HC Kevin Stefanski (10.23.23)
Opening statement:
“Like we talked about yesterday, gutty win. Wasn’t always pretty, but really pleased with how the team fought. I thought, you know, the couple things to point out – I thought the two drives at the end of either half were huge, and those were offense, defense, special teams aided drives to get those points. Some unbelievable individual efforts throughout on all three sides of the ball. So, really proud again of just going on the road, finding a way to win, and then we got to do that again this week. So going on the road to Seattle, we know all the things that brings to play, and I think we’re excited about that. Injury front, I’ll have more information, really, on everybody as the week progresses. But Jerome Ford dealing with the ankle, Alex Wright is…more information, but is trending the right way, concussion protocol, and then Deshaun (Watson) with the shoulder. Obviously, we’ll continue to take that day-to-day. But with that, I’ll take any questions.”
Hey, Kevin, any more medical tests on Deshaun today?
“Yeah, on a bunch of guys, but we’re still getting all the results.”
You knew it would be a risk putting him out there after coming back off of an injury, and I’m sure you expected him to take a hit at some point. Did you think that was an excessive hit that he took, that was the reason why you wanted to protect him the rest of the game?
“I mean, as you can imagine, all hits are tough, but yeah, I thought that was a big hit. I saw it up on the big screen when they showed the replay of it. Obviously, hit on the shoulder, taking him in, checking for a concussion. So, I just felt like the right thing for the team was to protect him.”
Kevin, how will you approach the week just in terms of it? I know you don’t have a whole lot of details yet, but if Deshaun can’t necessarily practice on, how will you sort of maybe turn it over to P.J. (Walker) a little earlier and just kind of err on the side of caution? Based on what happened this past week.
“I’m really day-to-day, as you can imagine, Mary Kay (Cabot). I know that [you all are] probably sick of me saying that, but I just got to take the information every single day as we make decisions.”
Kevin, could you just – with holding Deshaun out, could you just maybe give us a little more detail as far as why you decided to err on the side of caution and keep him out? The report yesterday during the game was that he was cleared to play, but it was your decision to keep him out.
“Yeah, I think I talked about it yesterday. Again, I’m always going to be protective of our players, especially at the quarterback position. Just felt like the right thing in that moment was to hold him out of that game.”
Hey, Kevin, I know you’re taking this day to day, so this might not work in that, but is there concern that this is going to become even a longer-term thing with Deshaun, the fact that he wasn’t able to make it through that game yesterday?
“Yeah, as you kind of said it, Scott (Petrak), I think it’s more important just to focus on all the information the next couple of days and make determinations.”
And then what are the challenges of going into tomorrow or today when you guys start the game planning, not knowing who that QB might be? I mean, I assume that adds something to your dilemmas.
“Yeah, that’s kind of what we are always charged with doing as coaches, knowing there can be uncertainty at certain positions. That’s what we deal with.”
Kevin, just wondering if the conversation about Deshaun possibly getting hit hard and maybe having to pull it out of the game was something you guys discussed as part of the game plan leading into it, knowing his shoulder was dealing with this for so many weeks?
“Yeah, as you can imagine, you talk a lot about protecting your quarterback and not wanting your quarterback to get hit. It is part of the game. I certainly understand that. But ultimately, we got to continue just to put our guys in position, try to put them in position to make some plays. But for me, it’s always going to be about protecting our players.”
Seeing this situation, and how it played out, does it allow you to incorporate that as your game plan moving forward as a possibility now that you’ve experienced this in action?
“I think you have to take every experience and learn from it. I hope, as every person, player, coach does. With Deshaun, with all of our players, we’ll always make great decisions in the team’s best interest.”
Kevin, is there any consideration right now of putting Deshaun on IR?
“Yeah, again, I think day-to-day. Always gathering information, but he’s – listen, he’s getting better. He’s a competitive kid. He’s working hard.”
So you can’t say one way or the other at this point whether that’s an option?
“I wouldn’t say it for any player, really.”
Kevin, P.J. said after the game that he felt more comfortable running in the offense after having two games now playing with the guys. How have you seen him grow in that comfortability of just being able to take command of this particular offense?
“I think it’s probably true of players at every position, the more turns you get, the more comfortable you get. There are guys along our offensive line, you know, with Dawand (Jones) getting a bunch more turns. He’s early into his career, but I think you see him making strides. So, I think it’s every player with added reps will continue to get better and more comfortable.”
Hey, Kevin, prior to the injury, I know it was a small sample size. It’s only five passes and twelve snaps. But given what he looked like, was it a mistake to make him active?
“Yeah, I think I’ll always take all the information I have, Tony (Grossi), when making decisions on our players. I think it’s way, way too small of a sample size to make a consideration on that.”
During the game, he seemed isolated on the sidelines. After the game, he seemed very distraught. What do you think about his mental headspace? Is he confident? Are things crashing down on him? What do you see upstairs, above the shoulders in him?
“Yeah, I spend a lot of time with him. He’s very excited for this football team, getting that win yesterday.”
When you look at four and 56 yards allowed, you had four takeaways. How would you assess the way your defense played?
“Yeah, battled to the end. I mean, that drive at the end to get us a three and out, stopping the run as we use timeouts, that was as big as anything in that game. Was it perfect? No. That’s what we’re in here right now, meeting with the players on to try to improve. We know teams are going to make plays on us, but we want to do everything in our power to slow that other team down. So there are things that we can correct, we will get them corrected. But there were also some unbelievable moments in that game we’ve waited until now to talk about Myles (Garrett), he played as good as you can play in a football game. He’s dominated the game. It was a six-point swing there with the blocking the field goal – sack-fumble, sacks previously to set up the offense. So, he’s playing – I don’t know if there’s a higher level, but he’s playing at it.”
You were able to get the ball downfield to Elijah Moore, [he] had a big catch. You see that working more and more, just the down the field plays with him?
“I hope so. He’s a really good wide receiver for us. He’s a good football player. Always trying to find ways to get him the ball. Threw him a screen in the game, made a really nice play. Like you mentioned, that 30-yarder on the last drive was huge. So always looking for ways to get number eight the ball.”
Can you also talk about the weapon Dustin Hopkins is? He’s been almost automatic when you get to the inside 35.
“Yeah, Dustin he’s just kicking at a high level. I mean, the guy prepares well, fits this team, really fits in with this team really well. We have a lot of trust in him. We don’t want to be kicking too often from 50-plus yards, but the guy just continues to come through for his football team.”
Hey, Kevin, just like obviously with deciding whether Deshaun was going to be able to go in really the last two games. Is there anything like week to week that you guys as you’re making that decision that you learned this past week that you can take going forward if his status is kind of up in the air in terms of making that decision and what goes into it?
“Yeah, I think we always need to take all the information into account, Ashley (Bastock), with all of our players, and we’ll always continue to do that.”
Hey, Kevin, I know Deshaun said in his press conference yesterday after the game that he respected your decision and understood that it was best for the team for him not to go back out there. Can you walk us through that conversation? What was that like? I know he was disappointed, but just in general how that went.
“I would just tell you, Deshaun’s a captain of this football team. He’s a leader of this football team. It’s hard. I know he wants to be out there, but he continues to support his teammates. He leads this football team. So that will never change.”
And then just to follow up on that, Kevin, what has P.J. Walker done in a short amount of time to continue to give you guys confidence in him if he needs to continue to play past week to week?
“Yeah, just you get measured in wins and losses. Doing enough to help us win. We had to go on an 80-yard drive there at the end and we did. And he operated and did a nice job.”
Kevin, for a game that had almost 80 total points, it kind of felt like there was a real emphasis on field position. How much of a weapon is Corey Bojorquez for you?
“Yeah, he’s a huge weapon. That punt team a couple of times there flipped the field, I think back even to the end of the half, being able to pin them. I think we maybe had a fourth and four or so around midfield and to play the field position game. I think there are always times when there are times to be aggressive in those instances, but when you have a weapon like Corey and your punt team, it gives you confidence to put your defense on the field in some advantageous field positions.”
I’ve heard coaches talk about when plays break down that it’s usually because either of a problem in personnel in scheme or in coaching. When you went back and watched the plays from yesterday that didn’t go well, how would you try to diagnose generally what you saw?
“Put it all on the coaches, how about that? No, I’m kidding. So today what I’ve just talked to the team about today is about identify and correct. And it’s our job as coaches, we identify things and then it’s our job as coaches and players to correct them. So, like I mentioned before, Brendan (Gulick), were we perfect? Nope, we weren’t. We’re still striving for that perfection. But to be able to clean a lot of those things up so we can walk out of this building a better football team is a big deal.”
Kevin, I realize this is Andrew Berry question, but he’s not around. P.J. has had his three elevations now. So is the plan to sign him to the roster or will you guys allow him to go through waivers and try and get him back on the practice squad?
“That’s an AB question. But those are all things, Daryl (Ruiter), as you know. We talked through all those and we’ll update you when appropriate.”
Hey, Kevin. I wanted to go through that end of the game scenario a little more. I know we talked about it a bit yesterday, but when you decide to throw three times with no timeouts, I get it. But is the biggest concern there the timing of it or just getting guys lined up, having a spike? What goes into that thinking?
“Yeah, those four plays took years off my life. I’m sure everybody else [too]. So, the idea there in the first one, obviously you’re trying to score a touchdown and we would have taken a touchdown on first down. We didn’t necessarily want to wait till fourth down. But the tough part is if the clock is running after that first down play, we were in 23 personnel, so we had big players on the field, so it’s harder to run plays out of that type of group. So really the mentality been, I knew we’re on the one. I knew our fourth down call was going to score if we got to it, quite honestly. But I just didn’t feel comfortable with the thought of a first down, a second down or a third down play that was going to not get in and then chew off valuable time. So felt confident in the plays we called and ultimately executed that last one.”
And then luckily you had guys open on a couple of those. And then when you mean – did you like those calls? And then when you say you knew you’re going to score in fourth, was it always just the hand out to Kareem (Hunt)?
“Yes. So the line they were yelling at me. I saw Dawand tell me it was a yard. I’m like, ‘I got you, dude. I’ll get there.'”
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