CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski took questions from reporters on Wednesday with regard to preparing for the Baltimore Ravens, Quinshon Judkins, and more.
Below is the transcript as provided by the Browns media relations department:
Opening Statement:
“Okay, on the road, division opponent. Great team, division champs from last season. I have a ton of respect for Coach (John) Harbaugh this entire group. They present significant challenges with how they play offense, defense and special teams. Really good group. Special teams is always top notch. Obviously, Coach Harbaugh’s background, but they do a great job in their coverage phases and their return phases. Their defense., I think Coach (Zach) Orr does an outstanding job. Play a really tough, physical brand of football with really good players at all three levels. Offensively, great challenges obviously with Lamar (Jackson), Derrick Henry, fast receivers, big up front. So, huge challenge for our football team. Have to have a great week of practice and then have to go on the road and handle a road environment. But with that I’ll take any questions.”
Kevin, with Quinshon (Judkins) returning to the team this week. What do you need to see from him in practice to be ready for Sunday?
“Yeah, I’m going to take it day-by-day, Daniel (Oyefusi). He’s not here today, not practicing today. So, I’ll really take that day by day.”
And why is he not practicing?
“He’s not here today.”
How do you balance, when he gets here, getting him up to speed with not putting too much on his plate physically, given he hasn’t practiced with you guys?
“Well, I think with any player, Scott (Petrak), you want to be very smart about where they are, because it’s all different. It could be guys coming off an injury, a guy that you sign late during the year. You just have to be smart about where they are, and that’s where this week we’ll take it day-by-day and see where he is before we make that determination.
Kevin (Stefanski), is absence today related to discipline or is it something else?
“He’s not here today. Not going to get into specifics but expect him here tomorrow.”
Is he in New York meeting with the commissioner?
“Not going to get into specifics, but I expect him back tomorrow.”
Since you say he’s going to be here tomorrow, I know you’re taking it day-by-day, but is there any way he is on pace to play?
“Yeah, it’s really hard to say, Mary Kay (Cabot), need to see him tomorrow and the next day and see where it is. So, as coaches, we are just going to take it day-by-day.”
Is there any sense where he’s been at conditioning wise, whether he’s worked out or not?
“Obviously we’ve been able to work with him physically over the last few days. He looks good.”
Kevin, with Lamar, we talk about his running ability, his scrambling ability. But since he’s been in the league, how have you seen him grow as a passer and with his processing?
“I mean he’s a great passer. There’s nothing…he does everything well. Throws it well, can make plays on designed runs, can make plays on off schedule. So, there’s no weaknesses in his game and that’s obvious, I mean, he’s an MVP player, so.”
So, it seems like with guys like him, Josh (Allen), (Patrick) Mahomes, that’s kind of been to look at those kinds of traits and say, ‘well, let’s switch up what we want in a quarterback’. How important is the baseline set of reading defenses and processing?
“Yeah, you know, there’s a bunch of different ways to play the position. There’s a bunch of different ways to win a game. He’s capable of doing all of it, like you mentioned, I mean, staying in the pocket, going through your reads. Totally capable and has done that.”
Kevin, in your five previous years, you’ve lost the first game three times and won the second each time. So, what’s your secret or what’s your mindset in avoiding 0-2?
“Yeah, not really…our main focus is what we need to do in this game, Tony (Grossi). I don’t think any team has served well thinking about your week one result, win, lose or draw. We’re really focused just on this game.”
Kevin, have you and Bubba (Ventrone) talked to Andre (Szmyt) or whatever, figured out what might have gone wrong Sunday? Will he be kicking for you Sunday?
“He will, yeah. You know, young player, will only get better. Obviously, he wants to come through in those moments, we expect him to come through in those moments. But just like any player on our roster, we’ll continue to get better.”
I know that history doesn’t really play a factor in what’s going to take place on Sunday. The fact that the (Baltimore) Ravens are using this against Cleveland is their 30th anniversary celebration, taking the team out of Cleveland and the success they’ve had since then. Do you plan on doing anything though, this week just to remind players or teach players the history of these two franchises and what happened to them?
“Yeah, our players know the history of our franchise. Our focus really is on this week, on this opponent.”
With Joe (Flacco), Kevin, I know we talk all the time about a guy playing his former team, but it feels a little different. Joe was in Baltimore forever. Just how do you think he’s going to deal with everything that goes into that?
“Yeah, like a professional. He’s got a job to do.”
Kevin, I’ve got a question about the last play of the game. Was that supposed to be lateral to Jerome Ford?
“Yeah, I don’t want to get into specifics on certain plays.”
Kevin, with Quinshon, how much were you guys in contact with him during the process and how has he been preparing to get ready for the season?
“Yeah, not in contact with him. Obviously, he was here in the spring, so has a baseline and understanding those types of things and then will work hard, and have been working hard since he’s been back and getting him ready”
Do you know if he was in pads or anything like that during the absence?
“I don’t know.”
I’m sure he’s had the playbook, and worked hard on trying to learn your offense.
“He appears to be in very good shape, Mary Kay. But I think it’s important that we take this day-by-day.”
With Carson (Schwesinger), he’s going to have new challenges. But Lamar, him being in the middle there, is he a guy that you need to be on the field with, just get a sense for everything he does, and will it take Carson maybe a little while to get good against him?
“I think, as you can imagine, you can’t replicate Lamar Jackson in practice. He’s a great, great player. He’s physically gifted. Like we talked about before, he can beat you with his arm, with his legs, and beat you from the pocket, outside the pocket. So, we understand the challenge. It doesn’t make it easy. You practice hard against a look that you’re trying to show what he can do, but it’s impossible to replicate that. So, we have a ton of respect for him, and we just have to make sure that we do all those things as a football team, as a defense to play well.”
They might not have (Isaiah) Likely again. Any chance you borrowed from the way they used two tight ends?
“I don’t know.”
About the running game, after looking back at the film and seeing the new run schemes, blocking schemes. Did you see very correctable things? How do you feel about the running game?
“Yeah, I mean, for us to play well, we have to be able to run the ball better than we did in week one. We have to perform better as players. We have to give them a better plan. As coaches, you need to strain a little bit more. You have to use technique a little bit more. It’s all the little things that add up to being a big thing when you talk about having rushing success.”
Baltimore, they’re just always…they’re like Pittsburgh (Steelers), they just seem to be every year extremely physical. Just what is it about the Harbaugh system down there, what he does? It seems like their defense every year has that same personality.
“Yeah, I think, it’s the AFC North. I would say every defense; it’s a physical brand of football. That’s kind of how we all play in this division. So that’s what you expect. They do a nice job in their scheme. Their scheme is very different than our scheme in some ways, and a lot of ways it’s very similar. But we understand what it takes in a 60-minute ball game.”
Kevin, you guys have had success in defending Derrick Henry and what he’s been able to do, whether it’s in Baltimore or when he was with the (Tennessee) Titans. But how much of a challenge does he add to that offensive firepower?
“Great player. I mean, everybody saw it the other night. He’s a rare combination of size, speed, power, you name it. So again, somebody that we have a tremendous amount of respect for.”
Kevin, the defense has kind of been in a turnover drought, but they’ve also held very few offensive leads during the game. What do you think the correlation is there playing with a lead per making defensive takeaways?
“Certainly you want to take the ball away on defense and special teams. That’s an emphasis for us and all 32 teams. To your point, Tony (Grossi), how teams play in a game is dependent on the score. And when you do have a lead, teams are typically throwing it more and there’s more opportunities for a strip sack or a tip ball or an interception, those types of things.”
How do you think Mike Hall (Jr.) came along last week and do you think he could be ready to play Sunday?
Yeah, really, I’m going to keep it day-by-day. So, I’m going to focus on today. He’ll practice today and he continues to do really well.”
Coach, you’ve spent a few days, you haven’t brought in any competition at kicker. Is it safe to say that you won’t be bringing in competition at kicker and Andre will be kicking on Sunday?
“Yes. And you know, I’ll say it again, we expect Andre to do his job just like our team expects me to do my job. How I expect every player to do their job. We’re not going to be perfect. We’ll own that together. But we have a ton of confidence because of what we’ve seen from this young man.”
How’s Jack (Conklin) and his eye?
“Yeah, he’s good. Yeah, he’s fine.”
Will he practice?
“Yes.”
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