Jake Browning on Bengals' Matchup With Steelers, Filling in For Injured Joe Burrow
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00:00 this week feels going into this game versus other weeks?
00:04 - Different.
00:05 I do this on Wednesdays now, I guess.
00:08 Other than that, yeah, obviously it's a lot different,
00:13 but I feel like I've said this a couple of times,
00:17 but I've been preparing like I was going to be the guy
00:20 at some point and that was kind of my job.
00:23 And so, yeah, my reps are different.
00:25 Obviously I'm not on scout team anymore.
00:28 If anything, Wednesday practices, the plays I'm running,
00:31 there's supposed to be someone open.
00:33 It's not always the case on scout team offense.
00:36 And then just the preparation's a little bit different.
00:38 Like, you know, you get some of the play calls on Wednesday.
00:42 Usually, you know, I'm kind of learning those
00:45 as Joe is calling them and now it's like,
00:47 all right, before I go out to practice, you know,
00:49 I need to call those, right?
00:50 So we have a Chris practice and stuff like that.
00:52 But yeah, obviously it's different
00:53 and adjusting to that on the fly,
00:56 but feel well prepared for that adjustment.
00:59 - You talk about your routine,
00:59 you've been calling wide, you know,
01:01 as you go through and prep.
01:03 What's probably the most important thing
01:04 at this point that you do in your routine
01:06 to get ready for a weekend?
01:08 - I think just taking, I mean, the last two days,
01:10 you watch a lot of Steelers tape.
01:12 I feel like I, I mean, I've been in the room
01:15 and we've played them a lot, kind of got a good feel,
01:17 I feel like for what they're doing on defense
01:19 at this point in the week and now it's,
01:21 okay, what are we doing to attack that or what they do?
01:24 And so I think that's kind of where
01:27 you want to be on a Wednesday is,
01:30 okay, I know what they do, what are we going to do?
01:32 And then you really start diving into
01:34 knowing what we're doing on normal downs,
01:36 third down red zone as the week progresses.
01:38 - When did you start your process
01:42 or coming up with a weekly process,
01:45 if this were to happen, how much consideration did you give?
01:49 How many changes did you make in it?
01:51 Or did you come up with it,
01:52 or was it a set of stone from jump three?
01:55 - I mean, I've tweaked a little bit of stuff.
01:56 I think when I was in a backup role,
01:58 you know, Monday, Tuesday was a little bit
02:01 like conditioning almost, like let's stay in shape
02:03 and Sunday's not super eventful for me.
02:06 And now that's probably switched a little bit more
02:07 to recovery stuff and just turning my body right.
02:11 And I've never really had like, okay,
02:14 here's exactly what I do.
02:15 And I'm just going to do it like this, no matter what.
02:17 There's always little tweaks you're going to make.
02:19 And half of that in the early parts of my career
02:22 to stay engaged, like, okay,
02:23 I'm going to try doing an extra lift or something
02:26 just because you're not getting a ton of reps
02:28 and you're not playing in the games.
02:29 And so you got to do something to stay engaged.
02:32 - Did you do your normal Tuesday thing
02:35 when you meet with the DBs?
02:37 Or is that now you're just sad you don't do that?
02:39 - No, I told them I probably will not be
02:42 in the Tuesday meetings going forward.
02:43 I think the idea that when I was in a backup role was,
02:48 hey, what's the best use of my time to try and help us win.
02:51 And, you know, when, like I said,
02:53 when I was in a backup role,
02:54 I felt like going in there and helping them out was big.
02:56 And now it's more so me watching the Steelers defense
03:01 and, you know, meeting with Ted
03:05 or getting a headstart on the run game or whatever that is.
03:09 So you're always trying to find the best use of your time,
03:11 just like any other job.
03:12 And so that's probably,
03:15 that's an example of one of the adjustments.
03:17 - Jake, what was the first thing Joe told you
03:19 when he found out that he was going to be out
03:21 for the season?
03:22 Can you tell us what his conversation with you was like?
03:25 - Yeah, I mean, I'll keep some of that private,
03:28 but it was just, I think he's never had anything
03:31 but confidence in me from kind of the day I stepped in here
03:34 and through a little bit with them was, you know,
03:38 I think he called me Jakey Spinrate,
03:39 or I think him or Brandon Allen called me that.
03:42 And so I was like, all right,
03:43 like it always feels a little good.
03:45 Like I had just gotten cut from Minnesota,
03:46 basically thought I was going to go become a coach
03:49 and, you know, stepped into the room.
03:51 And I remember after the Minnesota game too,
03:54 him saying like, hey, I really appreciate, you know,
03:56 what you're saying on the sideline.
03:58 Like, just keep talking to me.
03:59 And so I was like, okay, I can do that.
04:02 And just as my career has gone on here,
04:06 just having a ton of confidence in my ability.
04:09 And I've always had that too,
04:10 but it's nice to get some validation there.
04:12 And I think other than that,
04:15 it's just been normal conversation.
04:18 You know, when are you getting surgery, stuff like that.
04:20 And kind of normal human interaction.
04:24 - Does the nickname Jakey Spinrate live on today?
04:26 - Yeah, I guess.
04:28 I don't know.
04:29 Not as much.
04:30 So I think that was a Brandon Allen nickname, I think.
04:33 So that kind of died when he left.
04:36 - Have you allowed yourself to think
04:37 about how big this could be for your career this stretch?
04:40 Or is it singular focused on the Steelers?
04:44 - Yeah, I mean, I'm not oblivious.
04:46 I'm not dumb.
04:47 I know, you know, I've seen this happen for other guys
04:51 where it goes well or it doesn't.
04:52 And so, you know, I think you can never just act
04:56 like you're not, that hasn't crossed your mind
04:58 at least once.
04:59 But I think as time goes on
05:02 and you kind of get into the week,
05:04 there's a lot of game planning that goes on
05:07 throughout a week where you can't just constantly
05:08 be in la-la land, like what if this goes well?
05:11 At some point, you kind of got to narrow your focus
05:14 to I'm outplaying the Steelers.
05:16 They're really good on defense.
05:17 And let's go give them our best shot.
05:19 - What would Noah, what it means for you
05:21 in your mind when he was talking about,
05:23 is there a sense of also not putting a lot,
05:24 too much pressure on yourself,
05:25 making sure you're not too tight
05:27 when you go out there in a moment like this?
05:29 - Yeah, I mean, I think,
05:31 I think obviously we lost,
05:34 but going into the Ravens game
05:35 and just getting thrown out there on a short week
05:38 without, I mean, I hadn't taken a rep
05:41 in this offense in a while.
05:42 And so, you know, and then having the confidence of like,
05:46 all right, I went in there, I felt like
05:48 we could have played better, but it didn't go up in flames.
05:51 And so just staying loose, like you said, is important.
05:56 But I think for me, whenever I've played well in my career,
06:01 it's just been a big focus on play to play,
06:03 like just focus on operating well.
06:06 And, you know, I've always been naturally pretty accurate.
06:09 So I think the less I think about
06:11 all the different things that could happen,
06:13 just go play, play fast.
06:15 - Back in Brownville, talk about like,
06:16 you communicated to them, just call the plays
06:18 just from the offense.
06:19 Tell me, was it, seemed you had everything
06:22 at your disposal on Thursday
06:23 and how important can that be going forward?
06:25 - Yeah, I think, you know,
06:28 there's different times where backups go in
06:30 and, you know, without knowing that everything
06:34 that happens on other teams,
06:35 you sometimes feel like the coach is calling plays
06:37 to just protect the quarterback
06:39 and keep them from losing the game,
06:40 but then never really give them an opportunity to win it.
06:42 And so my communication with them was basically like,
06:46 hey, call whatever helps us beat the Ravens.
06:49 And then I reiterated it again on Saturday,
06:51 you know, just with the text to pitch was just,
06:54 hey, let's just call whatever helps us beat the Steelers
06:57 and, you know, give me that opportunity
06:59 to go win or lose the game
07:01 and don't have the prevailing thought be after the game,
07:05 like, okay, we called this
07:07 'cause we wanted to protect Jake.
07:09 Like that's playing to keep it close.
07:12 we're planning to go win the game so just call whatever is going to help us win.