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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski took questions from reporters on Wednesday with regard to coming off the bye week, preparing for the New York Jets, Tommy Rees calling plays, and more. Below is the transcript as provided by the Browns media relations department: More Cleveland Browns coverage ‘We’ll see on Sunday’: Jerry Jeudy waits for a breakthrough in a stalled Browns offense What the Browns’ decision to keep David Njoku means for his future in Cleveland: Berea Report (Video) Can the Browns & Cavs get their offenses rolling?: Wednesday’s Sports 4 CLE Opening Statement: “Okay, back to work week, Wednesday. Great opportunity in front of us. Road game, AFC opponent. Looking forward to the challenge. Obviously, they’re coming off a bye, just like us. They’re coming off a big win a couple weeks ago. So, our focus is to play our best on the road, and find a way to get a victory. It’s our challenge, trying to learn from some of the things we spent time with over the bye on offense, defense and special teams and apply some of those learnings starting this week. But with that I’ll take any questions.” Kevin, with the big trades that the Jets made yesterday, losing some big pieces on defense, how much does that change the offensive game plan for you guys? “Yeah, it doesn’t change. I mean they got good players. I have a ton of respect for Steve Wilks, for Aaron Glenn. They do a very good job of trying to keep you off balance and the things they do from a front cover standpoint. So, they have a bunch of good players. We have to play our best.” So, it looks like Shedeur (Sanders) is going to be practicing today. Will he be back as your QB2 this week? “He’ll be limited today. Mary Kay (Cabot), need to see how he responds. Obviously, he’s pushing very hard in rehab but need to see how he does over the next couple days.” Aaron Glenn didn’t announce the other day who was going to play quarterback for him. What kind of, what does that do to you guys if you have to prepare for two different guys? “Yeah, obviously two different players but they’re both good in their own right. I mean Justin Fields is extremely dangerous, very, very, very fast. They do a great job in the run game. He’s a threat to make all the throws with his arm strength in the pass game and then he can tuck in and run as you’ve seen throughout this season, he’s made some huge plays with his legs. Obviously Tyrod’s (Taylor) a veteran that knows what to do with the football. Very accurate, good athlete, you know, can make you miss obviously as he moves outside the pocket. But a veteran that really operates well so you know, have to be prepared for both guys.” How do you think the bye regenerated your guys for this last half of the season, Kevin? “Yeah, I think the bye week, regardless of where it comes, Jeff (Schudel), you have to recharge, and I think our guys did that. Obviously have a nine-game season coming up here after eight in the book. So have to make sure that they’re ready in mind, body and spirit for the run.” Do you have a charge going forward for these last nine games for Dillon (Gabriel)? I mean, have you given him sort of some mandates or instructions on what you need to see from him to elevate his game? “I wouldn’t put it that way, Mary Kay, other than to say we have a lot of things that we need to do better offensively in total – quarterback position, every position, coaching, you name it. So those are, you know, going back to the bye week, you try to study and learn some things and try to make sure that we as coaches are putting our guys in the best position to succeed and certainly, that would count the quarterback as well.” You talked a lot about self-evaluation coming out of the bye. What do you think after evaluating your team? Where do you think you guys stand? What did you get out of that? “Well, I think you don’t wait till the bye to look at yourself from a scout standpoint. You’re constantly doing a self-scout. It does give you an opportunity though, after eight games to really look at it from a bunch of different angles, whether it’s the personnel you’re using, the schemes you’re using. You can go on a deeper dive, if you will. You can go on a deeper dive on what other teams are doing, what teams are doing to you, those types of things. So, you learn a lot. I think it’s really important and the coaches did a nice job with (it). I think it’s important to take all those learnings and then condense them down into some action items, into the big bullet points, if you will, as opposed to trying to account for every single thing you’ve learned.” You said on Monday that you really like the team going into the trade deadline. Outside of the one move yesterday, a lot of the guys that were speculated that could potentially be moved are still here. Do you think that can help inject some life into the team as well, now that has passed and this is the team going forward, making it the focus? “Yeah, I understand the question, Daryl (Ruiter). I don’t know how much guys spend time thinking about those types of things. I know it’s speculative and I know there’s plenty of news outlets that cover those types of things and that’s what you have to do. But our guys don’t spend much time on that. We kind of keep our focus where it is, and so that’s the sense I’ve gotten from the guys.” Kevin, at the time of the draft, both you and Andrew (Berry) said Dillon Gabriel, that his height that didn’t show up on the college game film. Do you think it’s showing up now? I mean, his inability to get the ball to the receivers… “I understand the question, Tony (Grossi), but I would not characterize it that way. We need to play better as an offense. Certainly, there’s areas to improve for a young quarterback, but it’s really on all of us to improve.” Kevin, with Tommy (Rees) now taking over play calling duties – in terms of the game plan, does he get more latitude? Does that change? “Yeah, I do think it’s important with a play caller that you have a call sheet of plays that you’re really comfortable with. So, certainly this week, making sure Tommy’s got the quote, unquote, final say. I’m letting him kind of put this thing together. Obviously, I’m helping and making my suggestions, but I want him to feel comfortable and confident with what’s on that call sheet.” When it comes to Dillon, how do you think the bye week can help a rookie quarterback, especially coming off what was a difficult game for him? “Yeah, I think these bye weeks are an opportunity for everybody just to catch a breath. Obviously, young quarterback, has had some interesting starts, whether it was, you know, international or on the road in some tough places. We have to play better as an offense, and certainly Dillon is a big part of that, and making improvements coming off the bye is important.” Kevin, was your week operationally different when you’re not calling plays? “In some ways, yes. But again, I think it’s my job – like I’ve told you guys before, I want to try to set people up for success regardless of what their role is. So, if Tommy’s role is changing a little bit, I need to do my part to help him out.” Would you say that with Tommy coming out of the college ranks recently, might that beneficial for both of your rookie quarterbacks, knowing that he sort of has that college vibe? “I think probably a good question to ask Tommy, Mary Kay. I think Tommy’s got the right way about him with veterans and young players. But certainly, to your point, when you’re in the collegiate game, there’s things that are different about the game – so, it does help, as you explain certain concepts or the way defense is played, I do think there’s value in that.” Kevin, when you say you want to give Tommy final say in plays, does that mean he’ll have final say on whether to go for it on fourth downs and stuff like that? “No. More as editor in chief, to put it that way, when you’re putting a game plan together. At the end of the day, I get final say – we all know that. But I want to make sure he’s comfortable as we put the plan together.” Kevin, with the running game, Quinshon (Judkins)’s been fine, but seems like it’s a struggle with Dylan (Sampson) and even Jerome (Ford) a little bit. Have you given any thought to using Rocket (Raheim Sanders), getting him some carries? “You know, we like the guys we have. Obviously, every week you’re looking at different pairings that you may have available to you with inactives. But we like the guys we have – we have to do our job, like I said before, in the schemes and setting our guys up for success.” Isaiah (Bond) is not going to practice today with a foot injury. Is he out for the week? Is this a long-term thing? “We’ll see how it goes the next couple days.”
