Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator met with the media on Thursday to talk about last week's performance against the San Francisco 49ers. Always one to provide more specific answers than head coach Pat Shurmur, Jauron talked about their preparation in defending passes to linemen, what T.J. Ward's assignment was on some of the long run plays, and more. [Read full press conference transcript here]
(On if they anticipated the two passes to the linemen even though they hadn’t shown it on tape)- "Very much so. They were a team that had shown an unbalanced line, eligible receivers with ineligible numbers at times. It was just too bad. Good plays, tough plays to recognize particularly the first one to 74. In the late one, the back boot is always a difficult play to defend because you would think that guy was so big that you would see him coming back. They bring him back in blocking schemes too. In that personnel you are generally just try to fight to stop the run. It was not what we wanted obviously, but they had shown unbalanced. We had worked some unbalanced throughout the week. I knew eventually someone was going to throw to those guys. They’re eligible."
(On what T.J. Ward needed to do against the long runs and if he was too far up field)- "T.J. was usually okay on them. T.J. was generally our edge player and got the ball back inside. We didn’t fit it up a couple times from the deeper segment and push it back inside. They were all well designed runs and they would have gained yards, but we would like to hold them to six if they get out, and not 25, 30. That was unfortunate early."
(On if Ward was true to his assignment)- "Yeah, he was."
(On if it would be a challenge for Buster Skrine if he has to fill in at the slot of Dimitri Patterson)- "It would be a huge challenge for Buster, there’s no doubt. He’d welcome it and he’ll battle his way through it. We don’t look forward to playing without Dimitri. He’s played so well for us at that position and he fights. He fights every down and he gives you all he’s got. Buster will do the same thing, Dimitri has just done it. He’s got a nice feel for it and he develops a better feel every week."
(On D’Qwell Jackson during the goal line stand)- "The goal line stand was really a huge play for us, just to keep us in that ball game. Everybody did their job up front to start it off. They kept their pads down so we weren’t moving backwards into the linebackers. It allowed D’Qwell, Chris (Gocong), Kaluka (Maiava) and Scott (Fujita) to get across the line, to play on the other side and in the back field. D’Qwell made a couple of plays. Chris made a hit. Rub (Ahtyba Rubin) made a big play down there too. The whole line again, doing their job underneath those guys."
(On if Joe Haden will cover Andre Johnson one-on-one)- "That’s a possibility. We’ve done it before with receivers and certainly this guy merits that kind of attention from anybody."