Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (11.15.24)
Opening Statement:
“Okay, going on the road down to New Orleans. Like we’ve talked about all week, got to play sound football on all three sides of the ball. Got to play complimentary football to go try and find a way to get a win versus a good football team. So, with that, I’ll take any questions.”
What’s wrong with Mike’s (Hall) knee?
“Yeah, had an injury yesterday in a drill, so we’ll just monitor that. But obviously tough to see him go down.”
Is there a concern that it could be something longer term than just this game or is it…
“Yes, he’s likely out for a period of time, but I don’t have all the details just yet.”
Will IR be considered?
“It is.”
That’s a spot where you lose Z (Za’Darius), you lose Q (Quinton Jefferson), you really haven’t filled those roster spots as well, now you throw this into the mix. How do you short term bandage it for that room for this weekend?
“Like we’ve talked about really all season. Every year, Chris (Easterling), you just have to be ready for anything that comes your way, and guys step up when a guy goes out for whatever the reason. So, we like the guys that we have at that group and someone’s going to get a few more reps and we trust those guys that get those reps.”
What were you seeing from Mike in the kind of short time we did get to see him on the field?
“We talked about Mike, I think, on Wednesday with this group. I think what you’re getting from Mike is a lot of positive plays both on defense and on special teams. He was providing some good plays for us. So, disappointed, but we’ll see how it all shakes out. But believe that this young man’s going to be a good football player for us.”
What have you seen from the couple of ends that around your practice squad, (Elerson) Smith and (Marcus) Haynes?
Yeah, again, it kind of goes back to the previous part. We’ll see what decisions we make there and who makes it to the game and those type of things. But those are guys we like. They give great looks to our offense when they’re on scout team, so we feel really good about that.”
I think you answered this, do you think that Mike might have to have a surgery?
“Not really going there yet, other than to say IR is a potential.”
Have you ever seen anything like Myles’ (Garrett) stretch in the last game with those three sacks?
“In how many plays was it? Was it four plays? I don’t remember. Is there a statistic? Have we seen this? Come on, Murph (Dan Murphy).”
In year five, are you still rewinding some of his plays sometimes just to be a fan?
“Yeah, I think with Myles being an elite rusher and he’s in a class, I’d say, all by himself. Teams plan their whole game plan around him and when he makes those plays, that’s the truly incredible part because you know that teams are going into it saying, ‘We can’t let him wreck this game,’ and then for him to be able to do that. I think this season, as you’ve seen, and he’s getting healthier, I think that’s another big piece of this as well. We know what he’s capable of.”
Is there anything you’ve seen opponents do to try to slow him down? I mean, I don’t know if there’s. Do you shake your head? I mean, what’s the craziest thing you’ve maybe seen?
“Well, you saw last year with whoever it was, sending the tight ends back and forth to wherever he lines up. I mean, that’s definitely something that teams have when they play him. They’re going to wait to see where he lines up, send a tight end over there, try and slide the front to him. There’s very, very few rushers that get the type of attention that Myles gets, those premier, premier guys. There’s only so much you can do. And then the other big part of this is getting the ball out of the quarterback’s hand, which teams certainly want to do that quicker than versus most teams.”
What type of headache was it game planning this week for Alvin Kamara? He’s leading him in receiving or leading him in rushing. He seems to be the centerpiece of that offense.
“Yeah, he’s certainly the centerpiece. He’s a great player. I mean, he’s an elite player and they’re utilizing him really well. He’s good in the run game and really every run scheme he’s good at. He’s an excellent receiver, whether coming out of the backfield or lined up out wide. He’s excellent in the screen game. He’s hard to get on the ground. He’s an elite player.”
How much does it change things when there’s one guy that’s such a focal point of what they do?
“Well, he’s a focal point certainly, because he’s the leading rusher and the leading receiver, but there’s other guys that can hurt you. That’s the challenge of going up against this team and they have a quarterback that can get the ball to all of those guys. So obviously you go into it understanding that Alvin Kamara is a great player, but they have good receivers, they have good tight ends. Number seven (Taysom Hill), whether he’s a fullback, tight end, whatever you want to call him, quarterback. He’s a great player. Look at the first play of the last game that got called back there for a penalty. I mean he goes however many yards, just catching the ball on a short pass and he can go. I don’t want to shortchange the rest of their players because they have talented players, but obviously 41 is the focal point.”
Coach (Jim) Schwartz said yesterday, with Taysom Hill, have you ever seen anyone transform a quarterback the way that the (New Orleans) Saints have with Taysom?
“The only guy I can think of would-be Joe Webb. Anybody remember Joe Webb? UAB Blazer. We drafted Joe when I was at the (Minnesota) Vikings. He was a quarterback there down there. He’s coaching high school ball now, but he was a quarterback there and then we moved him to wide receiver. And then after rookie minicamp, had him throw a little bit, we moved him to quarterback and then put him in there on special teams and he was the personal protector on punt and then he became a special teams player and then I think finished his career maybe in Carolina and was a special teamer. A guy that really could do it all. So, versatility is great in this league when you can find guys that can line up anywhere. The challenge with Taysom Hill is he’s the personal protector on punt and he’s a bonafide quarterback and then he’s the fullback on offense and he’s playing tight end. So just his ability to do everything but do it at a high level. It’s not like he’s just lining up out there. He can really do it all.”
Didn’t Joe Webb go full time receiver and then have to go back to quarterback for a game?
“I don’t remember, I mean he was bouncing back and forth. I do remember when he was playing more special teams and Joe realized he had to get a new helmet because his quarterback helmet was getting knocked around too much, didn’t provide enough padding. But Joe’s one of my favorites, if I can talk about Joe for a second, since you guys gave me the opportunity, one of my favorite teammates of all time to be around. It’s funny because I think Jameis (Winston) knows Joe well, I believe Deshaun (Watson) knows Joe, so I facetimed him last spring in the quarterback meeting room. We were all just catching up with him. But great, great player, a great collegiate player had some great moments for us at the Vikings, but one of the all-time great teammates will be around.”
Going on the road is always a challenge in this league. But how extra difficult is it going into that place specifically?
“It’s hard. I’ve been in there a few times. It’s very, very loud. They do a great job with their home field advantage. It’s quite the scene, it’s an environment, but it’s just that building keeps the sound in. So, you have to be really good when you’re on offense in terms of communication, both verbal and non-verbal communication in the huddle, at the line of scrimmage, on the sideline, you have to really be about your business a lot.”
I know we’ve been asking about Ced (Cedric Tillman) a lot, but how have you seen him really navigate the highs and the lows that come with a receiver and especially being a young receiver in this league?
“I think he’s done a nice job. I think he’s, again, [a] young player that continues to get better in our scheme. A guy that is with more opportunities, you’re seeing him make plays and that type of thing. But the big thing with young players is to have the mentality that they’re going to continue to get better and I think Ced has that for sure. So that’s something that I know Coach (Chad) O’Shea, Coach (Callie) Brownson, working with him every single day, He has the mentality that he wants to improve. I don’t think we’re close to where he ultimately will get.”
With Ced, after the (Los Angeles) Chargers game, he said that they threw some looks at him that he not didn’t necessarily see before and he kind of knew that they were playing that way. How have you seen him kind of adjust to account for those different coverages that he’s going to see now that he’s the primary target?
“I think, well, when you’re playing, whether you’re playing X or you’re playing Z, whichever side you’re on, you’re going to see from these defenses nowadays, and certainly this week, you’re going to see a variety of coverages. And what defenses do a great job of, they can make one thing look like another. So, we talk a lot about pre and post snap and understanding what you’re seeing pre snap, it may change post snap. So, keying in on safeties, where they’re rotating down, what the leverage is from the corner, when he lines up and then when the ball is snapped, does he jump outside, does he press and then he’s bailing. Like all those types of things come in to play when you’re playing receiver, and I think nowadays defenses are really playing rolodex coverages. They’re playing so many different things. I don’t know how many teams are just playing cover three, maybe like it once was, just playing cover two. It’s really playing a lot of different coverages.”
You talked about early in the week you clarified Jed’s (Jedrick Wills) comments and also, we heard from Jordan (Hicks) this week just about the injuries that he dealt with and how we didn’t know the full story of what he was going through, but that he tried to kind of play through them. How much do you guys help in those situations where a player, they want to be out there, but they have to sort of fight that battle between playing and hurting the team, but also wanting to be out there and play for their teammates?
“I think that happens every single week. All these injuries that guys are dealing with are, they’re all different, whether, I mean, literally different from a knee to a shoulder or whatever it might be. Where they are in their rehab, it all varies so much. So, I think you just have to treat each player based on where they are with any given injury. Having said that, I mean a lot of guys that don’t feel good when they play, they play, and you don’t feel great. There are other times that you just can’t go out there because you’re not going to perform to the ability that you can perform and that’s going to hurt the football team. So those are hard conversations where you have to sometimes protect a player from himself, as you say, so that you make sure you don’t put somebody out there that’s going to hurt themselves or hurt the team.”
What was the difference in inside or outside today?
“Yeah, we were inside yesterday. Just got some tough-minded people, Scott (Petrak). Obviously not you (joking).”
I was out there.
“Briefly.”