AFC Notes: Lamar Jackson, Deshaun Watson, Browns, Ravens, Steelers

Browns

• Browns HC Kevin Stefanski on QB Deshaun Watson: “He cleared concussion protocol, but I just did not want to put him back out there. I wanted to protect our franchise quarterback. That was my decision.” (Ed Werder)
• Stefanski indicated that Watson would start in Seattle, but Watson said “Not sure. We’ll see…” when asked if he would be ready for the game. (Jake Trotter)

Ravens

Ravens HC John Harbaugh, QB Lamar Jackson, and LB Patrick Queen spoke about their big victory over the Lions, who were on a roll before running into Baltimore on Sunday.

“You guys can define all that stuff the way you want, and it’s cool. We’re just going to define it in terms of what we think we’re capable of playing like, and I promise you all the different things in that game that we feel like we can do better,” Harbaugh said, via Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. “But the things that we did well, we stand on and we build on. The things we can do better, we have to take with us out there to Arizona and find a way to keep getting better. That kind of creates a vision for what we can be, but let’s go be even better.”

“Every single guy was completely locked in at practice,” Harbaugh added. “We had three excellent practices. I wasn’t even thinking about it, (but) everybody kept asking me about not taking the bye or whatever. There you go.”

“When we’re doing what we’re supposed to do, the sky’s the limit for us,” Jackson noted. “We just showed a glimpse today, I believe.”

“We just played our style of football,” Queen said. “Obviously, there was a lot of talk that they were the best team in the NFL. The whole time, we were just like, ‘Let’s focus on us. Let’s do our thing. Let’s go out there, try to get the stops and stop the run.’ We knew what they were going to do, so just go out there and play our style of football.”

Steelers

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett and HC Mike Tomlin spoke about the big play of WR Diontae Johnson in their win against the Rams on Sunday, as Johnson’s third-down catch set the team up for victory.

“It was a really good route for him,” Pickett said, via Steeler Nation. “He’s a great route runner and gets separation. I just want to give him a chance to convert on third down.”

“They couldn’t lock in on 14 [Pickens],” Tomlin added. “They had to play it straight up and it was evident.”