Dick Jauron, defensive coordinator, says Tashaun Gipson has made tremendous progress this season.
Cleveland Browns DC Dick Jauron's Thursday press conference, as provided by the Browns:
(On going against Peyton Manning)- "It's
clearly really tough. There are very few teams that have any kind of
record against him over the years of his playing career. He's clearly
headed for the Hall of Fame. He's one of the best that has ever played
the game. He's very smart. He studies, prepares himself well. It's
difficult and about everything has been tried, that's for sure. He
doesn't win every one of them so we'll prepare and we'll go out there
and try to play our best game."
(On if they will try to disguise coverages against Manning)- "I
think everybody does it. Everybody tries it, not only against him but
in every game. You're always trying to disguise what you're playing.
Every team will try it, and sometimes you probably do fool him, but he's
still pretty good with the ball. If you can just try to make him ready
your coverage once he gets the snap in his hands, he's plenty good
enough. If you give him all kinds of indications prior to the snap, then
he's even better than that. That's what people try to do. They are
trying to hide what they are doing until he gets the ball in his hand,
until the ball is snapped, and then you play and it's on from there."
(On if there is no point in blitzing Manning because he is so effective against it)- "Honestly,
he's effective against almost everything you do, so the blitz plays a
part in it. It certainly does. I think against every quarterback, even
him, they've got to be aware that you will blitz, you'll bring people.
He reads it awfully quickly like he does most things in football. He's
extremely professional, very prepared, very experienced. He can tell by
your tilts, and where the safeties go and that kind of thing, where the
pressure is coming from. I think you've just got to keep mixing it up
like people do and then fight. You've got to fight for 60 minutes and
hope you can get some breaks, and you can get the ball bouncing your
way. Some luck always plays into every game and just play hard."
(On if he will watch past tape of Romeo Crennel's teams who had success against Peyton Manning)- "We
do go back and look at teams that played them well. It helps us
somewhat if they are 4-3 teams not 3-4 teams because that's what we are.
We do look at people that we think played them well and try to see what
their thinking was, why they played them well."
(On if he's confident that Craig Robertson and Tashaun Gipson will step up and perform well)- "Of
course Craig's been in there all the time. It's a huge opportunity for
all of our young players and particularly Tashaun's role will increase
some obviously. Usama's (Young) snaps will go up because we were kind of
rotating three. I'll see where that one goes. It's a great opportunity
for them to play against an outstanding football team. Clearly it's not
just the quarterbacks, not just Peyton. They've got a really good
football team around him. He's the center of it on our side of the ball.
It'll be beneficial to their development, and hopefully they can and we
can perform well."
(On the progress Gipson has made this year)- "Tremendous
progress. He's an undrafted free agent and from the first time you see
him on the field, you recognize that he's got athletic skills. Then of
course you just wonder why he wasn't a draft pick. You would like to say
all the time, 'It doesn't matter how they get to your camp, everybody
starts equal in their play.', but there's always some doubt. There's got
to be something here. There's got to be something that's missing, but
we never found it from almost the first day on. He prepares well, he
works hard. He's been tough on the field. He's tackled well. He moves
well. We think we found one. Our personnel department did a terrific
job."
(On if they have seen Gipson's quickness stand out)- "Absolutely
and it does stand out. Again, we've got to tip our hat to our personnel
people. I think Ray Rhodes was involved in that one also. I think he
knew the agent and was in the middle of that if I'm not mistaken, but
that might have been Bad (Johnson Bademosi). They did a great job
obtaining him."
(On what went into the discussion about waiving Dimitri Patterson)- "I
think that it would be really inappropriate for me to respond to that. I
think the head coach will handle all of those questions."
(On if he participated in the discussions about Patterson)- "The head coach can handle all of that."
(On if it's hard to not think about what will happen after the season)- "No,
I don't think about it. I don't really think about anything except the
season really and the next game. The rest of it always takes care of
itself no matter what I think or worry, so no I don't project."
(On what happened on all of the boots that Kirk Cousins ran last week)- "It
was tough. We didn't play him very well. They're a difficult scheme to
play, always has been. It was more kind of vintage Mike Shanahan then
all the film we see preparing for it. I can't say it was unexpected
because we knew what we would get. The volume of boots was probably more
than we expected. Then, I didn't make the best calls, clearly, and we
didn't make plays on the ball when we needed to make them. We got them
in situations where we really could have helped ourselves either getting
off the field or just recovering the ball. What happened on the field
is what should have happened. It played itself out. It's done. If you
can just make your plays on the ball, and when it's on the ground, fall
on it, you've got a chance to make a difference in football games all
the time, but they beat us."
(On if he left the game impressed with Cousins)- "I
thought he was good going in. I thought he was a solid NFL quarterback
going in. He played a good game. He made plays. He made plays and throws
versus us. My hat is off to him."
(On what difference he sees in Manning's arm strength now)- "Not
much. He's putting the ball on the money and he's delivering it pretty
much all over the field. His timing looks pretty much like it's always
looked. I wish it had diminished greatly, but it hasn't."
(On how Manning getting rid of the ball so quickly affects his pass rushing strategy)- "It's
a frustrating deal because he does get it out quickly, and a good deal
of it is scheme with him. He is the scheme. He runs the scheme and he
knows that. He knows exactly what he's doing. He knows exactly where the
ball is going by what he sees. Probably pre-snap he's got an idea, and
then as the snap develops he knows quickly. He gets it out quickly.
Brett Favre played lots of years in the same system and the ball came
out fast. You didn't get a lot of chances to hit him. They are probably
dissimilar in a lot of ways, but similar in that regard. The ball comes
out fast. They know where it's going quickly."
(On if Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are similar)- "I
would say yes. You have to have so much respect for both of them. They
just are so competitive. They never give you room to breathe. They are
always coming after you. It doesn't really matter what the score is.
They are going to come after you. I think you saw it, I can't remember
when the game was, when the Patriots were down 31-3, but I understand
that ended up a football game. You just can never breathe easy until
you're on top and the game ends because they won't quit and they just
keep grinding on you."
(On how Phil Taylor is playing this year)- "Phil's
got a lot of potential in front of him, and he's playing fine. He got
the late start on the year, hardly any offseason, if at all, and he's
done a nice job preparing himself. He's playing hard and it's all in
front of him I think. I think his best years are all in front of him."
(On if he is comfortable putting Buster Skrine in the slot role)- "I
think we've talked about him a great deal in here and I am a big Buster
Skrine fan. He's a very easy guy to coach. He's a very talented young
player. He really wants to do it. He works at it. He studies it. He
listens. He listens to veterans. I think he's got an admirable respect
for the game of football. He's got a long career in front of him. I'm a
big Buster Skrine fan. He just needs time and experience."
(On the challenge of facing their pass offense but also Knowshon Moreno)- "It'll
be huge. It'll be a huge challenge for our defense. They are awfully
talented. They've got the numbers to prove it. They've got the players
to do it. They've got the quarterback to run the whole thing. They are
difficult to play against. It'll be a great challenge for our guys."
(On who the best quarterback he ever coached against is)- "I
don't know, there are so many great ones. Our three divisional
opponents all have outstanding quarterbacks. You mentioned Tom Brady,
what's he won three Super Bowls? That's hard to beat those kinds of
numbers. Of course, Peyton is just Peyton. We had to play his brother
earlier in the year. There are so many really good, well there aren't so
many really good ones, but the really good ones win don't they? I guess
that's why they are who they are. They have a way about them. They have
a leadership quality and the athletic skills and the toughness that it
requires to hang in there. It's a great challenge."
