Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (9.4.24)

Opening Statement:

“Okay, great challenge this week, at home, against the defending NFC East Champions. Looking forward to that challenge. Looking forward to being at home for the home opener. You know how important our crowd is to our success at home. It was certainly true at moments you just — last season I can think about how our team feeds off the energy of our crowd. I can think about how miserable our crowd can make it for the opposing offense. They’ve done unbelievable. So, excited to be at home for this one. But looking at this game, like I mentioned, the defending champs of the NFC East, really good football team. They have talent up and down the roster, outstanding coaches. Coach (Mike) McCarthy does a great job with that team. Certainly offensively as you look at them, it’s Dak Prescott. He is in total control of what they do. He does a really good job and all their schemes, makes great decisions, very accurate. CeeDee Lamb, outstanding player, I think the most targeted wide receiver last year. Just good talent across the board. Defensively, starts with Micah Parsons, very, very good player. I know you guys see that tape. He’s outstanding. But talent across the board, special teams are sound. So really good players, really good coaches and going to be quite the challenge for us. But with that, I’ll take any questions.”

 

Will Jedrick Wills practice today?

“Yes.”

 

Is there a good chance he could play Sunday?

“Yes.”

 

If he is healthy, is he your starting left tackle?

“Let’s get through today.”

 

How does it feel to have Jed back after all this time and we’ve been asking about him every single day? So now you’ve got Jed, you’ve got Jack (Conklin)… 

“Yeah, I think as you know with any injuries, you’re always just leaning on the medical staff and when they’re ready, they’re ready, and that’s kind of how we’ve approached it.”

 

On Jed, Kevin, when he was first injured, you expected him to be back before last season ended. So what happened? 

“Yeah, I kind of mentioned it the other day, Jeff (Schudel). I think every injury is different. Every injury you have to treat as it comes up and as a guy goes through rehab. Jed has worked very, very hard throughout this entire rehab. He wants to be out there. You just have to make sure that you’re taking every day and taking in the information and how he’s feeling and those type of things. But he’s working very hard and wants to be out there and will be out there today. ”

 

So today’s the first day you got everybody practicing. First day of the work week of the new season. So would you say your management of training camp did exactly what you wanted? 

“I wouldn’t put it that way, Tony (Grossi). I just think, you know, some of these injuries, this is the natural time of when they were coming back. I mean, think about Greg Newsome. I get a text in the summertime that he needs surgery on his hamstring and just naturally this is the timeframe of when he’s back. So, I think it’s really just based on — think about Dalvin (Thompson) having surgery back in July. It’s just really based on where these guys were in their injury rehab.”

 

The other pieces you have with Myles (Garrett) here, you have that defensive front complement his skill set. How have you seen the Cowboys defensive front really complement Micah Parsons? 

“Yeah, I mean, it’s a good front across the board. Like you mentioned, he can line up anywhere. He can line up on the edge, interior linebacker, really, there’s no shortage of things that they can do with him. And then there’s talented players across from number 90 is as good as there is. I mean, heavy hands, disruptive guys in the middle. So, it’s a really tough group. But again, he can line up all over.”

 

How do you expect his role to change given the new system?

“Yeah, I think it’s a good question. I don’t think anybody, or we don’t know, obviously, I know they know, but I think every team in week one, you go into it trying to have a feel for where they may line guys up. What type of scheme are they going to run? Obviously, Coach (Mike) Zimmer is an outstanding defensive mind. To say we know exactly what they’re going to do I don’t think is fair. You obviously study what they’ve done in the past, both in Dallas and what coach did in Minnesota. Schemes change, schemes evolve, so exactly how it looks, we are, just like a lot of teams in week one, you’re going to figure it out on Sunday.”

 

Very complimentary, Deshaun (Watson) in terms of just the work that he’s put in to get him back to this point. Was there a juncture, was there a play, was there anything that he said that may have kind of eased any concerns you may have had about him getting back to who he is? 

“I wouldn’t say so, Tom (Withers). I just think I’ve had total trust both in him and in our medical team to every step along the way, getting him back. So, rehabbing through that injury, just watching him work in the training room, watch him throw in the indoor, get him back out there to practice, I think he’s just taken it every step-by-step and done a nice job with it to this point where I just feel very confident in where he is.”

 

Tyler Guyton, the left tackle for them, what have you seen on film of him? How has he seemed to adjust, at least in the very small sample size, to the NFL level and how much of a matchup advantage can that be for you guys, you know Myles (Garrett) going against a rookie?

“Well, I think with any young player, our young players, their young players, there’s certainly an adjustment period as you get into regular season mode, if you will, and those type of things so, remains to be seen. And obviously, they’ll have a plan like every team does going into a game for Myles. So how they do it, I’m not exactly sure, like we talked about earlier, but we’ll certainly have a plan.

 

We spoke to Jack last week he told us, as he put it, he had the whole shebang done on the knee, ACL, PCL, MCL, meniscus, all that. Based on just what you’ve seen from him, do you think he’s ready to go at right tackle? 

“Yeah, again, we’ll worry about today, Wednesday. He’s worked very, very hard. And I know I’ve said that, but I’ve seen him in this building at all hours, through every month here, getting his body back ready. I think he looks good, but we’ll worry about today and see how he gets out of today.”

 

Kevin, I’m gonna ask you again about your management in the preseason. Now that you’re here, it was frustrating to fans to not see players playing, to not read about them practicing. Was it frustrating to you and the coaching staff, or did you know it would end up like this all along? 

“Yeah, I think, honestly, Tony (Grossi), it’s case by case. You look at each player, whether they’re coming off of an injury, maybe not coming off of an injury, and you’re trying to prepare them for a 17-game season, and if you earn more, more. So that goes into every decision we make in how we practice, how we structure practice, how we maybe limit guys in certain practices. All those factors go into making decisions based on each individual player.”

 

There’s zero film anywhere of this offense. Do you consider that an advantage? 

“I think it goes back to the previous point about their defense, and this is true of a lot of teams, a lot of different sides of the ball in the NFL. Week one is a feeling out period, certainly as you see a new scheme on tape. Now we go into it thinking certain things about how we’re going to play. I know they’re doing the same, but exactly how it all looks in week one, I think is an unknown.”

 

He was quiet about it at the time, but now that it has kind of gone away, do you think Amari’s (Cooper) name being mentioned in those trade reports bothered him or affected him at all? 

“Yeah, I don’t as you know, I don’t get wrapped up in reports, so I don’t know.”

 

How have you seen him throughout training camp? Does it look the same? Amari look how he always looked?

We talked about Amari over the years and over the months. I mean, he’s about his business.”

 

This receiving corps hasn’t gotten a ton of reps together during these camps. How confident are you that they’re going to be able to mesh come week one against the Cowboys? 

“I feel confident in our team. I feel confident in really all those positions and getting all their work done to get ready for week one. Kind of Tony’s point, you’d love to have everybody out there for every practice. That’s just not the reality as it is. But I feel confident in their preparation.”

 

The Cowboys have two rookies on their offensive line. Is that something that you guys are really looking at or do you feel like Dak is so good and so experienced that he can overcome…?

“Well, they’re starting two good players in those rookies. Those guys are good players, so they’ll have a plan like they do. You mentioned the quarterback, Dak does do a very good job of getting the ball out of his hand. He’s difficult to corral. He can extend plays and make plays down the field as we’ve all seen over the years. But they have a good offensive line.”

 

Those of us who were at the Greenbrier saw you practiced things that you didn’t use in the games and you’re probably practicing them now. So how confident are you that they could just recall those things that you introduced back at the Greenbrier?

“I think that’s part of getting your team ready for week one is having confidence in your installation schedule as you put things in. But it’s not as if you practice it once and don’t revisit it until now. So, you practice various schemes offensively, defensively, doesn’t really matter. You very practice various schemes throughout training camp. You’re right in that you don’t show certain things in the preseason, but to say that you’re going to run all those plays in week one, that’s not really true. It’s really that first month of the season where you start to unveil really all of it. It’s just hard to get all of it in the first week.”

 

With CeeDee (Lamb), what is it about him that makes him as good as he is and the way they use him, is that something that will test all cornerbacks? 

“Yeah, he lines up all over. He really — they move him around the formation, put him in motion, runs all the routes in the route tree, great body control, excellent hands, obviously great speed, burst. He’s outstanding.”

 

It seems like part of your job is all count is partly wrapped up in managing these guys playing time and rest time. How consuming is it? 

“I think it’s just part of it, Jeff (Schudel). Part of getting your team, like we mentioned, getting your team ready for a 17-game season is managing each player and understanding what they need to get ready for the season. We work hard, the guys work very hard on the practice field, in the weight room, but you gotta be mindful of each guy, and that’s just part of, yeah, part of my job.”

 

Do you feel, even though we didn’t see very much of your skill players together on the field at the same time, have you had enough time to get it looking like you want it to? 

“Yeah, I have confidence in our group, Mary Kay (Cabot). I think they’ve worked very hard throughout this entire offseason, preseason, you name it. So, we feel really confident in that group.”