Cleveland Browns head coach Pat Shurmur spoke with the local media Friday afternoon. We already know what was revealed about some player injuries involving Brandon Jackson and Eric Steinbach, but he touched on a few other interesting topics, which I have highlighted after the jump. [Full Pat Shurmur transcript is here]
(On if it was a real game situation would they being able to stabilize the game by running the ball)- "There were times in the game where we ran the ball for decent chunks of yardage. Believe me, there’s reason for doing what I’m doing. I think that we have the ability to run the football here. I’m trying to use the preseason as a way to develop the team, you really need to develop the pass game as much as the run game. That’s important in the preseason. Especially for a bunch of guys that have only been together for less than a month."
(On the offensive line meshing together as a unit)- "I think you can point to some guys that played extremely well. We had a rookie playing in there at left guard. I’ll tell you what,
Jason Pinkston has made huge, huge strides in three plus weeks. It’s one thing to be out on the perimeter running routes as a rookie and doing it, but when you’re in there in the thick of it, it’s very challenging for those big guys. It really takes development and seasoning and I think he’s making huge progress a lot like Phil, who’s a rookie. Then I think you have pretty much steady play from the other guys that are vets in there. If you ask them, they’ll all say, ‘Gosh darn it. I had a handful of plays that I just wasn’t very good.'" (On
Jordan Norwood injury)- "His knee flared up a little bit on the punt return when he ran into Sheldon (Brown) and the gunner. He obviously played through it and then he woke up this morning and it was a little bit sore. He got a little bit of a knock on his knee on that play." (On how you avoid that situation from happening)- "It’s rare. Like I mentioned last night, that’s one of those things that you’ll see happen around the league five times a year. You’d like to see that not happen, but there is communication that’s going on that he’s fair catching it and for guys to stay away. Sheldon was just blocking his fanny off. It was a freak"
(On if the special teams break downs were a function of this offseason)- "I’m concerned about it. I don’t know if it’s a function of the offseason and how we’re practicing. Again, the first one which was kind of a freak deal. We had the blocked field goal which was a break down on the edge. Then we obviously muffed the punt. Here you can break those down into individual tasks. We’ve got to get better there."
(On
Mohamed Massaquoi playing against Chicago)- "I don’t know. My understanding is that he’ll be out here practicing this week. We’ll see how well he does. Much like Montario, we brought him back and tried to give him a week plus before we put him in the game. We’ll have to evaluate it that way." (On
Marcus Benard)- "I think he came in this morning with a sore shoulder so he went to get it checked out. I don’t know any more on that yet. I’m going to get some more updates as I go in today."