Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (12.23.24)

Opening Statement:

“Injury front, Dorian’s (Thompson-Robinson) working through that calf injury, I’ll be able to update you guys as we get through the week. Dave (David) Njoku came out of the game with a knee injury, don’t have a ton of updates there. Again, we’ll see how he comes through, very proud of him for pushing through that hamstring injury and I think it says a lot about Dave and his ability to do that. You know, watching the tape obviously feel very similar to how we felt after the game. We just put ourselves in a hole early and struggled to dig ourselves out of that, but you have to look at the things that we did early in that ball game to put ourselves behind, and those are the things that we’re addressing today. But with that, I’ll take any questions.”

 

Kevin, this isn’t the first time you’ve been asked about (Jerry) Jeudy not getting the ball enough, and you’ve always responded, ‘Yes, we have to get him the ball’. My question is, is that inability to get the receiver the ball more a function of game planning, play calling, or quarterback decision-making?

“Well, I think it’s a combination of all of those things, Tony (Grossi). When you’re talking about any type of target, it’s our job as coaches to put together a game plan where your best players are obviously the primary, but then you have to go with what the defense does. That’s the other piece of it, I think, Tony (Grossi), when you’re coaching the quarterbacks, make sure they understand that the ball goes where the ball goes, dictated by coverage. Obviously, there’s things that we do and will always continue to do to try to get our guys open. And certainly, it’s no secret that Jerry is a huge, huge part of our offense. So, it goes without saying that we want him to touch the ball more.”

 

And just to ask you again about DTR (Dorian Thompson-Robinson), if he is healthy this week, he will start against Miami?

“Yes.”

 

Just wondering if for some reason Dorian isn’t healthy, who are you kind of getting ready to start against the (Miami) Dolphins? Would that be Bailey (Zappe) or would you go back to Jameis (Winston)?

“I think it’s probably premature to — We will work through that, Mary Kay (Cabot). I say that just because I got to see how Jameis comes through with his shoulder injury as well. So, we have to see how all of that shakes out this week.”

 

On that DTR calf, yesterday after the game, you thought you expected him to be okay by Sunday. He said he was going to do everything. Has anything changed or are you still optimistic he’ll be the guy Sunday?

“Yeah, I mean, he played through it the whole time, so give the kid credit for that because that happened on the first couple plays. But like any injury, you just have to be careful and make sure that you treat it. But yeah, of course, hopeful, yes.”

 

What can he do better inside the pocket to avoid some of those sacks and some of those pressures that he faced yesterday?

“I think it’s always a combination of things, Scott (Petrak). Number one, you need to put yourself in a position where you don’t have to drop back as often as we have, that’s one piece of it. But also, it always is a combination of quarterbacks moving within the pocket, having the correct depth in the pocket, the line setting, the depth of the pocket and the width. So, everybody has to work together in that regard.”

 

DTR didn’t have any net passing yards in that first half, but he seemed to kind of get on a little bit of a roll there in the third quarter. Just what did you see from him coming out of the locker room and how can he build on that from a developmental standpoint in these next couple of weeks?

“Yeah, I think we played better as a football team in the second half there, Daryl (Ruiter). Obviously, made some plays there with Dorian with his feet, first and foremost. I thought he did a nice job of gaining some first downs with his feet and then did a nice job spreading the ball around to our guys when those opportunities presented themselves.”

 

We’ve talked so much about the turnovers these last two years. You even mentioned the 37 you had a year ago, you’re up to 30 this year. How do you, as you wind this season down, evaluate how you guys as coaches, can work on that more in practice or change how you work on it, or whatnot, so you can slow those down come 2025?

“I understand the question. I think big picture, I’ll save the reflections if you will. As you can imagine, you’re constantly coaching ball security when it comes to the offense, and that can be as simple as technique from center-quarterback exchange, to the quarterback handing the ball to the running back, to a quarterback’s decision-making. Really, it factors into so many of those things because we know how important that is when you’re talking about winning and losing. But in terms of the big picture, Daryl (Ruiter), I’d save some of those thoughts until after the season.”

 

Do you think David is going to try to play against Miami or are you ruling him out?

“No, I’m not ruling him out. I don’t have all the information just yet, Ashley (Bastock). I’ll update you guys when appropriate. As you can imagine, if he can play, he’ll play.”

 

What about Ced (Cedric Tillman) again and ruling him out? Do you guys expect him to practice this week or how’s he coming through the protocol?

“Yeah, still making his way through the protocol and we’ll be obviously patient with this and make sure he’s accomplishing all the appropriate steps. But we’ll see how it goes.”

 

I know that Dustin Hopkins has a process, and he kind of sticks to it, stays confident in that. Is there at any point, though, where you see some of those struggles and you want to maybe insert a different process, kind of have him switch it up, have him try something new, or do you kind of let that process play out despite that?

“Well, I think to your question, Cam (Justice), I think we have to work through it. I think it’s something that he’s continuing to work through. Obviously he wants to get his technique back down to where he feels really good about it, and we’ll just work through it is really the bottom line.”

 

Is Dave (David Njoku) having an MRI today?

“Yes, but I don’t have all the information yet on the injury.”

 

In the event that Bailey has to start, or if not, maybe serve as the backup again, what have you seen in him in his short time here to show you that he could go in there and function well?

“Yeah, we have confidence in all of our guys, Mary Kay (Cabot). I think Bailey has done a nice job since he’s gotten here picking up the system. I think he probably had the system down after about a day. Very intelligent. And there’s some similarities to what he was doing when he was in New England this summer. So really understands what we have to do. He’s done a nice job in practice, but we’ll see where this week takes us.”

 

I know we see Myles (Garrett) do a bunch of freak stuff, but did you get a good view of him chasing down (Joe) Burrow toward your guy’s sideline yesterday? It looked different to me, the speed he was using in that effort to get to him.

“Yeah, obviously I had a good view of that when it happened live and then had a good view of it just watching the tape. And listen, that’s an unbelievable effort play to run him down, to contact him inbounds, versus a player that we know is very, very elusive. So that’s when we’re at our best. That’s our defense flying around the field.”

 

And then Mohamoud (Diabate), when he got the neutral zone when they were at the one, it looked like he objected. Did he go offside? And if so, how frustrating because obviously that’s what they were trying to do is get him to jump offside.

“Listen, Mohamoud is a young player. He’s a very, very smart player. That was not his best play. That’s not indicative of the type of player he is, and he will learn from that, and honestly, our entire team will learn from that.”

 

On Friday, Myles talked about not wanting to go through a rebuild again here. I know you don’t want to share any conversations you’ve had with him personally, but can you appreciate his frustration? And I know you would probably always encourage your players to speak their minds when they have the opportunity.

“Yeah, like you said, Tom (Withers), any conversations I’d keep with our guys, and I have a lot of conversations with our guys. They know that they can share their opinions with me, and it’ll always be that way. Obviously, Myles, all of our guys are extremely competitive, and they want to obviously win these games. We want to win this one versus Miami. That’s our focus.”

 

That was Ken Dorsey’s first game calling plays for Dorian. What is the natural growth process between play caller and a brand-new quarterback? Should we expect that to be good right off the bat?

“I think it always is dependent on so many things, Tony (Grossi). I think we can play better as a team; we can play better as an offense starting this week. There are things that I know we can improve upon. Obviously, when you have a young quarterback out there for the first time this season as a starter, you’re learning about him with every rep. You’re learning about him every rep at practice as well. So, we’ll take all those learnings and apply them as we move forward.”

 

All of us on the outside of the building have our own opinion on DTR. Do you personally know what his ceiling is in the NFL?

“I think with any young player, I would tell you, Tony (Grossi), that’s always something that you’re looking towards achieving with your guys. Young players need reps to get better. I see a young player in his second year that’s getting better with reps.”

 

Given Dorian’s calf injury and Jameis’ shoulder injury, would you maybe try to have him run a little bit less both on RPOs and different things like that, and just scrambling around and putting himself kind of in harm’s way the way he sometimes does?

“I would say it’s early, Mary Kay (Cabot), just to see how he progresses through this week and with this injury. Like I said, he played the entire game with this injury, so we’ll just see how he progresses.”