CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski took questions from reporters on Sunday with regard to the 23-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders, and more.
Below is the transcript as provided by the Browns media relations department:
Opening Statement:
“All right. Injury front Cam Robinson has a right knee injury. We’ll MRI that. Dillon’s (Gabriel) in concussion protocol. Dom Jones has a left knee injury. Jack Conklin has a right knee injury. Obviously, with all those, we’ll get more information tomorrow. You know, man, the guys were fighting till the end, but we got to find a way to close that one out. And it’s disappointing, frustrating with where we were there at the end of the game. But I appreciate how this group’s fighting. I appreciate how they’re fighting through some tough – the injuries at tackle and those types of things, but, man, some good stuff on that football field. But we got to close those games out and have a win with those performances. But we’ll get back to work like we always do. With that I’ll take any questions.”
Kevin, what prompted Dillon’s concussion check?
“He got checked at halftime. I don’t know all the details exactly.”
And just how would you assess how Shedeur (Sanders) came in there and played?
“Yeah, obviously all players – we’ll look at it, but he’s going to battle like he does. So, I’m sure there’s things that we can clean up, but those are things we’ll look at tomorrow.”
So, you don’t know if Dillon was concussed on that one designed run?
“I don’t know. I don’t know.”
The (Baltimore) Ravens show that tush push play at all before?
“Yeah, they’ve done QB sneaks with the tight ends. Yes.”
If Dillon clears concussion protocol, he’d be back as your starter?
“Yes. But he’s got to – that’s obviously a lot into that protocol. A lot goes into that. So, we’ll see.”
How did you think Shedeur handled everything that comes with first NFL start taking over versus the Ravens team?
“Yeah, listen, we trust all of our guys. We trust our guys to perform. He’s no different. You know, and playing a backup quarterback role, as we’ve talked about over the years, that’s tough to come in there, but we trust him. I know there’s things that he’s going to want to do better, but that’s why we work.”
You talk so much about, or we asked you a lot about Shedeur not getting any reps with the starting units. So that was like really his first legitimate snaps and reps with the starting offense, correct?
“Yes.”
I mean, do you think that there was any maybe rust or…
“Yeah, I understand the question. I would tell you, we do so much work with the quarterback position and the entire team, not just those reps on the practice field. And those are, as we all know, those are tough reps for when you have a young starter as well. But there’s so much that we do to supplement that type of thing.”
It almost seemed like, especially when Shedeur got there. I mean, I think the entire game showed a lot of cover zero and dropped out and, you know, seemed like Shedeur kind of struggled with that and Dillon as well. Do you think that as a staff, you guys could have done anything better?
“I always think we can do better. Always.”
Was the whole playbook available to Shedeur in the second half?
“Yes. Yes.”
Can you talk about the defensive effort and just the performance of Myles Garrett today?
“Yeah, I thought there was some outstanding moments out there from our defense. Obviously, Myles got to the quarterback a bunch of times. I thought he and the defensive line provided pressure throughout the game. Obviously, there’s plays that we want back, but I thought to stand up and hold them to field goals in the red zone was a big deal in that football game.”
On the pass with (Gage) Larvadain in the end zone, do you think he should have caught it or was it a great defensive play?
“Yeah, that’s – I trust our guys.”
Kevin, does it mean anything that you guys played better than the game in Baltimore? Can you take anything away from that?
“Yeah, we’re out here to get a win.”
Kevin, knowing that you guys might have had to throw Shedeur into a situation like this at some point once he became QB2, why wouldn’t he get any first team reps with the starters in practice?
“Yeah, I understand the question, Mary Kay (Cabot). I would tell you; you’re always trying to get your starter ready to play and certainly, when your starter is a rookie, those are very valuable reps. When your starter, when your backup is a rookie also, you do everything in your power to get our quarterbacks as many reps as possible. Post practice, after practice, extra meeting time. So that’s just part of how it goes. But the bottom line is we trust both of our players. We trust all of our players because of the work that they put in.”
How do you feel like Shedeur managed the pressure that the Ravens put on him?
“Yeah, we didn’t do a good enough job period, as a team and certainly as an offense in there. So, we’ll make sure that we get back to work.”
Is it fair to say that you think Shedeur would have a much better chance of being successful if you guys’ game planned for him and played to his strengths and he’s got those reps and things?
“Yeah, I think that’s true, probably of every backup. Mary Kay and I think it’s – listen, that was a part of, earlier in the season with Joe (Flacco) as your starter and Dillon as your backup, there’s things that you’re going to lean into with a different player. So that’s no different for all of your players. You want to make sure that your players, particularly that position, have plays that they’re comfortable with. So, to Zac’s (Jackson) question, of course the playbook’s open, but there’s stuff that you’re going to make sure you call, that there’s a comfort level for your quarterback.”
Kevin, the challenge, you waited. Were you still collecting information or were you just waiting for them to…?
“Collecting information. It’s tough when replay assist is…really what hurt us there is the call on the field. Once the call on the field was what they called. It’s really hard to overturn. Obviously, replay assist got involved, didn’t overturn it. So, there’s risk to doing that. I just felt like maybe, I thought the visual evidence was pretty overwhelming. They felt differently.”
How about the way your special teams played today, Kevin, after a tough week?
“Yeah, I thought there were some really good moments. Again, we can be better. There’s a couple coverage reps that I know we can better. But like I told you this week, we have a prideful group that wants to better for this football team.”
Maybe this goes without saying, but is it safe to say that Shedeur will start if Dillon does not pass the protocol?
“Yes.”
Are you comfortable without adding a quarterback?
“We’ll work through that this week.”
Were there any conversations on the last play there about them not calling it offsides? Did you guys notice anything, that they jumped around?
“Yeah, I thought they did, but [they] didn’t call it.”
So, I mean, obviously the concussion protocol takes on different forms for every player, but with Dillon being a rookie quarterback, would you need him to log some practice hours?
“Yeah, I understand the question. I need to get to Monday.”
In the first set, it looked like Dillon was late out of bounds and you were pretty mad. Did you get any explanation on that?
“I did.”
What did they say?
“Yeah. It doesn’t matter. Sorry. Doesn’t matter.”
Kevin, is playing on time the greatest challenge for Shedeur?
“No, I think, listen, all of us are constantly improving. He will improve every day, like he has, he’ll improve every single day. He’ll put the work in like he’s doing. There’s plays I know that he wants back, but he’ll keep working. We have a ton of faith in our players and that includes our starters, our backups, our young guys, our vets. We trust our guys. ”
You were talking about on Friday the progress that you’ve seen Shedeur make. How has that manifested itself? Like, what kinds of things have you seen at practice that were really good?
“Yeah, I think with – I mean, Shedeur specifically, but it’s hard for me because our young players work so hard, Mary Kay, they’ve done such a nice job. So, it’s hard to single our guys out because as a rookie class, they’ve taken the development piece of this game so seriously. So, it’s fun for me as a coach and for our guys to work with our players and get them better every single day. So, Shedeur’s made unbelievable strides in the meeting room on the practice field. I know he wants to be better and he will be better, but that’s just going to come from hard work.”
On that (Mark) Andrew’s run for the touchdown at the end, is it just so hard not to oversell in the middle and make the call?
“I think you see that over; you see that around in different short yardage situations. Philly (Philadelphia Eagles) has the sweep off of it, so you know that there’s plays that they have off of those looks, obviously well designed by them.”
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