CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski took questions from reporters on Sunday with regard to the 31-6 win over the Dolphins, Quinshon Judkins, Dillon Gabriel, and more.
Below is the transcript as provided by the Browns media relations department:
Opening Statement:
“All right. Injury front, Adin Huntington’s in concussion protocol. You know that game, four takeaways, 21 points off those takeaways, that’s really the story of the game. I thought there were some really good things out there. I thought the guys fought from minute one to minute 60. So really proud of the effort there. And then you know, just you gotta learn from this one. Definitely things you can clean up offense, defense and special teams. But the way those guys are flying around, really, really proud of that effort and then we’ll learn from this one, move on very quickly and you’re on the road next week. But with that I’ll take any questions.”
Kevin, just how important was it? I know you say blinders are on and all, but just to…
“But you don’t believe me.”
But just to get that winning feeling, after all the work that’s been put in.
“Yeah, we focus on what’s in front of us, and obviously you can certainly look backwards if you want, but we don’t.”
What made the running game work as well as it did?
“Yeah, you know, it’s something that we worked very hard on to make sure that we got Q (Quinshon Judkins) and our runners into the second level as much as we could because we knew they would make some yards. So, there were some things that we blocked up really well. If you block it up well for Quinshon, he’s gonna make a lot of yards.”
What’d you like about that wildcat down in that goal line?
“Yeah, that was really a conversation with me, Coach (Mike Bloomgren) Bloom and Tommy (Rees) on Thursday night when we thought it was going to potentially be 60 mile per hour winds. And we talked about might be just get some single-wing football going. So, we drew up a couple plays.”
Kevin, even though you don’t want to look back, (Grant) Delpit said this week that he forgot what it was like to win. A comment like that kind of concern you that the team was thinking…
“No, as you guys know, Grant is a leader in this football team. He plays his butt off every single week. I think he’s just like anybody, we know what the fun in this business is so that’s all part of it.”
What do you make of Quinshon’s challenging entry point, what do you make of how he’s gotten up to speed on the field?
“Well, I don’t want to tell you that training camp’s not important because I got a bunch of players that will take that. He’s in great shape, very diligent kid. All the things that we identified with him in the pre-draft process are all true.”
Kevin, Tyson Campbell saved two touchdowns and scored one.
“It was awesome. It was great. Yeah. Fun to see…was he the first takeaway? Second one, but fun to see, you know, him make a play and go down, tightrope down the sideline and he made a play a couple plays down the field too. So, like I talked to you guys, I think this week two with him, normal week is only going to continue to get better.”
Kevin, along the same lines as Grant, Myles (Garrett) had come out after the game last week, talk about frustration over how you guys were losing every week. On Friday, also kind of questioned the lack of running in that game and reiterated his frustration. So, I mean, how did you feel about how he went about that? And yet everybody backed it up this week.
“Yeah. I won’t get into any conversations I have with our players, Mary Kay (Cabot). And we all want to just continue to work and obviously that’s what we’ll do.”
What do you have to see about the way Dillon Gabriel played?
“Yeah, first half especially was some tough conditions for both sides. I think you could see that in some of the handling of the football. But, we were plus four today. I don’t think we’ve turned it over the last three weeks. And that’s a recipe for winning football.”
Kevin, with Quinshon in wildcat, is that something you talked about Thursday, and you put in on Friday? And did your heart skip a beat there on that first one where it looked like he nearly fumbled it and bobbled it.
“Yeah, no, heart didn’t skip a beat. I don’t think. Yeah. I trust these guys, Joe (Reedy), and I think, yeah, that was something that again, really well executed by our guys and that’s a testament to the players and the coaches for getting them coached up.”
It felt like Myles was moving around more than he normally does. What did you guys see that allowed you to do that?
“Yeah, that’s going to be part of what we do really in every game. It’s so matchup based oftentimes and making sure that you get Myles where you want him.”
Is the only reason you took the ball first was because of the conditions or did you just want to get the score going?
“It was because of the conditions. I did that for you, Tony (Grossi).”
The defense, holding them out of the endzone. No touchdowns.
“Yeah. And you know, I know the conditions were what they were, but that offense had been scoring a lot of points. I mean, that’s an explosive offense. I have a ton of respect for Mike (McDaniel) and what they do, and our defense met the challenge.”
How impressed were you with your safeties? Kind of look like Grant made a ton of plays. And then Rayshawn (Jenkins) too.
“Yeah, Rayshawn obviously had a bigger role this week in some of the matchups we wanted to get to. But yeah, I thought those guys played really, really well. I mean we played hard. We played hard like we do, ball found us a couple times and as we’ve talked about those takeaways coming in bunches.”
Kevin, how did it feel to, you know, you guys were away from Huntington Bank for almost a month, come back, come down here in these horrible conditions. How good did it feel to give the fans a victory like this in a pouring rain?
“Yeah, you know, shout out to all the fans that were out there in some non-ideal conditions. And they stuck with us, and they always do. And we’re very appreciative of the support we get.”
Quinshon, he’s producing so much, so early. What’s the future look like?
“Yeah, I think like I told you guys, young players get better. They learn from mistakes and it’s our job to coach them up. So, he’s a young player that we think very highly of, but I think he will only get better.”
Kevin, Dillon only had like 116 yards passing, but I mean he used his legs a lot to get out of trouble. He didn’t turn the ball over for the third straight game. How important are those kinds of things to you?
“Yeah, I think every game is different, Mary Kay, and what you’re going to have to do. I thought a couple times were trying to get him on the perimeter in these conditions, knowing that it’s going to be hard to start and stop. We, I, we have to do a better job of getting some guys open throughout this game. But to play clean is really important.”
Is the plan always to rotate the right tackles?
“Yes.”
And then Jack (Conklin) and Mike (Hall) not being able to go, not out of protocol, like what with Mike. Did Jack not clear the protocol?
“Yeah, he’s getting better every single day. And then same with Mike.”
Kevin, you sort of saw the varying degrees of like how penalties can hurt a team. Miami had a ton that helped you guys. You guys have had that happen in the past. Just how valuable was it to not have that be an issue?
“Yeah, it was important. Obviously, we were the beneficiary of some and some of those come when you’re playing really hard. Like on special teams, if you’re playing really hard, you’re going to draw some penalties. And I thought that may have been the case, a couple of those. And then we really focus on those pre-snap penalties and the ones that you can avoid. You know, we talked about avoiding the avoidables and I think for the most part we’re pretty good today.”
Kevin, do you feel like a victory like this in addition to everything else can just kind of quiet things down a little bit and let you guys focus on…
“I think we’re focused, Mary Kay, on what’s important. We know what’s in front of us and that’s where our focus will stay.”
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