CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski took questions from reporters on Friday with regard to the potential weather, Shedeur Sanders, Trent Williams, and more.
Below is the transcript as provided by the Browns media relations department:
Opening Statement:
“Okay. Good to practice in the elements really all week. To be able to practice in the wind and the snow today was outstanding for our football team. Credit to our grounds crew. It was incredible. They got that thing cleared. It was covered in snow this morning. It was cleared. It was great. They did a great job. So, shout out to our guys. But good work week, going into this weekend. Like we talked about, there’s a huge challenge facing this team and the scheme that they have and the players that they have. So, we got to really be about our business. You got to play your best in a game like this. So, with that, I’ll take any questions.”
Hey, Kevin, did Andre Szmyt go down and kick at the stadium in this weather this week?
“He did not, he kicked in the weather here.”
What’s the latest forecast you’re hearing for Sunday. What are you expecting?
“Yeah. Yes, all of it.”
How did you feel like Shedeur (Sanders) did in his second week, kind of been in that starter’s role. Did you notice a difference in him from last week to this week, just even in that role?
“I wouldn’t say a difference. Very committed to working at it, doing a great job, communicating with his coaches, with the players. Good work week, but nothing different. I think any player though, once you get one game under your belt, you got the next one coming. I think it can only help.”
How important is it for him to get his primary or your primary pass catchers involved in the game plan a little bit more – Ced (Cedric Tillman), Jerry (Jeudy), David (Njoku), maybe David’s better this week with the knee and everything. But is that important or not?
“I think it’s probably important every week, Mary Kay (Cabot), trying to get our guys the rock in a variety of ways. We have a bunch of players that we really trust, that we believe in. So you certainly want to get all those guys going.”
I asked you about Szmyt at the stadium because the wind is different down there. So, did you feel that was not necessary?
“Yeah, he got really good work out there, Jeff (Schudel), in the wind here. Which I think you’re right, it’s not the same as the stadium, but he’s kicked in the stadium in some adverse conditions. He’s kicked out here – the wind was howling yesterday. I actually showed the team, he started the ball in his warm up, I guess in the field goal period. He started the ball outside the uprights and brought it back in. So, he got good work here.”
I’m sure we talked about this over the years, Kevin, but do you come up with when you go into a week and there’s the potential for nasty weather on game day, do you come up with two game plans, like, ‘Okay, if the weather’s fine, this is what we’re going to do, and then if it’s not, we’re going to throw that out and go with plan B?’
“We’ve been in this situation a lot Daryl (Ruiter), where the weather doesn’t look good, and then sometimes you get down there and it was maybe overhyped or wasn’t accurate. At times, you don’t think it’s a big factor, and then it’s raining for a half. So you definitely have contingencies built into your game plan. I know Jim (Schwartz) does in how he calls the game and some of the techniques we use, certainly offensively there are plays and things that you do in good weather that you wouldn’t necessarily do just for the ball handling part of it. So you’re always ready. But I just, having gone down there a few times, you just have to wait till game day because it just seems to change so often.”
What makes Trent Williams one of the best ever to do it?
“You know, Coach (Bill) Callahan had Trent in Washington, so he would tell stories about how good this guy was physically off the field, in the meeting room, just how smart he was. But you just watch his tape, he’s had some of the great highlights that are on every offensive line coaches highlight reel, about how to down block or how to do a certainly pass block. But the combination of his size, his length and his play demeanor – how hard he plays, how physical he plays, I think that’s what makes him great.”
I know Myles’ is always fired up, but like, you think that means something to him, going against this a guy like that?
“Yeah, I mean, it’s, obviously as a fan of the game, you love matchups like that where it’s just great-on-great. But, you know, I think it feels like you get that every single week in this league.”
We talked to Tommy (Rees) about Shedeur’s development, especially in the pocket, just how have you seen, from the day he got here in April, to some of the things you saw on tape in college to now where he’s sort of seeing things better and able to sort of dissect what he’s trying to do? And Tommy said sometimes he’s the one pointed out on tape like, I could have done this, or I could have done that.
“I think it just speaks to player development. I mean, every single player that comes in here, you have a plan for them and what you want them to work on and improve. And certainly, for a lot of quarterbacks, pocket movement and all the things that go with that, when to get out of there, when to slide, when to slide forward, when to move out of the pocket through the B-gap, when to try to exit outside the right, outside the left. It’s a huge thing that you’re constantly developing and you’re working that in the meeting room. You’re also working that in drills. So, I think there’s a lot of drills that you can do to try to hone that skill, but that’s just an example of young players working on the craft.”
With Shedeur’s arm strength that you’ve seen yourself here in practice and the weather games that I’m sure you’ve seen of him on film at Colorado, what are your expectations for him in the elements on Sunday?
“Yeah, he played in Colorado. That’s a lot of wind that you’re going to get. You’re going to get all sorts of weather. So he’s good to go.”
Kevin, you reminded us not to overlook Myles against the run. He’s so good at setting the edge, does he also make teams one-sided though, because they’re running away from him?
“Yeah, and I think that’s the benefit, Tom (Withers), of moving a player around. So, Myles is not just in one spot all the time. I think he does a great job. I think Jacques (Cesaire) and Jim do a great job of moving the target. There are some great players in this league. Some of them stay in one spot, some of them move. And I know from offensive coaches perspective, they’re always wondering where those players are, and I know teams that go against Myles, and we do this on the offensive side, but you build in protections where you make sure the tight end is going to go to the side that he’s on that given play because there’s unpredictability to that. I think you’ve seen even this year where there’s been plays Myles’ has made on both sides of the ball.”
Football Insider newsletter free trial: Take a minute and sign up for a free trial of our Football Insider newsletter, featuring exclusive content from cleveland.com’s Browns reporters.