BEREA, Ohio -- After seven weeks of the 2015 regular season, the Cleveland Browns find themselves at 2-5 and in third place in the AFC North Division, 4.5 games in back of the front-running Cincinnati Bengals, whom they will face in eight days on
Thursday Night Football
.
Currently, the Browns are in the part of their schedule where they will play three games over a 15-day period, including back-to-back road contests against AFC North foes including Cincinnati and the Pittsburgh Steelers. But to head coach Mike Pettine, the uphill climb over the next three weeks will show what the Browns are truly made of.
"In the team meeting, we talked about where we are and we talked about adversity and what adversity does for you," Pettine said. "The benefit of facing adversity, you find out a lot about yourself. It's easy to exist in this profession when things are going well, but when things aren't, you truly find out who you are. Who is mentally tough? Who cares about this team? And who is willing to step up?
"Continuing to do what we've done would be foolish just because it has gotten us these results so far. We're not going to do anything radically different. It has to be incremental, so the challenge to each man in the room, coaches and players, was 'What am I going to do different? What am I going to do extra? Is it in the weight room? Is it in the meeting room? Is it on the practice field?' Everyone was challenged to take a personal inventory, where they are, what are they doing well and what are they not doing well and how do we change it?
"It wasn't an easy film to watch knowing how we matched up going into that game and what the result was. There were a lot of good teaching points in it. Hopefully, we'll lock them away and move forward, but it's not easy to go back through."
Although the Browns are 2-5 and a tiebreaking victory over the Baltimore Ravens away from being in the basement of the AFC North Division, Pettine believes it is not too late for the personal introspection from his players and coaches.
"When we go through the tape, it's 'Where am I? Hit the reset button,'" Pettine said. 'When I look at the grade sheet, the challenge to them each time, whether it's practice or a game, 'Am I a repeat offender? Are there the some things, the same mistakes I'm continuing to make?' That's also on the position coach. If he sees a trend with a guy, you can have a minus here and there, that's a certain technical thing.
"If it's a one-timer, you're not that concerned about it, but that's on the position coaches as well. If they see a guy who's going down the wrong path and constantly getting the same thing wrong, that's on us to get it corrected. But the players, (if) they sense 'Hey, there's something I'm missing or I'm not quite where I should be with it,' that's on them. We don't want them to just look at the sheet, nod their head and just move on. 'How do I turn that minus into a plus?'
"A lot of it starts with the individual because we always preach 'As individuals get better, the team gets better.' If everybody accepts that challenge of being introspective, 'What am I doing?' This is for me, this is for the coaches, it isn't just for the players. It's on a individual level first. When the coaches look at their particular side of the ball, 'What are we doing well? What are we not doing well? Where do we need to improve?' Those are things that get looked at."
Browns quarterback Josh McCown is one of Pettine's players who does a weekly introspection into what he could do better, and after doing so Monday, the 36-year old veteran believes his team will bounce back as they continue with their preparations for Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals.
"I feel great about our chances of bouncing back," McCown said. "There's no flinching in any of us, and so, I think we understand the things that happened and the corrections we need to make and we'll bounce back and move forward. Everybody has the full confidence in one another and our abilities to do that.
"Anytime you lose a game, it's not a step in the right direction. That's for sure. I don't think we took a step backward, though. We lost that game. We didn't play well, but we're capable of better. It's how we bounce back that will matter the most.
"You just have to focus on your preparation and really bear down on that aspect throughout the work week, and then, when we go into these games, take that preparation to the field and transfer it over. Take care of your job and do your job the best you can and stack up good plays. That's what we have to do and not have the negative things that happened the other day."
And if McCown is healthy enough to get back on the field after encountering an injury to his throwing shoulder in the waning moments of Sunday's 24-6 loss to the St. Louis Rams, he is "absolutely" looking forward to being on the field to lead his teammates into the game against the Cardinals, the Browns' lone home game in November until a Monday Night Football affair with the Baltimore Ravens on the 30th.
"I want to get back out there and get going because of all those things you just said," McCown said. "We spend so much time. It's not just me. Every guy in this locker room puts his time in, the coaches upstairs and you want to be rewarded for your work and your effort, but in order to do that, you've got to go out and make that happen on Sunday.
"You've got to go out and make the plays necessary to win the football game and don't make the critical mistakes that hurt us, so I'd absolutely love to be back out there."
