Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (8.6.25)
Opening Statement:
“Good morning. Good to see you guys. You know, obviously thrilled to be here to get to go against the Panthers and Coach (Dave) Canales, who I think does an awesome job. It’ll be fun. It’s a great challenge for both sides. Our offense, our defense. For our special teams, we’ll get two good seven-on-seven periods. We’ll get two good team periods. We’ll get two good special teams, defense, offense. So, everybody’s getting work out here and hopefully this weather cooperates. We’ll see. I see you guys are ready for the challenge. On the game itself – you know, we got game Friday night coming up. We’ll rest some starters. Some players will play, obviously holding out some guys due to injury, as you know. And then we’ll play Shedeur (Sanders) at quarterback. We just signed Snoop (Tyler) Huntley, as you guys saw. We’ll get Snoop back up to speed quickly. He’s been in a couple different offenses since we last saw him, so he’s doing a great job of working at it. But it’s a great opportunity for all of our young players in that football game. But with that, I’ll take any questions.”
Will Huntley also play?
“We’re going to work through it, Tony (Grossi). Snoop just got here yesterday, so I just want to see how he’s doing with the terminology and all those different things.”
Is there any chance that anybody other than those two play at quarterback?
“No.“
So Shedeur will start then Huntley might play?
“We’re going to work through that. Again, it’s Shedeur and Snoop will be the quarterbacks that are playing in this game. Snoop just got off the airplane yesterday, so we will catch him up.”
Do you need to give Shedeur extra reps today, even with the ones to prepare him for the game?
“No. I think with a lot of our younger guys, they’re going to get the majority of the reps in the football game. Today has been more about some of the older guys and the starters.”
Will Dillon (Gabriel) and Kenny (Pickett) be on the field today?
“They will be able to do seven-on-seven, but limited.”
What makes you confident that Shedeur will go out there and handle himself nicely in this game and what have you seen from him that makes you believe that?
“Yeah, my expectations for Shedeur are no different than the rest of the guys. Honestly, Mary Kay (Cabot), we expect them to go operate. It’s when you get these preseason games, you try to keep it very simple so guys can play fast. All concepts that our players know can kind of not think too much and just play ball.”
When it comes to the offensive line in the game, do you prefer just keeping the unit together, whether they’re off or all in, or can you start a couple guys?
“You could. I think you can. I think you can certainly mix and match, Tony (Grossi), just based on what your team needs, but by and large, you know, I’m going to rest most of the starters.”
Is it more just concern with Dillon (Gabriel)?
“Just being very careful with him. Don’t want to expose him to any unnecessary, you know, strain, if you will.”
In your dealings with Dave Canales, what do you think Shedeur will be facing in terms of their first team defense?
“Yeah, you know, this is part of the fun part for us as coaches is going against these defenses. We don’t nobody game plans for these Mary Kay. So what you’re doing is a lot of times in football you have unscouted looks, and that’s our job. We talked about in the quarterback room, that’s the fun part where they’re going to maybe be deploying a different front or a different coverage, and we have to solve those problems on the sideline in between series. Okay. Hey, what are you guys seeing? They’re playing quarters. You know, what type of front is now. We know the base of who they are, and as you know, a lot of people don’t want to show too much in the preseason, so it does make it a little bit more vanilla. But I do think it’s a great challenge for a team in those preseason game settings to just trust what you see and have discussions on the sideline about what you’re seeing.”
How much was Snoop’s experience with you guys last year in preseason and off season play a role in acquiring him?
“Yeah, I think that’s a huge part of the reason. Snoop’s, you know, obviously a great kid, too. We love having him around, so we’re just catching him up. But there’s enough similarity where he can pick it up. But, you know, to his credit, he’s been in some different offenses, so you got to shake those type of things out of your brain a little bit and get caught up in what we’re doing.”
What’s been your impression of Bryce Young from his rookie year to where he is right now?
“Yeah, it’d be probably unfair for me to say I haven’t studied him. I have a ton of respect for him and the player that he is and, you know, a ton of respect for Dave and what he’s doing here with this football team. But it’d be unfair for me to speak.”
What do you expect out of the Panthers defense this year after the lackluster performance last year?
“Yeah, again, not for me to say. I’m really focused on our football team.”
Greg (Newsome II), do you expect him back participating in practice today?
“Yes. He’ll be limited. He’s progressing nicely.”
What about (Zak) Zinter? He left Monday.
“Yeah. He’ll not be out there, kept him back up in Cleveland.”
In terms of your second team, I think you said most of the second team offensive line will be playing with Shedeur. Those guys going up against their first team defense. What are the concerns about keeping Shedeur nicely protected and operated on it?
“Sure. That’s. I mean, that’s part of. I think it’s just preseason ball Mary Kay, where you may have some ones going against twos going against ones you could have. There’s different guys in there at different times, but I think both sides, particularly in that first game, it’s all about playing fast. So you typically don’t see a ton of looks that are unusual per se. So if you stick to your rules and you stick to what you’ve been taught over the last few weeks, you should be able to operate and function well.
Did you say Huntley just arrived today?
“Yesterday.”
Kevin, you and Dave (Canales) seem to be pretty aligned on how you approach playing your starters in the preseason and things like this. What is the methodology behind that? Or is it more of a feel?
“Yeah, that’s a good question. I think every – well, I know this. Every team is different, every coach is different. And you’re trying to in these – as you put your preseason plan together, you’re trying to do what you think is best for your football team. Obviously, this is a first for me, having a practice versus another team in week one of the preseason. We haven’t done that. So, there are different reasons we wanted to try that. We’ve done a variety of things this offseason and this training camp a little bit different, all in an effort to get your football team ready for week one, 17-plus season. But it’s really so incumbent on the coaches at your respective team to know what your team needs to get ready for the season.”
Do you know wide receivers wise who will play? Who won’t play? Is it Jerry (Jeudy) won’t and mostly everybody else will?
“I’m not going to go by position, but I’ll give you this one because Jerry and Ced (Cedric Tillman) won’t play but everybody else will play. You guys got to ask me about (Adam) Thielen. Nobody asked me about Adam.”
Have you used Thielen as an example?
“Almost every day. I just caught up with Adam in there, so that was fun for me. Me, he’s still doing it at a high level. Love to watch him play. We nicknamed him Teach Tape a long time ago when he was a young rookie for us at the Vikings. He shows up on those teach tapes a lot, but unbelievable competitor and just an even better person. ”
Has Martin (Emerson Jr.) had his surgery yet on the Achilles?
“Yes, yes. And he’s back up in Cleveland.”
Why has Adam been able to stay so long at a high level?
“Takes great care of his body. Just has always done that on and off the field. He’s strong, he’s fast. But for all those years doing it. I mean he played through some injuries. I can think back to the Minneapolis Miracle game. One of the most impressive plays I’ve ever seen was he hurt his back early in that game and was playing. I forget what the term was with his pack and he ran a slant late in the game. This was, I think the drive before the final drive and he got held up at the line of scrimmage and there’s a defensive holding penalty. If I remember this correctly, Case scrambles to the right, Adam wiggles open. So he’s got a defensive holding at the line of scrimmage, wiggles open and then as he goes up for the ball, Case throws it to him. The defender pass interference on him and he still catches a contested ball. So there’s defensive holding, defensive pass appearance, made the play with a bad back and set the team up for what was an unbelievable win for the team. But that to me, I don’t know if there’s many more plays in the history of this game that are as impressive as that.”
What was Shedeur’s reaction when he was told he going to start this game?
“Yeah, he’s excited and he knew he was going to play a good bit in these preseason games. So the competitor in him is very exciting.”
Is the hope that Kenny and or Dillon will be back for Philly next week?
“That’s the hope. We’ll see how it progresses. I think with all these injuries, you gotta take it as one day at a time.”
Can you just say, I know you’re doing what’s best in the interest of the team but why Flacco wouldn’t see any action in this game?
“It goes per player what I think they need to get ready for the season.”
In terms of the weather today, if it starts downpouring again, do you really want Myles (Garrett) out there? Is he going to do very well?
“The conditions are really based on if it’s safe. If it’s safe and the guys are practicing in a safe environment, we’ll continue with our plan. But we would never put our guys in a tough spot.”
And in terms of Shedeur really not taking any reps yet with your first team offense and again, not a million first teamers are going to be out there with him. How do you think he will perform with whoever is going to be snapping him the ball and whatever he has to function with?
“I think all of our players and Shedeur has gotten reps with all the different centers and has gotten reps with different guys throwing to them during practice. So I feel real confident that the guys will have a good feel for who’s playing next to them, the left tackle and the left guard, that there may be some batteries that are a little bit different, you know, but I think the guys have worked very hard to just be on the same page.”
What do you think the most important thing for Shedeur to accomplish in this kind of emergency setting on Friday?
“Well, I wouldn’t call it an emergency setting, but I’d say for all of our players it’s about taking the practice field to the game field. That’s what’s most important. It’s the same plays that we’re running in these practices will be the same plays we’ll run in the game. So just to all of our players, you always tell these rookies to make sure that the game is just an extension of practice.”
And will his arm soreness from Saturday impact your decision on how long you play?
“I believe we’re past that. He’s got treatment. I think we’re fine.”
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