Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (12.17.25)
Opening Statement:
“Okay, great challenge this week. Really good football team, playing at a high level. Obviously, ton of respect for Coach (Sean) McDermott and their group. Talented football players, obviously. You watch the tape of this group and they’re doing a great job in a bunch of different areas, offense, defense and special team. So, looking forward to the challenge and understanding that’s going to take our best effort. And with that I’ll take any questions.”
No Wyatt (Teller) on the pre-practice injury report. Do you guys feel good that there’s a good chance that he’ll be able to go this Sunday?
“We’ll see. Yeah, not sure yet. Got to get through these practices first.”
Can you rule out anybody that’s not practicing today?
“Probably wouldn’t rule them out, but everybody seems to be trending in the right direction.”
Does Dylan Sampson have a broken hand?
“He has a hand injury, yeah, with potentially…but he’s getting better. He is getting better.”
Can you just talk about what makes Josh Allen so difficult to defend against? I mean some of it’s obvious, but what are you seeing?
“Yeah, where do you start, Mary Kay (Cabot)? I think he’s very good at all of it. Whether it’s on schedule, the ability to make the throw to every area of the field, whether it’s off schedule, to buy time and throw the ball to every area of the field, or run – and when he runs, he’s like a fullback out there. So, really no weakness in his game.”
Kevin, two weeks in a row now teams have run the ball and done pretty well. Is it injury related or is it deeper than that?
“We take pride, Jeff (Schudel), in our run defense. We obviously need to get back to that level that we expect from our group. It’s always a matter of doing our job, doing it with great effort, and also recognizing you’re going up against some good rush groups as well.”
Kevin, along those lines, what challenges does (James) Cook present, being second in the league in rushing yards right now?
“He’s outstanding. The speed on every run scheme, to play between the tackles or bounce it to either side – he uses all 53 and a third of the field. Really, really talented player. I had his brother, Dalvin (Cook) in Minnesota. Just a great kid, great family that he’s got. They run hard, they can catch the ball in the backfield., really do it all.”
Kevin, when you face stacked boxes at the highest rate like your offense, does that say more about the running game or what the defense perceives about the passing game? And how do you work to get out of those stacked boxes and get some opportunities for Quinshon (Judkins)?
“Yeah, those are opportunities. Obviously, with Quinshon and our run game, when you are running against those boxes, you are going to be able to block force with wide receivers and hopefully give our runners creases where they can go make yards. When you do run it and then when you do throw it, those are opportunities. When the middle field is closed and they’re playing post safety defense, that’s opportunities in the pass game.”
When we talk about the run defense, do you get a sense that the guys are wearing down at all, just because they’ve been on the field a bunch? Feels like they’ve been in short fields a lot and maybe that takes a toll?
“No, I think we have a standard to how we play. Again, I give credit to the teams we’ve gone against, but we understand what it takes to stop a really good run defense – excuse me, stop a really good run offense. It’s not easy, but you’re going out there to limit some of these groups.”
How nice would it be for you guys to be able to celebrate Myles (Garrett) setting the record at home on Sunday?
“Yeah, you guys talk to Myles every single week – that’s not his focus, Mary Kay. His focus is on doing his job every single play – run play, pass play, you name it. That’s really what he’s focused on. The record itself, it’s fun, obviously, for our fans and fun to be a part of that, but that’s not at all his focus.”
Kevin, is there any update on Deshaun (Watson) since he’s two and a half weeks into the window?
“No update. Just continues to do a good job.”
He’s been running the scout team, Bill (Musgrave) let that out. I know we talked about scout team reps earlier, but is he doing all of it? Is he doing some of it?
“Some of it, yeah. Just having a progression there.”
(Ray) Davis in the kickoff return for them, just what differentiates him from, I mean, you’ve seen running backs be successful. And obviously he’s been a running back for a while. So, what does he specifically bring to that?
“Yeah, that unit of theirs, their kickoff return unit is outstanding. They were very, very good last week up against New England (Patriots), which is a tough group as well. They do a great job blocking. He’s got excellent vision. He has speed. If you give him a crease, he has the speed to go. So, it’s an excellent group.”
You guys, the last two weeks have given up big returns right off the bat. Has it been the same issue, maybe a different player? What is sort of when you watch…?
“Yeah, it’s always, it’s never one thing. And that’s our job, is to identify things that we can do better, identify schemes, identify personnel that we can do better there. And ultimately then we’ve got to go out and execute.”
Do you feel like you’ll be able to get a little bit more out of Ced (Cedric) Tillman this week? And you know, when you just look at the targets, it seems like that Shedeur would be best served by trying to spread the ball around a little bit more. Do you think that will help?
“Yeah, I’m hopeful on Ced, obviously practicing this week will be key for him to get back out there and have the more full role that he’s used to. And obviously when it comes to a pass game, you want to spread the ball around to as many guys as you can – runners, tight ends, wide receivers. I think that makes you tougher to defend when you’re spreading the ball around.”
We talked about the ups and downs for rookies, but especially Shedeur as a quarterback, whether it’s in game or coming off the game, so how have you seen him handle that? Like coming in yesterday after the rough game in Chicago?
“Oh, yeah. He’s got the same attitude every single day, which you expect from quarterbacks. You have to, in this league be able to turn the page after a loss. You gotta be able to turn the page after a win. You just can’t take that previous game with you and I think he does a great job of that.”
Was Ced Tillman injured in that Chicago game because he was on the field for, I think only seven snaps?
“Yeah, he was. He didn’t practice till I think Friday last week because he was coming off the concussion protocol. So just more of a limited role because of that.”
Kevin, with Jack (Conklin), is there a concern that he might just not…I mean, I know the concussions are different things, but is there any hope that you might see him at some point this season?
“As you know, with the concussion protocol, it’s very black and white. So just we’re going to follow the rules and make sure that we do that always with concussions.”
Kevin, you talked about Josh (Allen), how great he is of a player. You guys have gone against dual-threat quarterbacks before; obviously you play Lamar (Jackson) twice a year. But does the bar sort of start with Josh Allen given just physically how different he is kind of from other quarterbacks?
“Yeah, he’s playing at an extremely high level. I’m sure he’s right up there. I don’t know who’s playing better than him at the position. He’s done that for a bunch of years now, but, yeah, the dual-threat nature of what he brings to each play is a challenge for any defense.”
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