Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (12.3.24)
Opening Statement:
“Okay, no real updates guys, from any injury stuff. I’ll let you know if anything changes tomorrow. Obviously, you watch the tape and just like last night, you’re very, very disappointed that you can’t finish that game and come out of there with a win. I thought obviously a lot going on in that game, back and forth throughout the night, but got to find a way to finish. That’s the very disappointing part for me and for the football team. Having said that, short week, AFC North opponent, Pittsburgh Steelers, so we got to get back to work. With that, I’ll take any questions.”
After watching the film and having some time, how do you process everything about Jameis’ (Winston) night?
“Well, we threw the ball a lot, so there were a lot of opportunities and obviously extremely productive in the past game with a ton of yards. Certainly, he wants to take care of the football in those moments. You’re not going to play perfect at the quarterback position, he knows that, I know that. Ultimately, he wants to do anything in his power to help this team win, and that’s going to be taking care of the ball. But he also had moments there where he was moving that offense and did a nice job.”
I mean, the scouting report on him has always been, makes a bunch of plays, but also has a tendency to turn it over. At this stage in his career, can he turn that around and how do you get him to throw fewer interceptions?
“I think every game, Scott (Petrak), you go into it wanting to be productive in the pass game while taking care of the football. Obviously, Jameis understands that, he knows that, he’s aware of what he needs to do for this football team. And it’s always something that you coach. I don’t think you ever stop coaching players, however many games they’ve played in this league. So, he’s a player that I believe can get better, and part of that will be taking care of the ball, but don’t want to lose sight of some really good moments from him last night.”
JOK (Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah) now has missed the required four games. Can you give us a better update on his status?
“I don’t really have an update right now, Jeff (Schudel). When I have one, I’ll make sure I get that to you guys.”
Are you ruling him out already then for that Pittsburgh game?
“Yeah, I’d rule him out for this game, but I’m not going to go much further past that.”
You guys ran about 23 times only last night. Was that just the running game just wasn’t there or was it just that Jameis was throwing the ball so well?
“I think a combination of those two things, Jeff (Schudel). We want to run the ball better; we want to be more efficient in our run game. We were also making a lot of yards in the pass game. I thought the protection, three sacks for the amount of times we dropped back, one was a coverage sack, one was on a keeper. So, the protection was outstanding, we’re making yards, but we absolutely want to be more efficient in the run game.”
You mentioned some of the things that Jameis was saying, he knows he can better and knows he needs to take care of the ball. Some of the comments after the game were just really taking ownership. How much value does that hold within you and really the staff, that kind of level of accountability that he’s been taking?
“You know, Cam (Justice), I think all of our guys are accountable to their football team, to each other. I’m accountable to the team. I think it all goes together, and we win as a team, we lose as a team. So, I know it’s easy to single out one person, but that’s not how we operate. We’re in this together.”
Speaking of singling out one person, we talk about Jerry Jeudy’s game last night a lot, but Elijah Moore had a pretty big game as well. Did that game show you anything new about how maybe you guys can use him or open him up in the offense as well?
“I don’t think anything new. I think Elijah has a very unique skill set where he can win inside and outside. I think we’ve certainly put him in position to go win and he’s done that. Like a lot of things, there’s increase in targets for a bunch of guys, Ced (Cedric Tillman) was out in this game, so that also makes some targets go to other guys as well.”
Off Scott’s (Petrak) question, as far as the interceptions go, when you’re watching the film, are those coming as a result of a bad decision, some over aggressiveness, or are you seeing the defense is just jumping in front and making some plays?
“It’s something we talk about in the quarterback room that not all interceptions are created equal. And think of a tip ball, that’s way different than throwing it right to the defense. So, I think that we had some miscommunication on the first one. The second one, I think just was not a great throw by Jameis. He wanted that ball more outside. And like I talked about before, he’s not going to be perfect, you’re going to miss throws. That’s part of playing this position. You need to learn from each one of those. So as a quarterback, learning from each one of these reps is so important, but I don’t want our quarterbacks to play a style where they’re so careful and they’re not, they’re ultra conservative, they’re not going to throw the ball down the field. That’s just not a recipe for moving the ball either. So, he’ll continue to learn from these and learn from each one of these and try to get better.”
I wanted to ask you about Jed (Jedrick Wills Jr.) because he’s now missed three straight, four of five. What are his prospects this week and then if it’s not looking so good, why not just put him on injured reserve so he can take the time to get that knee right?
“Yeah, we’re trying to see what this week will hold. He’s trying very hard to make it back and I’ll have more updates as we get into the work week tomorrow.”
Hey, Coach, obviously Jerry put up the big numbers yesterday and when you guys traded for him, you immediately extended him and almost kind of bet on him being this type of player. Like, is this the guy that when you guys made that trade, brought him in here that you kind of envisioned seeing? He’s leading the league in receiving since week eight. He obviously is now eighth overall, or fifth overall in receiving for the season. So, is this the guy that you kind of pictured him being?
“Certainly, identified RAC (run after the catch) as something that Jerry’s really strong at. That’s the area of his game where he can touch the ball and he can go. He’s really good with the ball in his hand. So, I think that’s something that we saw with him coming out of college, saw with him and his career in Denver and really projected to show up with us, and it has. I would tell you Jerry’s a selfless player. I know he had a great night last night. He’d give all that up for a win and that’s all that he’s about. He’s a guy that we’ll continue to lean on throughout the season.”
Obviously, you guys are 2-1 against your division opponents right now. In a season that the bigger goals have kind of dissipated here a little bit in terms of playoffs and all that. How much is trying to finish with a winning record against those tough opponents you guys play in the north something that’s kind of on your guys radar and something that you’re talking about?
“We know how important these games are. It’s Pittsburgh, it’s AFC North football. It’s a big game for us.”
Going off of that, because you guys just recently played Pittsburgh, how helpful is that in this preparation with it being a little bit of a shorter week in the sense and obviously knowing that weather played a factor in that Thursday night game, but how can that help you in preparation for this week?
“I think both teams have the same advantage, if you will, having played each other so recently with one game in between. For the coaches, obviously there’s less tape to break down and pull apart and study and those type of things. They will be different than how we played them both in terms of their players. There will be guys back from injury, likewise with us. So, it will be different. It always is, even when you have these games as close together, there’s always some small, sometimes big adjustments that both teams will make.”
On the 93-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Mims, there were multiple players that noted that it was kind of that inverted Tampa-2. I’ve noticed you guys have played that a lot in that specific down and distance and part of the field. That’s all to say, when you look at the defense this season, have you guys maybe evolved enough, added enough wrinkles, pivoted enough where you’re not becoming too predictable to opposing offenses?
“Obviously that’s something that you always look at from all sides of the ball, make sure that you’re mixing up your calls at all times. So, we’ll learn from that. There are things that we can better on that play. But you do have to also recognize they made a good play. It was a good throw, so good play by them.”
At the beginning of the year the offense struggled to score points and now it seems like the offense is putting up some points and the defense has slid. Where they were one last year, I think they’re 24th now. I know stats aren’t everything, but the points allowed, even with the two pick-sixes, 27 points is a lot of points. Are there things why it seems like the defense is progressing in the wrong direction?
“I think there’s certainly moments that we want back defensively and then there’s…We’re playing at an efficient clip for a bunch of the game. Those big plays are really the ones that hurt you the most. So certainly, that the 90-yard or whatever it was on third down, those are tough plays to give up situationally. So, we’ll just focus on limiting those big plays and make sure that we’re playing sound football.”
Hey, Kevin, Nick (Chubb), was the plan to only use him as much as you did? I think it was 29 snaps and nine carries or what was going on there?
“I think every one of these games calls for a different plan, if you will. And sometimes you go into it thinking it’s going to be one type of game and it changes or one player is maybe feeling it a little bit different than the other guy. I think Duce (Staley) does a great job with those guys. Going into this game, wanted to get Jerome (Ford) good work, but we’re very happy with that room in total. We trust really all those guys in there. And there will be some moments where you lean into Nick for certain schemes and certain moments and there’ll be times when you lean into Jerome. I think it’s really based on a bunch of different factors.”
And I don’t know if we’ve asked you about Hard Knocks, which airs for the first time tonight. Is that any kind of distraction for you guys?
“No. It really isn’t and it’s all four teams in the division, so we’re all sharing it.”
I also wanted to ask about the pass rush, no sacks, a quiet night for Myles (Garrett). When you reviewed the film, what kind of stood out maybe in terms of the protection and what they were doing, kind of stymie the pass rush?
“Certainly, we want to rush the passer, want to apply pressure to the passer. They had a nice protection plan throughout the game, got the ball out, chipped throughout the night. So, we know that’s kind of the plan versus us. We will find ways to make sure we pressure the passer.”