Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (10.20.24)

Opening Statement:

“Okay, injury front, Deshaun has an Achilles injury. We’ll get testing on that. Dorian (Thompson-Robinson) has a finger injury. I’ll have more updates on that. You come here to try to get a win versus division opponent and fall short and really disappointed that we can’t. We have to eliminate some bad football that’s holding us back. We have to eliminate those plays that are holding us back and then when we do that, we’ll have a chance, but disappointed.”

 

Are you able to say anything on Deshaun’s injury? Is it going to be season-ending?

“I think let’s get the test to confirm, but that’s what it looks like.”

 

Myles just talked about the disappointment he had with fans out there when Deshaun went down and they were kind of booing, some cheering, calling for DTR (Dorian Thompson-Robinson). What was your perspective? 

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s ever okay to cheer when someone’s injured. I’m sure it’s not every person in that building doing that, but that’s disappointing.”

 

Kevin, why did you go DTR at the backup? But the first the first six games, you had Jameis (Winston)?

“Yeah, kind of went into the season thinking both those guys were the number two and felt like with some of the packages that we had up today, didn’t have really Jameis in the short yardage that we’ve had up before, so felt like it was the right thing for this game.”

 

What about next week? 

“Yeah, I got to get through the injuries here.”

 

Coach, Nick Chubb only had one carry in the second half. Was that actually you guys game playing with him or did he sustain any setbacks? 

“No, no setbacks. Just always trying to be smart with him. Want to make sure that we don’t put him in a bad spot. He was good. He came out of this thing good. So, he’ll be ready to roll.”

 

Same thing with (Jack) Conklin?

“Yeah, I’ll have more information on Jack tomorrow.”

 

Kevin, you guys try to emphasize no false starts. How do you do that other than say don’t, ‘false start?’

“Yeah, it’s kind of a bad football that’s holding you back. It’s got to get cleaned up. It’s a player thing, it’s the coaches that have to get it fixed – myself, I got to get it fixed because it’s holding us back. It’s really, really disappointing.”

 

The x-rays on DTR, were they negative, and do you think this could keep him out of the game?

“I don’t have an update yet, Mary Kay (Cabot). I’m not sure.”

 

Do you know what happened?

“Finger injury.”

 

Did Dorian get reps with the ones last week?

“Yeah, our backups really don’t get reps with the ones.”

 

Was it on his throwing hand?

“Yes.”

 

Kevin, you say you have to get it fixed. I understand that, but how do you get guys to not false start? 

“Yeah, obviously each person’s accountable to do their job and we just got to make sure that we coach it up and the guys understand these pre-snap penalties. I mean, it’s nothing that the defense is doing, or the offense is doing. You’re doing it to yourself.”

 

How’d you think Nick looked on those ten carries? I mean, I know it was only 20 yards, but how did you think he looked? 

“Yeah, I think it was good for him to get tackled. Hasn’t been tackled yet so, just get him fit his pads and those type of things. I thought it was good.”

 

What did you see on the opening kickoff return that was taken back and just how disappointing it is to battle right out of the gate? 

“Yeah, I mean, that’s been a strength of ours, our kickoff coverage. They obviously had a good scheme versus what we were doing, so that’s not how we want to start.”

 

What’d you see defensively kind of shift from the first and second quarter as you held them scoreless and then in the third quarter, they score 13 points?

“Yeah, by and large, our defense, I think, held them to 12 first downs, maybe. That’s a very good offense. I thought we had some really good moments there. They made their plays because obviously they have some good players, so they’re going to make some plays.”

 

If DTR does get back in there, will you coach him to maybe not put himself in harm’s way as much and maybe sort of play a little bit more in control?

“Yeah, there’s definitely – there’s so many teachable moments that he can learn from in this game.”

 

Kevin, are you concerned about Dustin? It seems like he’s in a little bit of a funk, whatever you want to call it.

“He’s a veteran. I expect him to make those kicks. He’ll get back to work.”

 

Is there a reason why (Jerry) Jeudy didn’t touch the ball until the end of the game?

“Yeah, no reason. He should touch the ball.”

 

I didn’t see Elijah (Moore) out there for maybe the first quarter. Was there a disciplinary reason? 

“Yeah, that’s stuff I’ll keep internal.”

 

But there’s a reason?

“Yeah.”

 

Kevin, can you put into words just how upsetting, frustrating, disappointing it is to have a game like that? 

“Probably not. Yeah, I mean, I feel it from our players, from this team. I mean, it’s frustrating. You want to come out and all the work we put into this thing; you want to get a win. Really disappointed in the things that are holding us back right now.

 

Deshaun was really kind of starting to heat up right before the injury, he completed three straight passes. His stat line was better than it had been. Can you just speak to how he’s just out there fighting? 

“Yeah, I mean, obviously, it doesn’t look good with his injury. So, I’ll give him a call here in a little bit and disappointed for him. Any of our guys that you lose, you’re disappointed because you know how much this means to them and how hard they work. It’s tough.”

 

Going back to the Nick playing time, was it always a plan to play him a bunch in the first half?

“Yeah, I would say it was a plan to see how he was doing throughout, checking in with him and then just felt, where the game was going, felt good about what we’re doing.”

 

Kevin, quarterback injury aside here, I know this was a fact of the day, but this is seven straight games you guys haven’t scored 20 points. It just is unheard of in this game. Just how difficult and frustrating is it with the offense right now when you’re getting some help from your defense but you’re not finding any scoreboard production? 

“Yeah, not good enough. Very frustrating.”

 

Kevin, was Deshaun taken to the hospital? Is he having surgery?

“I don’t know that, Tom (Withers). I don’t believe, no, but I don’t know that for sure.”

 

From what you saw from him this season and even in this game, do you feel like you would have stuck with him and you feel like he’s somebody that you guys can win with? 

“Yeah, absolutely. Really what I want to think about Mary Kay (Cabot) right now is just the young man who’s injured and looking like his season’s over. That’s tough for any of our guys.”

 

Looking back on that last drive, obviously Jameis Winston led that touchdown drive. Obviously DTR had his struggles. Would you guys have been better served in this standpoint starting him instead of DTR?

“Yeah, I mean, I understand the question, but I trust all those guys in there.”