Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (11.10.25)

Opening Statement:

“You know, obviously frustrated, disappointed on that result yesterday. And we’re spending time right now watching it with the players and trying to learn from that. You know, hard to win on the road, and certainly hard when you do some of the things we did in that ball game. But we’re committed to this thing, and we’ll just find ways to get better in all areas and we’ll go from there. Big division game at our place this week. With that, I’ll take any questions.”

 

Kevin (Stefanski), just wondering about the fact that news just came down that Brian Daboll got let go. I know, you know Brian, and I know how you felt like when it happened to Brian Callahan. How do you feel about it? And also, these guys are coaching rookie quarterbacks. It can be a tough gig, right?

“Yeah, obviously, I have a personal relationship with a lot of guys, Mary Kay (Cabot), in this league, so you just, you don’t like to see that for them. So, I’ll keep those types of things between us. But, yeah, you always feel for anybody out there who’s going through that type of thing.”

 

Hey, Kevin. It feels like a loss like yesterdays could, I don’t know, be tougher to get over than some. So, how do you get everybody to bounce back, especially sitting at 2-7?

“Yeah, they’re all hard to swallow, Scott (Petrak). It’s this business, so you never get used to it and it stings. Having said that, you have to turn around and get right back at it, so that’s what we’ll do. We got to quickly learn from it, and then, like I said to you guys, move forward to a division game at our place.”

 

And when you go back and look at those two kick returns for touchdowns, what stands out? What changes can you make to special teams? Because it’s happened before.

“Yeah, obviously, not good enough. We can be way, way better than that. Some of these big ones, you got to get the guy on the ground and limit what could be a bad return for you but get him on the ground for a gain of 20 or whatever it is. So, frustrating for those balls to go the other way on us. And we’ll look at them, and learn from them, and understand how we can be better in a technique sense. And then we’ll look at how we can move our guys around to make sure we got guys in the right spots like we always do. But, yeah, that’s tough to win on the road, tough to win a football game, giving up those two returns.”

 

Kevin, I’m going to ask you about those returns, too. How do you stay confident in Bubba Ventrone when it has been a problem all year?

“Yeah, listen, I have a ton of faith in Bubba. I have a ton of faith in our special teams. We have to be better – that’s the case. There are ways that we can try to be better. We’ll continue to coach our guys hard; we’ll continue to give them the techniques to use. But I trust our guys, I trust that we’ll get back to work.”

 

Do you have to make changes on those coverage units?

“I think throughout the game, Jeff (Schudel), and throughout the season, you’re always making changes with guys and depending on who’s available to you in a given game. So, we’ll always look at those things.”

 

Kevin, what progress have you seen from Dillon (Gabriel), start one to start five? What areas have you seen drastic improvement?

“Well, I think with young quarterbacks, Daryl (Ruiter), it’s understanding that there’s going to be ups and downs. You know, can Dillon play better? Yes, he can. Can we play better around him? Yes, we can. Can we coach him better? Yes, we can. So, I understand the question, but I just trust that our young players at every position, and certainly at the quarterback position, are guys that are going to work their tails off to get better every single day.”

 

Jimmy Haslam said during training camp that you knew that seeing both young quarterbacks at some point this season was important. So where is Shedeur (Sanders) at as far as his development, and do you have a timetable of when you would take a look at him?

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s fair to speculate, Daryl. We’re committed to getting better as an offense. Dillon is certainly committing to improving every which way he can. And all the while, all of our players, young players, are developing and working so hard behind the scenes to make sure that they’re getting better on a daily basis.”

 

Kevin, if you could take us behind the curtain a little on that fourth down with 10 minutes to go, you’re in plus territory, fourth and one. Now under your present setup, you decide to go for it. But who calls that play?

“Well, let me first say this, Tony (Grossi). I’m responsible for every decision, every play call, offense, defense, special teams. So, I’ll own all of it. And I trust our players, I trust our coaches. We obviously did not get the result we wanted there, and the desire obviously on third down and on fourth down is to get that first. We came up short, but bottom line is it’s my responsibility.”

 

But since you just made the play calling change, is it fair to say that Tommy (Rees) called the play and you disagreed with the play?

“I’m not going to go behind the curtain all the way, Tony, just to tell you I trust Tommy just like I trust Jim (Schwartz). I always have the ability to step in when necessary, but I’m going to always give my coaches who I trust, I’m going to give them the opportunity. Are there times that you change a call? Yeah, there are. But bottom line is we did not come through there.”

 

Hey, Kevin, I wanted to ask about Carson (Schwesinger). I know it sounded like his prognosis with the ankle was always really good, like playing was on the table for him fairly early. It seemed like you guys knew, but to fight through that, to work through that in the bye week and then to perform the way he did, what does that say about him and the rookie season that he’s having?

“Yeah, he has Wolverine blood, I believe is what it says. The kid’s playing at an extremely high level. For him to come back from that injury and perform like he did, it was incredible to watch. And really, throughout that bye week, he just kept getting better and better, and you felt like there’d be a chance of him playing. So listen, I have not looked around the league at how other guys are playing and that type of thing, but I’d be hard pressed to believe there’s a defensive player as a rookie that’s playing better than him. And then factor in what he came back from, it’s pretty remarkable.”

 

Hey Kevin, with the offense, it seems like the offense is pretty fragile and has a tough time handling adversity. And I use the idea they went 95 yards, looked really good. Then you have the kick return, and after that it took until Ronnie Hickman’s interception to get them jump started again. Do you agree that they have a tough time right now handling adversity? And if you don’t agree with it, why?

“Yeah, I think our guys responded at times in the game, Fred (Greetham). Did we play perfect? No, obviously we did not. I thought there were some missed opportunities in the run game, there were some missed opportunities in the pass game. You’re not going to get every single one of those, but our guys, they’re going to fight to the end. We didn’t come through, as a football team, but the guys understand what an NFL game is like, and there are those ups and downs throughout the game.”

 

What about undiscipline? You had 10 penalties, 78 yards, a lot of pre-snap and things that…even the first play of the game, (Quinshon) Judkins goes 15 and gets called back. How can you adjust to those things?

“Yeah, obviously the pre-snap penalties are ones that we really can control, and post-snap we can be great with our technique. But I believe we had three pre-snap penalties on offense, which is three too many on the road. We know the situation at the end there, we can be better – we will be better.”

 

Off of that, I know you want to be better, and you’ll preach those techniques and making sure they’ll clean them up. But what does that look like in a week when you’re trying to ensure that disciplined, you don’t get those pre-snap penalties?

“Well, I think you just, you emphasize it every week, like we do with the players, in all meetings, out on the practice field. And we talk about avoiding the avoidable ones, which are those pre-snap penalties, and making sure you’re in the right formation, making sure you’re not jumping offsides and those types of things. So, we obviously were not good enough in that area last week, and we will make sure that we emphasize it again, and make sure that it’s something that’s a strength of ours, and particularly it should be at home.”

 

You mentioned a little earlier some of those changes that happen in a game throughout a season. Dillon Gabriel brought up the phrase ‘if you keep doing the same things and don’t change anything, it’s the definition of insanity’. Do you feel that you as a coach and this team has changed enough to create actual results on the field’ or is there more that you need to change to turn this thing around?

“Yeah, bottom line, Cam (Justice), is we need to play better football on all three sides of the ball, and we’re going to start doing that this week, at home, division opponent.”

 

Kevin, when looking back at the film and everything, what was your overall thoughts on how Tommy called the game?

“Yeah, I think you guys will have a chance to talk to Tommy this week. I thought we had some opportunities there, we weren’t perfect in any facet, so certainly weren’t perfect on offense, but plenty to build off of.”

 

And then dovetailing off Cam and asking about things getting fixed during the week on pre-snap penalties. When you guys have the officials in for practice during the week, can you ramp that up with them calling things a little bit closer than what they might normally do, in terms of maybe preventing that?

“Yeah, I’m comfortable with how we structure that part of practice. It’s a point of emphasis for our football team, and it will continue to be a point of emphasis.”

 

Going back to that fourth and one. What should have happened there or what went wrong that you weren’t able to execute?

“Yeah, obviously, first thing I’d tell you, Scott, is you give them credit. You know, they did a good job, good defensive call versus what we were doing. Tried to get into a different formation and go quickly, but they did a nice job.”

 

And then going back to Carson, there was one pretty big play where he wound up without a helmet on. Should that have been a penalty on that screen for a touchdown, or what did you see when you looked at it?

“Yeah, listen, again, they made a good play call. We got to try to get that guy on the ground no matter what.”

 

Kevin, what does give you total faith in Bubba and the special teams, not just after what happened yesterday, but at various points throughout the season, there was another punt return for a touchdown and some other things that have gone on, but what makes you feel that way?

“Yeah, I think, I get to watch our coaches coach. I get to watch our guy’s work, Mary Kay. We need to improve, we understand that. Those two returns yesterday are really disappointing, and our guys understand everybody’s role that we play in this thing. So, we’ll get it fixed.”

 

Would Deshaun Watson be cleared to practice this week?

“Yeah, I’m not sure if that’s what we’re doing.”

 

This was your first game this year, not calling plays. Did you do anything differently from last year when you were in this position?

“No. You know, obviously my role is to make sure everybody’s in position to succeed, and I’ll continue to look for ways to do that.”

 

Yeah, Kevin, I wanted to ask you about that fourth and four, Cam (Thomas) getting called offsides there. On TV, it looked like you were yelling the situation not to jump, the announcers were talking about it. Where’s your frustration level go, when it’s such a critical point in the game, where you’re trying to get the ball back in the last minute, so you at least have a chance, and a major mental mistake happens in such an obvious situation?

“Yeah. As you know, Daryl, anything that happens on the football field is my responsibility. I got to make sure the guys are aware of what’s going on. One play is not going to be the determining factor of that ballgame – there are plenty of plays that we need to be better, but that’s my job, to make sure these guys understand those situations.”

 

 

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