(On what he said to the team today after the win to keep this momentum until the end of the season)
"Like I told them, the answers to the test are in the room with us together. We have all our answers, we just got to play mistake-free football. We understand how we [have] to play. We know how we [have] to play. Today everybody made plays."
(On why there was a big difference from last week to this week in playing mistake-free)
"That's a good question, I wish we could answer that. We just had a clunker last week.
They came back focused in practice, determined to win a ball game, we cut out a lot of mistakes. The penalties were light early, I know we got a couple late that I didn't like, but for the most part the guys played a clean ball game. I thought offense did a good job on third down. Defense did a good job getting to the quarterback, at least trying to harass him and [Derrick] Henry didn't go off on us."
(On if they were more aggressive this week than last week)
"We were probably more aggressive today like we were all year like we used to be, just getting back to the basics and doing the things that we do well and playing fast football."
(On why the defense was able to bounce back strong this week)
"The way they practiced. The leadership. Lavonte [David], Devin [White], Vita [Vea], [Antoine Winfield Jr.]. Those guys take over the team and the focus was there, so it's just a matter of playing on Sunday. We've had those weeks before where it didn't show up, but it showed up this game and they made sure of it."
(On what the leaders of this team did to help the team regroup)
"It's just keeping everybody together. The positivity, the focus, the understanding, the communication, talking to guys when they're down and picking them, and everybody being in the same boat. They do a real good job with that."
(What was the key for the defense to be effective today)
"It was big to win first down. This is a team where if they can control the ball, as hot as it was today, it would have been a long day. We controlled the ball more than they did. I'm pretty sure we won first downs. Letting [Derrick] Henry get started on first down, giving them second and manageable, third and manageable, makes for a long day."
(On tackles for loss today)
"There were a bunch of them. Getting them our their comfort zone was our number one job because we knew if they stayed downhill and got [Derrick] Henry rolling it was going to be a long day for us. So we penetrated, we got across the ball and made some plays."
(On how big Rachaad White was in today's game)
"He played tough football. You know, he played tough football. He was slamming it up in there. They [have] a very good D-line. Their linebackers hit pretty hard. I know [there] weren't any big runs, but the effectiveness of when he was slamming it up in there, eating clock up, was big for us."
(On how Baker Mayfield played against an aggressive defense)
"He did a heck of a job. He had the one blip with the interception, but he settled down after that and made the right throws. He found Mike [Evans]. He found Chris [Godwin]. He found everybody, and he made the right throws at the right time. Sometimes it's just getting the ball in their hands and letting them run. It works for us and Rachaad [White] did that."
(On Mike Evans being able to put his early dropped passes behind him)
"Mike's mentally tough. If he drops one, get right back to him because we know he's going to catch it again. He's going to be open multiple times. If we keep feeding him, we know he's going to come through for us.
(On Baker Mayfield hitting his thumb)
"He hit it on a helmet. I'll see what it looks like when I go in."
(On what he has seen from Calijah Kancey)
"He's still aggressive on the inside. He makes the edge rushers better because [opponents are] trying to double team him and Vita [Vea] on the inside, so we gotta get home on the outside. Getting comfortable with the system. We understand where he is. He can do a lot of things for us and we haven't opened up his whole bag of tricks yet."
(On how Jamel Dean did in man to man coverage today)
"Dean and Zyon [McCollum] did a heck of a job playing man coverage and understating the assignment of what they got to do. The way [DeAndre] Hopkins has been playing this year has been incredible, so for them to not be able to get the ball over the top, like we had last week, was big."
(On if it was a conservative effort to play more man to man this week)
"It's gameplan on how we look at people and how they look at us and what we can get away with. They play more base more than people do so we can get away with more of it."
(On if the offense is starting to find more of the balance that they want)
"It's balanced, we just have to stop the mistakes. There's always going to be more pass or more run depending on who we're playing, so never going to be a complete balance. We just want to be effective with whatever we do."
(On how much this win is a confidence boost going into next week vs the 49ers)
"It was big because we lost four in a row. A lot of people can lose faith and these guys never flinched in the locker room. The effort was there. They understood the mistakes they made and they tried to correct them today so that was big for us."
(On if they did anything different watching the film this week)
"No, coaches understand what they want to do and how they want to do it. We watched the gametape together and we understood who could do what and who could go where. We start letting guys do what they do best, and then we just put all together, and let them play and put it in their hands."
(On if the players had a say in the gameplan)
"No, they don't have – no, not in the gameplan. If they want to get there at three in the morning then they are more than welcome to have a lot of input."
(On the back and forth discussion after the last loss)
"Back and forth discussion is not about game plan, it's just about how can we win, eliminating the mistakes, more-less than trying to say we should do this, we should do there, so there's good dialogue, but it's nothing like that."
(On has he seen enough on Calijah Kancey to know if he's a keeper)
"I know he's a keeper. I thought he was a keeper when we got him, but I think he's just scratching the surface. I think there's a lot more to him."
