Pittsburgh Steelers Media Conference

Sunday, December 8, 2024

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Kevin Stefanski

Visitors Postgame Press Conference


Cleveland Browns 14 - Pittsburgh Steelers 27

KEVIN STEFANSKI: Go on the road being minus two in the turnover margin, missed a couple of kicks. Hard to win that way. So we put ourselves in a really tough position, and unfortunately versus a good football team did not get out of that. So really disappointed with that, and we'll just get back to work. With that I'll take any questions.

Q. Seemed like the wind went out of the sails when Dustin Hopkins missed back to back kicks. Did it seem that way?

KEVIN STEFANSKI: No. Obviously I expect him to make those. He expects to make them. We're going to keep fighting in those scenarios. Obviously we need to come through in those situations. We gotta score 7s, and if we settle for field goals, obviously we gotta make them.

Q. Dustin is now up to nine missed kicks, most in the NFL. Will you consider bringing in (inaudible)?

KEVIN STEFANSKI: He's our kicker. We expect him to make those. He's a veteran. He's a pro. I expect him to work through it. He's our kicker.

Q. Besides the screen interception, first of all, what did you see on that play?

KEVIN STEFANSKI: Yeah. Their defensive tackle didn't rush in that case, if we can get an incompletion there when that guy doesn't rush.

Q. Did you feel Jameis was trying to be too careful with the ball early or just not places for him to kind of fit into tight windows?

KEVIN STEFANSKI: I wouldn't characterize it that way, Scott. I'd have to watch it to give you a better answers. There were opportunities. Give them credit. They did a nice job.

Q. Fourth down play in the third quarter.

KEVIN STEFANSKI: Which one. 4th and 1?

Q. Was that what was supposed to happen?

KEVIN STEFANSKI: No. Not go backwards, obviously. But, yeah, that was not exactly how it was supposed to unfold.

Q. Just in general, Jameis hasn't struggled like this the way he did for much of today. What was kind of going on?

KEVIN STEFANSKI: Well, I think, number one, you give them credit. They did a good job obviously in rushing coverage. There are things we can clean up. I think Jameis is going to definitely want some throws and decisions back, like you do in every single game. But we'll learn from it.

Q. Did they do a lot to take away Jerry? I think he only had two targets in the first half.

KEVIN STEFANSKI: Yeah. They were aware of where he was and those type of things, but we have to find ways to move the football and score some points.

Q. Not that you guys necessarily had a great chance to get, but you are officially eliminated from the playoffs. Does that kind of add a little insult to injury here today?

KEVIN STEFANSKI: We're so focused, Mary Kaye, on trying to find a win any which way you can, and we'll have that same focus going into next week.

Q. In the first half defensively three-and-out situations in a row. What did you see?

KEVIN STEFANSKI: I'd have to look at it to give you a more specific answer. Obviously early got them into some tough third-and-longer situations, which allowed us to use our rushing coverage and get off the field. There were times we were a little too leaky in the run game, it felt like, in the second half, and those are things that we'll look at.

Q. It was 27 to 7 going into the fourth quarter. Did you consider putting DTR in there to get a look at him?

KEVIN STEFANSKI: No. Did not. Let's worry about this one right now. Jameis, obviously, we lost as a team. I know he feels like he can play better, but we win and lose as a team.

Q. Talk about keeping your composure. Jermaine gets a big one, get you out of whatever range and then Kadarius gets that one. How disappointing was that?

KEVIN STEFANSKI: Yeah. Very disappointing. That's not what we're about. It'll be addressed. It's really, really, really disappointing.

Q. How about reaching double digit losses?

KEVIN STEFANSKI: Yeah. Any time you lose, Mary Kaye, it's hard, and these guys put a lot into this, and not to come away with a win, all of it's hard.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
151147-1-1234 2024-12-08 21:44:00 GMT

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