CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski took questions from reporters on Sunday with regard to the 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills, Shedeur Sanders, Quinshon Judkins, and more.
Below is the transcript as provided by the Browns media relations department:
Opening Statement:
“Okay. Quinshon (Judkins) had an ankle dislocation, fractured his fibula. Obviously very disappointed for the young man. He will bounce back. I have zero doubt about that with him. But, you know, obviously you never want to see that with any of your guys. So, he’ll get surgery. He’ll be back in no time, I know that. The game, just frustrated, you know, want to close that one and want to get a win versus a good football team at our place. And we didn’t do it at the end, so that’s the frustrating part. Love how the team fights, which I’m not surprised. That’s who those guys are. So we’ll look at it, we’ll learn from it, and we’ll get ready for next week. With that I’ll take any questions.”
Coach, I know this question is probably more suited after you watch film, but just quickly, how would you assess today’s game?
“Yeah, in total we ended up minus in the turnover margin. It’s hard to do that versus a very good football team. Obviously, we didn’t come away with points at the end of the half there, which we are operational. Field goal has been excellent all season long, so that was disappointing. And then they made their plays. We didn’t make enough at the end, but, I give them credit. They made their plays.”
Kevin, the run defense in the first half, what did you see there and what you were able to clean up in the second half?
“Yeah. Going into it, you know, that’s a great run team. They have good players, good scheme. James Cook is outstanding, so we knew that’s a challenge. We made some adjustments throughout the game. Obviously, we feel like we can play better early, give them credit. But, yeah, there were a couple things that we can certainly do better.”
Kevin, you guys lose Quinshon, but Trayveon (Williams) and Raheim (Sanders) – the way they came in and sort of picked up that running back role.
“Yeah. Guys that we trust. I think I’ve told you guys many times, whoever is in there, we trust them. And I say that because they’re with us and they’re in every meeting and they’re at practice. And sometimes you don’t get those opportunities, but you’re on the team because we trust you. So not surprised to see those guys come through. A couple really big plays with Trayveon, and I thought Rocket (Raheim Sanders) ran really hard.”
Can you talk about Shedeur Sanders just how he played, and he also had to leave with the pinky injury and come back?
“Yeah, he battled like he does, I thought he made some unbelievable plays with his feet today, which I thought going in the game that may be the case. He’ll fight through injuries, little finger injury’s not going to keep him out of there, but always room to grow for a young player, but really proud of how he fought.”
What did they do to turn up a pass rush pressure there in your last couple possessions?
“Yeah, I don’t know if there’s one thing specifically, Jeff (Schudel), that they did, but we’ll look at it. And listen, you’re going to be in games where you got to go 85 or 90 or whatever it is to go win it, and we’ll look at ways that we can be better as an offense there.”
Kevin, were you always going to go for it there on that fourth down?
“Well, I mean, yeah, it depended on what the distance was, obviously, but felt like where it was at two or long two, whatever it was. Felt good about keeping our offense on the field. You’re going to have to play aggressive to beat this team, and I felt good about going for it there. Just what we didn’t, didn’t happen in that moment.”
What did you see going against this Bills team that you thought played to your advantage?
“Yeah, I mean, I have a ton of respect for Sean (McDermott) and his staff and that football team. They’re very good on offense. They have a great quarterback, as we know, who made his plays today. Defensive attack is really difficult. I think, you know, special teams, their kickoff returning has been outstanding. So, you know, going into a game with a team that has the record that they do, you’re going to have to go play aggressive. You know, you’re trying to go take the ball away from them. We didn’t have any takeaways, which wasn’t for a lack of trying. It’s just they did a nice job.”
Disappointed that Myles (Garrett) didn’t get the sack record today?
‘Yeah, I think, you know, the record and we talked, have talked a lot about it, Mary Kay (Cabot) – we don’t talk a lot about it, when we’re in the building and we’re getting ready to play, that’s really not our focus. It’s not Myles’ focus. You guys have talked to him at length about this. He’s trying to just play good football to help the team win.”
Is that why coaches decided to go for it on that 4th and 2 to stem the tide?
“Yeah, I think in that moment, felt good about the play we had up, felt good about where we are on the football field. And again in these games against really good football teams, you’re going to have to go make plays in those moments. We didn’t and it’s not, you know, we didn’t execute or it wasn’t a good play call. We just didn’t. We didn’t make a play in that moment. But I feel good about the process there, and that’s unfortunate, but you’re going to have to go make plays if you think you’re going to go beat the Buffalo Bills or a good football team.”
Shedeur had a couple of passes batted, including that one interception, did you see anything on there that why that was the case?
“We’ll always teach off of those, Scott (Petrak). And anytime that there’s a batted ball, you’ll look at your eyes and see if there’s things you can do differently. Other times, you know, we have Shelby Harris on our team. These defensive tackles are very good at when they’re not maybe going to get home, they know when to match the hand of the quarterback and those type of things. So we’ll learn from those.”
Just how good has Quinshon been for you guys all season long and what has he meant for the team?
“Yeah, Q’s been incredible. Great teammate, runs hard, cares about this game, cares about the right things. So I’m disappointed for him. He’s disappointed, but he’s not somebody that I worry about. He’ll bounce back.”
Kevin, on the field goal at the end of the half, just low snap and Corey (Bojorquez) not able to handle it.
“Obviously we didn’t come through, but this is a group of specialists that have been outstanding all season long. They work really well together. We weren’t at our best in that moment.”
Do you think the effort overall was better today than last week?
“Yeah, I don’t think about it in those terms. We’re excited about any opportunity we have in front of us.”
I know we’ve talked a lot about Harold (Fannin Jr.) throughout the year, but he gets a touchdown on a catch and then has one on the run. I think he set the team’s rookie record. So just how good has he been and the versatility he showed?
“Yeah, I think he’s been great. But I go back to, he’s been the same guy every single day. He works really, really hard at his craft. And I say that because if you’re going to be moved around the formation, you’re going to hand the ball to him and you’re going to put him in motion and bring him back on the slide for the keeper touchdown. Those are all things that require a guy to be locked into a game plan. And his versatility is directly tied to his intelligence and how hard he works at this.”
In Shedeur in some ways, even exceeding your guys’ expectations in terms of his mobility and his elusiveness at all?
“Yeah, I’m not going to frame it that way, Mary Kay, other than to say that’s part of his game. That’s one of the things that you saw on tape when he was in college is his ability to make plays that were off schedule.”
Talk about the opening drive.
“We stayed out of third down. We were very efficient on first and second down, which is huge. I thought a bunch of different guys touched the ball, but. Yeah, really well executed, well-called by Tommy (Rees).”
Coach, another tough loss, what’s the message to the team moving forward?
“Yeah. All these losses are tough. None of them are easy. So it hurts. But we’ll be right back at it. We’ll be fighting next week.”
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