HC Kevin Stefanski (11.17.23)
Opening statement:
“Okay, good practice in there, finishing touches tomorrow in our meetings and our walkthrough. But we had a good week of practice and you have to, when you’re playing the Steelers, we’re very excited about the opportunity. 6-3 Steelers, 6-3 Browns at our place down there on the lake. Going to be a beautiful day, I’m told. So we’re excited to play in front of our fans. We’re excited to have that atmosphere. The energy that they bring has been unbelievable and they got to do it again. It’s an all-hands-on-deck week and that includes the fans. So somebody set the air horn off in the Muni lot at about 12:35 and get everybody’s butt in that stadium because we’re going to need them early. We want to start fast. But excited about this opportunity. We know what the AFC North type of games entail and we’re excited about it. With that, I’ll take any questions.”
Kevin, how’s Dorian (Thompson-Robinson) looked the last couple of days? And you were hoping that the added preparation time would help?
“Yeah. Good week of practice. Worked very hard, both in the meeting room and out there on the practice field. And you need to prepare yourself to go do your job on Sunday. And that’s what we spend a lot of time talking about Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and our process and how important meetings are, how important walkthrough is. All of that really lends itself to being able to do your job on Sunday.”
Since that start, in terms of what you just talked about, preparation, study, et cetera, have you seen that in him?
“I think you see it with every young player, Tom (Withers). I think young guys I’ve been around continue to improve throughout their first year. There’s big jumps in that first year from a preparation standpoint until you have done it, until you’ve seen it. The whole thing about becoming a pro, think about the guys that have come through here that you say, that’s a pro. It’s typically not a rookie. Those guys need to see it. Rookies need to be put in a room with a guy that knows how to prepare. And I think we’ve been very fortunate with Dorian. He’s in a great room. He sees how those guys prepare. So I think he’s getting better and better.”
Is the improved comfort level something you can see on a day-to-day basis?
“Yeah. And again, you should be, with turns, with reps, with practices, that builds confidence.”
Kevin, with you guys having Joe Flacco in for a tryout today, what are your thoughts on Joe over the years? I’m sure you have plenty of experience with him, including last year.
“Yeah, I’m not going to comment on workouts and those type of things, Mary Kay (Cabot). I typically don’t do that. You know, we bring a lot of guys in.”
What about the notion of though just in general having a veteran presence in the room? Like you just said, for preparation.
“Like AB (Andrew Berry) mentioned, we’re going to add a player at some point. I like the guys we have in there. I think they bring great energy, preparation to this sport. So whoever we add in that room obviously will fit well in that.”
What did you see out of the Dawand (Jones) the last couple of days and what are you going to need to see over the next couple to feel good about putting him out there?
“Yeah, we’ll see where it goes. Every injury is different. Was limited out there the last couple of days and we’ll see where it goes.”
You want to keep him on the right side with Jed (Wills) out or have you guys thought about moving him to the left side?
“Yeah, we have all sorts of plans.”
Will Geron (Christian) start at left tackle?
“Yes.”
Michael Dunn was designated back for return, but since he was on injured reserve. But how has he looked at practice this week?
“Yeah, he looks good. Gave us some good reps. Again, a very trustworthy, dependable guy. Fits well with what we do. He’s played in games for us and performed well, so we’ll see where it goes with him.”
Kevin, I’m thinking about the earlier games in James Hudson’s career. Like the Steelers game, it seems like he’s taken a lot of lumps in them and learned from them. So just how you’ve seen him progress when he’s had to go against (T.J.) Watt this past two years?
“Yeah. As everybody knows, that’s a great player that they have over there. He’s difficult to block in the run and the pass game. I know it’s easy to say it’s this tackle versus that end or whatever, but it’s really an eleven versus an eleven type of thing. So he’ll battle. It’s a great matchup.”
Like Dawand when he had to go in last time, he talked about when you’re going against T.J., you can’t really prepare for that until you actually do it fully. So do you feel like he’s translated some things, maybe learning what he learned from that week two game?
“I think so. I think again, it’s no different than really any player. You gain great wisdom with reps, with time, certainly in-game reps versus Watt, you’re going to get great rushes, you’re going to get effort. He’s a really good player again in the run and the pass.”
Is Deshaun going to be on the sideline, on the headset?
“I think we’re working through that.”
You expect him to be?
“Yeah.”
We asked AVP (Alex Van Pelt) yesterday about Dorian’s demeanor, ask you the same thing. What about his demeanor that you’ve noticed makes him able to be so confident and to be able to bounce back from that first start that he had?
“Yeah, I think when it comes to demeanor, I mean, everybody’s just themselves. I think he’s always himself. He brings great energy again to our meeting room, to the practice field, but I think he’s a very confident young man, understands his role that he plays, but we just want him to be the best version of himself.”
Kevin, you guys have been really good in the second half, especially at defense the last few weeks. Philosophically, how much are you focused on trying to adjust to somebody as opposed to, hey, this is how we want to play, we’re going to focus on us.
“Yeah, I think every game you go into it and you have a plan of attack, they have a plan of attack and you’re making adjustments throughout the game. I think the whole halftime adjustment thing is overrated. I don’t know if that happens where you sit down and you change your whole game plan. You make adjustments in game, you make adjustments in between series. You make adjustments from the first quarter to the third quarter. So that’s just our job as coaches. I think Jim (Schwartz) and the defensive staff do an outstanding job, because you go into a game with certain tendencies from the offense and then they break those tendencies. So that causes you to adjust maybe some of your calls, but that’s really a 60-minute thing that you’re doing.”
Like Schwartz yesterday talked about feeling the tenacity of mostly defense by the whole team on the sideline in the fourth quarter Sunday. Did you get that sense, too? What does that say about your group?
“Well, we talked about it after the game. I think you felt it from the sideline early. We got down early, very locked in group, and you felt them encouraging each other for 60 minutes. It never would have been easy in a bunch of points in that game to maybe keep your head down. I didn’t get that sense from anybody at any time.”
Pittsburgh’s so good in the fourth quarter. I think they’re like 6-0 in one score games. Kind of muddy for the first three quarters with them offensively, but just seems like in the fourth quarter they always have that one defining drive. What do you see when you’re watching that on film? Does something change for them in that final quarter?
“Obviously they’ve had success. So certainly they’re doing a nice job in that quarter. We’re concerned with them first, second, third and fourth quarter trying to stop that offense. I think they do a nice job with their run game, with their pass game. They put you in conflict quite a bit. But as it pertains to the fourth quarter, you just know it’s a 60-minute football game.”
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