Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (9.30.24)
Opening Statement:
“All right, injury front, Jordan Hicks will be day-to-day with that elbow, Ethan Pocic will be day-to-day with that ankle and MJ (Martin) Emerson cleared concussion protocol. So, updates from last night. Obviously, like we talked about last night, disappointed. You know, you pour so much into it to go get those wins week-to-week, and so you’re disappointed when you don’t get the results you want. But our guys have the right attitude, they’ve got the right mindset that we got to fix it together. So that’s what we’re going to do and that’s what meetings today were all about. But with that, I’ll take any questions.”
You guys start off so strong in these games over the first four weeks. What’s happening after that opening scripted drive? Why aren’t you guys able to kind of recapture that rhythm? And it’s obviously especially late in these games.
“Yeah, it’s something we need to get better at, certainly. You watch the tape of yesterday’s game and as you’re watching it, I give them credit, obviously, the (Las Vegas) Raiders give them credit, but it’s not like something changed from drive one to drive two or drive three. It really is about us and making sure that we’re on top of what we’re doing. The game, the scripted portion of that, I mean, really, your scripted plays typically take you into the second quarter. So it’s something that we just have to take a long, hard look of, finding a way to score points, whether it’s – I don’t care when it is in the drive, it’s just we got to go find a way to score more points.”
And I know after the game, you addressed the Deshaun (Watson) interaction there with Dawand (Jones) after the missed blocking assignment. But just specifically about Dawand, last year he looked like he was an All-Pro when he stepped in there and just early in the season here, it looks like he’s really struggling. What’s happening there? Is he healthy? Does he need help on that side of the line? Just, we’ve seen a couple of those plays that Deshaun got upset about here in the first four weeks and I’m just wondering what’s going on with him.
“Yeah, he could play better. We expect him to play better. Obviously, health is a big portion of all this for all of our guys, so I’m not going to tell you he’s 100%. But he can certainly play better.”
When you took the timeout before fourth down, if you had kept that timeout, then you could have maybe stopped them and got one more possession. So how do you kind of weigh, you know what I’m saying, scoring late versus keeping that?
“Yeah, no, I understand the question. Certainly things you think about, but in that moment, you want to make sure you give your guys the best play for that play. Felt good about that. I also think it’s so important that you give your guys an opportunity to go score a touchdown regardless of how much time is left on the clock because our defense is ready to take the field really whenever.”
And then when you went back and watched it, what did you see on that final fourth down?
“Yeah, not good enough. We can be better. We can be better, I mean, better across the board, but we can be better.”
Following up on that a little bit. I’ve watched that play over a few different times.
“So have I, Mary Kay (Cabot).”
And just trying to figure out, because of the situation, I mean, should Deshaun have tried to, when the play kind of broke down, should he have tried to get it to Jordan Akins in the endzone or did he just not have time to do that because of pocket collapse?
“Yeah, listen, we did not execute exactly how we should on that play. Obviously, the quarterback understands it’s a fourth down play, so you want to give somebody a chance. He did not have the opportunity going to his left. Protection, we can be better in protection. We can be more precise in our routes. All those things contribute to that.”
Kevin, it’s Monday I know, but with Nick Chubb, what are your plans for him this week?
“Yeah, I expect him to practice Wednesday.”
How is he developing? Do you think there’s a chance, if not this week, then against the (Philadelphia) Eagles, he could play?
“Yeah, I’m not going to get too far down the road on that, Jeff (Schudel), other than to say, like I’ve told you guys all year and last year some, he’s working very hard. Natural progression is for him to start practicing. He’s ready to do that and then we’ll see how he goes from there. But, not really focused much farther past Wednesday.”
I know we’ve asked you a lot about what the offensive identity of this team is and how you guys can find it early on through the first four games. With what you’ve seen, what’s the foundation? What is good enough for you guys to build on to find that offensive identity?
“I think the big thing, Cam (Justice), is when you’re a 1-3 football team, you’re not playing well enough in any area, so we need to focus on just playing better offense, defense, special teams. And I understand the question because we need to score more points than we’re scoring right now. So, we need to make sure that we’re giving our guys an opportunity to execute the gameplan, whatever it may be, run or pass, and just play a clean football game, take care of the rock, score some points. But that’s our focus, less so outlining what we believe the identity to be. We just have to go play clean football.”
Kevin, a couple quick injury things. David Njoku, could he play this week?
“We’ll see. I do expect him to practice at some point this week and then we’ll make that determination.”
And any update on your tackles?
“No update.”
Jed (Jedrick Wills Jr.) and Jack (Conklin)?
“Yeah, no update. Both guys are getting close. We’ll see. I think Wednesday, Thursday will be a better gauge.”
And then with the protection, did you think it was better, or what was your, I guess, assessment of it based on the (New York) Giants game, how poor it was? Did you think it got better yesterday?
“Yeah, it certainly got better. We can be better, but I think you saw when Deshaun had time, there were some really some moments that he had a lot of time, and then was able to find people down the field, find openings. I thought Deshaun did a nice job of moving forward in the pocket, making plays with his feet. So certainly better, but we’re always looking to improve.”
Yeah, Kevin, a lot of guys over these first four weeks have talked about how they need to get on the same page, especially on the offensive side of the ball. It sounds like it’s more than just players speak, just to answer a question or whatever. Why is that, considering all the work you guys do in the offseason and training camp and obviously during the week with preparation? You get to game day and guys aren’t on the same page and just how do you fix that?
“Yeah, I think being on the same page is important for offense, defense, special teams, every play. And that just is the mode, Daryl (Ruiter), of doing your job. We don’t need anybody to press and do something outside of who they are. We just need guys to focus on their job and do their job play in and play out. Specifically, to being on the same page, I think that just comes with these guys working very hard together throughout the week, walk through, practice, those type of things.”
And after falling to 1-3, I know you guys take this one week at a time here and you don’t take time to look at the big picture, but just, all these issues that have cropped up here early from penalties, missed blocks, missed tackles and things like that, the little details seem to kind of expand into game changing moments for you. So just from your standpoint and your coaching staff, what can you guys do to maybe try and prevent these little things from becoming big things that could potentially just derail the season?
“As you can imagine, Daryl, our focus is on playing good football this week. You mentioned the little things, and you’re right, little things do become the big thing. We’ve talked about that a lot. So we focus, in this building, on things that we can control, things that we can get better at. And I think that’s the mindset, that’s a winning mindset that we have where we’re going to get together and find a way to fix it. Outside of that focus, there’s not much more for us to really be thinking about.”
Kevin, when you rewatched the film, do you feel like perhaps maybe Deshaun played one of his better games here? Even though it was a loss, just in terms of the pass to Amari (Cooper) that was deflected, the touchdown pass that was called back. I mean, it seemed like he fought through a lot of adversity and made some of the best plays he has this season.
“Yeah, I thought he played well, Mary Kay, and I think you’re right. There were plays on there. He played on schedule; he played off schedule with some really good plays. We have to play good football from eleven guys. In order to have success on the football field, we as coaches have to put our guys in position and we got to go make plays. I don’t want to over or understate that. With the quarterback obviously seeing it clearly, holding up protection, making good decisions with the football, that’s how you start to play winning football.”
Kevin to go back to Nick for a second. When you talk to him, just kind of as he’s ramped up and is getting ready to practice on Wednesday, how excited was he? Just kind of thinking about this journey that he’s been on with injury and progression and everything and just, I know he doesn’t show a lot of emotion, but just how excited was he, if he showed anything?
“You don’t get much from Nick. Very workmanlike. It’s the next step for him. I’ve seen him in this building very early in the morning. Has an attitude that he’s just punching the clock, trying to get ready whenever he is ready. But not a ton of emotion from Nick.”
Hey Kevin. Just after watching everything back from yesterday, defensively and some of the run defense issues, like what stood out about, early in particular, what they were doing and how much of an issue was it with the Raiders getting outside and making plays that way?
“Yeah, and I think Jim (Schwartz) will hit this when you guys talk to Jim, but obviously, run game and run defense is all about doing your job with physicality, being sound in your run fits. And when you’re out of a gap and you allow somebody to get through a gap, that now you’re onto the safety. So we can play way better, we have played way better. I expect us to play way better versus the run. Again, I give credit to that team, to the Raiders, but in this case, we really got to keep the focus on us and what we can do to improve.”
Kevin, Nyheim Hines, is he ready to practice yet?
“Yeah, I anticipate him practicing pretty soon here as well.”
This week?
“Should, but we’ll find out Wednesday.”
And then the, Alex Wright roughing the passer, he didn’t think it was a good call. I was wondering what you thought.
“Yeah, we contact the head or neck area of the quarterbacks forcibly, it’s going to be called. Our guys understand that, unfortunately in the last two ball games we’ve had that penalty. It’s been costly to us, so it’ll be continued to be coached and we have to lower our target area when you’re approaching these quarterbacks.”