Browns Linebackers Coach Jason Tarver Press Conference November 17, 2023
Cleveland Browns linebackers coach Jason Tarver addresses reporters as the team prepares to host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon.
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00:00 Good morning.
00:07 Good.
00:12 What did I say?
00:14 Oh, that's boring.
00:20 We felt the whole team on the sideline.
00:43 This team is full of resolve and we can feel it.
00:46 We were talking about it, players, coaches, everybody, of how this is where we want to be.
00:52 This is our mindset.
00:54 We know we work well together.
00:56 We like each other.
00:57 We have trained for these moments now.
00:59 We've become more resilient, like Coach Stefanski always says.
01:03 So, when you're able to talk about those things in the moment, it brings everybody together.
01:09 Coaches, players, everybody on our sideline did a great job of just going to the next play and making sure we were in the right spots
01:19 and also straining as hard as we could to finish that game.
01:23 It also seemed like when we talked to those guys after the game, basically all of them said they had no doubt, even when it was 31-30,
01:30 and they were like, "Oh, we're just going to go out and get another stop."
01:33 How have you seen that confidence kind of material?
01:35 It's really cool.
01:36 Those are the things that, as a coach and as an organization, of being a part of it a few times,
01:41 when it gets built, it's really cool because you can't give that to people.
01:45 You can't give that to a group.
01:47 That resilience comes from shared situational awareness and just mindset, and it really was.
01:53 Everybody was talking about it, and we need to continue that.
01:57 When you have it, you have to keep bringing it back out.
02:01 I was a part of one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history as a young offensive coach.
02:05 I had my glasses on before LASIKs when I worked for a team on the West Coast.
02:10 Jeff Garcia came to the sideline in the third quarter after we got stopped on a fourth and one.
02:16 It was in the playoffs against the Giants, and he just looked at us and said, "We're down."
02:21 I forget how many, but it was a lot.
02:23 He just looked at us and said, "We're going to win this game," and everybody went, and it took off.
02:27 That team was resilient like that.
02:29 As a young coach, I can't even – I won't say my age at that point.
02:34 That's where I saw it for really the first time when it becomes collective, and it's not easy to get.
02:41 Now it's our job, all of us together, to no matter what the circumstances, live that way.
02:48 How rare is that? How special is that?
02:51 You're trying to, as a group, build this from the ground up, and that's one of the greatest things about coaching
03:01 or being involved with any sport, but especially at this level, is watching people get that and helping bring that along.
03:08 It's rare. Yeah, it can be, but it can be – because it takes everybody.
03:13 It takes everybody's mindset, and it takes everybody buying in and everybody understanding that all that matters is the team
03:20 and going 1-0 each week.
03:22 How do you create that?
03:24 By how have we created it? A lot of it is the resilience.
03:28 We've done a lot of things as a team.
03:30 We've been in a lot of situations, not only some of our players in the past together,
03:35 but the players that we added to this team are great pieces, and they're unselfish, and they come in,
03:43 and they have different experiences, but our experiences have been welding together,
03:47 and then we've been through a lot of stuff.
03:49 Like, who's playing? I don't know. Let's go.
03:53 Does it also come from the ups and downs of a season as well as you guys have gone through,
03:59 just those different games of just the ups and downs of that as well,
04:04 and you build that resilience throughout a season?
04:06 Yeah, but I also think it's your mindset when you go through it because if you're going through it
04:10 and you're not conscious as an individual and as a team, then you're not learning the lessons.
04:16 I think our players and everybody involved has done a good job of recognizing
04:21 when it is something we need to learn and learn from and applying what we've learned,
04:25 and that consciousness of being able to do that, that's huge.
04:29 That's where tying it together is really special.
04:32 Is that what you notice when you're kind of trying to convince the opponent you've faced them a lot,
04:38 a long time? It just seems like they have thrived in those type of moments over the years,
04:44 the break, the fourth quarter, that sort of thing.
04:47 Is it sort of a standard for a lot of the great organizations?
04:56 Is what you're talking about that resolve that you're starting to see develop here?
05:01 Yeah, and we got to learn how to do that in every game no matter what the circumstances.
05:08 Finish the game. It can't be sometimes, but it does.
05:11 It comes from consistency of the organization working together.
05:14 It comes from how players interact, and it comes from when you're in these moments,
05:18 recognizing it and applying what you learned.
05:20 So, yeah, we got to keep it going, and yeah, that's our challenge this week,
05:24 and it's a big challenge, and we have to do that no matter who the opponent is,
05:29 but this is obviously a great test, and it's at home,
05:32 and what we're excited about is to be back at home because the last time we were here,
05:38 the dog pound was amazing, especially when we were on defense
05:41 when the last team was backed up. That was awesome.
05:44 So dog pound, keep doing it. We need you. We love you.
05:46 Specifically on the unselfishness, but I realize you're on the coaching side,
05:50 not on the scouting side or in the front office part, but from an organizational philosophy,
05:57 how important is it for you guys to bring in players that have that kind of mentality
06:03 as opposed to trying to find players that fit a certain skill set
06:07 or that it's up to you guys to coach that unselfishness into them?
06:11 Well, I think it works both ways. It's kind of like nature versus nurture, right?
06:16 Every human is his own person, but that human being put into the environment,
06:21 the environment, there's give and take on both sides.
06:24 So we have, and we've gotten better at it as an organization since we've been able to be together,
06:31 of just identifying those personality types, but then also when they come in,
06:35 of helping them jump into this society that we have.
06:39 So I think we've gotten better at that, and we need to continue to get better at that,
06:44 at identifying who fits and what pieces, because we need everybody.
06:48 We're a great example of a team that's needed everybody this year,
06:52 and some have made contributions of people that have just been lucky enough,
06:56 and we've been lucky enough to get them to show up and contribute.
06:59 It is, it's conscious in this organization, though. There's discussions from all of us.
07:05 It's just talking about the personality types and how they fit. It's constant.
07:10 We ask you about Jeremiah like every time you're up here,
07:13 but I mean, it really seems like with each passing game that he's maybe unlocked
07:18 the next level of his career in year three now.
07:20 Is he like seeing the game better? Has it slowed down for him and his reads and reactions and all that stuff?
07:25 How is that for him?
07:26 He's staying in his process, you know, and we asked, I get asked the questions,
07:32 and I talk about the same things because really it is.
07:34 It's building his body and building his game preparation process.
07:38 He had a little dip in one game, and his preparation the last two or three weeks
07:43 is even up another level, even more notes, and he's been taking, this year he's taking better notes.
07:48 He's conscious of what he does. He really wants, I mean, he's like, I need that play again.
07:53 He's starting to own things that happen to him in practice on the field.
07:57 Like, really, like I need that one again, coach, or that would be an example of a quoter
08:01 and how he communicates with Anthony and Sione and everybody is just, it's going up and up and up.
08:08 And then there's a couple of calls that maybe he hasn't had.
08:10 Like I threw him in one for yesterday and he just looked at me and go, yeah, it's time.
08:13 Let's go, you know, so it's coming. It's coming.
08:16 His challenge is to stay in this process and his challenge is to, no matter what the arena,
08:23 stay in the process, like road, home, it doesn't matter.
08:26 Get your eyes right from play one to play 60, whatever it takes.
08:31 There it is, and it's becoming more consistent, and that's what we're working on.
08:35 How has the skillet run game changed from week two, especially with Warren getting more time?
08:42 I think we got it. We have a big challenge.
08:45 Their last game, their last few games, they did a really good job of establishing the tempo.
08:51 And with both of their weapons that can handle the ball in the backfield,
08:55 they're both different, and different's not bad. Different's a great thing.
08:59 And so what we got to make sure we do is get whatever 11 defenders are on the ball around these guys,
09:06 whichever one they have at, however they get them the ball.
09:09 So I think they're getting better, and it's our challenge to make sure that we stay in our identity
09:14 and do what we just said, which is stay in each play and be able to deal with the different schemes that they have.
09:21 So run game, how has their offense overall evolved since week two?
09:26 I know Matt Candis supposedly, he's down on the sideline now, calling for the game, I guess.
09:33 How much have you noticed where their offense has changed dramatically from the first time you saw?
09:40 I don't know if it's dramatically. I think they're getting some of their guys back.
09:43 I don't know for sure if 88's going to play, but he's a good player.
09:47 So I think it's just their ability to put the ball in those two guys' hands with some good scheme runs.
09:55 And for us, it's about how we fit, how we do what Jim talks about all the time,
10:02 which is the front needs to disrupt and the linebackers and safeties need to clean it up.
10:09 So that's going to be big in this game is whatever happens in front of us, fixing it, and then swarming,
10:14 because they're good runners.
10:16 Thank you.
10:20 Thank you.
10:21 Thank you.
10:22 [BLANK_AUDIO]