Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield and head coach Freddie Kitchens spoke with reporters after Monday night's 31-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Here is everything they had to say.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Browns QB Baker Mayfield
The team had success early but you guys stopped yourself. What does that feel like?
"You're not doing your job anytime you stop yourself which seems to be our biggest problem right now obviously. When you do that against a team of that caliber, you're not going to have a lot of success."
How big of a blow was the swing of momentum with the Cleveland Browns WR Antonio Callaway miss on the goal line?
"It was unfortunate. I put it in perspective of it could've been points for us, but instead it's taken away and you're not getting any out of that. That's huge for momentum on the road. They already had points on the board. You look back at it and yes it's unfortunate, but I could've been more accurate with the ball. Honestly, it's more than just one play that turned the game around."
It's just one game, but is this game a wake-up call?
"Once again, it shows for us that we need to do our job. The inconsistency is killing us right now."
Is it harder to get the ball to Cleveland Browns WR Odell Beckham Jr. in the overall sense than you thought, or have you guys just missed offensive opportunities?
"It's a little here and there. Teams are going to do their stuff to take him out of the game, but we also have to take advantage of matchups when we do have them."
How disappointing is it to have a game like that after it looked like you guys had it together after Baltimore?
"We knew that nothing carries over from last week. We just have to come out and do our job. I think the most disappointing thing is as simple as that. When you make mistakes and beat yourself up, a team like that is going to capitalize, and they absolutely did. They deserve the credit."
How do you account for all of the miscues?
"We're going to look at the film. There's just a lack of focus. We'll see what it is when we watch the film. We'll be able to key in on some things and eliminate mistakes. That's what the good teams do."
You talked about finding an identity in Baltimore. Does this leave you searching for it again?
"Absolutely not. In Baltimore we did our job. Tonight we didn't do our job. Therefore, you play behind the sticks, and it allows a team like that to be able to tee off and do certain things. I think we found out what we need to do. We just didn't do it tonight."
Any thoughts on 49ers DL Nick Bosa's flag-planting celebration?
"I didn't know that until I was informed before I got up here. Good for him. Good play."
You faced a lot of pressure tonight. How difficult was it for you to get into a rhythm?
"It was like one step forward and two back. There was no rhythm for the offense to get into. When we did, we got down to the redzone and didn't finish."
Does how you were able to come back from the Tennessee experience give you a frame of reference for what you'll be dealing with?
"Once again, we're not hitting the panic button. For us, we know the problem. We know we have to be better and do better. When you play a great team, you have to eliminate mistakes. You just have to. We know exactly what we need to do. We need to play well. We need to do our job each and every play."
How do you feel like you played personally?
"Not great. When you look at it, there were a lot of things wrong. We'll go back to the drawing board."
You said during the week that the schedule has been hectic up and down. Did that contribute?
"No. That would be an easy excuse to use, but I don't think it's anything besides looking in the mirror and seeing what we did wrong. It's as simple as that. Now, we have a short week. It's going to be very mental for us. Guys will have to take care of their bodies and do what they have to do. We have to go in with a gameplan that we know we can execute and play faster."
Do you still have total faith that Antonio Callaway is the playmaker you know he can be?
"He is who he is. Everybody makes mistakes. We had total faith in him. There's a reason he was out there tonight even after not playing the first four games. We trust him. The biggest thing is putting our arms around him and letting him know that every once in a while that happens, but to be able to be a great team we have to eliminate that and take advantage of our opportunities."
Browns Head Coach Freddie Kitchens
Opening comments:
"Definitely wasn't the result we wanted. You've got to give all the credit in the world to San Francisco. They beat us in every facet of the game. With that, I'll take any questions."
You said you were pulling out all the stops on offense and at the start of the game it was working, but then you kind of ended up stopping yourself, why was that?
"Well, you know, you can't have mistakes. You can't have turnovers, you can't have drops, you can't have penalties. Offensively, that kind of summed us up. We just shot ourselves in the foot too many times, whether it be mental errors, drops, penalties, you know? It's very clear that, you know, we've got to do a better job mentally. We've got to do a better job coaching these guys. We've got to continue to work every day like it's the first day and coaching-wise, we've got to do a better job and keep putting these guys in position to make plays."
They seemed like they really controlled both lines of scrimmages and everything else--?
"I think San Francisco beat us in every facet of the game. They did a great job. They coached better than us. They played better than us in all areas."
Are you concerned about being able to protect your quarterback?
"I'm always concerned about protecting our quarterback. You know, I'm always concerned about it and it starts with protection. It starts with me doing a better job of protecting him."
How do you count for all the miscues, the penalties, the turnovers?
"I'll chalk that up to we had too many, too much stuff, you know? Too many plays, you know? We will, well I've got to go back and evaluate it and see where we were number-wise. We've just got to do a better job coaching it and do a better job executing it and do a better job lining up and doing a better job of our assignments, and I've got to make sure that we're not asking these guys to do too much."
You talked about their front a lot coming in. What makes it such a tough matchup when you have to face it?
"Well, I mean, you saw the game. So, they were physical. They were fast. They're long. They're athletic and they played with tremendous effort."
Cleveland Browns WR Antonio Callaway looked like he had trouble getting lined up a couple times. He had the false start obviously, the play at the goal line. It's hindsight, but do you think he was prepared, coming off the suspension, do you think he was prepared to play today?
"I think I probably put him in a bad situation. I thought he was ready to go, but I put him in a bad situation."
Why was, just curious with the score 28-whatever and Cleveland Browns WR Odell Beckham Jr. was back there for the punt thing, why was that?
"Just, I mean, Odell catches punts every day. So, you know, just gave it a whirl, and just need better ball security."
Is it too simple to say Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield's game was a result of bad protection or did he have an awful night too?
"You know, I think so much of the quarterback has to do with the things around him, just like every week. I mean, you know, last week he played good, because the guys around him played good. Quarterback can't do it himself, so he doesn't. This is the reason football is the ultimate team game. It takes 11 guys, and if one guy doesn't do what he's supposed to do, then you have a not successful play, and that goes for all positions."
When you said put Callaway in a bad position, you just mean he had too much of a role tonight?
"Too much of a role, I don't know if I would say that. It's just, you know, I like to put our guys out there to be successful, and when they're not successful it's my fault because I didn't diminish the role or increase the role enough, whatever it may be. I'll have to go back and look at it. He wasn't successful tonight. So, ultimately, that falls on me."
How much have the San Francisco 49ers improved? You said that they really dominated on both sides of the ball, but I guess are they a legit 4-0 team?
"I mean, they are what their record is."
How demoralizing was that touchdown run right at the beginning?
"Well, I mean, we didn't get beat in the first quarter now. I mean, we had our opportunities, even when it was 14-3 or whatever, we're back down there. I mean, we had our opportunities. We didn't lose off of that run. Demoralizing, I hope it wasn't demoralizing. They're a good football team. They're going to make plays."
You mentioned about maybe giving too much or too many plays. Did you have a lot more in than last week? That's why I want a clarification to what you're trying to say. Did you have more than last week or something?
"I'd have to count the numbers."
Okay, I just want, I guess I just want to give you a chance to clarify.
"Well, when we're unsuccessful clearly something has to change. So, it's either we're doing too much, we're not doing enough, it's something. So, I'll go back and look at it and see. We'll make improvements. We'll move forward. We've got to coach better in all areas and we've got to play better in all areas, and that's how you win football games. You coach better, you play better."
You mentioned having your opportunities. How big a play was that interception at the goal line that went the other direction?
"Well, I mean, all turnovers are big plays. Of course, turnovers inside the five yard line are not good."
The first couple plays seemed to feature Odell, and then a couple tosses to him. Have you found it harder to get him involved in the offense than you thought it would be?
"No."
His red zone, I think he's really had a hard time getting open in the red zone, why do you think that is?
"I don't know. I mean, we've got other guys that we're targeting in the red zone too. Callaway's wide open tonight in the red zone. So, our quarterback's going to go through a progression, alright? Sometimes Odell's the first read in that progression, sometimes he's the second, sometimes he's the third, sometimes he's the fourth. Our quarterback's going to continue to get better with his progressions. Our receivers are going to continue to get better lining up and doing what they're supposed to do and then ultimately, everybody needs to a better job coaching and playing."
The 49ers offense, they ran the ball a lot, they threw to San Francisco 49ers TE George Kittle. How do you account for the way the defense played?
"Well, I think they would like to have several plays back, especially in the run game. You know, I think when you play a team like San Francisco, if you're wrong with your eyes it could cost you big, and I think we were probably wrong with our eyes a couple of times and got out of our gaps. It's the same thing I said going in and you know, offensively we didn't do anything to help early on to keep them off the field. So, they were out there a long time."
How did Baker come out physically?
"I haven't even got that. I'm assuming he's fine."
Did you, so, you put Cleveland Browns QB Garrett Gilbert in just because the game was out of reach?
"Yeah, I thought he was taking too many hits unnecessarily."
How do you account for the wide variance in performance with your guys? I mean, last week completely opposite, you played so well and then this week, you know, played so poorly.
"Well, we'll look at it. It's one of those things where you get down into the red zone you've got to capitalize. You know, we were in position to do something and we didn't do it. Once that happens then you've got to maintain your composure and kind of stop the bleeding, per se, and we never did that. And you know, give you a chance to run meaningful plays that count later on, then you end up playing better, you know? So, it's kind of a snowball effect whenever you don't make one play, you have to stop the bleeding so you can get an opportunity to make those corrections, and we just never gave ourselves enough time in the game to stay in the game to make those corrections."
Other Quotes from Browns Players
WR Odell Beckham Jr.
Talk about that punt return at the end of the game.
"I was just trying to make a play. I'm way too good to do that. I just did too much. I felt like maybe it could give us a spark or something like that. You could feel the energy they had already taken out of us. To be honest, it just seemed like we were ready to go home and I just wanted to keep fighting to the final whistle. I just did way too much."
Did you feel like the goal line interception killed the momentum for you guys?
"I don't know if you can point to one play that killed it. To be honest, you know what happened. They beat us in every phase of the game. They ran the ball down us. They stopped us on defense. They played on special teams. They just did everything. We all saw the game, so we need to go back and evaluate and get ready for next week."
Are you finding it more difficult to get the ball in your hands than in the first few games?
"I don't know. We have a good plan. They just beat us. I had an opportunity, seeing [Browns WR Jarvis Landry]. We made eye contact, and I couldn't not throw it to him. There might have been an opportunity to throw it deep, and it could have changed the whole momentum of the game. They came out, they popped a run early for [83 yards] and from then on, it just keep going. It just felt like we were trying to catch our stride or whatever it was. There was a point where we were still in the game, and it just kept going and kept going. They outplayed us, they beat us. Hats off to a great team."
RB Nick Chubb
The game seemed to get out of hand in the second half. It seemed like nothing was working.
"Yeah, we're very disappointed. I don't remember the score, but it was a lot closer than what it ended as. We had a chance to come out and hopefully get a good stop on defense and find our way to the end zone and make it look closer. They went down and scored and took all the momentum. After that, we were just trying to play catch-up."
What are some adjustments you see that can be made that you guys can get fixed pretty quickly?
"It's just fixing things. We had missed opportunities, dropped balls, missed alignments, and missed assignments. Things like that that we can control and that we can fix."
WR Jarvis Landry
You guys went over to Cleveland Browns WR Antonio Callaway after the goal line interception. Did you guys try to perk him up a little bit?
"Yeah, there was still a lot of football game left at that point. I think we got the ball back with a two-minute situation, and then also we had the whole second half. So there was a lot of game left."
You guys wanted to come in here and build and stack some wins together. Obviously you didn't see anything close to this coming tonight.
"Of course not. Of course not. We knew that they were a great team. We knew they play really good football, and that we were going to have to play one of our best games, and we just didn't."
It's a tough week with a short week coming up and then Seattle.
"No excuses. We've got to find a way to get back to the things that we do really well. We need to get the ball into our playmakers' hands as much as possible. For plays, we need to make plays as a team."
Were you guys stunned? I'm sure you guys didn't anticipate the Niners coming out and dominate the amount that they did.
"We're not stunned. There's still a lot of season left. A lot of things can happen. We're still first in our division, if I'm not mistaken. We can still go up from here."
