BEREA: The fiery attitude Browns coach Hue Jackson wants Terrelle Pryor to better control on game days infiltrated the wide receiver’s interview with reporters Wednesday.
Pryor accused beat writers of misrepresenting the moment in which he barked at quarterback Robert Griffin III on the field in Sunday’s 23-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Pryor yelled at Griffin when he called timeout with 10:11 left in the third quarter. Griffin said Pryor wanted to run the play Jackson had dialed up, but Griffin called timeout because the play clock was running low.
Jackson said Monday he would ensure Pryor stops his emotional outbursts.
After declining to address the media Sunday and Monday, Pryor let the world know Wednesday he wasn’t arguing with Griffin and chastised anyone who thought otherwise.
“That’s the problem with relationships nowadays — people assume,” Pryor said. “Don’t be that assumption person, have a bad relationship. Don’t do that.”
Pryor instructed reporters not to “pump it up to be anything more than what it is” while describing his encounter with Griffin, who praised Pryor on Wednesday and said there’s “not any animosity” between them.
“I go and read in the articles you guys are saying I’m arguing with my teammate,” Pryor said. “That’s trying to break up this team and all we’re trying to do is ... fight for a win.
“I come in here and talk to you guys face to face. I’m very honest with you guys, have fun with you guys and then you guys paint a picture about me to be a bad person and try to put some type of stigma between me and my teammates. So I’d appreciate it if you guys stop assuming and get the actual story before you write something.”
Ready for a twist? Although Pryor disagreed with the coverage of the scene in the huddle, he actually agreed with Bengals cornerback Adam Jones’ assessment that Pryor was “garbage.” Jones ripped Pryor in a classic rant after the game, repeatedly called him “garbage” and pretended to search for him in a trash can next to his locker.
“I was garbage that day,” Pryor said. “I had one catch, 3 yards. I was garbage. He was right. It was an accurate statement.”
Jones claimed Pryor told defensive coordinator Paul Guenther before the game he would dominate Jones and cause the Bengals to cut him.
“I don’t recall that,” Pryor said. “Some people are storytellers.”
Regardless, Pryor was the target of verbal assaults from Jones and New York Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins after the past two games. He said he doesn’t think he crossed a line while trash-talking with them during the games, and he hasn’t publicly fought back when attacked.
“Words don’t do anything to me. I’m a godly man,” said Pryor, who leads the 0-13 Browns with 63 catches for 858 yards and four touchdowns. “I just live my life every day being humble and being kind. I live off of that.
“All I can do is fight on the field and talk on the field. ... Talking outside, a lot of kids look up to me. I’m a role model to a lot of kids. ... The way I want to teach my son is you don’t win battles and you don’t win games by talking.”
Meanwhile, Jackson is trying to teach Pryor to keep his emotions in check.
“We’ve talked. Terrelle understands,” Jackson said Wednesday. “We have common ground. I support Terrelle 100 percent, but there are certain things that he knows I want our players to emulate, and it’s not that. We’ll move from there, and he gets it. We’ll grow from it.
“Terrelle’s passion is wanting to win. It doesn’t come from a bad place. He’s not a belligerent young man or anything like that. I just think sometimes energy gets directed the wrong way and energy needs to stay on the field and do what we need him to do be successful.”
Jackson has had a conversation of that nature more than once this season with Pryor.
“I’ll have it several more times if I need to, until we get it right,” Jackson said. “But I think there’s a line and he knows that, that we’re not going to cross. We get it, and we know where we are and he knows exactly what he needs to do. So I feel very comfortable that the more he grows in this, the better he’s going to be.
“I think what we need to do is just play and not get caught up in social media and all those things. I think the most important thing is we play football to the best of our ability and let our play do our talking. The bottom line is we haven’t won a game, so we don’t have anything to say. There’s nothing we can say. So we’re going to be very quiet and just play ball.”
Pryor said “of course” he agrees with Jackson’s message to him.
“I’m not a guy that causes any beef or drama on the team. That’s not me. Am I on the sidelines fiery? Am I in the game fiery? Absolutely,” Pryor said. “I wouldn’t think that the fans or my coaches or anyone else would want me to not play that way any other time. And if I play any other way and just shut up and didn’t do anything, I don’t think I’d play as well. So I’m just continuing to try to get better.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.