Brandon Weeden on his struggling debut: 'I know I played bad'

By Mary Kay Cabot, The Plain Dealer

BEREA, Ohio -- Brandon Weeden hasn't glanced at Twitter, even with one eye shut, read the papers, listened to sports talk radio or watched SportsCenter highlights since his four-interception NFL debut.

"I know I played bad, so I'm not going to sit here and listen to anybody," said Weeden. "These guys in this locker room, they've got my back and that's really all I care about. I don't need the nation to tell me how bad I played."

Just to be certain that it was as bad as he thought, Weeden came in early Monday morning and watched the film of the 17-16 loss to the Eagles three times. "Two times too many," he said.

But after the non-charming third viewing, he deep-sixed the tape.

"I'll never watch that film again," he said. "It's over and done with. If you dwell on it, it will affect you the rest of the week and you can't do that. I learned from it, and I've got to play better."

The one silver lining is that he can only go up from here. Weeden and his 5.1 rating are dead-last in the NFL, one notch below fellow rookie Ryan Tannehill (39.0) and a few spots behind No. 1 pick Andrew Luck, who's 28th with a 52.9.

"It can't be any worse than it was the first week," Weeden said of his restored confidence heading into Cincinnati this week. "I mean that jokingly. We're all going to have rough stretches. Obviously, mine was the first week. I look at the mistakes I made, and you guys saw 'em. Guys were wide open and I missed 'em. That's not my character, not the way I usually throw the football."

Weeden, who said he never played that poorly for an entire game before, sought refuge in the company of family and friends.

"I didn't go home and watch football, I can promise you that," he said. "I had a bunch of people in town. My parents are supportive. They were like, 'Brandon, it's going to get better.' It's nice having those people around -- even though I am a little bit older (28) and I should be able to handle it."

Weeden arose early Monday, ready to face the music. When he got to the team facility, coach Pat Shurmur assured him he was still his guy, and General Manager Tom Heckert echoed it.

"It's one bad game," Weeden said. "If I continue to do bad things, that's on me. I think they have a lot of confidence in me and my abilities and they wouldn't have named me the starter if they didn't.

"I've just got to prove to them that I'm the guy. When it's all said and done and you drop the helmet, you've got to play better."

Weeden also spent a large chunk of Monday apologizing to his defense, which supplied him with five takeaways – 25 percent of last year's total.

"I've told the defense over and over until I'm blue in the face -- they should've won us that football game," he said. "That made me feel worse than anything. They played so well, I've got to help them out, make a play here and there to give us a win. Everybody's talking about [the Eagles] going to the Super Bowl and we were a couple of plays away and that was all our defense."

Weeden still can't believe he was so erratic, missing Mohamed Massaquoi and Alex Smith by a mile in the end zone and Massaquoi down the sideline.

"That [first] one was just adrenaline," he said. "A couple of them were my feet. I got pressure, I had to slide up on one and got hit, kinda high-lowed, kinda saw the guy dive at my feet, so it just caused me to throw it. The other one, [I just wasn't] sound in my footwork. Just not getting my feet underneath me and being able to step into throws and throw them accurately.

"It's not something I'm happy about. Hopefully we can fix it moving forward."

He acknowledged his chemistry with Greg Little is a work in progress. Weeden hit Little in the hands near the goal-line and it glanced off for an eventual interception.

"We're not where we need to be yet," said Weeden. "Fortunately there's a lot of football left to fix those mistakes."

Little and rookie Travis Benjamin, who had two passes for him intercepted by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, acknowledged they have to help more.

"I should've caught that pass," said Little.

Said Benjamin, "I learned I have to help Brandon out. I've got to fight for the ball and knock it down."

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis cautioned his defense that Weeden is better than his stats indicate.

"I didn't think he played nearly as bad as I guess the criticism he's getting," said Lewis. "Sometimes the ball just goes the other way."

But the gunslinger isn't about to let the debacle deter him.

"Oh yeah, I'm taking shots," he said. "Don't worry about that."

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