Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski took questions from reporters on Wednesday at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus regarding the loss of players due to injuries, hosting Chicago, and more.
Below is the transcript as provided by the Browns media relations department
Okay. Another great challenge at our place in front of our fans, which I think as you know, is a big deal to us. So, we’re excited about that opportunity. NFC opponent with the Chicago Bears. Good football team, 3-1 in their last four, 11 takeaways in their last three. You just turn on the tape. This is a good football team. I think it’s starting with their offense. Justin Fields is a challenge. He is so big and so strong, can make every throw and D.J. Moore, Cole Kmet, you name it. Good players really all over that offense and it’s a huge challenge. Defensively, I think Coach (Matt) Eberflus does a great job having gone against him before. We have a lot of coaches that know Coach Flus well. He’s really good, puts his guys in positions to make plays and they have playmakers. I think you really go to all three levels of the defense and I think they have playmakers. Good players. So, huge challenge. Special teams, they do a great job. A couple of different returners that we have to prepare for. So going to be a huge challenge for us down there. But our focus is on this work week, getting our work in today, making sure that we know what we’re doing so we can go play fast on Sunday. With that, I’ll take any questions.
Can you touch on a little bit with Justin Fields. The way he can run the ball and pass. I guess as a dual-threat quarterback, what challenge does that present for your defense?
“Yeah, defensive coordinators don’t like those quarterbacks that can run and pass. It’s a challenge. I mean, every play he can affect. Their run game can go through him. Their pass game, he can make every throw and if it’s not there, he can pull it down and he’s a threat to make a lot of yards. So, huge, huge challenge. We’ve gone against players like this before. It doesn’t make it any easier. It’s a challenge.”
Can you address you guys have had since we saw you last a number of injuries. The latest we just heard about was Ogbo (Okoronkwo) possibly missing the season. Grant (Delpit) out. Maurice (Hurst). Can you address that?
“Yeah, I don’t have final confirmation on Ogbo just yet. Obviously might be heading that way, but I’ll hold out hope. Mo had surgery. Grant had surgery. I feel badly for those guys. They’re a big part of who we are. They certainly have been a big part of our success to date, but next man up.
