Andrew Berry of the Browns on No. One offense-related issue, involving Elijah Moore, Deshaun Watson, Jedrick Wills, and DTR.
BEREA — Few NFL coaches or general managers would disagree that the turnover ratio is one of, if not the biggest, factors in whether a game is won or lost in the league.
The Browns are near the bottom of that statistic at minus-7 despite being 2-2 at the bye week.
In four games, the Browns have lost control of the ball 10 times (5 fumbles, 5 interceptions), but only three times (2 fumbles, 1 interception).
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On Wednesday morning, Browns general manager Andrew Berry and his No. Reducing or completely getting rid of the offense’s turnovers will be its top priority going forward.
In his opening remarks before taking questions, he mentioned the turnovers.
Berry said, “Really, the number one thing that we have to do is something that Kevin (Stefanski) has preached since the day he got the job, and that is to protect the football.
“We’ve turned the ball over ten times so far this season, and in each of our four games, we’ve come up short in the turnover department.
In all honesty, that isn’t a sustainable way to win football games in the N F L.
Berry remarked that it was crucial to correct that issue first.
“I think we’ve seen what this particular group is capable of, especially in the Tennessee game, and I think we’ve also had some bright spots with setbacks creating opportunity, whether it’s the play of Jerome Ford or Dawand Jones’ inclusion in the starting lineup.
We still need to put in some effort, though, if we want to return to the cultural standard that we must meet in a few areas.
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Berry asserted that minimizing turnovers is the most important goal, despite worries regarding the running game, passing game, play-calling, or a number of other issues.
Ball security would be ranked #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5, according to Berry.
“Sorry, number one through five would be ball security.
The first thing that needs to be fixed is that.
Once more, our 10 turnovers in four games are the main concern.
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He said, “We put five more balls on the ground that weren’t covered and were recovered by the opponent.”.
“That alone, and that doesn’t mean that we’re perfect in every area, no different from any team at this point in the season, but that alone, minimizing that or getting that back to an acceptable standard will make a huge difference.
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Finding the issue is simple, but how do you fix it?
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“I do think a big part of it is with our, it could just be like our decision-making when you have the ball in your hands, decision-making with quarterback, setting up, protection and all those things play into it,” he said.
“Kevin has a saying that says that if you have the ball in your hands, whether you’re a skill player, a quarterback, a center, or whether you turn the ball over, the fate of the team is in your hands.
Ball security is a big focus at practice.
We’ve talked a lot about winning the turnover battle internally, but we just haven’t done it.
I know the pressure will increase after the bye.
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Following their embarrassing loss to the Ravens and their bye week, Berry believes the Browns have a chance to reset and refocus for the remaining 13 games.
We must be able to control what is in front of us and ensure that we are playing our best football in November and December because this league is week to week.
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Following Berry’s 42-minute press conference, additional topics included:.
After the bye week, Deshaun Watson will be able to play, right?
BERRY: “We don’t view it as a longterm injury or, I think Kevin mentioned earlier in the week, there’s nothing structural.
We are optimistic that it’ll heal in the short term and he’ll be ready to go.
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Q: Why didn’t Watson play last Sunday?:.
BERRY: “So we were optimistic that he would play.
He was optimistic that he would play.
He worked his tail off during the week to rehab and be ready to go.
When we got out on Sunday and when we took him through the pregame workout, it became obvious to all of us that he couldn’t throw or drive the ball well enough to perform in the game.
It just wasn’t at a level where we felt comfortable that he could ultimately perform the duties of his position.
If he was a running back or a defensive tackle or something along those lines, it’s something, it wouldn’t have necessarily affected his job requirements and he would’ve been okay, but this is your quarterback and his job is to throw the ball anywhere from 30 to 35 times a game and if he can’t push it, if he can’t drive it, if he can’t throw it down the field, which became very evident early in the workout, it became a very easy decision for us not to put him out there.
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Q: On the trade of Joshua Dobbs, why was that a good idea in your mind and was the coach ever aware that it would be a possibility?:.
BERRY: “So let me answer the second question first.
I’ve never believed in surprising the coaching staff with roster moves.
We always have a ton of communication before anything happens and really any transaction.
In terms of trading Josh, obviously we had a high opinion of Josh.
He had been here for two seasons.
I’ve often talked up here about the general manager’s role having a foot in the present and a foot in the future, and certainly that consideration and that transaction has elements of that.
Thought it was the best decision.
We were really excited to work with Dorian and see him progress and develop, but thought it was the right move, thought it was the right move for the organization, both short and long term.
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Q: On having a rookie start against the Ravens?:.
BERRY: “There is a saying that I love where it’s experience is a hard teacher because it gives the test first and the lesson afterwards, and I felt like certainly any rookie quarterback could probably attest during their first start that that is the case.
Certainly challenging circumstances, but I know Dorian’s not making any excuses for it.
That is the role of the backup to be able to step in at a moment’s notice.
I think just realistically when you lose a game 28-3 and you don’t play well on offense, we all look at what we could have done differently to support him, but we’ll continue to work, we’ll grow from it, we’ll learn from it and we’ll move forward with them.
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Q: Do you expect Dorian Thompson-Robinson to continue to be the No. 2 quarterback?:.
BERRY: “Yeah, I don’t envision any major changes in the room.
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Q: Have you inquired about Jonathan Taylor’s availability?:.
BERRY: “Because of the, let me get this right, because of the tampering rules, I know I can’t touch on specific players.
You guys have heard me say it before.
We’re always active seekers, participants in the trade market, but I would say we’re pleased with the running back room.
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Q: Use of Elijah Moore?:.
BERRY: “Elijah, we view him as one of the better playmakers on the roster.
I know that we’re excited to get him the ball in a variety of ways.
I do think that there’s an element where, whenever you get a new skill player in a new offense, sometimes you don’t want to necessarily discourage some of the tinkering.
Sometimes the results will be good, sometimes the results won’t be as good, and the biggest thing is adjusting and ultimately allowing your playmakers to kind of find their niche within the offense.
Again, we’re four games into this thing.
We do want to get him the ball, but I think that’ll evolve and grow as we go.
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Q: View of Jerome Ford and Kareem Hunt going forward?:.
BERRY: “We think what Jerome provides us, he provides us big play ability.
We’ve seen that over the first month of the season.
His speed and strength is a real asset, and then also he’s a real contributor in the passing game.
We saw that against Tennessee.
We’ve seen that in the screen and checkdown game.
We think Jerome’s ability to actually split out and run routes, that’s something that’s pretty hard to find.
And then with Kareem, we do look at getting him ramped up more heavily.
Obviously, him coming in without camp, without a spring with us, there is a little bit of a ramp up period for him.
We really do look at that position as more of a platoon position, as opposed to, Hey, this is your one, this is your two, that type of thing.
It’s probably a little bit more role plays.
In fairness, again, we’ve been spoiled by having Nick, but that’s probably more where this position is trending with us and it’s certainly trended around the league.
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Q: Extending Grant Delpit?:.
BERRY: “I appreciate the question.
I think you know what my response is going to be to that one.
I’m not going to talk about contracts in this setting.
I’m very pleased with Grant start though.
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Q: Thoughts on tackles Jedrick Wills and Dawand Jones?:.
BERRY: “I think Jed would be the first to tell you that he hasn’t played as consistently as he knows he’s capable of playing and he’s capable of playing better, he will play better.
He’s obviously going to be important piece for us moving forward.
And Dawand’s done a nice job coming in insome really challenging circumstances the first game in his rookie year, he hasn’t had a chance to catch his breath, right?
He’s played some really good pass rushers and he’s done well.
And I’m actually glad you asked about Dawand because I actually want to touch on this.
Dawand has taken advantage of every resource that we’ve had within the organization and I think particularly for that young man, the way he came into the organization with a lot of the, what I would say, anonymous criticism, kind of attacking his work ethic, his character, things like that—he really has been fantastic.
He’s done a really, really nice job for us and he should be commended for coming in and being prepared when his number was called much earlier than any of us anticipated.
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Cleveland Browns Morning News 10/4: Recaps, Reflections, and a Hypothetical Brunch with Andrew.
Cleveland Browns GM Andrew Berry is meeting with the local media today, a process that generally involves a lot of shouting and interrupting, so our publisher imagines a happy imaginary world where he actually gets to sit down with the GM and ask him some questions.
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Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!
Today is a light day on the Newswire as there are some looks back at the Ravens game and the first quarter of the Browns season.
I’m sure the Browns media are more focused on writing down questions for Andrew Berry to answer during his availability today at 10AM.
I spent some time in Berea doing the “assistant beat writer” thing with Fred about 15 to 20 years ago, and I was spectacularly bad at it.
One of the reasons I was bad at it was because the modus operandi of getting questions answered is to shout them or blurt them out over the top of other people asking questions, a process that overloads my politeness circuit and makes my brain shut down.
Plus, of course, the Browns always placed me in the back of the room to show me how unimportant I was, which put me at a competitive disadvantage.
So, after a while, I decided it was a better use of my skills to focus on the site, supporting customers, and not trying to talk to athletes whose acute nerd-detection systems can detect my awkwardness in asking them questions a mile away.
But, hypothetically, if I had a chance to sit down with Andrew Berry over brunch at 10AM and ask him a few questions rather than sharing a room with other pesky reporters shouting things at him and interrupting me, I’d probably ask him the following:.
QUESTION 1: We all know this is a crucial season in the Browns’ window to be competitive; what did you see in Dorian Thompson-Robinson that gave you the confidence to trade away Josh Dobbs?
It’s what everyone wants to know after last weekend’s debacle, right?
Why were the Browns so secure with DTR that they felt they could deal off their other experienced quarterback for a fifth-round draft pick?
What did they see him that made them feel they could succeed with him if Watson were injured?
QUESTION 2: If I had to sum up the Browns personnel philosophy, it would be to build the team around 6-8 key, well-paid stars and crucial positions and then to rely on superior player acquisition and drafting to create quality roster depth that works under the salary cap.
Is that right, and what makes the Browns player acquisition process better, or at least competitive, with the top teams in the league?
I want to understand, big picture, how the Browns organization feels their player acquisition process stacks up against their competitors, what makes it better, and why they think it gives them a long-term competitive advantage.
If it doesn’t, what do they feel they must do to gain that competitive advantage?
QUESTION 3 I have this British colleague who couldn’t make the commute today for brunch, but he wants to know why backup running back wasn’t addressed via the draft or free agency.
After all, the team had a $6.25m backup in 2022, then moved to a 5th-round pick with eight carries for twelve yards.
Don’t blame me for the question; your foe lies across the Atlantic.
This is similar to the DTR question in that it tries to get to the team’s philosophy about roster depth and whether spreading the cap a little deeper beyond the stars might make sense.
The answer would likely be an expression of confidence in Ford, but again, we’re trying to understand here the decision-making that created roster fragility as injuries inevitably occurred.
QUESTION 4: When do you plan to open extension talks with Za’Darius Smith and Grant Delpit?
Both players have already demonstrated their value to the Browns in 2023 and available replacements on the roster don’t seem capable of stepping in and playing at their level.
Does Berry think it’s possible to work with both players in a way that works from a cap perspective and keeps them in Cleveland in 2024 and beyond?
QUESTION 5: Do you foresee a future when Browns fans and the NFL world in general will be able to see Deshaun Watson – the person – that the Browns front office profess to see?
It would be my way of asking whether Watson will ever be able to address his off-field issues in an honest and forthcoming way when the lawsuits are all finally settled.
It would put the Browns GM in an uncomfortable position, most likely, and would be my last invitation to brunch.
Still, I think it’s important for the Browns reputation and winning back lost fans that, at some point, Watson needs to address his off-field issues in a way that changes the narrative.
Maybe I’m dreaming.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
