Browns head coach Rob Chudzinski's comments to the media Thursday afternoon;
Opening statement:“To start off, (starting DL) Desmond Bryant and (K) Brandon Bogotay will be out for this week and will not play in the game. (DB) Chris Owens, (WR) Davone Bess and (LB) Jabaal Sheard all did not practice today. I held them out. They would be able to play in a regular-season game. They would be fine in a regular-season game. They will be questionable for the game; we’ll be smart with them and wanted to make sure we were smart with them today. As I said before, our starters are going to play into the third quarter. Obviously that remains to be determined. We will be flexible with that plan as well. As far as some of the guys that would potentially fill in, obviously at right guard, Oniel Cousins will start the game. At defensive end, Billy Winn will start for Desmond Bryant. As far as the other guys go, they are questionable. We will wait to see with them. (Rookie DB Leon) McFadden would be the (nickel) corner, (LB Quentin) Groves would be the outside linebacker, and (WR) Travis Benjamin, as well as (WR) Josh Cooper, would be the guys at receiver if Davone does not play. We’ve had a good week, going through the process this week of our mock week. Our approach on road trips is as a business trip and we will have that approach tomorrow as the guys come over. We’ll meet and get on the plane and head out for the game. Obviously this will be a good opportunity, as I have mentioned all week long, playing against a really good football team. We will get another chance to see where we are at and assess ourselves as a team.”
On Jabaal Sheard injury:“It’s just a sore knee. Again he could have practiced and could play this weekend. In the regular season, it would be no doubt.” On severity of Sheard’s injury:“It’s just sore. Nothing happened in particular. It just started to get sore the last day or so.” On Leon McFadden or Buster Skrine starting vs. Indianapolis at cornerback:“Buster Skrine will start. But in our nickel packages, Leon would play if Chris (Owens) does not.” On Davone Bess injury:“He was a little sore the other day. He has a little bit of (knee) tendinitis. He could have practiced and for sure would have played in the game. We will wait and see how he is feeling on Saturday.” On Desmond Bryant injury:“He has been dealing with it before, the past few weeks. This is just a good time to rest him. He has got a lot of good work in. He will be ready for the first game, no concerns with that.” On the speeding tickets of Josh Gordon and Greg Little:“We take that seriously. It’s not acceptable. I have sat down with those guys individually and talked to them, and addressed that with them, and addressed the team.” On whether players are taking the citations seriously:“They are. They understand exactly where I am coming from.” On any type of discipline:“I’m going to keep all of those things internally. I have addressed it and we will handle it internally.” On the citations being a distraction to the team:“It’s part of the job; things come up that are part of the job. It’s not a distraction unless you make it a distraction.” On what he told Little and Gordon:“That it’s not acceptable. Beyond that, the details I’m not going to get into.” On Little’s maturity:“All of these guys are learning how to mature. We are working to build a locker room, a team and a foundation. Guys are accountable and that’s what being a Brown is about.” On the players showing remorse:“They did.” On athletes feeling they are invincible:“That’s on a case-by-case basis. All we are trying to do is build a team and a foundation based on accountability.” On importance of how bad the citation was:“I’m not going to get into the details, but I addressed and got into very specific details with him.” On why Cousins is starting over rookie OL Garrett Gilkey:“Oniel has more experience. Obviously he has been back in practice and has done well. Gilkey will get opportunities as well with the first group. We will just see how the game goes and try to get them a lot of reps.” On Cousins and his ability to play guard:“I would not say it’s anything physical. He has just not played the position very much. He’s played it a little bit. In the number of days he has the opportunity to do it, he has done well. I am anxious to see him as well.” On having a veteran start over a rookie at guard:“We just want to have a couple different options and see how those play out over the course of the next couple of weeks in the games.” On whether Josh Gordon will still start:“We are going to start the same guys we were planning on starting.” On whether the citations of Gordon and Little will affect their playing time:“As far as this game, no.”
