BROWNS PLAYERS

77 – Ross Verba (OL)

Talk about the game today.  What happened?

When you get in to a hole like that, any team, it doesn’t matter who you are.  It’s like us when we’re up 21, when you get up 21 points it’s a whole different thing, it’s not even football really.  It’s just hold on and block and run around and scramble and make plays.  So it really takes you out of the football game.  They did a good job today.

 

Did they do anything schematically that you guys had not seen?

Not really.  One play they brought four guys off the corner, which you couldn’t pick up and it kind of snowballed from there and before you know it, we’re in the third quarter and it was too late.  We were running the ball decently; I think we had 60 some yards at the half.  I don’t know what we finished up with, but we just couldn’t get back to it, which made us a one-dimensional team.  Like anybody, it’s just hard to beat.

 

You guys struggled in the red zone.

That killed us.  We’re getting field goals.  I think we had three field goals right around the 30-yard line.  You’ve got to get points and that’s probably the difference.  When they were scoring touchdowns, we were getting field goals.  Like I said, we were down at point by 21.  It’s tough to beat, especially away, and obviously they’re playing well, too.

 

The teams’ third down efficiency hurt today.  What was happening there?

It wasn’t converting. 

 

Is there anything the Steelers were doing on defense that caused you guys problems on third down?

Not necessarily.  We were well-prepared.  They put us in a one-dimension and there’s no threat of a draw, no threat with a one-back set, to run, it’s tough.  Not to make excuses, they beat us today.

 

It’s been up and down in these first few weeks.  Where do you go from here?

We’ve got to go up.  This team does not like to be in the hole.  That’s just the kind of team we are right now.  We’re a team right now that takes hold of the reins and runs with it like some other teams.  I guarantee you, we’ll be in a position to be in the playoffs this year.  That’s just how we do it, especially with this team.  Our goal is to get back to .500 and start over again.  It’s not easy.

 

54 - Andra Davis (LB)

What were the Steelers doing on offense that allowed them to find their receivers?

They had a good game plan.  They stuck with it.  They were able to get the running game started.  We weren’t able to get them one-dimensional like we’ve been doing in our previous two wins.  They were the better team.  That’s it, that’s the bottom line.

 

You had the interception for the touchdown early in the game, but after that you couldn’t seem to get over the hump after that.

It was plays made in the game; we made some, they made some.  They won.

 

Anything you can say about the third down efficiency today?

I don’t even know what it is.  Whatever it is, we lost, we’ve got to correct it tomorrow and get ready for Cincinnati.

 

Did the Steelers do anything today that you didn’t expect?

No.  They just hit a few big plays on us.  We usually don’t give up big plays.  They hit them.  We’ll correct them and get ready for Cincinnati.

 

What’s your first impression of Ben Roethlisberger?

He did good.  He showed a lot of poise.  He did good.  We’ll see him again in Cleveland.

 

Is this as up and down as it’s been for you guys in the first few weeks, how do you regroup from here?

It’s a long season.  There’s a lot of character in this locker room with these guys.  It’s a long season.  It’s our fifth game today, we’ve got eleven more regular season games left.  Anything can happen.  We just stay composed, stay together, don’t let any negativity creep in, we’ll be fine.

 

31 – William Green  (RB)

 

Is it tough for you to believe your coach when he tells you that he’s going to ride the hot hand and then you get an eleven-yard carry and you’re out?

I had no control over that.  I’d rather not speak on that.  I had no control over that.  It is what it is.  I have no control over what Terry [Robiskie] is doing up there.  That’s his decision.

 

Did the Steelers do anything defensively that you weren’t prepared for?

Not at all.  I think we just have to come out in general and play tough and play more physical.  That’s what it comes down to.  That’s that.
 

Were you a little surprised how much pressure they were able to put on the offense and get after Jeff?

No.  I knew they were a tough defense from watching the film.  I knew that’s what they were going to do.  We knew what to do.  Knowing what to do wasn’t the problem. We’ve just got to get better. That’s the bottom line?

 

Did you feel good out there running?  You had a couple of big runs early.

I felt good.  I just felt like I made the most of what I had.  That’s all I could do.  Whenever the coaches put me out there, I’m going to make the most of what I get. 

 

Do you think you would have received more carries if the team wasn’t in such a hole?

I think we would have run the ball more if we weren’t in such a hole.  But to say that I would get more carries, I have no idea what was going on, what Terry was thinking.  I have no control over that.  But, I think we definitely would have run the ball more if we weren’t behind.

 

Did you feel that you had a shot there at the end?

Definitely.  I think we had the momentum.  I don’t know what happened with the snap, but we had the momentum, we were feeling good and then that happened. 

 

5 – Jeff Garcia (QB)

What happened with the fumbled snap?

I just didn’t handle the snap.  It was a good snap and I didn’t handle it.

Talk about the pass rush that you faced today.

They did a good job of bringing the heat.  We knew that was going to take place.  We knew that they’re a very good zone blitz team and they did a great job of creating pressure and forcing me to move.  It was just one of those days.  It was somewhat difficult all day as far as being able to step back in the pocket.  It just wasn’t happening.

For some of the game it looked like you were really uncomfortable.

I felt good.  I felt really good going out today.  That’s just I’m trying to approach every single game is going out with confidence, feeling good about what we’re doing offensively, trying to make plays.  Again, it comes down to scoring in the red zone.  We’ve had a problem with doing that all season long and when you don’t take advantage of opportunities like that, you never put pressure on the opposing team, and we never really put pressure on them.  That’s where this team has been struggling, and we need to find a way to get out of that. 

Can you talk about the team’s struggle on third down?  You only got two first downs on third down conversions.

That’s been another nemesis of ours all season long.  We haven’t been very good on third down.  We need to find a way.  It’s about going and looking at the film and seeing where we can correct some of our mistakes, maybe correct some of the decision-making that’s taking place, and somehow find a way to put ourselves in better situations so that we’re having to overcome either third-and-long or, when we do have third down situations, we create situations where we have opportunities to make those plays.  We just haven’t done it.  It’s unfortunate.  It’s disappointing.  It’s frustrating.  But, we’ll learn a lot from this game.  We’ll have to move forward and get ready for Cincinnati.

Overall, is this offense still out of sync?

I don’t think that this offense is still out of sync.  We’ve done a good job at times of moving the football, but when we get inside the 15-yard line, inside the 10-yard line, we haven’t been able to put touchdowns on the board.  That’s been the major difference when you look at the games.  That creates different situations.  When we’re settling for field goals instead of touchdowns, we never create any heat and we never put any pressure on the opposing team.  We need to find ways to better ourselves in that sort of situation.

Were the Steelers doing a good enough job of watching you when you were forced out of the pocket?  It seemed that Pittsburgh’s guys made all their big plays when you were out of the pocket.

That’s something I think we need to really continue to work on as far as adjusting to the scramble drill.  When I’m moving around, when I’m trying to buy time, we need to just continue to try to find ways to stay alive as receivers find openings.  That’s’ something that we’re just going to continue to work on.  Those are some of the things that I think I can bring to the table as far as creating time, and now it’s just a matter of all of us getting on the same page.  I think that the guys are working extremely had at trying to find openings in the defense, they’re trying to move with me.  It’s just a matter of continuing to work on those things.