Eric Mangini's Sunday news conference in Berea.
Coach Eric Mangini and No. 1 draft pick Joe Haden watch practice Sunday in Berea.Transcript of Eric Mangini's training camp news conference on Sunday:
(Opening statement)- "Good morning everybody. How are we doing? Today, we are on a one-a-day schedule. The way the schedule for training camp is set up is with the one-a-day, two-a-days, there are always meals in between each of the practices. There's always an installation in between each of the practices. This is something that we adopted, probably seven or eight years ago. A couple of teams were doing it. Brad Seely actually introduced it to us in New England. He had done it Carolina and wasn't sure how it would work. None of us had ever really done it. Traditionally, you go about two weeks of two-a-days in a row. This was different, but when we look at the amount of practices that you get and the amount of work that you get and the body maintenance, injuries, things like that, that's when we decided to adopt it. I think it's been good over time. Most teams tend to do that, so we are on a one-a-day and this morning the guys met and then each group had a lifting period. We'll go out and practice here. We'll review the practice from today. We'll do our install for tomorrow morning and then we'll have the morning practice the next day. That's how the week goes or the progression goes. You guys saw that Joe Haden signed. He's in. He ran his test last night, took care of all of his physical stuff last night so he's ready to go. He'll start practicing here today. He has a lot to catch up on. He'll work on that information with Jerome (Henderson) and Rob (Ryan) and all those guys. We'll try to get him up to speed as quickly as we can, so he can be as competitive as he can. It's been good to have all the guys we've had in here, but now, to run it off with Joe, I think that's great."
(On Haden's chances of winning the starting job)- "I don't think any of that stuff will be decided for awhile. We've got a lot of time to look at that. He'll get plenty of reps and he'll get plenty of chances to show what he can do. There are a lot of different packages as well. He may not be the starter in one, but start in another one. With as many multiple receiver teams that we face, we need to be able to play, three, four cornerbacks in different spots."
(On if Haden can start right away like Darrelle Revis did with the New York Jets when Mangini was there)- "Everybody's different. Revis is Revis and Joe is Joe. He'll get opportunities and we just really have to see how it plays out. I like to think that he'll be as competitive as he possibly can be. I don't really put any sort of, set timeline on it. I don't put any sort of, set deadline on it. We've got to see how he progresses."
(On if he kept in contact with Haden between minicamp and training camp)- "Me personally? No. The coaches had some conversations with him. We have a program available where guys can study over the internet and it's very specific information, the installs, the things that we covered. If you want to, you can work on that. We also gave him a bunch of information to take with him that he can study as well, which would follow the progression of installs that we have now. Our installations schedule during the OTAs, and then into our minicamp follow the same progression that we are following now so the guys can build on that during that break period. There's three or four different ways that he was able to get a hold of the information, to review the information to ask questions, things like that and I'm sure he's done that. I talked a little bit with him this morning about it and he said that he really focused on the install so we'll see how much of the recall he has here pretty early on."
(On Haden's transition to the NFL and if he has struggled)- "The whole group does. Rookies, they are going to. It's volume. It's tons of volume and everything is new. It's not just that piece of it. I think a lot of times we look and say, "Okay the information is new and focus on that." But it's new coaching, new techniques, new buildings, it's new people. All that stuff is new. Some guys it comes quicker to, some guys it takes a few more steps, but he's a good person, he's a smart kid, he's a hard-working kid. Those things will serve him well to get caught up on what we have to get him caught up on."
(On how difficult it is for a rookie corner to make the transition to the NFL)- "It's pretty tough because you are out there a lot of times and you are isolated. When offensive coordinators are choosing who they want to go against, you usually draw the short straw and you are going to get thrown out a lot and people are going to test you and see what you can do. You have to hold up against that. The nice thing that we have, is we have older guys that can help him along with that, that can talk him through a lot of those things and provide insight and advice and I'm sure he'll rely on that."
(On whether Seneca Wallace can challenge Jake Delhomme for the starting job)- "What are you trying to do back there? We've been through this (joking). What I'll say is that I don't see any change in the way that we are approaching things right now. Seneca will have chances to work with the first group. That's not uncommon, that's not out of the norm. I've been happy with his progress from OTAs to now as well. I talked to him either yesterday morning or the morning before, just about where he was. He said what you'd expect him to say. A lot of that stuff was running together when I was first going through it and making the calls, but now with some time, going through those reps, being back and going through it again, it's clicking and you see that. He's got a good arm. He's an accurate passer. He can make some plays with his feet which is nice to have that to work against defensively as well. I'm really encouraged by his very early progress the first day there, yesterday."
(On why Delhomme had so many interceptions last year)- "I think that there are a lot of reasons that interceptions happen. You look at it defensively, some seasons, they come in bunches. Usually, they do come in bunches. Some seasons you get into a little bit of a drought and you don't get as many as you used to. I remember, I think it was my first year in New England, we had 10 and the next year, it was something like 28. Sometimes, you hit a hot hand. I don't know all the things that they were running scheme-wise, I don't what defenses they were facing, I don't know what the situations were in those games, if they were behind by a lot of points and had to throw the ball a bunch and try to catch up. It's hard for me. I didn't break down each individual interception. I think that protecting the football is critical. Making good decisions is critical and I believe that he can do that and he'll make a lot of good decisions."
(On whether they are able to do more with the offense with Wallace)- "You can do some different things. You may approach it in terms of a starting point, differently. I think both quarterbacks can do any of the things that we are asking them to do. You may just move up the selection of what you call a little bit higher on his list than where it would be on Jake's list, let's say. It's not that one can or cannot do it, but what you choose from off the menu may be a little different."
Linebacker Matt Roth was a key contributor after the Browns picked him up off waivers last season. He made many big plays, including this sack of Charlie Frye against the Raiders.(On if he feels fortunate to have Matt Roth)- "I was happy to pick up Matt last year and he created problems for us in New York when we had to face him. He's very, very physical for that position. He's extremely tough and he's got excellent hands in terms of locking guys out, things that you like. It was a nice addition last year and I'm excited to have him for a longer period of time here working with the group and see what other things he can do and how else he can add value."
(On why he was available)- "You'd really have to talk to Miami about that, but different guys end up on the wire for different reasons and sometimes it's best not to ask why."
(On if there will be a package where linebackers will line up as defensive linemen)- "That's pretty standard for us. We'll take the outside linebackers and work them as defensive ends because most of our linebackers are the size or close to the average size of a defensive end in the NFL. They'll work on third down, or nickel packages, some out there as ends. Typically, our ends go inside and become tackles and that's the progression from first and second downs to third downs. Yes, they'll be out there."
(On whether he would do that on second down or a running situation)- "You may sub on first and second down and you have to take into consideration, the run-pass and how well you are going to hold up consistently against run in those packages. I'm not opposed to any combination of people, any alignment of people. I'm really just limited by our ability to execute and creativity."
(On what he asked Jerome Harrison to work on last year)- "One of the things that I wanted him to focus on was blocking on third down and I thought he did a really nice job with that. It was one of the primary things that he and I talked about and there are a bunch of examples in those later games where he saved the play because of his blocking and the way that he played, the technique that he played with and he was matched up against some guys that were significantly bigger, which running backs often do on third down and I thought he did a really good job with it."
(On whether it relates to his size or his technique)- "Usually, it comes down to leverage and angles, hand placement, and repping leverage, angles, hand placement over and over again. Cus D'Amato would always talk about you run a train up so much that you can't mess it up even if you want to and it's muscle memory. It's knowing where to hit, knowing what you have to do to be successful, not just against a guy your size, but against a guy significantly bigger."
(On Shaun Rogers possibly moving to the outside)- "Yes, Shaun is going to work some at end, whether it's right end or left end. He'll work some at both and he'll be good at it. They are a little bit different reads. The technique is relatively consistent with what he does at nose guard. The reads may be a little bit different, but for a guy like him, it'll be pretty manageable, he'll learn it pretty quickly. It'll be nice way to have some more depth in there and have some added size."
(On if he saw Rogers catching balls from the JUGs machine yesterday)- "I did not see him. Did he look pretty good? He's lobbied to play some tight end on the goal line and some fullback on the goal line, so who knows."
(On the one thing that most needs to change this season)- "I don't look at it as change as much as I look at it as being consistent with what we did at the end of last season. I thought we developed a lot over the course of last season and really understood how we had to play, what the approach had to be and what Browns football was and how we were going to be in each game. Those lessons are valuable if you can take those lessons and carry them over into the new season and also indoctrinating all the guys that have come in, whether it's rookies or free agent and all of us helping them understand exactly what we have to do, the way we have to play in order to be successful."
(On whether having more time to coach will give him and Rob Ryan more time to think outside the box)- "Rob, he lives outside the box. I go visit him quite often. He's got a nice play there (joking). That's the nice thing about our relationship. Since we had offices next to each other in New England and had all that time working together, a really good relationship, really good understanding and good shared experience where we can draw on defenses from different years. Sometimes, it's a defense from a bunch of years ago that you just bring back out and re-introduce. Sometimes the variation of a defense that you already have and you just remix it a little bit and bring it back out. It's fun working with him on that aspect. We used to sit in training camp when we were in Rhode Island and watch some of Buddy (Ryan)"s old tapes and teaching me about WILL-6-Z and all the different combination coverage and slowly we got some of those put in. The things that he's learned from his dad and what his dad did, he'll bring some of those ideas out from time to time which is great."
(On if Haden has to run extra laps for being late)- "No, nothing like that. There will be a lot running through his mind, so he doesn't need to do anymore laps."
(On how T.J. Ward will combat larger tight ends)- "Good technique. You really have to maintain the relationship to the receiver if you've got slight separation, the height advantage is heightened. It's more dramatic. You have to really focus on technique against those guys and sometimes the best way to cover them is to go hit them before they get going. Rodney Harrison was really good with that. He covered by not letting them run a route. You can mix some of that in too. You don't necessarily have to run with speed if you can beat up speed."
(On if Ward's lack of height concerns him)- "No, I had Victor Green. He was a shorter guy. We have seen undersized safeties that have been very effective in pass coverage and a lot of smaller corners as well."
(On if Wallace is always on the move when he throws)- "No, I know he's not always on the move when he throws. I think that he has the ability to extend some plays that maybe other guys don't, so if there's a problem and it's not solvable right at that second with a route, then he has a chance to extend the play and try to find a secondary answer."
(On if he needs to get Wallace to stop running so much)- "I really wouldn't classify it as that. I view it more as him understanding the difference between when you have to go and when you have to stay. There haven't been a ton of decisions that I've looked at, to this point, where I've felt uncomfortable with the amount of times that he's moving."