Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (12.22.25)
Opening Statement:
“All right, injury update: like I told you guys, Quinshon (Judkins), he’ll get surgery this week, up here. Expect him to make a full recovery. And like we talked about last night, knowing the kid, he’ll bounce back better than ever. So, disappointed for him, but he’s in good hands and he will bounce back. Like we talked about the game last night, just felt like in these games versus good football teams, you’re going to be in a battle, and you got to come through in the end and we did not. That’s the frustrating part. Obviously, there’s good things throughout a game like that, but disappointed to not be able to finish in that fourth quarter based on where we were. But with that, I’ll take any questions.”
Hey, Kevin, did Quinshon have any knee damage? I thought there’s some early reporting that said he might be evaluated for that.
“No, sir.”
And then with Shedeur (Sanders), the completion percentage was much better yesterday. And I know he talked about that a lot last week. What did you see being the key to the improvement there?
“I think every one of these games are different, Scott (Petrak). And how you have to play the position and what the defense is giving you. It’s so different week to week. I thought he made really good decisions throughout the game. You know you’re going to have your plays that there’s throws down the field, and if they’re not there, you check it down and you can make good yards. So, I thought, by and large, good decisions.”
Hey, Kevin, when Shedeur was analyzing his own performance yesterday, he said that maybe there’s times when he should have gotten rid of the ball sooner. Is that one of the more difficult steps for a quarterback in making his progress?
“I think all of it is a process, and you certainly progress with each one of these tests that you get, in each one of these moments and defenses that you go against. And there are things that every single player is working on throughout their season, techniques that they’re working on, fundamentals that they’re working on. That’s no different for a young quarterback. I think Shedeur has made strides in a bunch of areas. Are there plays and times and things that he can do better? Absolutely. And that’s why he’s working. That’s why he’s working so hard.”
Talking in particular about that fourth and two play, when you watched that back today, did you see that maybe he could have gotten…throwing the ball to Harold Fannin?
“We’ll learn from every single one of those plays and obviously feel good about him in those moments. He’ll come through. We came up short yesterday as a football team, but I have all the faith in the world in Shedeur. I have all the faith in the world in our players in those moments.”
Hey, Kevin, I know you were asked about them last night too, but just what does it say that once Quinshon had to leave with that injury, the role that Trayveon (Williams) and Rocket (Raheim Sanders) were able to step into, the things they were able to do on the field.
“Yeah, I was really pleased with those guys. And, you know, they’ve been with us now for… you know, Rocket’s been with us for a bit here. Obviously got Trayveon back a couple weeks back, but he was with us. So, both guys really understand what we’re doing with our schemes. I thought they both had really good moments. Rocket had a couple hard yards in there where he ran between the tackles, kept his legs moving. Obviously, Trayveon made some plays in the pass game as well. So, we’re counting on those guys, and we’ll be counting on them this week as well.”
Hey, Kevin, since it’s day 21 on Deshaun (Watson), just any update whether he’ll be activated to the roster or he just remains on IR the rest of the year?
“Yeah, no update today. I believe the window expires tomorrow, Joe (Reedy), so I’ll have an update for you guys tomorrow.”
And then just what’s the progress on Dylan (Sampson) so far and how do you kind of see maybe the depth chart on running backs shaking out the next couple weeks?
“Yeah, Dylan Sampson continues to get better by the day. We’ll see what that looks like for this week. We’ll take in information, but feel good about the guys that we have, and they’ll be ready to step up.”
And then just last thing, Shedeur and his scrambling ability. And I know he finishes the leading rusher, but just what did you think about the scrambles? But also, just the peace of mind, too, with taking the slides and everything when it was available instead of taking hits.
“Yeah, those were huge plays in that ballgame. We talked during the week about, we thought there may be some moments that he’ll be able to tuck it and go. And I thought he did a nice job early. There was the one where kind of bouncing around the pocket, had two hands on the ball, then went forward and made a huge play. Another time they were playing man, and everything kind of flushed out in front of them – went vertical, made a huge play. So those are very, very real yards. It’s a tough dynamic for a defense to have to defend the quarterback when he tucks it and can go. So that’s all part of his game. Obviously, then you want to make sure that your quarterback’s being smart at the end of those runs to make sure that he’s taking care of himself as well.”
Kevin, now that Judkins’ surgery has been scheduled and this injury diagnosed, what is the timetable? Would he be ready for training camp or September?
“Yeah, I don’t have an update on that, Tony (Grossi). I’ll update you guys when appropriate.”
Even though Shedeur’s completion percentage improved and your third down conversion rate improved, he kind of lost the long ball in all of this. So, was that by necessity or just the way the game went or what?
“Yeah, I think when you watch it, you always go into a game understanding the defense that you’re playing and the things that they do that maybe preclude you from taking some of those plays. Doesn’t mean you don’t call them and take them when they’re there, but I’d say you have to go into every game understanding that the defense has a plan of attack and have to take what they give you.”
What did you see on film in regard to some of the batted passes? And then also on the first interception that went off Quinshon’s hands, it looked like it was thrown a little bit behind him, just wondering if that’s how you saw that.
“Yeah listen, we’re always looking to be as precise as we can in the past game. Sometimes tipped balls are a part of this game. Like I mentioned to you guys yesterday, we have Shelby Harris, whose outstanding at that on our side, of seeing when the quarterback is getting ready to get rid of the ball. So, we’ll learn from those. I think as a coach, you always want to teach off of those and say, ‘hey, maybe you can better with your eyes, maybe you can better with your feet’, those types of things. Maybe it’s ‘wait for another window to throw it in’, but you just learn from all those.”
Hey Kevin, there was a specific play Shedeur was talking about after the game. He thought it was on the last drive, and he said there’s a vertical through route, and then he was going to go to the dagger and the Mike kind of peeled off, so he didn’t throw it there. So first of all, did you see it the same way? Is that just part of the whole process? Because he said then he needed to get the check down quicker, but he didn’t on that play. So, can you just take me through that? When you talk about the progress he’s making in his whole rookie season, is that an example of that?
“Well, I think you really could take every play, as a coach and Shedeur as a player, you could take every play and get on the board and talk about all of it. And there’s so much that goes into it. There’s so much nuance that goes into it. And then you got to tip your cap – sometimes the defense makes a play, so those situations, we will learn from. All of us, Shedeur, all of our young players, learning from some of these situations that you get put in and learn from the defenses you’re going against, learn from when it may be time to throw it away, when it may be time to take the underneath play. All those things I think add up, and certainly late in those ball games, those are the moments that we’re going to learn from so we can better the next time they roll around.”
Yeah, Kevin, just wondering what will be a point of emphasis for Shedeur for this week against the (Pittsburgh) Steelers? I’m sure that protecting the ball is always paramount for you guys, but what would you say you’re going to be looking for in this sixth start for him?
“Yeah, I think it’s going to be building off of all the things that we’re doing right now, Mary Kay (Cabot), and the really good things that we’re doing. And then it’s going to be a matter of understanding this defense, this Pittsburgh defense, which is different than the team we played before. Obviously, Shedeur did not play in the first Pittsburgh game, so first time versus that group. So, you really have to spend a lot of time this week getting to know this defensive front, their coverages, those types of things.”
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