HC Kevin Stefanski (8.24.23)
What about (Grant) Delpit? We saw him out there.
“Day to day, so we’ll see how he comes out of the next couple of days.”
What was it? A right forearm (injury)?
“Arm injury.”
Is there any chance he plays Saturday?
“Yeah, but got to see how he comes out.”
Do you feel relieved? That looked like it could have been worse.
“I mean, anytime Tony (Grossi) there’s an injury, I feel relieved when it’s not something that’s going to hold a guy out for weeks or months. Of course, you’re relieved. And that’s part of playing football and practicing football. You’re going to have some collisions that are unfortunate, but hopefully, we dodged a bullet.”
Is it at all frustrating to you as the coach of this team, that you don’t have a full indoor facility?
“No, we make do. We practice, we play wherever you want us to.”
Kevin, is it safe to say that Joshua Dobbs will head into the season as your number two quarterback?
“Yes.”
And what’s the sort of feeling or thinking on that?
“Yeah, we really like that quarterback room just in total, Mary Kay (Cabot). You know, really excited about where all those guys are. Confident in all the backups. They play a huge role in that room.”
Kevin, can you tell us which starters will not play on Saturday?
“I’m not going to get into the specifics on that.”
The timing of the waving of Kellen Mond. Why now?
“I think very, very highly of Kellen the player. I think he got better with us over the course of the season that he was with us, the year that he was with us. Had some good tape out there from this preseason. Just felt like the timing was right in this case, but I fully expect that he’s going to be bounced back on his feet very quickly.”
You had three quarterbacks all of last season on the roster. Does the fact that you have the new rule for game days make it even more of an incentive to have three quarterbacks?
“That rule is so narrowly written, I don’t know if that comes up again anytime soon. Now, every team has their own philosophy on how many quarterbacks to keep, that type of thing. Just what happened in Philly, with San Francisco, I just see it. I understand the rule and I understand what that was, and so I got no problem with it. I just don’t know that it’s going to happen very often.”
Kevin when they talked about Jim Schwartz’s defense, they talk a lot about simplicity, but Jason Kelce was talking about complexity when he was discussing it a week ago. How do you sort of parse those two opposing descriptions?
“I think with good scheme, offense or defense, you want to be easy to your players and complex to the opposing team. So, if that’s what he felt, that’s good for us because we want to look complex. We want the outside observer or the opponent we’re going against to say, ‘Man, these guys do so many different things.’ And for us, it’s simple because you put things in families and you say, all right, we’re going to run it this way. It’s exactly how we do this, except we’ll move a couple of pieces over. That’s where the complexity maybe comes from. But you do want to keep it as simple as we do on defense, so that guys can play fast.”
Kevin, going back to Dobbs. Obviously, part of that job is if you need him to go in and win a game. But what else do you look for in that backup quarterback? What does he need to be able to do?
” I’ve been very blessed to be around some great backup quarterbacks, some young guys, some old guys, different styles of players. I think it’s an important fit in that room. That’s why I’m so excited about our room in total, with everybody we have in there. Just can get a lot of work done. It’s a great room where they push each other, they challenge each other, they support each other and I think all of our guys fit that mold.”
Would you expect DTR (Dorian Thompson-Robinson) to finish the game in KC?
“Yes.”
Did you give much thought to kind of having him be the number two based on a good preseason performance, or did you like Dobbs’ experience?
“Yeah, I think obviously we’re excited about that entire room. Just speaking to DTR, he’s coming along, he’s making great strides. We’re excited about his future. And just for the focus for him and for all our guys is just to continue to work. I mean, going into week one, you look at your depth chart and you just want guys to continue to grow and get better because as you all know, there are times that guys are unavailable due to injury or otherwise. So, it is a constant striving to get better.”
This is yhr end of training camp here, could you sum up, did you achieve your objectives, and you followed your script from beginning to end flawlessly, would you say?
“Yeah, you follow your script, but you just have to trust in what you’re trying to accomplish. Whether it be practice-wise, meeting-wise, how you lift the team, drills you do, walk-through you do. We’re still walking through over there on the field, as you can see. So it all matters, every little bit of this. So, we’re right where we need to be, Tony. But we got some work to do before September 10.”
And the uniqueness of this camp with all these trips you had, did it go off as well as you planned?
“Well, it gives me an opportunity to thank our group here. Yeah, it went off without a hitch from that perspective. I mean, the Greenbrier, the Philly trip, moving the Philly practice up, going inside here. Our group does an outstanding job, really across the board in being ready to adjust whenever necessary.”
Another end of training camp question. Jedrick Wills (Jr.), now in his fourth year, how have you seen him progress? Maybe this was his best summer or what?
“Yeah, he came in great shape, great attitude. Like anybody, you grow, and you grow as a person. Obviously, you get better as a player over the course of four years. Excited for where he is. We’ve talked about it, talked about it yesterday. He gets a tough matchup every single day here at practice, and that’s a great, great opportunity for him to go up against the best there is in the business. I think that just only makes you better.”
Kevin, you pleased with the way (Jack) Conklin’s kind of progressed through the week? I mean, he answered the bell every day of practice.
“Yeah, he’s done a nice job.”
Kevin, I know Deshaun (Watson) has put an emphasis on building chemistry with the guys he’s going to share the field with, specifically this year. How do you feel like Greenbrier, West Virginia, all of that kind of looking back at training camp has just aided in everybody building chemistry?
“Yeah, I mean, it’s just natural. You put anybody in a group under one roof, and it’s just very natural that you get closer. Sharing meals together, spending extra time together. Ping pong was a big popular sport down there, so anything you do and it’s ongoing. Deshaun is somebody that gets his guys together during the week, they’ll go out to dinner, he’ll have them over. It’s something that is ongoing.”
What would you say is one element that was different with this year’s training camp for you in a positive way?
“Gosh, it’s so hard, Daryl (Ruiter). Again, it’s just an opportunity to be appreciative of what were able to accomplish. I feel badly that we had to go inside today and that we didn’t get a chance to be in front of our fans one last time. I don’t feel good about that. But to be able to get the support that we got up here from our fans, to take the trips that we took and accomplish the things that we wanted to accomplish, I’m just very appreciative of that.”
Kevin, looking forward question is it beneficial that you guys are going to play everybody in AFC North in three of the first four weeks?
“It’s a great opportunity. No one else can say that. No one else is going to see their division in the first four weeks. So, we look at that as a great opportunity.
Now that you’ve spent time in both Northern divisions, is this one unique?
“Yeah, I think it is. It’s unique just from we know each other all so well. Just the coordinators have remained stable over the course of time, so there’s just so much tape. You go into some games and some seasons where you just don’t have tape on people. And we’ve just battled with each other over the years, so it’s a great division. Looking forward to the competition that it brings out of everybody.”
Will you try to see to it that Cade (York) gets a couple of opportunities in this game? Obviously, the six-for-six today looks so great out here all the time. You’re hoping he gets a few chances?
“We’ll see how the game goes. It’s hard to tell the offensive players that you’re kicking field goals, but we’ll see how the game goes. But obviously, we want to get work for all of our guys.”
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