HC Kevin Stefanski (8.6.23)
How’s Greg Newsome doing?
“Yeah, better, progressing. I’d say he’s day-to-day. Not ready just yet.”
Kevin, we talked to Stump (Mitchell) earlier, and he mentioned Nick (Chubb) playing more on third down this year than he has in the past because Kareem (Hunt) is not here. Just how comfortable are you with Nick and everything that comes with him – third down, pass protection, all that?
“Yeah, Nick certainly can do it all. I think he’s shown that over the course of his career. He’s been out there on third down for us. We’ll work through that. It could be Nick out there; it could be Jerome (Ford). You know, could be a variety of different guys, but it’s really dependent on the game plan. Now, having said that, you’re always comfortable with Nick. I mean, he knows who to block, how to block him, what routes to run. He can catch. So, he’s certainly somebody we can use.”
At the same time, do you see Jerome being a first, second, and third down back, could give him a break?
“I do. Yeah. I think Jerome has that ability as well. I think he can play on any down, including third down. So that’s the part for us to just work through. How that rotation ends up going, I don’t know that we know exactly how it’s going to be just yet, but it is something that we’re confident in, both guys, for sure.”
We didn’t see Jerome get a lot of carries last year, but when you saw him in the kickoff game, did you see some things that kind of showed you this guy can fight the back?
“Yeah, I think we saw a lot of him in the preseason. And obviously did a lot of work on him coming out, but we saw a guy with great vision, good speed, good contact balance – and then remember, he went back there and returned kicks for the first time, I think in his life. I remember talking to him in the line one time saying, ‘Hey, do you have any kick return experience?’ And he hadn’t. So, for him to take that, a lot of those traits that make you a good running back also make you a good returner. So I think he has some confidence built in from that. And then again, we’ll work through it what his role ends up being for us. But as you guys know and as I’ve told the players, you carve out your own role based on what you can give to the team.”
Would you be comfortable with him still returning kicks if he were getting a heavy workload at running back?
“Yeah, I think we’ll see. Good question. I think that’s where Bubba (Ventrone) and I are working through all the different options we have, all the different combinations we have.”
Do you have a quarterback plan for Friday yet?
“I do. I’m not ready to share it just yet, but we have a plan, and I’ll let you guys know in the next couple of days.”
What’s different from Jerome, from last year to this year? In what ways is he different?
“Yeah, I think a much more confident football player, which I think you could probably say of every second-year guy that we have. Very, very confident in knowing what to do. I think for rookies, particularly rookie running backs, pass protection is a challenge because there are a lot of rules that go into it. There are a lot of different things that you need to do. But he’s very comfortable from a mental standpoint right now.”
Because of the expectation is right now, you’re going to be able to do more in the passing game than maybe in previous years and you’re not going to have to solely rely on the run game to kind of carry things. Is that what maybe can allow you guys to use Nick more in third-down situations because he’s going to be fresher?
“I wouldn’t say it that way. But I just think honestly with Nick, we’ve talked about this before, he can help you in a variety of ways. I think we’ve had a good rotation for him at times throughout the last few years. We’ll continue to see if that’s where we want to go.”
Rodney (McLeod) said he played most in the post until last year when he was down in the box a bunch. So how does that versatility help you, especially when you go with that three safety package?
“Yeah, I think Rodney – t’s nice to have smart football players and versatile football players. Rodney’s a guy that can line up inside and outside, deep and short. So, I think that’s the part for our defense and our defensive staff to put together packages where he can help us. Like you mentioned, he has experience doing both and there will be a little bit of what the rest of our guys do well. You’re trying to maximize the talents of everybody and then sometimes you’re just making sure that you can do both. It really helps you from a flexibility standpoint as a defense.”
After rehashing the (New York) Jets game, do you have the same attitude that it’s just a matter of reps for those special teams?
“I do. Oh yeah, for sure. I think the other thing to remember in that game, the Hall of Fame Game, is that first one where you may be – It’s the first time for those guys full speed covering kicks. So, you’re learning a lot. Those players are learning a lot in those reps. I think that will continue to get better.”
We’ve already always talked about that familiarity with Jim’s (Schwartz) system, obviously, but it seems like these guys have gotten to respect him really quickly and ask him questions. What about his personality, besides that knowledge makes him so approachable as a teammate, I guess.
“Yeah, that’s who he is. I didn’t know Rodney (McLeod) prior to bringing him in on a visit and talking with him. But visiting with him, I think you see a pros’ pro. A guy who has stayed in this league for a reason. He takes care of his body, he makes sure he’s where he’s supposed to be. I think we can’t put a dollar amount on the value that provides to your football team.”
Kevin, a lot of your offensive, especially gun run stuff, was a lot of pin and pool, but there was a lot more inside zone on Thursday night. Can you talk a little bit about why that shift happened and how it opens up the playbook moving forward?
“Yeah, a lot of things we tried to do in that game were just stuff that we wanted to get practice reps on. We tried to break the record number of greens thrown in the game, just because it’s hard to practice that versus your defense right now because the rush isn’t the same. So we want to do that, we want to get cracked tosses on tape. So I wouldn’t read into it much more than just trying to get things on tape that we want to work on in that type of setting.”
Kevin, two questions. One, is Tyrone Wheatley expected back on the field today? And two, those backup tackle spots, how much have your feelings kind of changed toward them over the last few days?
“Yeah, I think Wheat is back out there today. Again. I think it’s really early in camp to make proclamations, if you will, on every roster spot and how deep you are, those types of things. I think we’ll continue to work and let those roster moves and all the shaking out, we got to let that occur over the next few weeks of games of practices.”
What are you emphasizing in practice today and what do you really feel like the fans are going to see?
“Yeah, we’re still in installation, so we’re just getting out of our installation on offense, defense, and special teams. So, Jim’s putting in new blitzes, we’re putting in new couple new runs, passes, those type of things. We’ll continue to do red zone work and third and fourth down work. We’ll do a no-huddle period at the end of practice today, but it’s really trying to hone in on all the situational football things that you’re about to see. And again, that first Hall of Fame game comes at you fast. We hadn’t really covered a ton of short yardage, and you’re in third and one, and you hadn’t covered certain elements of the game that come up. We’re in a four-minute drive, if you will, at the end of that game. So just continuing to teach and make sure that we’re not skipping any steps.”
On the subject of teaching, obviously, Thursday night was pretty positive for DTR (Dorian Thompson-Robinson), but just having gone back and looking at things, what are maybe one or two coaching things that you pointed out to him that he can refine?
“I think there’s no shortage of things, Daryl (Ruiter). I think there were run-game checks that he can better at. There were some pass decisions that he can better at, and it’s all things that he’s just going to learn from. We talk so often about (how) it’s okay to make mistakes, don’t make the same mistake twice. He’s the type of kid that he’ll make a mistake, he’ll get it corrected and you don’t see that showing up again.”
Kevin, I was talking to Jim Miller behind you. They just came back from Latrobe. They said the Steelers tackle to the ground every day. I know that’s unusual, but why do you think it’s not necessary at all?
“Well, honestly, Tony (Grossi), I think every team and every head coach has to do what they think is best for their team. We don’t concern ourselves with what everybody else is doing. We just focus on what we think we need to do to get our team ready to play September 10 for a 20-plus game season.”
Thomas Graham was someone that I know you guys were thinking about as slot this year. Now being just a little day-to-day, do you have enough going on in terms of who you can use in your slot?
“We do, yeah. And again, I think Mary Kay (Cabot), it’s a blessing in disguise in some ways when you get injuries like this because you get to get some guys reps that they weren’t getting. You get to use different guys in there, see if it fits them. So, all things that we’re working through.”
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