Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (9.22.25)
Opening Statement:
“Injuries. Dawand Jones, his injury will require surgery, so he’s out for the season, which is disappointing for the young man. He’ll battle back. He’ll rehab and he’ll be ready to roll, but disappointed for him. The game itself, obviously, like we talked about yesterday, the effort for 60 minutes, all 60 minutes were required. And really pleased with how the guys fought and hung in there and endured and were resilient. And then you come away with a win versus a really good football team. So, we’re spending time today learning from that win, things that we can do better, and then we’ll move on to Detroit here shortly. With that, I’ll take any questions.”
Kevin, can you give us any details? Does he have a torn ACL or what happened with Dawand (Jones)?
“Yeah, I don’t have all the specifics, Mary Kay (Cabot), but it’s a knee injury, but disappointed.”
I mean, just how well was Dawand (Jones) starting to come along and how much were you guys really kind of counting on him to lock down that left tackle position this season?
“Obviously, a young player that was getting better. He played right [tackle] in the last game, obviously for those plays before he was injured, but he’s played on both sides. So, yeah, disappointed overall for the young man, but he’s somebody that will continue to work. And now he’s just going to have to focus on his rehab, but disappointing.”
Two quickies, number one. What’s the status of (Jack) Conklin this week, Kevin?
“Yeah, we’ll see. I’d say it’s day-to-day, so we’ll see how he’s feeling as each day goes by, but he’s progressing.”
My other question’s about (Adin) Huntington. He looks like such a weapon offensively. I’m wondering, could you enlarge his role beyond short yardage plays?
“Potentially. You know, with our players, we’re always looking for guys that can do different things and have versatility. And he’s playing good defense for us, Tony (Grossi). He’s making a contribution on special teams, and obviously he’s making a contribution on offense as well. So, with young players, you always want to bring them along, but we’re always looking for guys that can give you versatility.”
Hey, Kevin, on that play that Dawand (Jones) got hurt, did the guy go low? Like, is that supposed to be a penalty?
“You know, we’ll turn that in for their interpretation of that. You’re not allowed to go low. Now, I don’t believe that their player was intending to hurt our player. I know that’s not the case, but we’ll turn that into the league and find out what they say.”
And I know Jack’s (Conklin) availability has a role in this, but how do you proceed going to tackle either way without Dawand (Jones)?
“Just work with the guys we got and have a plan and get them ready.”
I mean, would it still be Cornelius (Lucas) and KT (Leveston) as the two top guys?
“Yeah. All things that we have to work through.”
Hey, Kevin. Andre (Szmyt) shared with us his story about his mom. My question is, how difficult is that for players to block things out like that and how [do you] as you as a head coach, can you help guys with those situations?
“Well, I hope so. I can help them. But, man, as you know, Jeff (Schudel), you’re always going through something in life, and everybody’s got things going on, and a lot of times we don’t know what people are going through and. But always with our players, whatever they’re going through, you try to be there for them all the time. And that was something, you know, that happened during the summer and reached out to Andre (Szmyt), and obviously then we got back together at training camp. But he’s a resolute young man and really proud of how he came through for that team yesterday. And he’s been through a lot like we’ve talked about.”
I guess that’s my asking you, of course you can. But how do you develop those close relationships with players that really have nothing to do with on-field strategy?
“Well, I think that’s our job as coaches, certainly our job in this building with the resources we have, we want to be available to our players all the time, and we care about the people. You want players to play well on Sunday, you better care about the person. And, you know, it’s not complicated in that we just want to make sure that we’re there for our players.”
Hey, Kevin, just thinking about the performance that you guys got from that D-line yesterday. How key do you think it was that pressure was coming from so many guys, so many different plays. It wasn’t like one person just necessarily dominating.
“Well, I think that’s a testament to that group, Ashley (Bastock). I think the talent from everybody out there. We feel like everybody can win. As you know, Myles Garrett gets a lot of attention. So, there are opportunities for other guys to win when they do want to slide to him or bring a tight end to them or bring a running back to them. Myles (Garrett) can still win in those situations, as we’ve seen, but it does free other guys up to have that one-on-one matchup or, you know, run a game with another player and win. So, they all play together, but having a deep group there allows us also to stay fresh throughout those games.”
Myles (Garrett) was going to be my follow up because, you know, there’s screen grabs and stuff going around of him having, you know, three guys trying to block him back. It looks like at one point one of the tackles had an arm around his neck yesterday and he still got hunt home for that half a sack. Like, is there anything at this point for you as a coach that you see these opposing offenses do to Myles (Garrett) that surprises you in any way?
“No, I wouldn’t say surprise, Ashley (Bastock). Every team goes into playing us and says we have to have a plan for number 95 and like we talked about, it can be sliding to him all the time. It could be making sure there’s a tight end over there or running back. That you know is their prerogative, what they want to do. I guess the point is he plays through all that and we use him in a variety of ways and then it does, the impact that it has on the other players. It’s why he’s the defensive player of the year, just for perpetuity, in my opinion.”
Hey, Kevin, just for a guy like Shelby Harris, with what he’s able to do on special teams with the kick block and everything, 12-year veteran, how much does that prolong a guy’s career, being able to have a skill like that?
“Well, I think that was number six for him in his career. So yeah, it’s a real thing talking about preventing points in that skill and also the ability to do it when batting down passes. So, it’s definitely a tool in his toolbox. Not a lot of guys have the ability or the awareness, the savviness to do that, the strength, the length, all those things. So, it’s very impressive.”
And then just with (Isaiah) Bond, it seems like him and Joe (Flacco) have developed a nice rapport despite him being here for just a month. Just what have you thought of his development so far?
“Yeah, I think he’s had increased role in terms of reps in each of these games and I think that will continue. Again, young player like you mentioned and then it takes some time. It takes some time to rhythm up with the quarterback, to rhythm up with the offense. To his credit, this is a very, very intelligent young man, so we can really use him in a variety of ways and locations, if you will. But those young players, over the course of a season, you do often times see that role expand.”
Will the compliments this week continue? And just what was the mode last week of just doing that and having everybody compliment each other?
“That’s a great question, Joe (Reedy). We’ll see.”
Kevin, going back to Andre (Szmyt) for a second, we’ve seen the roller coaster that it can be for a kicker in the NFL this season. Not just with your team, but we’ve already seen, you know, both sides of things with Andre (Szmyt) in his first three games. So, for you, kind of thinking introspectively, like, what does it say about the position in the league, both on the individual level for the kicker and for you guys trying to find consistency at that position?
“Well, I think the big thing there, Cam (Camryn Justice), is rookie kickers, sometimes you’ll miss a kick, you’ll miss an extra point. I think the numbers will probably bear that out. You want everybody to be perfect right away, but it’s just how the position works. So, we have confidence in this young kid. I get to see him every day, like I’ve told you guys. I watch him kick in practice. I watch how he hits the ball in the games, and, you know, we’re confident in his ability.”
Talked to his kicking coach, Andre’s (Szmyt) kicking coach, and couple Hall of Famers about what it takes to go from a good kicker to a great kicker to an elite kicker. And they said one of the big things is really just the mental part, sticking to the process and leaning on your teammates. And I know he’s got Corey (Bojorquez) in there. For Andre (Szmyt) in particular as a rookie. Like, what does that look like for him? How have you seen him maybe lean on the coaches, lean on his teammates in those moments?
“Yeah, I think, again, greatest team sport there is. I know a lot of the spotlight comes on you when you’re attempting a kick or you’re the quarterback or whatever it is, but we realize this is a team game and, you know, we need everybody to come through in those moments. So, it’s never going to be about one person, and we’ll support our teammates always.”
Hey, Kevin, I wanted to ask about the late game sequence, where you’re hurrying to spike the ball in time. To give Andre (Szmyt) that chance to kick the ball. We’ve seen every practice of training camp, so we’ve seen that you guys work on that. But during the season, I mean, how often are you kind of drilling that to stay prepared?
“Yeah, and this is not – every team does this, but we work a lot of situations throughout training camp. And then Fridays are when we do a two-minute drill competitively, offense versus defense. Then we do a two-minute walkthrough on Saturdays, and the offense and the defense separately cover a lot of those situations, every Saturday. So those are things that are just, and again, I believe this is true of all 32. You just, you hit those situations every week.”
Got you. And I wanted to ask a separate question about Joe (Flacco). I mean, there’s some stats out there that show that, you know, he has like a eight quarterback rating or eight passer rating when pressured. We know -and you said it yourself, it’s not just on Joe (Flacco), but what more can you do, especially for someone who doesn’t haveelite mobility to try to make things easier for him and give him those clean pockets?
“Yeah, that’s our job as coaches, is to design game plans that allow our guys to have success. Obviously with the passing game, you want your quarterback to be clean and be able to make those decisions from clean pockets as much as you can. But that’s really, that’s our focus.”
Yeah, Kevin, just wondering what gives you confidence that Joe (Flacco) and this passing offense can kind of get on track and get rolling here as you move forward?
“Yeah, we just have to stay on top of it, Mary Kay (Cabot). And I think you see throughout the course of a season – units, offense, defense, special teams, units can improve throughout the season. I think there’s things that we are doing better now than were doing in week one. I think there’s still things that we can improve upon, and that’s our focus.”
Two quick ones again. Going back to that spike play, do you credit the center for getting them together or was it the quarterback who got them together so quickly?
“Well, as we teach it, Tony (Grossi), you know, first part is the player with the ball getting down immediately and then standing up and handing the ball to the center, not throwing it. The center is allowed to then look to the side, judge where the ball is spotted. He can spot the ball. You have to then make room, let the umpire touch the ball, and then be set for one count. And you have to be in a legal formation. You know, the receiver’s on the ball. Every player has to be facing forward. So those are all the things that we work on. But you see it around the league. The centers nowadays do a great job. If they spot the ball, they look to the sideline and spot the ball in that play.”
And yesterday’s game reminded me so much of your win against the (San Francisco) 49ers two years ago. They came in undefeated, sixth week of the season. (Brock) Purdy was going crazy, and your defense stopped him. It turned out that game kind of altered that season because you end up winning four out of five immediately after that game. Do you believe in games can alter a season, even this early in the season?
“I try not to think about it that way, Tony (Grossi). I just…I’m probably the wrong person to ask. It’s a good question, but you probably ask somebody else. I got the blinders on.”
Hey, Kevin. I got two. How do you balance, you know, protecting your defense and putting in good spots and punting versus getting too conservative offensively?
“Yeah, we have to score points. You don’t want to just constantly put your defense in those positions. So, our job as an offense is to end drives, every drive with a kick and presumably a PAT, you know, that’s your number one goal. But that’s, you know, that’s our focus on our offense.”
And then at the end of the half, what went into the decision not to try a real long field goal versus trying to throw it up there at the end of the first half?
“Yes. Yeah. Thought about it. Just felt like that was too long of a field goal with the amount of time left where that put the ball at the spot of the field goal, as you know. So just didn’t feel like that was the right thing to do in that moment and, you know, took a shot there and obviously, you know, the risk is that it’s incomplete and they get the ball for a Hail Mary. But understood that in the moment.”
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