Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (12.4.23)
Opening statement:
“Obviously, disappointed in the result yesterday. Got to look at a lot of things that we have to clean up offensively, defensively, special teams so you can get a win on the road in that environment. So, we didn’t get it done. So that’s the disappointing part. We’re going to look at it with the players and talk about ways to improve, obviously. But as we all know, we get an AFC opponent at our place this Sunday. So that’s what we’ll work hard this week to improve some of those things. Injury front, no real updates for you guys. We’ll see how this week goes, but with that, I’ll take any questions.”
Hey, Kevin, I guess the obvious question here is have you given more thought to what you’ll do at the quarterback position and if Joe Flacco might be your starter on Sunday?
“Yeah, I’m not going to get into those types of things on Monday. We’ll work through that.”
And then obviously with your receiver position and the lack of clarity on Amari (Cooper), what do you think about some of the guys? Obviously Elijah (Moore) had a big game but then you’ve got Ced (Cedric Tillman), David Bell got some playing time. How important is it for those guys to step up if he has to miss some time?
“Yeah, that’s what it is, step up. Some guys when you lose a player, it opens up opportunities for other guys. Ced got some opportunities, obviously, Elijah slid into some of Amari’s role and that’s why it’s really important for all of our players to be ready to step into any role. Sometimes you’re playing out of position, so to speak. So those guys have to be ready to roll.”
Kevin, I know you don’t really want to get into this right now, but can you just talk a little bit about how did you think that Joe functioned just in terms of operationally and kind of maybe calming the waters, getting some guys involved, like Harrison (Bryant), maybe Elijah seemed to come alive a little bit with Joe. So just a little bit about some of that kind of stuff.
“Yeah, I think you’re right, Mary Kay (Cabot). Operationally, I thought Joe did a nice job. We were sharp getting in and out of the huddle. We weren’t perfect. There were a few things that we did alignment-wise that weren’t great. But I thought Joe did a nice job in the huddle, which you’d expect from a veteran like Joe.”
How about getting – it seemed like he tried to get a lot of guys involved and it seemed like everybody was into it and alive and like I said, Elijah, Harrison, how about some of spreading the ball around like that?
“Yeah, I think we had nine guys with receptions, Mary Kay, and I think if we’re doing our job, that should be what it is, because the ball always goes where the ball goes based on the defense. So, I thought Joe got through progressions like you mentioned, Elijah oftentimes was first in progression and made some nice plays and then got through it and really found a bunch of guys in the pass game.”
Hey, Kevin, is Dorian (Thompson-Robinson) still in the protocol?
“He is.”
And another Joe question. I’m sure this is how he played throughout his career, but he looked pretty fearless. Not afraid to throw it in tight windows and take some chances. Do you like that? Do you like that confidence with him throwing the ball?
“Well, first thing I point out, Scott (Petrak), I thought protection was excellent. I know they had two sacks late in that game, down two scores, that type of thing, but I thought with the offensive line, with the running backs, understanding the protection plan, I think was really solid. So, Joe had a good pocket to step up in and make decisions like that. To your point about making aggressive throws, I think all quarterback’s kind of know themselves and what throws they can make and what windows they can fit it into. And when you feel confident, you let it rip, and when it’s not there, you move on and you try to find a completion elsewhere.”
And then a couple of IR guys, I think Jed (Wills) and Cam (Mitchell) are eligible to practice. Do you know if they will this week?
“We’ll know more as we get closer to Wednesday.”
Kevin, I want to ask you about the defense. You made an interesting decision with two and a half to play, three timeouts, two-minute warning. You went for it on fourth down instead of playing field position game. Do you get the sense Denzel (Ward) not playing the last two weeks, Myles (Garrett) is trying to play through his injury. Is that side of the ball starting to wear down?
“No, I wouldn’t say that. I think those decisions in-game are always just based on what you think is best in that moment. Obviously, there are things that we can do better on defense, we know that. There are plays that we can clean up, and that’s really our focus. Our focus is finding those ways in-game to make a play here and there. Credit to the Rams, they did a nice job. We really got our hands on, really one throw by (Matthew) Stafford there down in the red zone, but he took care of the ball. They got the ball out quickly and then there are plays that we feel like we can do a better job. And that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to identify it and correct it this week.”
And with Myles, him playing with that injury, he didn’t have a tackle yesterday and obviously he commands a tremendous amount of attention when you went back and looked at it, how much of it was the attention that he was getting and then also how do you get the other guys to be able to get home when he’s being occupied?
“Yeah, it’s all part of it. Myles has gotten attention probably since the very first snap of his career. That’s just how it works. Teams are always going to slide to him. They’re going to put tight ends over there, running backs. He knows that. He fights through it. They did a good job yesterday. Tip your cap to them and then as you know, it opens up plays for guys and we expect them to make plays when they have a one-on-one.”
Hey, Kevin, did you see from the film review that play with Ethan Pocic, did he move the ball forward? So you just answer that part first.
“Yeah, I’ll get more clarification this week on that. Like I mentioned to you guys, we’re not in any way trying to move the ball to gain an advantage there. I understand the officials have a very difficult job because there is a heightened awareness of that play in short yardage where the league really does not want the centers to gain an undue advantage. It’s unfortunate. I don’t know that the movement of that ball was much different than what Ethan does on a lot of those snaps. So, I’ll talk to the league about it. Again, disappointing, frustrating, but we’ll just play within the rules, whatever they are.”
And then secondly, when the game was still closed, it seemed there’s imbalance of more passing than running. Was it difficult to run the ball against the Rams or how did you see that?
“Yeah, we’re always just trying to move the ball any which way we can. Felt like there were some opportunities in the run game. I think it was tough sledding early, but it opened up there in the second half and I think we’ll just continue to look at ways that we can be explosive as an offense.”
Hey, Kevin, just another defensive question. I mean, the last two weeks you guys have gone against these veteran quarterbacks who have gotten the ball out really quickly. How has that impacted the pass, rushing, the numbers and in particular, obviously, we see the sacks but the pressures even and things like that.
“Yeah, that’s nothing new I would say, Ashley (Bastock), for us. Teams get the ball out quickly versus Myles Garrett. That’s something that is always going to be true. So, when there are opportunities, we want to come through, but we’ll always just play the game based on what the other side is doing. Yesterday the ball was going to come out quick. They weren’t going to hold it very often or very long. But we’ll work through that like we have all season.”
Is there anything you can do because a couple of guys talked about this. Like, you just kind of have to keep being aggressive. Like, is that the case? You just have to keep rushing as best you can and try to make up those inches.
“That’s right. And I think you’re close a few times there and as you know, close doesn’t count, but just keep applying pressure. We’re always looking to apply pressure. I know sacks are the thing that a lot of times people get hung up on that number, but we’re trying to just apply pressure to the quarterback.”
Through twelve games, your wide receivers have only caught three touchdowns, which is the same amount as your backup tight end and your starting running back as far as receptions. Is this a schematic thing or is this just an individual productivity thing or why is it that your touchdown receptions by receivers are so abnormally low?
“Yeah, there’s nothing specific, Delvis (Valentine) that we’re trying to get the ball to a tight end or to a running back over a wide receiver. We’ll take touchdowns, again, any which way we can get them. If that number – if we’re leading the league and it’s all tight ends and running backs, we’ll take it. If we’re leading the league and it’s wide receivers, we’ll take it. We don’t really think much about who those guys are. We have a ton of faith in our guys. We trust our guys. I trust our wide receiver room, our tight end room. So we’ll take touchdowns any which way we can get them.”
Okay, Kevin, we saw some throws by Flacco that, quite frankly, we haven’t seen in a long time. With the torque and the spin on the ball, elite arm strength. How hard is it not to get intoxicated by that as a play caller and maintain your patience as a play caller?
“Yeah, I’m not intoxicated on game day, Tony (Grossi). That’s a big no, no [joking]. Yeah, I hear what you’re saying. I think for us, Tony, you’re always trying to play to the strengths of your guys. And as you know, Joe can push the ball down the field. That doesn’t mean that every time you’re trying to just do that. Defensively, teams are going to have to play him honest and have had to play him honest his whole career in that regard. But, no, I don’t think there’s any desire to have to sling it around all day just because of Joe’s arm talent.”
Did you notice – I mean, this is his first game since the last game of last year with the other stuff. Did you notice any rust in his mean, why was he able to just pick up like that when we’ve been talking about rust for two years for (Deshaun) Watson?
“Yeah. I don’t know. I can’t compare the two. I would just tell you with Joe, he’s been in great shape. He’s worked hard off the field to stay ready. And really, for us Tony, I’d say just throughout the course of the last couple of weeks, just watching his workout, watching him practice, felt confident that he had the ability to move, had the ability to make the throws. I think you saw his physical ability was obvious through the workout, through the practices.”
Kevin, you guys have certainly been through a lot with a lot of these injuries this year, and now that for the first time in a little while, you’ve dropped back-to-back games. Give us an idea your perception of the morale in the locker room right now and how these guys are still trying to stay together.
“You know, we got a big one this Sunday. AFC opponent, a very good football team. Obviously, they play tonight, but that’s where our focus is disappointed. Like you mentioned, Brendan (Guilick), in the last two, but doesn’t change anything about our approach moving forward.”
And for the guys that are in leadership roles on this team, how have you seen them step forward to try to continue to keep things steady? I know you guys talk a lot about not riding the highs or getting too low when things get frustrating. Are there anything that you can point to where you’ve seen guys that have kind of put themselves in position to try to steady things?
“Yeah, I think we have really good leadership on this football team. I see it every day. I see it at practice. I see it on the sideline yesterday. We’ll just continue to work. That’s what we’re about. So, we’ll get back to work on Wednesday.”
Yeah, Kevin just wondering about David (Njoku). I know he got a little nicked up at some point during the game yesterday, but just in looking at two out of six targets for 17 yards, I mean, the previous two weeks, he had dropped some passes with Amari in concussion protocol. How important is it to try to get David on track? And I don’t know what’s going on with him. He just doesn’t really seem like he’s as productive as you guys need him to be right now.
“Yeah, I don’t know if that’s yesterday, Mary Kay. If it’s recency bias. I mean, Dave’s played well for us. He’s made plays for us. We’re going to continue to feature him in the pass game, he’s a big part of what we do, so I don’t think much past that. He’s a big player for us. We’ll continue to find ways to get him the ball. ”
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