Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (11.13.24)

Opening Statement:

“Okay, great challenge going down to New Orleans. Good football team. You watch the tape, it’s a talented offense. Derek Carr is a really explosive quarterback. He can make all those throws. Have gone against him before. He’s a talented player. Obviously, Alvin Kamara is the focal point of what they do; leading receiver, leading rusher, great player. Good players all around. Defensively they make you work, very challenging. But from the front, instinctive linebackers, secondary that takes the ball away and then the special teams is excellent. Darren Rizzi does a great job obviously with that group. So, have our work cut out for us. Have to have a great week of practice and with that I’ll take any questions.”

 

You obviously are quite familiar with Joe (Woods) on the defensive side himself as well as Klint (Kubiak) and multiple offensive coaches. When you popped on the tape, did you feel like the certain comfortability? 

“I think you see what they’re doing, certainly, but I think it’s overrated from a insider knowledge type of perspective. Obviously, Joe called it this last time for the first time, so you’re seeing how much will it change, how much will it not change. I think that’s — we’ll see over the course of the next few games. And certainly offensively, I could tell you what they’re calling it, but it doesn’t mean it gives a great advantage to our defense.”

 

Did it look a lot different? I know you just said Joe called it, but just overall with a new head coach?

“I’d say no. Yeah, I’d say no.”

 

Can you talk about how they’re way high up the list in interceptions and just how they’re taking it away like that?

“And (Tyrann) Mathieu got the one late in that game. They are really, really ball aware. They do a great job. They tip balls at the line of scrimmage. They have big, physical corners. But they take the ball away. They do a good job.”

 

What did you learn, Kevin, as you did your self-scouting over this bye week? 

“A lot. Not going to share all the specifics with you, but I would tell you, Jeff (Schudel), the players understand the areas that we want to improve upon. There’s a lot of things that we feel like we can do better. Some of them are very small detail, footwork type things. Some of them are big picture, schematic things. But you work hard to identify items that you feel like your players can improve upon.”

 

Do you feel like Jameis (Winston) has a chance to kind of settle in given it was a late start and then you have a bye week? Do you feel like he can kind of settle in and maybe take control of this offense?

“I think any player with reps and with time certainly has the ability to settle in or get more comfortable with what we’re doing. And everything we do with our players, certainly the quarterback position, you want to make sure they’re comfortable with him. So, Jameis has been here since the spring. We’ve gotten to know him really well on the field as well as off the field, so I think you’re getting to know his comfort level with a lot of things more so with the more reps that he takes.”

 

What was your reaction to Jed (Jedrick) Wills saying the other day that he made a business decision not to…? 

“I talked to Jed; it was a poor choice of words. I know the connotation of ‘business decision.’ That’s not how he meant it. Did not feel like he was near 100% to help us. But poor choice of words and he understands that.”

 

When you guys get out to the practice fields today, are you expecting a refreshed energy out there from the guys after the bye? 

“You should be recharged. You should be well rested. You should be feeling better than coming off of a game on Sunday. So, I do think the guys — we’re healthier certainly than were a couple weeks ago.”

 

Is there a reason that Jed’s not healthy a year later? I mean, was there a setback? 

“I wouldn’t categorize it as setback. It hasn’t recovered how quickly he would want it to and there’s obviously times that you maybe tweak an injury, or you feel it again and those type of things. But yeah, it’s been a tough rehab for him.”

 

Does that impact, what he said, in any way your decision to play him going forward this season? 

“No. Yeah, let me reiterate; it was a poor choice of words. I know what that phrase means. That’s not how he meant it.”

 

Does it play in to the decision to bench him after the (Baltimore) Ravens game?

“No.”

 

You guys had a big win when you changed quarterbacks, they have a big win when they changed coaches. What is it about changing personnel that way that can energize a group? Why is that happening? 

“I think you just have to be careful and always look at every situation and look at the process and separate that sometimes from the result. Obviously, you’re going out there every week regardless of who’s where, and you’re trying to win games. For us, whether it’s a new player in there, a wide receiver, a new player in their defensive end, whatever it does, we expect those guys to perform, so we don’t look at it that way. More so just trying to find a way to win any which way you can/”

 

To clarify something about that sequence back when you moved (Dawand) Jones to left tackle. The week started with Jed not practicing and with Jones practicing at left tackle on Wednesday. So, you had made that decision before he made his, quote, business decision, right? 

“Yeah, I think he was battling back from an injury, so it made it simple in my mind with Dawand healthy and Jack (Conklin) healthy.”

 

But you made the decision on Wednesday, not Friday. 

“Right, we moved Dawand over there to get reps at left tackle, yes.”

 

All three of your tackles, though, coming off knee surgeries, coming into the season, all three of them seem to have complications. Even though Dawand was playing, he still didn’t look like he was Dawand. So, is there a correlation between all three of those guys struggling to come back from these knee injuries? 

“I don’t think so. I understand the question, Daryl (Ruiter), but every injury is different, every player is different. You treat the injury based on how the guys are feeling. It’s not like they all had the same injury either. So, I wouldn’t characterize it like that.”

 

Would it help this offensive line to get this run game going a bit?

“It would, yes, underline that. It would help everybody.”

 

Do you hear from those guys when maybe they don’t feel you run it enough? 

“I have good dialogue with our players. Offensive linemen want to run it, receivers want to throw it. So, I hear from all of them.”

 

Jameis, in his career, has aways been a bit of risk taker. Is it difficult for a guy that’s played that way maybe his whole life to kind of rewire? And I know you want him to take care of the ball, but easier said than done.

“I think it’s important that all of our players understand their role in our success. Jameis has played a lot of football in this league. He understands what it takes to win. He understands, obviously taking care of the ball is paramount to what we do. He also is a player that can make throws down the field, and you want to just make sure that you’re always being smart, but you’re not just being conservative for the sake of being conservative.”

 

When the decision was made for AVP (Alex Van Pelt) to leave, did you consider Klint Kubiak? Did you interview him? 

“I wouldn’t get into all that, Tony (Grossi). Respectfully.”

 

Going back to the running game, how do you guys plan on kind of expanding that and being better in the coverage? 

“I mean, we need to better in a bunch of areas. I think the run game, like we talked about, you want to be able to do it efficiently, explosively when it presents itself, but being efficient in the run or the pass, but in this case, being efficient in the run game really does help out your pass game. It helps staying out of longer down and distances. When you’re negative in your run game, it really puts you behind the eight ball, so to speak, in the down and distance.”

 

Has Nick (Chubb) told you he feels better after getting back and shaking the rust and all of those things? 

“He has not told me that. I see it. I mean, I think he’s getting healthier and healthier.”

 

With Jerome (Ford) getting healthier, do you envision maybe more of a one-two punch with those guys? 

“That’s always our goal is to play multiple guys back there, but it’s really based on game flow.”

 

To the untrained eye it looked like David Njoku was able to plant and maybe be a little more explosive just even during practice on Monday. Has that ankle injury lingered and really kind of inhibited him? 

“He’s getting better. When you’re talking about those ankle injuries, where his ankle injury was, you come back, but you’re not close to 100%. So, I think he’s getting back to 100%.”

 

The Saints had two straight weeks to start the year 40 points for them and they haven’t cracked 30 since. I mean, what, if anything… 

“They’re excellent on offense. They have dealt with a lot of injuries, their top two receivers. The quarterback was out for three games. They’ve had injuries along the offensive line, but they are a major challenge for us. Our players understand how big a challenge this is.”

 

What about the new player that you guys signed…

“Chig (Chigozie Anusiem)?”

 

Is he considered a cornerback or a safety? 

“Cornerback.”