QB David Carr
(on if he thought the team would finish strong two weeks ago with a 5-8 record) "It's tough. Up to that point we had only won five games all year, to think that we were going to go out and win two on the road against two teams that were trying to get in the playoffs it was difficult. But I never had any doubts about the guys on our team and our coaching staff, as far as football stuff goes. If you're looking from outside in it looks tough but inside we have all the confidence in the world that we could do it and we just had to go and do it and we did."
(on a win Sunday finishing off a non-losing season) "It's a good trend to get going. I've said it before, losing is a habit like anything else. You don't want to get locked into a losing habit and if you continue to go out and not get to .500 and not win football games consistently you're going to think that's what you are. I know that's not the kind of guys we have in the locker room. That's not me. That's not our coaching staff."
(on what has happened over the last two weeks) "We've shown a little more consistency throughout the entire team. The offense and defense are kind of feeding off each other a little bit better. All areas of our game have kind of stepped up and we've fed off each other. There's a little more excitement going on...Dom (Capers) has been stressing a lot about the playoff atmosphere and one day we're going to be in situations where we're going to have to win late in the year. That adds a little excitement to it too."
FS Jason Simmons
(on the Browns staying hungry) "We were in that position where we had three or four wins and the thing was we still thought we could beat anybody in the league. I know they have that same mindset. They've had a bad season so far but the thing is they have the talent on their team to do that and they know that and our main thing is we're never going to look over them."
(on seeing the season as a success) "We would like to be in the playoffs. That was our goal from the start but the thing is to finish with a .500 record, that's what we're facing right now. That's our main goal. I don't see how we can look past anybody."
DT Seth Payne
(on playing well on defense) "I think we're playing more sound. We haven't given
up a lot of big plays which is usually an indication that guys are playing their
responsibilities better. They're where they're supposed to be every play which
you can expect to get better as the season goes on especially since we have so
many young guys playing."
(on staying focused Sunday) "I think being 7-8 does a lot for that. We're not in a position to overlook anybody. We're 7-8. We're a losing team right now. We all know we have to stay hungry and be very focused to finish 8-8, especially against a team that's going to be as hungry as these guys...They're hungry to show they're better than their record."
(on finishing 8-8) "I think it makes a lot of difference. There's a big difference between 7-9 and 8-8, especially psychologically. I think if we win this final game we can go in the offseason on a positive note and be excited about progress that we made."
LB Jamie Sharper
(on the defensive performance of late) "I was real happy just to get a shut out and just sit there and look at the scoreboard and know that if the offense scored two points, three points that we were going to win the game. I remember those days back in Baltimore how you could just go out there and dominate somebody and that's what we did last weekend."
(on what has made the defense good)"The turnovers have been coming all year. Now we're playing football where we're not giving up points, we're not giving up the big score, we're not giving up the big play and to win in this league you have to do that."
(on what he likes about the defense) "On defense I like the fact we got a lot of turnovers this year and we turned those turnovers into points. Last week to have a shutout you're kind of putting everything together. You're giving the ball back to your offense, you're keeping the other team off the scoreboard and you score points so it's three things where you can definitely help your team win. That's going to be our identity going from this year to next year, I'll be happy with that."
CB Aaron Glenn
(on finishing the season) "Anytime you start getting yourself in a groove and you're playing well collectively as a team you hate to see the season end. The thing about it is we're winning games and hopefully we can go out and have another good performance against this team and you know finish on a good note because that always goes into next year."
