HC Kevin Stefanski (9.11.23)

Opening statement:

“On the injury front, what we thought, Jack (Conklin) does have a major injury there, so he’s going to miss the season. That will require surgery. So, like I talked about, very, very disappointed for Jack. Spent some time with him yesterday, spent some time with him today. He’s a huge part of this team, and when he gets this surgery and when he’s ready, he’s going to be back in this building helping us because he’s just, again, a big part of that offensive line room. You guys know how tight that room is just for this team, what he provides. So disappointed for him. But classic football, you never know when these things happen and it’s going to be a next-man-up type of thing. On the game yesterday, really, the tape confirmed what we all saw out there. Dominant defensive performance. Really proud of the guys in executing the game plan. Tough conditions for both sides, but I thought the defense was outstanding. Offensively, moved the ball, made some plays – again, in not ideal conditions. There’s still plenty of opportunities in that game to make some big plays, as we know. And that’s the good news moving forward, is we hope to make them. And then special teams, I thought Dustin (Hopkins) was really good in his opportunities there. I thought Mike Ford (Jr.) played really well. A bunch of different guys playing well in that phase. So good to get that one, but it’s really on to the next one. Once the guys leave the building today, you have to let that one go. Win, lose, or draw, you got to let it go. So, we’ll be on to the next one. But really good start. So with that, I’ll take any questions.”

 

Sorry about Jack. That’s really cruel what happened to him. Not surprised to hear that he’ll want to be back around. And how helpful will that be, especially to a young guy like Dawand (Jones) that he can mentor?

“Yeah, hugely important. It’s hard to describe if you’re not in the building every single day, the impact that guys like Jack have on your team. And it can be very subtle. It can be in meeting rooms. It can be in the weight room. It can be out on the practice field. So, we’ll miss him while he’s getting healthy, but then we’re going to need his butt back here to help.”

 

Can you just talk a little bit about why Dawand over James Hudson (III)? And now Dawand is going to draw the tough assignment of TJ Watt in Pittsburgh. And how do you think he’ll handle that? 

“You know, Dawand has been constantly working with Coach (Bill) Callahan, Coach (Scott) Peters, Coach (Jonathan) Decoster to get ready. There are no red shirts in the NFL, so you never know when that opportunity is going to come. It happened in the first half of the first game and you have to be ready. He will continue to get better and then as it pertains to any matchup moving forward, it’s the NFL, every week is going to be very difficult. Obviously, going into Pittsburgh is tough on every team that goes into that place. So, we’ll have a plan and we’ll move forward.”

 

When you went back and looked at the film, you mentioned there were some opportunities offensively, especially in that first quarter. When you went back and looked at it, how much are some of those misfires deep down the field in the passing game were a result of timing and how much do you think were weather-related? 

“Yeah, I think the ball was heavy and wet. It was a constant mist. It was strange. Like I mentioned to you guys yesterday, I did not know it was going to rain. And then lo and behold, it’s coming down in some weird sheets without raindrops. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was to our advantage. We found a way to move the ball, put some points on the board. Our defense played really well, but it definitely had an impact on the passing game.”

 

I just was wondering with the defense, they had a strong outing yesterday. Asking a couple of guys, they all said it’s all about Jim Schwartz and they were able to play free. How much of this defensive scheme relies on trust from both the players and the coaches in those players? 

“Yeah, I mean, I would tell you that’s probably true of every scheme, Cam (Camryn Justice) and offense and defense and special teams. I think you see whether it’s buy-in or whatever it is, the guys are playing freely in the scheme because that’s what the scheme calls for. We call for the guys up front. You’ve heard Coach (Schwartz) talk about taking their seatbelts off. It calls for that. It calls for you to play with reckless abandon. It calls for you to have eleven hats on the ball. So, I thought you saw great examples of that. It’s hard to single guys out because the performance was so good. But if I could, I’d talk about our corners. I thought they played really well, challenged a really good pass attack. I thought Ogbo (Okoronkwo) played really well. I thought Grant (Delpit) played really well. I could go up and down the board with our guys.”

 

Over the course of his career, Deshaun (Watson) averages about five runs a game, and he had five on Sunday. Tell me how important it is for the threat of his running to open things up and just his general use of his legs. Are you comfortable? Do you want more? 

“Yeah, I think it’s going to depend on the game, Tony (Grossi), and the moment and all those types of things. I think if you look at yesterday, you know, Deshaun made a play on the first third down, scrambled and made a first down. He had made plays on design runs. He made plays just by carrying out his fakes. You’re going to watch on some of those runs where (with) him carrying out his fakes, a lot of the defense is aware of his ability with the ball in his hand. So that’s a huge part of what we do. Whether it’s by design, whether it’s off schedule, whether it’s a third-down scramble, whether it’s a first and ten quarterback design run, all of that is part of who we are. I think the game and the different game plans and those types of things will determine how often that occurs.”

 

I wanted to ask you about Wyatt Teller. There’s that one block he had yesterday where he pushes a guy like 20 yards upfield. It seems like he maybe has a couple of those plays every year, just number one, what that can do for you when you have an O lineman working that hard and just how he’s looked this year since he dealt with that calf injury for so much last season?

“Yeah, he played well yesterday. That’s his brand of football, when he can lock his hands on you and he’s so big and so strong, and to see him finish a player down the field – I mean, that’s kind of an offensive lineman’s dream right there. To be able to do that all the way down the field, I think it speaks to his mentality, which in turn speaks to our offensive line’s mentality.”

 

You said you spent time with Jack. Just how’s he doing? This is the latest and kind of a string of really tough injuries that he’s had to go through.

“Well, yeah, I think Jack has a great way about him. He’s so conscientious, so mature. So, he’s disappointed and upset about it, but I have no doubt that he’ll bounce back from this, just knowing the person.”

 

And then Dawand, what did you see when you went back and watched the film? Just when you went back and watched the film, what did you think?

“I think some really good moments, some things that he’s got to clean up. It’s really, honestly, any young player, when you get thrown into the mix early, there’s going to be some time to catch up. And I thought he had some good moments, some things that we will work real hard to clean up.”

 

I want to ask you about Marquise Goodwin. There were a couple of misconnections there, probably because of that heavy ball, but how encouraging is it to you as a playcaller when he could get behind the secondary like that? 

“First of all, how nice was it just to see him back out there on the football field for everything that he’s been through in the last few months? And I told him that just him being out there in uniform, (Sione) Takitaki being out there, AWalk (Anthony Walker). I mean, what these guys go through and then out there performing is fun for us to see. There’s so much work that goes into it that we don’t see. I’d first say that, yeah, Marquise, his speed is world-class. He can really do it all. He’s not just a speed receiver. He will utilize that speed, but that speed allows you to run a lot of different routes. So, he’s somebody that we’re excited to have and looking forward to doing some things with him, really, throughout this season.”

 

I know we talked about, obviously, the weather having an impact on the passing game, but moving forward, what would you like to see in that area? Like, the growth in the passing game moving forward, especially heading into Pittsburgh? 

“Yeah, I think, as you see and we saw it on – you felt it in that game, and there were opportunities that just we couldn’t connect on a few of them. But bottom line is, we got to always look for those big plays down the field if they’re there. If they’re not there, we have other options. But part of this game and part of every game is going to be trying to find explosives in the past game.”

 

It’s hard to find fault when you win 24 to three and impress, but you know the stats 70% or more in a negative turnover ratio, you’re negative two. So how much more does that impress to come over that when you didn’t get the takeaways that you’re stressing and you still win dominant? 

“Yeah, being minus two is not a way to consistently win. So, we have to take care of the ball offensively, and we know that. And I think there were two good learning plays there. Obviously, the ball got tipped on the interception. They fumble. We got to have two hands on the ball in the pile like that. But we’ll always stress ball security because it’s hard to win when you’re minus two.”

 

Deshaun said that he was struggling with body cramps throughout his entire body going into the half, but it certainly did not look like it. Did the coaching staff know that he was struggling with those cramps? 

“Yeah, I mean, a lot of our guys, it’s not uncommon, especially in the first game to be cramping, even when it’s not 80, 90 degrees. So that’s not surprising. And then he took care of it at halftime, but he was better once he got that done.”

 

After an emotional win like this in a rarity for a week one for the franchise, you pivot now to another divisional rival in Pittsburgh. I mean, how do you, as a head coach, kind of get your guys’ focus back and kind of motion to the side and recalibrate and refocus? Because that’s a challenge heading into another divisional game this early in the season. 

“We got these six division games. We have three of them early in the first four weeks. We knew that, talked about that going into the week or going into the season, I should say. So, we’re well aware of what that means and all those types of things. But really today is watching the tape, figuring out ways to get better and then letting this one go. Like I said, win, lose or draw, you got to let this one go. Once you walk out of the building, we’ll turn our sights to the next opponent. And as you know, Monday Night Football, we have an extra day to prepare, so we’ll use those days to our advantage and getting our bodies right and certainly spending some time on the Steelers.”

 

I thought I saw that Jed (Jedrick) Wills went into the X-ray room. Just wondering if he came out of the game okay. He’s fine for the Steelers game?

“Yes.”

 

Your defensive front is getting a lot of love this morning for that performance yesterday when you went back and watched it on tape, only two sacks, but you hit the quarterback at least ten times. Did it look as good to you as it seems to be looking to the rest of us outside the building? 

“Yeah, and I would tell you, Daryl (Ruiter), it was a good performance by the defense. Obviously good performance up front, but it’s a bunch of different guys. It was Myles (Garrett). It was Za’Darius (Smith) – Dalvin (Tomlinson) I thought was really strong. I mentioned Ogbo earlier. So, when we’re at our best, we’re rolling those guys and keeping everybody fresh so everybody gets an opportunity to rush the passer, to stop the run. But it was a really impressive outing for that entire group.”

 

Us old timers were encouraged to see you punt in the second quarter. You had fourth and one. You took the delay, but you had decided to punt. Was that strictly weather and defense related or are you reassessing your fourth down decision? 

“That was for the old timers, Tony (Grossi). I was thinking about you in the moment. Yeah, I think every game calls for a different game plan. You take everything into account. I liked how our defense was playing, but it’s really totally game-by-game, those types of decisions.”

 

You mentioned a bunch of different guys effective in the pass rush, but I’m curious, the variety of blitzes and pass rushes and formations that Jim Schwartz used, just how tough on that is that on a quarterback, offensive line and play-caller? 

“Yeah, it can be really difficult. I think, you know, we’ve talked about this before. Just with Myles, teams go into every week playing us, they’re going to have a plan for Myles, and it’s typically a chip plan or they’re going to slide the front to him. So, the more ways you can either move him around or let other guys get opportunities is a big part of it. So that’s not going to be unique. What is unique week to week is we’ll come up with a plan that puts our guys in a position to succeed. And what we did in the last one may be totally different from what you do in the next one, it’s really based on the opponent and where you think there are matchups for your side.”

 

 

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