Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (9.13.24)
Opening Statement:
“Had a good practice out there today. We’ll get on the airplane tomorrow. Might deal with some weather potentially down there, calling for maybe some rain. We know it’ll be warm and humid. It’s been good that it’s been warm up here this week but got to play a clean football game to get a win on the road against a good football team. So spent a lot of time this week getting our offense, defense, special teams, really understanding their assignments so we can go do our job at a high level. But with that, I’ll take any questions.”
Kevin, have you made up your mind yet? I know Jack (Conklin) was listed as questionable, but have you made up your mind yet on who’s going to start left tackle?
“No, we’ll use the next 24 hours, 48 hours, see how everybody comes out of practice today before we make that determination.”
Was Jack able to do more this week than last week?
“Yes.”
With Myles (Garrett) and Za’Darius (Smith), I know they’re good to go. Why didn’t they practice yesterday? How do they look today?
“Yeah, a couple of things popped up with them. Weren’t able to go yesterday, were able to go today.”
Myles Harden, just when did that injury pop up?
“It happened in practice. Unfortunate, really, but just happened in kind of a weird deal, but feel bad for the kid.”
Did Jack look a lot stronger in practice this week than you did?
“I think anybody, Mary Kay (Cabot), that’s coming off of an injury with more reps, you continue to feel more confident and comfortable and move better. All those things with more reps.”
How did Jed look at practice?
“Yeah, take out Jack, place Jed (Jedrick Wills) in that previous sentence…and you save space on the J (laughter).”
How do you think your team sort of refocused and kind of came together after that loss and after all the Deshaun (Watson) stuff?
“That’s the NFL, Mary Kay (Cabot), where there’s always going to be adversity, and nobody likes to los. Happens in the league and you got to learn from it and move on.”
Kevin, at any point during camp or recently, have you ever considered moving Dawand Jones to the left side or do you like having that stability over on the right side?
“Yeah, we’ve considered every option, Dan (Labbe), to your question. But feel good about him at the right side.”
(Geoff) Swaim, you signed him to the practice squad. Is he option one to potentially be elevated? And beyond that, just what do you like about him that potentially could make him that option?
“Yeah, we’ll see. As we get closer, we’ll make those types of determinations. He’s got some familiarity in our system, as does (Blake) Whiteheart. They both were in Arizona previously, so there are some similarities still that they can pick up. Geoff Swaim was my favorite tight end in the 2015 Draft for a late tight end, undrafted free agent. I was a tight end coach in Minnesota, so I’ve been trying to get this reunion forever. So, we finally got Geoff in the building but got to talk to him, and I was recruiting him very hard. Then I think Dallas messed it up and drafted him in the seventh round. But I just met him and saw him for the first time since 2015. But he’s doing a great job; very smart, works very hard, but we’ll see how it shakes out this week.”
Amari (Cooper) said that you told the team to respond properly in terms of coming at this game with a sense of urgency. What does that look like to you?
“Yeah, I mean, I think big message for me with our team is always, you don’t ever want to overreact, but you really don’t want to underreact either. You want to make sure that what you need to get fixed, you get fixed with urgency. So that’s really been our message, and that’s really a message every year whenever you get an outcome that you didn’t want, that you didn’t desire, you got to do something about it. So that’s what we have used this week, trying to fix some of those mistakes, clean up some of those things and then be able to play our best football on Sunday.”
Kevin, yesterday, Bubba (Ventrone) talked about more effort across the board. I think Amari used the word urgency to. I guess, like, how do you feel like the guys have responded with that this week? Is there more or fire or anything coming off this loss?
“For us, every game, we talked about this yesterday, every game is really, really important, and you guys have heard it before, but it’s not a marathon. It’s 17 sprints and we have a sprint this week that we have to put everything into, and that comes from a mental toll, a physical toll, all those things. So that’s just the NFL. They come at you every single week. I think the guys understand what that entails.”
I know he’s a vet and he practices like this all the time, but for Jordan Akins, how have you seen him maybe approach this week knowing that David (Njoku) is out and you guys might rely on him a little bit heavier?
“Sure. Jordan’s a guy now going into year two with us, has a great feel for what we’re doing, really talented in a bunch of different areas, and has played teams for us, so potentially a bigger role for him. I think he’s ready for that.”
I know he used to be a receiver, I think in college, and you mentioned when I talked to him about stretching the field, does he have that ability?
“You’re saying Jordan, right?”
Yeah, Jordan, yeah.
“He’s a talented pass catcher, yes. But he does a lot of jobs for us.”
Did (Jim) Schwartz tell you the story about when he was a head coach, and he addressed 0-1 versus 1-1?
“He did. I’ve heard all Coach Schwartz’s stories. I’ve heard them all. Coach’s office is right next to mine, so there’s a lot of storytime. And he has great insight. I mean, that story and many, many, many others that I’m fortunate to get from coach and get his perspective because he does have a unique perspective. But he’s been around this league in a bunch of different buildings, a bunch of different teams, he’s played different roles. So, his insight in a lot of ways is invaluable.”
Did you know he was a little off on that one?
“Was he? You fact checked him, Mary Kay (Cabot)? Don’t fact check. Hey, don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story (laughter).”
Do you sort of describe the same belief, though, that in some sense, like oh, one can — there’s a silver lining in that you kind of got to look in the mirror immediately?
“I think as football coaches, we’re looking to message any which way we can.”
(Tyson) Campbell and (Darnell) Savage both look like they’re out or will be out for Jacksonville. How does that alter their secondary and what do you know about the guys kind of behind them?
“Yeah, that’s part of our job as coaches, and we have a great scouting department here to get us ready for the potential backups in those situations. I don’t know that both have been officially ruled out. But if they are, we know who the candidates are that could go in there, and you study those players and you make sure your players understand those players; how they play, what their strengths are, those type of things.”
What made (Geoff) your guy back on draft day?
“Yeah, we were looking for a kind of ‘do everything’ tight end, dirty work, tough guy. I think he was at Texas, didn’t have a bunch of catches, but we kind of liked what we saw on tape. And as you guys know, I’m sure just as position coaches, you do a lot of recruiting pre-draft with a message of, ‘Hey, if you’re not drafted, we’d love to have you and here’s why.’ So he was that guy for me and then Dallas screwed it up [joking].”