Berea, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – It’s one thing to beat a team, it’s another to question their heart while doing it.
That’s what Titans cornerback Malcolm Butler did in a conversation with receiver Jarvis Landry before halftime of Sunday’s 43-13 Tennessee rout, except Butler didn’t question it, he told Landry the Browns had no heart.
“That happened before halftime,” Landry said Friday. “Right before halftime, going in, that’s what he said.”
Part of the exchange was caught and aired on the Browns’ in-house produced TV show ‘Building the Browns’ because Landry was mic’d up for the game.
“Oh, I know you, bro. I’m talking about your team,” Butler said, to which Landry replied, “We got heart, bro.”
Head coach Freddie Kitchens did not take too kindly to the comment when asked about it Friday afternoon following practice.
“He does not know our locker room,” Kitchens said.
“I want to be affirmative that everybody will find out what are team has, OK? Nobody is going to question our heart. There was nothing about heart with the way that game happened the other day. I do not know who the hell is saying that, but they really do not know. They are not going to question our heart. If they do, they do not know what the hell they are talking about, whoever it is writing it or saying it.”
Landry admitted he was caught off guard by Butler's remark considering the Browns only trailed 12-6 at halftime, and 15-13 late in the third quarter before the game got out of hand.
“It definitely kind of took me by surprise for a second. But at the same time, opponents are willing to say anything, you’ve just got to take it for what it is,” Landry said. “Again, in that matter, I know the guys here, I know everybody is going to play under four quarters, 0:00 on the clock and a winner is decided.”
Defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson took Butler’s barb as simple trash talk.
“He’s just jaw-jacking a little bit,” Richardson said. “I don’t think that’s the case with this team; this team is very resilient. Just leave it at that.”
Defensive end Olivier Vernon was also surveyed about the comment and he too took the high road.
“I could care less, to be honest with you,” Vernon said. “We really just beat ourselves with a lot of things that happened in that game. I still give credit to Tennessee; they had a good game plan. He’s just talking. Guys are going to talk, so let ‘em talk.”
Pullin’ for Cribbs – Browns special teams coordinator Mike Priefer is pulling for former Browns returner Josh Cribbs to get into the Hall of Fame.
“I love the fact that he was nominated for the Hall of Fame,” Priefer said. “I hope he gets a bunch of votes. I hope he gets in because he did some great things. I know we coached against him and he was not a fun man to coach against. He is one of those guys that he was not going down easy. He may not have been the fastest, but he was going to be the toughest and the strongest, and he was going to hit the seam full speed. You are going to have to have a lot of people around him to get him down.
Cribbs, who is tied for the NFL record for 8 returns for touchdowns in his career and is second to Jim Brown in all-purpose yardage in franchise history, was among the 122 eligible candidates announced on Thursday for the class of 2020.
“I hope he gets in,” Priefer said.
Return game – With running back Dontrell Hilliard in concussion protocol it’s unlikely he’ll be on the field Monday night against the Jets meaning Priefer needs a new kick returner, and he has one in mind.
Priefer will turn to running back D'Ernest Johnson, who returned one kick for 23 yards against the Titans after Hilliard departed the game.
“He has done a good job for us,” Priefer said. “He almost popped the one, his last one and his only return of the game. He only got out to about the 25, but he was one block away from making a much bigger play. It was pretty well blocked. We just have to finish.
Not fine – Fine letters began rolling in this week following Sunday’s opener.
Richardson plans to appeal his $20,000-plus fine for unnecessary roughness.
“Of course. I pushed a dude,” Richardson said. “Twenty thousand dollars gone down the drain because I pushed somebody playing football — it’s crazy.”
Left tackle Greg Robinson, who was ejected for kicking Titans safety Kenny Vaccaro in the head, was fined $10,000, which he will also appeal. Robinson avoided an additional fine for a blindside block which the NFL told the Browns this week should not have been called.
“They came back to us and said it should not have been called,” offensive coordinator Todd Monken said.
Fortunately, the Browns scored three plays later.
TMI – Monken explained the league’s ruling on the block by Robinson.
“In their minds, it was not forcible contact is what I remember from looking at it,” Monken said. “I did not commit it to memory, but they said it should not have been called. That is neither here nor there. That comes every week. I do not even mean it that way. There are multiple ones every week in our game and other games where they mention, ‘They should have called this. We will talk to the official.’ That is part of it. They are human. That has nothing to do with us.”
Kitchens was not pleased that Monken revealed the league’s review of the play.
“I am not going to comment on what we heard back from the officials,” Kitchens said. “Todd needs to learn we are not supposed to talk about that.”
Injury report – DNP: RB Dontrell Hilliard (concussion), OT Kendall Lamm (knee), LB Adarias Taylor (ankle), DL Chris Smith (personal); Limited: WR Rashard Higgins (knee), LG Joel Bitonio (abdomen); Full: QB Drew Stanton (knee), WR Odell Beckham Jr. (hip), DT Larry Ogunjobi (shoulder), S Damarious Randall (hand).
