The Cleveland Brown are coming off a Monday night win at Buffalo.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel and quarterback Brady Quinn spoke to members of the Houston media via conference call on Wednesday.
Browns head coach Romeo Crennel
(on how much better he feels about the Browns after the win against Buffalo) "You know that if you can win in this league, the week goes better, but it's just one week and it's just one game and you've got to get ready to play the next one. If anything that you know about the NFL, it's that anybody can beat anybody on any given Sunday. Maybe other than Tennessee or the Giants, I think everybody else can play pretty equally."
{QUOTE}(on what has been the key for them to be so good on the road this year) "I think that the team has kind of pulled together and rallied around each other maybe more on the road this year because we started off at home not doing very well. And then I guess the first win came on the road and the guys have to rally around each other. So, maybe that's carried forth through some of the other parts of the season."
(on what is the key other than talent to being a good road team) "I think the thing is that being able to handle the adversity on the road. You have to deal with the crowd noise. You've got to deal with the change of schedule and then if you don't play good, sound football on the road, you give your opponent momentum and that's one of the things that you don't want to do. So, you have to be basically sound as far as turnovers and things like that."
(on how tough has it been to not be where he wants to be right now) "Yeah, it's tough not being where we want to be. The expectations were high and to this point, we haven't lived up to them. But whether we had the prime-time games or not, whether the expectations were high or not—what everybody in the NFL wants to do is they want to have a winning team. They want to be able to have a chance to make it to the playoffs. As the season goes on and you're not in position, you know there's no room for error and you've got to just try to keep your guys focused and keep them working."
(on how confident was he in K Phil Dawson from 56 yards to win the game) "I feel pretty good about (K) Phil (Dawson) because Phil is an experienced kicker. He's kicked in wind conditions and bad weather in the past. So, we had a slight wind at our backs. So, (I) felt good about it."
(on how much of a difference does having a guy like K Phil Dawson on the team make) "Well, it's huge because in a situation like that, you have the confidence to put him (K Phil Dawson) out there as opposed to trying to make a fourth-and-7 or a fourth-and-10. And you're odds of making that are not very good, and that's evident by the fact that you haven't made it on the three other downs in front of it."
(on what type of guy is K Phil Dawson because sometimes kickers are sometimes a different sort) "Yeah, a lot of times kickers people call oddballs. But, (K) Phil (Dawson) is a solid down-to-earth guy. I think that's one of the things that makes him as good as he is because he is solid, he's down to earth and he works at his job."
(on his analysis of QB Brady Quinn after two games) "Well, (QB) Brady's (Quinn) been able to manage the game well in both games. (He) didn't get rattled and even though last week Monday night, they had more pressure coming at him and he got hit a couple of times, the ball got tipped a couple of times, but he kept his composure and still ran his team. So, that was good."
(on if he thinks of QB Brady Quinn as a rookie) "Well, to a degree but not totally because he's (QB Brady Quinn) got a year and a half in the system. I think in the year and a half that he's been here, he's got full command of the offense, he knows all the terminology. The thing that he just doesn't have is the game experience, and he's beginning to get that."
(on his run defense) "The lack of? Yeah, we haven't been very good at stopping the run on a consistent basis. We've shown some flashes in certain parts of the game and at times during the course of this year, we've looked decent stopping the run. But we can't do it on a consistent basis. We generally seem to let guys get started on us. We come out early and do a good job early, but then we let guys get started on us and we cannot seem to stop them. We can't seem to coil it down at all. Missed tackles have to do with that, poor angles have to do with that and sometimes just not being aware of the options that the ball carrier has."
(on DT Shaun Rogers) "Well, (DT) Shaun (Rogers) is doing a really good job for us. He's the big guy there in the middle, has good feet for a man his size and usually guys have to assign two guys to him, which then frees up one of the linebackers behind him and allows them to run to the football. So, he's been productive, he's giving good effort, he's a team guy for us and he's a good acquisition."
(on if he is worried about TE Kellen Winslow's availability this week) "We'll just have to see how the week goes along. If he (TE Kellen Winslow) can get his strength and range of motion up then I think that he'll go."
(on if every week is a surprise to him with how his team is going to play after playing some really good games and some poor games) "Well, it's hard to say a lot of times. You can go in and you can feel good, but what you have to do is, you have to play each game separately. A lot of the time, you have to play each play separately because things change during the course of the game and you have to try to adapt the best you can."
(on if he has ever been a part of a team that has been so up and down as this one) "I've been part of teams that have played a lot of close games but generally we've been more consistent. The thing about this team is we're not as consistent as I would like it to be."
(on after coaching at Texas Tech earlier in his career if he ever thought they would be competing for a national championship) "You know what, not really. One of the things there when I was out in Lubbock, it was the Southwest Conference then. Just about everybody was pretty good and particularly the teams down there - you had the University of Texas and Texas A&M and all of those places. Not a lot of people wanted to come out to Lubbock and they had to pass up all of those schools to get to Lubbock. So, I didn't think that (Texas Tech) would be competing for a national championship. But as I try to keep up with it a little bit, they've done a really good job and they're in great position. I know they have a big game this week against Oklahoma."
Browns QB Brady Quinn
(on what the last two weeks have been like for him) "Obviously, I've been a little busier on game day now. Outside of that though, it's just been fun. This is kind of what I'm used to during football season is playing and kind of feeling that soreness the day after the game. So, it feels good."
(on how much it meant to him to win the Buffalo game) "That was huge. People keep talking about what it meant for me, but it was bigger for our team based off the past two games we had and some of the things we're trying to push through as a team together. So, being able to get a win there and now just completely put all of our focus on Houston, that's kind of where we're at right now. I think that's the best focus to be in."
(on if K Phil Dawson became his best friend on Monday night) "(laughs) Yeah, not saying that's a bad thing, but I think our offense would like to score more when we're in the red zone. We didn't do that, so I definitely think there's some things we wanted to work on coming into this week and that's definitely something that we felt we kind of left some plays out there."
(on how much does it mean to the team to have a kicker like Phil Dawson) "It's something that a lot of times you have to be so thankful for and realize how fortunate you are to have a kicker like that where at least you know if you're in the red zone, you've got three in the bank. Especially some long shots out like that, instead of having to pin them back inside the 10 with a punt, you've got a guy who can make a 57-yarder and even more so being clutch to win a game."
(on if he honestly thought that K Phil Dawson would hit from 56 yards) "Yeah, we've got complete faith in him (K Phil Dawson). We've seen him do it all the time in practice. That's something that I have complete faith in him for. I think I was more upset that we didn't get the ball closer for him and I kind of didn't allow it to be in one of those areas where he'd be a little more comfortable kicking a closer field goal than 57."
(on if it is the team's play or the opponents play that has caused them to lose at home) "I don't know. It's tough to really put a finger on it. I think looking back at how the season's gone, we've just been inconsistent. That's the biggest thing. We haven't really put together an efficient, consistent team effort. That's something we're still trying to work for today."
(on what he thinks about the Texans' defense) "I think their defense has a ton of talent, especially up front. If you look at their d-line with (DE) Mario Williams, (DT) Amobi Okoye and (DE) Anthony Weaver. Just looking at those guys, you know it's going to present you a challenge. Just from the secondary to their linebacker core, they've got a lot of speed and they're just very talented all across the ball. So, we've got to make sure we're on top of our game and really, we've got our hands full with them."
(on how tough last year was for him mentally) "It wasn't as tough as people may have portrayed it to be. I think once I understood my role and how I was able to approach everyday in practice, etcera - I think I got a better understanding of where I was at and was able to sit back and learn the game more and be a little more patient with some things."
(on if he thinks it benefitted him more to sit for a year than get thrown into the fire) "I don't know. I'd like to think I would have been able to go right in and play well. But again, I know I learned a lot. I know I was able to adjust to the speed of the game and feel more comfortable with the offense coming into this past year."
(on if he relates to guys like Patriots QB Tom Brady who waited for a few years before starting) "I don't know. It's hard to really look at those guys and compare yourself to them. I've got a lot of work ahead of me. Maybe if I won a Super Bowl one day, maybe I'll be able to make a comparison at that point."
(on if he was surprised when head coach Romeo Crennel named him the starter two weeks ago) "Yeah, I was just because, obviously with a short week, based on the circumstances, a lot of people wouldn't have thought that was going to be the case. But again, I know the situation I was dealt with and I was happy to have the opportunity and I'm trying to the best I can with it."
(on how nervous he was before his first start two weeks ago) "You know, I really wasn't nervous. In a short week like that, you just try to do the best you can studying and getting down your opponent. When you go into the game, it's all basically about going out and reacting to everything you've prepared yourself for. So, honestly I felt really comfortable out there. I was telling people last week I feel like I was kind of a nomad kind of roaming around and I kind of finally felt at home being out there on the football field."
(on if he is overly critical of himself) "I'm definitely critical of myself. I haven't put together a game that I've felt decent about yet. Really even last week, I left a lot of plays out there and the week before. It wasn't quite to where I was. I left some plays out there as well."
(on if he feels he was better in the second game compared to his first) "I don't know. It's hard to compare the two just because it was a different game plan and different opponent. So, it's tough to really go back and look at the performances and kind of compare them against one another."
(on if the Texans look any different to him than the two teams he's faced so far) "They do in the sense that, obviously, they mix in a little more different coverages. But for the most part, they remain somewhat similar in their approach."
