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News | Washington Commanders - Commanders.com

Top 10 Quotes: Washington Vs. Browns, Week 3

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With the team's practice prep for the Cleveland Browns complete, here's a list of the best quotes of the week, as compiled by WashingtonFootball.com, presented by GEICO:

10. Linebackers coach Steve Russ on if anything has surprised him about the linebacker group:

"I try not to come into a new situation like this with preconceived notions. So, I just kind of focus on the here and the now and trying to get these guys better every day. I wouldn't say I've had a lot of surprises any way shape or form. We have standards, we have expectations that we all hold each other to in how we go about working in our meeting room, in our individual drills and in practice, how we study film, the whole deal. Everybody's done that."

9. Head coach Ron Rivera on the timeline for the teams progress:

"I can tell you this much, people have come to the assertion that it takes a number of reps until things become natural. Again, we kind of turned that—it takes 5,000. I don't know if it takes 5,000, but it takes repetition, repetition, repetition. Again, remember we're in year one. We've had a limited year one... It takes time. Hopefully we'll get there sooner than later."

8. Head coach Ron Rivera on how Alex Smith is progressing:

"I think he's almost at that point. It's been really neat watching his progression and watching things come back. As we get into situations we start coming through the next few weeks, you never know what will happen. I don't think I would have any trepidation having him active. I think now it's just a matter of opportunity."

7. Offensive Coordinator Scott Turner on how the offense can start faster:

"We look at everything. We want to get the ball to [WR] Terry [McLaurin]. We have plays where he's considered the number one option and there's progressions. The pass game isn't like the run game where you choose who to give it to. You have options...Then everyone talks about tempo, we look at that as well. We do tempo where that's another thing we were eighth in the league in first half pace. So, we're running a play about every 24 seconds...We look to explore all options. Anything we can do to be successful. I think it comes down to just making plays or me putting guys into the right situation. It's never just one thing."

6. Head coach Ron Rivera on developing a one-two punch with the running backs:

"I think we can develop that with our backs, period. I think we've got a good stable of them. We saw a little bit of it last week. We saw a little bit of it the week before. There are guys that bring something a little bit different to the table and they'll play their roles for you... We feel good about our stable of backs. We really do. We think we've got a great group of young backs."

5. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. on his approach heading into Week 3:

"The biggest thing is going in there, trusting what Coach Turner calls, trusting in the guys up front to protect and trusting in the receivers to get open and trusting in myself that I'm going to make the play happen and find the first down and find the checkdown and not necessarily push or try to make something happen out of nothing. Just play the game, play the game, and hopefully that leads to a win."

4. Defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio on the defensive transition:

"We pride ourselves on teaching details as a staff. Ultimately, it's up to the players to be professionals and go attack it and go put their mark on it. I talk a lot of times about with our guys, we're not painting by numbers. It's not like the ones get red and yellow goes in the ones with two and number three those get purple. We're not painting then go outside the lines. To me, it's a free-flowing thing."

3. Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio on what team needs to improve on this week:

"We just want to continue to grow. We're a unit that—I think we've got the ability to play at a high level. We expect to get that done. We just want to see growth. We want to see consistency. We're getting good effort. We need to clean up some things and that's what we're doing. We're just teaching and developing and working with our guys. We just have to do it at a higher level. I've got to coach it a little bit better and we've got to play a little bit better. That's always the way you feel and talk about it. Coming off a loss, I feel the exact same way coming off a win. There are a lot of things I felt we had to improve off on Week 1. Week 2 is no different. We're looking forward to the next chapter."

2. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. on attacking Cleveland's Defense:

"The biggest thing is just trusting that at the end of the day everybody has players. Everybody has good defensive players and they're going to find a way to get after you and expose weaknesses in your game. We have to be ready to go in there and communicate and make sure we're effective and execute the game plan the best we can. We're going to their house and no one's expecting us to win probably. That's good, we want it that way."

1. Defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio on signs of progress:

"Our guys understand the issues that we've had and how we have the answers to and how we're going to play those things. We look to improve as we go through the year and that's just teaching and coaching and moving forward. That's kind of how we address it. I like our group, I like our guys, I like our defense, I like the people in our room. I think the coaches and players—I think we've got a good group. It'll start with me. I'll do some things better and help our guys and everyone will do their part. That's the way I approach it."

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