Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (10.27.25)
Opening Statement:
“Okay, injury front – Tyson Campbell’s in concussion protocol, Rayshawn Jenkins is dealing with a groin injury, he’s really day to day. Quinshon Judkins is day to day with the shoulder, and then Carson Schwesinger has an ankle injury. We’ll see how he looks coming out of the bye, but I’d say that’s really like a week to week type injury. Obviously, like we talked about yesterday evening, frustrating on a bunch of different levels, not to play our best, not to coach our best in that game. And then, just that frustration will lead to us looking at how to get better, and that’s where this bye will be huge for this football team. You know, we still got more than half of the season left but definitely have to look at it and as a coaching staff look at it and find ways to set our players up for success, and that’s what our sole focus will be this week. With that, I’ll take any questions.”
Hey Kevin (Stefanski), with Carson, there’s a report that it’s a high ankle and if so, is IR a possibility for him?
“Yeah, I’m not going to get in the specifics of it, Scott (Petrak), but I don’t believe this will be IR.”
Do you expect Cedric Tillman to come back following the bye?
“I do.”
Just the receiver corps, how much do you miss his size out there in just a bunch of different ways?
“Yeah. Listen, we like the guys we got. Obviously, we have some guys that are smaller, fast, that type of thing, but we like the guys we got. But it would be good to have Ced back.”
Kevin, when you talk about what you can do, and yesterday you mentioned that you’re going to stick with Dillon (Gabriel) going forward. When you talk about looking at every single thing, I mean is play-calling something that you’ll look at? Will you think about letting Tommy (Rees) have a shot at it, or what are some of the things that you actually can do to change things over this bye?
“Yeah, I think I need to spend time on all those things, Mary Kay (Cabot), and I think it’s by position we have to be better and we have to put our players in better spots, if you will, and that includes every position. So, we’ll look at all of it this week and make a decision coming out of the bye.
Kevin, you and Tommy throughout this have kept saying we have to put our players in better positions. So, since you’ve been trying to do that since the first game, what more can be done?
“Well, I think the big picture there, Jeff (Schudel), is to have success as an offense, you have to be efficient in what you’re doing, and you have to be explosive in what you’re doing. And in order to do that, we have to put guys in certain spots, put them in whatever position it may be at – wide receiver, tight end, running back, if you will, and find ways to maximize their skill set. So, when you’re not having the success that we need to be having and we’re working towards, obviously we’re not doing enough. So, you’re constantly looking at different players, different ways that routes that they can run, run concepts that they can run. So, you have to continue to search for those things so that you can be efficient and then ultimately explosive.”
Kevin, you guys seemed to be somewhat excited in the draft to get Dillon Gabriel in the third round, and obviously he’s not shown maybe some of those things that you guys saw coming out of college. What’s been missing in these four starts, as far as bringing out some of those traits that really got you guys, as an organization, excited about him?
“Yeah, as you know, Daryl (Ruiter), playing good on offense is about 11 guys on the field, and us as coaches doing our job. Obviously, young players will learn in each outing that they’re out there – I think Dillon will continue to learn, will continue to get better, but it’s really an entire offensive type of thing where we all need to better.”
It seems like we’re not going to talk to Andrew (Berry) this week, but just for you, going back to last season, and it’s obviously been a difficult stretch here for the organization, just how has this been, for you, to get through these growing pains as you guys try and find your footing again?
“Yeah, it’s football. There’s ups and downs to a game. There’s ups and downs to a season. We’ll take a breath here. Players certainly will get refreshed, and we’ll be ready for the final nine of the regular season.”
Hey Kevin, I know we’ve talked a lot over the last several weeks about the deep passing game. Are you noticing defenses starting to overload the box, almost dare you to try to throw deep, or doing things defensively because of what you guys haven’t been able to do in that aspect of the game?
“I think every game is different, Chris (Easterling). Every defense has a different plan week to week. You know, sometimes it can be disguised, sometimes it can be, like you’re mentioning, a seven- or eight-man box, but really, we’ve seen all different types of defenses throughout the season.”
Hey Kevin, a few of the guys were talking about, with the run, the lack of production on early downs hurting you guys. How much does that impact the play-calling, especially when you’re facing so many third and longs even earlier in the game?
“Yeah, I think that’s a key to being successful on offense, Ashley (Bastock), is having success on our early downs, whether you run or pass it, to either stay out of third down or stay into third and manageable distances. And I think too often in that game, we didn’t do a good enough job on first down, and that led to not staying on the field. The time of possession was such that we weren’t able to remain on the field, get to plays that we wanted to get to, and you end up running out of time there if you’re not doing your job on first and second down.”
I know you got asked about Jerry (Jeudy) yesterday, but just the fact that he didn’t get a target until early in the fourth quarter, like what needs to happen to get him involved earlier, and are you guys worried at all about frustration with him, just with how the year has gone?
“Yeah, you know, I’m frustrated with that loss, I’m frustrated that we don’t get the ball to Jerry, our best wide receiver, earlier in that game and throughout that game. Now, are there always reasons for those types of things? Sure, but it’s not lost on me that Jerry’s our best player at that position, and we have to get him the ball. That goes back to the earlier comment we talked about, just making sure we have our guys in the right positions, whether it’s, where they’re playing on the formation, the routes we’re asking, the run, et cetera, et cetera.”
Kevin, you’re obviously in the bye week, middle of the road, kind of crossroads. How do you evaluate, you’re playing a lot of young guys, but where the organization is, where the team is, versus this topsy turvy AFC North? Two games out of first place at the midway point. So how do you balance that with nine games left to play – all in, or continue with just what’s been going on?
“No, we’re all in, Fred (Greetham). I mean, you are what your record says you are, so we got to own it – that’s where we are. But we’re excited about the challenge in front of us. Again, guys will take a breath this week, but then you got nine games coming up, five of them at our place.”
Kevin, you mentioned some of that frustration, and you guys share in the frustration. Is there a balance to handling the frustration and not letting it go overboard, but also maybe letting it fuel you trying to change some things? Is there a balance and what does that look like?
“I think it’s really so specific to all of us. We know we have a job to do – the fun in this business is winning, so, there’s the frustration that comes with losing a game, is very real. But how you channel that and how you, like you said, use it as fuel moving forward, I think is really important.”
And then when you’re doing that, managing how guys are performing, too. Think about a guy like Alex Wright who seems to have a strong year. Do you kind of lean on the production of some of those guys as you’re trying to move forward and use them as examples? Is that something that you can do?
“Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, moving forward, we need our best players to play great, and there’s some really good moments of that throughout this season. And again, we just have to, from the coaching staff on down, we got to make sure that we’re doing our job, playing our role, putting our guys where they need to be. And then, like you said, guys are going to make plays, and I think Alex is a great example of that.”
A clip circulated showing Myles (Garrett) on the sideline just whipping his helmet into the ground during the game. Just wondering what you think of an outburst like that? What do you think that he was so angry about in that moment? I mean, I think it may have been that he got taken out of the game and wanted to play, is what I think he said afterwards. But what do you think about that show of frustration by him on the sidelines?
“Yeah, similar to what I was just saying, Mary Kay, with Cam (Justice), we’re all frustrated. Obviously, in those moments, we want to make sure it doesn’t get the best of us. But with that frustration comes a resolve, and I know Myles and I know him as a leader, I know the leaders in this football team will show that mental, will show that resolve.”
And then the other question I had was about Shedeur (Sanders) not playing yesterday, and I think he mentioned in the locker room that it wasn’t his decision. And so, if he had said to you guys, “hey, I want to play, I can play”, would that have factored into this at all or what was the thinking behind that? How’d that go?
“Yeah, he obviously came in Saturday with his back injury. We were hopeful that he’d be able to move around well enough to suit up on Saturday, excuse me, on Sunday. But, put him through a pre-game warm up, and obviously just didn’t feel like he was ready to play, Mary Kay, but he’s getting better every day and I’m hopeful that he’ll continue to improve.”
Why wouldn’t you, just to see if it does anything to the offense, give him an opportunity to go in there and play?
“Yeah, honestly my focus is where we are right now, Mary Kay. That’s not my focus.”
Kevin, I apologize for asking a question I normally ask Andrew (Berry), but you’re here. With the trade deadline that’s coming up here, do you see the team focusing on moves similar to the Greg Newsome, Tyson Campbell trade, where you’re more so looking for getting players that can help you now as opposed to picks? And then, what is your role in those conversations when it comes to looking for help that you need with the roster?
“Yeah, you’d have to ask Andrew. I’m just kidding – yeah, listen, AB is doing his job. We talk every day about opportunities that may or may not come up. I really like the group we have, I know we’re working hard and looking at all those avenues, but I like the guys we got.”
Kevin, how did Shedeur hurt the back?
“Yeah, not sure. I mean, nothing specific – just came in, was stiff.”
Myles, have you ever seen a performance like that, and how unfortunate that it comes in a loss like that?
“Well, you know, that’s the frustrating, well, among the many frustrating things, is you want to celebrate a performance like that. And I told him that he should be very proud, and I know we win as a team, we lose as a team, and it’s hard to think about that right now, but that’s pretty special to be able to do that.”
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