CLEVELAND — Speaking to reporters after the game, Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski discussed his team's 37-14 loss to the Arizona Cardinals at FirstEnergy Stadium.
What follows is a full transcript of Stefanski's postgame press conference, courtesy of the Cleveland Browns Media Relations department.
“Injuries, (RB) Kareem (Hunt) with the calf there… All of these injuries, we have to get some imaging on them to know the severity. (QB) Baker (Mayfield) was the left shoulder, and (LB) Jeremiah (Owusu-Koramoah) was the right ankle. Again, I will update you as you as I get information. Bottom line is, first of all, credit to the Cardinals. We got beat. They did a nice job. Their players and coaches did a nice job, and we got beat. Minus-three turnover margin and 13 points off of turnovers. We are a 3-3 football team, and we played like it. We were just very, very average, and that is my responsibility to get it fixed. That is what we have to do because we have to turn right around and come back in here Thursday night and find a way. Really disappointed. Again, we just have to find a way to clean this stuff up.”
On if it is good to play on Thursday night or if the team needs more time for injured players to heal:
“These Thursday night games, everybody is in the same boat. The guys have to fight, scratch and claw to get to Thursday night. It is hard, but the bottom line is we have a game, and we are going to meet tomorrow and start on the Broncos first thing in the morning.”
On if there is any concern about RB Kareem Hunt calf injury potentially being an Achilles injury or if it is simply a calf injury:
“Calf.”
On Beckham’s shoulder injury after returning to play:
“Yeah, I do not have much more information. Like you said, he came back in, but we will have more information tomorrow.”
On if RB Nick Chubb might be able to play Thursday, particularly after Hunt was carted off of the field today:
“I do not know. I have to see how the next 48 hours go.”
On the Browns pass defense in the past two games:
“Anytime you lose – and we have lost these last two games – we have bunch of areas that we have to address and we have to fix. The answer is never one thing, but we have to get to the bottom of it. Again, that is my responsibility to ultimately get to the bottom of all of this and then give the guys an opportunity to go play and give them an opportunity to succeed. I do not think I did that today.”
On the impact of not converting on fourth down, specifically in the red zone:
“We have not been good on fourth down. It is frustrating. It is another one that we have to fix. We have not done a good job. I have to get guys open is the truth.”
On if the Browns’ defensive struggles are more concerning given the number of open opposing WRs for big plays in the past two weeks:
“Listen, we lost the game and we lost last week so there is a concern. We need to fix it in the areas that we identify we need to fix, and we have to get them corrected.”
On the four defensive penalties on the Cardinals scoring drive:
“I would have to look at the four to give you a better answer. We have to play clean. We did not play clean. We can’t make it close for the officials, and I thought too many times we made it close.”
On if he noticed if Browns players were getting bothered by the officiating:
“I did not see the players get bothered by it, no.”
On how many days the team will be on the practice field this week:
“Typically, what you will do is we will walkthrough tomorrow, have a version of a practice on Tuesday and then likely a walkthrough or maybe a little bit more on Wednesday.”
On QB Baker Mayfield’s two fumbles and one interception:
“I would have to look at them. We offensively have to take care of the ball. We were doing a pretty good job of it going into this game, but to have three versus a team that had taken the ball away, that is frustrating. The plays itself, I would have to look at each of them.”
On game planning knowing the Browns would not potentially have the two starting Ts:
“We had a decent idea that those guys (T Jedrick Wills Jr. and T Jack Conklin) were not going to make it so I would tell you that is our job as coaches, to find a way. Whoever is available to us, we have to find a way. That is where we have to be problem solvers. Those guys battled their butts off. Thursday night, we have to get the crew ready to go. We have to get back out there, and whoever is out there, we have to go find a way.”
On using empty formations on offense early in the game:
“They were in some big personnel so there were some advantageous looks we felt to spread them out.”
On if he still has faith that defensive coordinator Joe Woods can fix the Browns defense:
“Yes. We are a 3-3 football team, which means we are average across the board so we all have to get better.”
On the message to the team after losing back-to-back games for the first time since he has been head coach:
“Pretty simple for this one is we got beat. We got outplayed. We got outcoached. Tip your cap to the Cardinals. That is a good football team. We got beat and it does not feel good, but we have to lick our wounds, we have to come in tomorrow and move on. That is just how you have to do it when you have a game Thursday night.”
On Beckham’s performance and the incompletion on fourth-and-four in the fourth quarter:
“I would have to look at it obviously, but there are some opportunities and he made a couple plays on the ball. Again on those fourth downs, I have to make sure we are putting the guys in better position.”
On the Hail Mary at the end of the first half:
“That was a big play and even the last completion to WR Anthony Schwartz on the sideline there helped. Baker did a nice job of buying time and put plenty of air under it, and (WR) Donovan (Peoples-Jones) made a nice play. Not enough plays out there on the field. That is where we have to do a better job as coaches. We have to make sure that we are putting these guys in positions to succeed.”
On if he expected Cardinals Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury’s absence might affect their operation:
“They are in their third year in their systems so I felt like they had a bunch of coaches there that know how they operate. I know Kliff had a ton of faith in those guys to operate and execute. Again, I give those guys credit. They beat us.”