Thursday, November 2, 2000

Q- Give me the reasons this team is getting fired up to play the Cleveland Browns this weekend?

KC- It will make us 7-2 instead of 6-3. I think we all are starting to see that we can have a good year if we want to have one. These are important games for us every one from here on out.

 
Q- Is it a scary type of game?

KC- It is one of those kinds of games. But if we take care of the things that we need to take care of I think we’ll be okay. We can do the kind of things that we need to do. If we come in with the wrong attitude these things can jump up and bite you in the butt. They play hard and they have some good young players and they have a lot of pride in that organization. We need to be ready to go.

 
Q- It looked like the ground game was the secret last week?

KC- That’s kind of the way we’re built. We would like to have that strong running game where you give it to Ron Dayne 25 times and Tiki gets his carries and keeps the clock moving. I think our passing game was efficient last weekend it was timely. We made some plays on third down which is something we hadn’t done well in the past few weeks. All good signs and that is the way we want to play every game.

 
Q- How important is it to get off to a good start so the crowd doesn’t get involved in the game?

KC- I think that is important anytime you’re on the road and especially going in this week the team that is new can come back after a few years hiatus and I know they’re fans are excited to have them back. For the crowd to get into it and for them to put some early numbers against us is going to make it a long day for us. We need to take care of business and play well.

 
Q- Talk about the dog pound and the dog bones?

KC- Yeah, I heard they used to throw batteries and stuff back in the days. It’s a great town obviously. When you think of the Cleveland Browns it’s a storied franchise and it will be exciting for me to go back there and play there.

 
Q- They have only won one game there so they’re going to be itching for a victory…

KC-Definitely, I know they’re getting great support there and I know they want to win for their fans. I went through something similar in Carolina where it’s a new team and there is a lot of excitement. They’ll come around, they have good ownership and they’ve got the right people in place where they’re going to be a real good football team someday. I don’t think they’re a bad football team now. I think they’re young at sometimes and I think that may have hurt them. Certainly to go on the road against them against a hungry team is a tough task.

 
Q- How important is it to keep it going and not to take a step back?

KC- I think it’s important for us to keep the level that we’ve played at in the past, last week especially and the week before. We ran the ball real well and we need to just keep on improving. Jim talks about that all the time and I firmly believe that you see the good teams and each week they go out there and they play better than they did the last week. We all need to do that and certainly Amani, I think Amani is back and whatever happened those two weeks or three weeks I think it has passed. We all feel good about where he’s at and he’s going to be a big part of what we do from here on out.

 
Q- Courtney Brown is only a rookie, Is he one of those guys who already you have to keep an eye on when you break the huddle?

KC- He shows up, he makes plays and certain times you can tell that he is young. He makes mistakes but there hasn’t been a rookie football player in this league who hasn’t made mistakes. He is going to be a great one; there is no doubt about it. You can see it the way he plays and some of the plays that he makes. Certainly a force to be reckoned with.

 
Q- Does he go by the Paterno rule? Don’t rough up Penn State QB’s.

KC- I hope so that would be great. Courtney, if your watching this Joe told me there is that rule. He’s going to be a real good player and from I’ve heard he is a great guy and a great kid. I know Joe liked him a lot so I hope nothing but good things happen for him.

 
Q- Talk about-facing Percy Ellsworth?

KC- I think he said he wanted me to flip him one or something like that. I’m going to try to play keep away from him. I don’t want him to get that first one off me. I really liked Percy and I think everybody else did. He’s a great guy to have in the locker room and it will be good to see him again. It will be good to see him and Roman and David Patten too. They were all great guys and I enjoyed playing with them last year. Percy is a real likeable guy so it will be really good to see him. Along as he doesn’t get that pick everything will be all right. I’ll be all smiles for him.

 
Q- Is there an advantage to the two of you knowing each other?

KC- I was thinking about that is going to recognize some of our plays. Is he going to know what we’re doing? But I think the offense has changed enough where I don’t think he could recognize anything that we do. But he knows personnel and that always could play a little bit of an advantage.

 
Q- What about you personally. Does he know your tendencies?

KC- I don’t know, that is a good question. I might ask him that after the game. I never really was kind of aware that kind of relationship that we had. If you knew what I did and vice versa. I don’t know? Maybe he thinks he knows something and he doesn’t know something. Maybe I can play with him a little bit.

 
Q-Was it the Bears game that you said I’m scared to death of this game? What do you characterize your emotions in this game?

KC- Yeah. I think I’m a little bit more confident about what kind of team we have. At the time we just came off the big win in Philly, we were 2-0. I really wasn’t sure what the mental status was of the team and what kind of makeup we had at the time. I think we’re rounded enough and we realize the kind of game we need to play week in and week out. I treat this game like I treat every game especially on the road. I think it’s going to be tough and we need to prepare accordingly.

 
Q- You can’t use that every week, you can’t be scared of every game you play…

KC- No, It was still very very early. I didn’t know if we this was going to be the kind of team that got big heads and started to listen to everything that people were saying about us and go out there and just get worked. I think I have a little better for how were going to approach it and I think the leadership has gotten better since then. I think guys are more in tune with the guys we have around here. As you go along in the season the team starts to take on a little bit of a personality and certainly start to make their presence known.