our second tier of players that became difficult for us. And of course after we got to that second tier, a couple of guys in that group got hurt. The next thing you know we had guys that we had signed during the summer as free agents – we had to cut them during training camp – we had to bring them back and before long they were starting for us. It's been a combination of things …
"The other side of it is of course offensively we came in and had three or four maybe five new guys that we were trying to blend into the offense. To have four or five guys from the beginning there that takes time to grow. By the time we could try to get going with those four or five new guys then one of those guys got hurt. Then somebody else got hurt. Obviously to have some success on the offensive side of the ball you have to have some continuity in there … We didn't have any of that. We could never really get in sync and get the continuity going …
"The only two guys that are in our offensive huddle today that started for us at the start of the year are our fullback and our left tackle. Everybody else we brought them from somewhere and put them in there and those guys are starting for us … We've got eight guys that we started training camp (with) that by the time we got to the middle of the season they were all gone."
(on how tough the situation has been for him and the team following the resignation of Butch Davis)"It has been extremely difficult. Anytime you take a football team that's just getting back into it and trying to get going you have to make some great decisions and you have to make the right decisions with a lot of areas … It's hard to win in the National Football League even Bill Parcells, who has had (the team) for two years or three years and has been to two or three mini camps, two or three training camps it is still hard to win in the National Football League … I come in and I've got five weeks, it's extremely hard to try to right the ship that has gone astray. When I take over with five weeks left in the season and trying to put it all together and keep it all together to win a game, again we've had this team from July and of course we've had some problems and lost a lot of football games, and now I've got five weeks to try to win a game, or two games or three games, whatever that may be. It is extremely difficult especially when I step in to take it over and the next thing I know I've lost both of my veteran quarterbacks. I have to go with my rookie quarterback. I've lost again my veteran right tackle. I have to go with a second year right tackle. I've lost my veteran right guard. I have to go with a right guard that has only been with us for 10 days … I lose my veteran center, my number one draft choice, and I have to go with my backup center All of it's extremely hard. It's a difficult situation but I knew how high the water was when I jumped in it.
(on what he wanted to accomplish as interim head coach"The only thing that I worked as hard as I could and tried to be as strong as I could with was to try and maintain professionalism. The whole thing for me was to try to straighten all the things that have become crooked. All the things that had become wrong. I just wanted us to stay together as a unit. I wanted us to function like a professional football organization. I wanted to see us go out on the field and execute. I wanted to see an offense that could go out on the field and not jump off sides and fumble snaps and not have 12 men in the huddle, all those things that we had been having. Defensively I wanted the same thing. I wanted to be a functional defense … I wanted us to go out and look likes a professional football team.
The other side of it for me was I wanted for all of us to look at ourselves in the mirror and make the decision that 'I am a part of a professional football organization and I think of myself that way regardless of what has happened, what the situation is, how bad it is …' Whatever it is, look in the mirror and make a decision you are part of a professional football origination; let's go out there and act like it; let's go out there and perform like it; let's go out and work like it and also have the guys understand that there is no such thing as 'quit' in an athlete. If you're true to the word athletics and you're true to being an athlete there's no such thing. You don't know that word quit. That was also a big part of me to make sure guys understood that. In the profession that we're in there is no quit. There is no surrender."
(on where he sees the organization going with Randy Lerner and John Collins taking a more active role)"I think we've got two guys that are dedicated to wanting to win. I think a lot of times in football a lot of owners want to win for themselves and they want to win because of their egos. Al Davis I was with for a lot of years and he's a guy I love but Al Davis wanted to beat the crap out of everybody because that's what Al Davis wanted to do … Randy Lerner wants to win for the Cleveland Browns but I think more importantly he wants to win for the history of the Cleveland Browns. He wants to win for the city of Cleveland. He wants to win for the state of Ohio. I think the fact that he is so determined and so dedicated to it is a plus for the organization. You've got a guy that will go out of his way to do whatever it takes to win, to get the job done. Not just for himself and for the Cleveland Browns but for the whole state of Ohio. You've got a guy like John Collins who came in from the league office who has been in the NFL for a lot of years. John brings an insight, an inside track, to this is what it takes to operate and operate as a professional organization in the National Football League. I think those two guys will combine their heads, put their heads together, and I think when it's all said and done they'll come up with a pretty good general manager. I think they'll research it; they'll study it; they'll examine it and I think they'll make the right call. I think they'll come up with a pretty good general manager. I think after they finish that process if they sit down and have conversation and sit down and talk and make the decision to keep Terry Robiskie as the head coach, then they will have made two good decisions."
(on what reasons he would give them to keep him as the head coach)"Like I told Randy when I took over, I know everybody in life in every sport, everything you ever compete in, you're generally judged by wins and losses. Like I told them if you' put me in this situation … If I'm getting in to it to be judged if I can win five games … If I'm going to get judged off of these five games, wins and loses, I'm going to be in trouble. Because again had I taken this football team to August and July and all the way through training camp then I'd have a chance to say, 'OK, judge me off wins and losses.' Because wins and losses are hard to come buy. Like I told them there are a lot of great coaches in the NFL today that are sitting with five wins. They've had their teams for two years, three years, five years, whatever it is, but yet they're sitting there with five wins, and four wins and six wins. It's hard to win … If you're going to judge me over the last five weeks again just judge how I've tried to manage the football team; how I've tried to manage the football game; how I've tried to manage the clock; how I've tried to manage the payers; how I've tried to manage the coaches and have I done a good job with that one … We haven't won games but have we been in the position to win the game like we were Sunday night. How have I handled the atmosphere of we're losing, yet have I been able to get the guys to go out and play hard… The last time I did this in Washington I felt that team quit. Those guys said 'Terry, you're not going to be here, we don't have a reason to play.' That hasn't happened here. Sunday night I thought every guy out there played until the final kick … Judge me off of those things more than if I won one of the five games or if I lost all five of them."
(on if Jeff Garcia is a good team guy)"That's a difficult question to answer. I think Jeff came in here and of course Jeff had a tremendous amount of expectations for Jeff Garcia. I don't' know what those are but I think Jeff Garcia came in and was determined to reach every goal that Jeff Garcia set for Jeff Garcia. I think whatever those goals were he had so much pressure on himself to succeed for Jeff Garcia. Jeff was totally focused on what he needed to do to obtain his goal and I don't know if he stopped to say this is what the team needs to do and this is what we got to do for the team. I think by the same token he was doing all he could to help the team win. I just think Jeff Garcia had so much pressure on Jeff Garcia to be Jeff Garcia, to reach goals that he had put for himself. Whatever that was, again, I don't know the answer to that question."
(on if Garcia the type of team guy that he's looking for) "I can't say that. Again, he's a guy that came in and he did everything that we asked him to do. If we asked him to go into the game and throw 10 balls, he threw 10 balls. It went from there. To be able to say, 'no he's not a team guy', I can't say that. Again I think he came in during the off season, he worked out everyday with the players, he communicated with them, he would go out and hang out with some of the guys. I think he tries to support the team."
(on the Texans improvement over the past few weeks) "I think I see the team that for some reason refused to quit. It doesn't surprise me of course because I know the people that's there. I know the people that are helping to build the organization. Of course when coach (Dom) Capers was in Carolina I played against him quite a few times when I was with the Redskins and one thing we always knew was that there was no quitting. There was no end. For some reason you see it transfer itself to this team. I thought the defense has played pretty good during the course of the year. There's a little bit of inconsistency in what they've been doing but as a whole you never see anybody ever say quit. Those guys are determined … You just have a sense that for whatever reason they weren't going to quit. They were determined and we expect nothing else from a coach Capers team I know a lot of the coaches there … You look at them and all of them look like they're preparing to go to the Pro Bowl.
Of course, coach (Chris) Palmer, I know him. Coach Kippy Brown, I know him. Of
course it doesn't surprise me for (Andre Johnson) to be going to the Pro Bowl.
I know the coaching staff that he's working with and I know how well these guys
coach and I know no matter what the score is those guys will come out and compete
every Sunday."
WR Antonio Bryant
*
*(on his role with the Browns after the trade from Dallas) **"I just go out there and play ball and try to make plays and let my performance
on the field speak for the position I deserve to be in and what I need to be doing."
(on his feelings being traded)"I wasn't shocked a lot. A little bit just in the fact of me being young and what I'm able to do out there on the field compared to some other guys there. I was shocked to notice that … but just the fact that I was unhappy with my role and not being able to play as much and be involved. You know, going out and practicing everyday and then going to the game and don't get any reps in certain situations, it just wasn't adding up to me."
(on if Cleveland is the better situation despite the tough season)"It's hard to determine what is a good situation for you. You just never know. One year you may be 3-12 and the next year you may go 12-3. The league is funny. That's why there's so many undetermined teams that may get in (the playoffs) in the NFC right now. You just have to go out there and play."
(on if this has been his toughest year as a professional)"Just with all the transitions, all the moving around, yeah. I've been with like four different quarterbacks so it's hard to get into a rhythm. I have never been able to get in a rhythm with anybody. It's still all football though. That's the easy part, it's just all football."
(on if the Browns are still coming to play)"Nobody quits. This is the last level of football. On this level if you find a quitter than that person is not going to be in this game very long. It's not like college so I can definitely tell you that nobody has quit. Everybody is going to play the last game as though it was the first game because that's how important this game is and at this level that's just what kind of intensity is out there."
(on Texans CB Dunta Robinson)"We played against him in the preseason (in Dallas). I knew he was a young guy. They drafted him in the first round. He has a lot to learn so I think he's going to be able to do some good things but you have to prove yourself every game. That's what it's all about. At this level you have to go out there and prove yourself every game and I'm going to go out there and play my game."
(on where he sees the Browns heading) "This is rebuilding. This franchise is rebuilding. Whenever you get a coach that departs from the team, not even in the middle of the season, but when we have a sufficient amount of games left that leaves a lot of things in shambles. Our coaches and coach Robiskie have been able to do some good things with us and we're just trying to find our way right now. We've got a lot of open spots, a lot of things that have to be touched up. There are just a lot of things to do. We've got a lot of injuries. Out of 12, 11 guys that started there's only one or two guys out there on the field right now. Out of the draft classes the past four or five years they only have four or five guys still here playing on the field or even in the league. It's all over the place, just as individuals and teammates coming together. We're playing for each other. That's all you've got."
(on playing with several quarterbacks in a season)"You just have to put it in your mind to catch the brown ball. That's just how you've got to see it. It's hard to be running with different quarterbacks. It's hard to understand them. I think Kelly Holcomb is one of our brightest guys at quarterback right now as far as his ability to read the field and know what coverages and know what to do and know what sides to read to in coverages but as far as that it's hard. It's hard to catch one and know tendencies of guys especially since I wasn't here for camp. All that stuff makes a difference."
(on if an interim coach gets the same amount of respect)"I can speak just for me. I think there is because you look at it as we're all in this together. Everybody is wearing the orange helmet. Everybody is wearing brown and orange. Whatever they say, it's going to effect on us and everybody that's over here right now. So I'm going to stand up for my coach whoever that may be, whoever happens to be wearing brown and orange, I'm going to stand up for that guy because I'm a part of this. If I was somewhere else, whatever the situation may be, that's what I'm a part of. No matter how bad it gets you stick up for where you're at. You stick up for what you know."
