CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Kevin Stefanski provided a mixed bag of injury update news a day after his team lost to the New York Giants 21-15.
Here’s the top Brownie Bites from Monday’s Zoom video conferences.
Teller likely to IR – The news on Wyatt Teller’s knee did not come back positive. “He’ll miss multiple weeks, but I don’t have the full extent just yet,” Stefanski said. Teller, who suffered a grade-2 sprain according to NFL Network, underwent an MRI Monday after he suffered the injury on the field goal protect team. Stefanski revealed Teller is a candidate to land on injured reserve and should that happen, he would not return until October 27 against Baltimore. “We’re working through that, that’s a possibility,” Stefanski said.
Myles day to day – All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett is “day-to-day” with his aching feet. “With Myles, as you guys know, he’s battling every day, so I feel that he’s going to continue to do that,” Stefanski said. Garrett, the reigning defensive player of the year, revealed after Sunday’s loss that the pain in his feet is causing him to compensate which is creating other injury problems. “With Myles, he’s like a lot of our guys on this team,” Stefanski said. “He’s going to battle through these injuries and I expect him to continue to get better.”
More updates to come – Stefanski did not have updates on left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. or offensive tackle James Hudson III. Both had MRIs on Monday as well – Wills on his knee and Hudson his shoulder.
The heat is on – Through three games Deshaun Watson has been sacked 16 times and hit a total of 42. “Obviously that’s disappointing,” Stefanski said. “You know, we have to be better there and we will be better.” The protection and timing problems are compounded by the injuries four key members of the line, including all three tackles. “I think that’s the NFL for you,” Stefanski said. “Week to week, certain guys are going to be unavailable or you’re going to go up against a different rusher than you saw the week before. So that’s our job, just to find ways to be efficient, find ways to be explosive, regardless of the challenges that you may have.”
Right call – The roughing the passer call on Greg Newsome II that took Ronnie Hickman’s interception away was the right call according to Stefanski. “I think it was and we have to be better there,” Stefanski said. “Greg knows that you can’t go up near the quarterback’s head and neck area. We got to stay in that strike zone. That’s a tough play because that’s a turnover right there, so we will be better. And again, not a lack of effort at all, but I did think that was a roughing call.” The Giants took advantage of the mistake and marched 13 plays and 81 yards to tie the game at 7.
Slow start – The Browns 1-2 start is disappointing on many levels but tight end Jordan Akins, who played with Watson in Houston, offered a glimmer of hope. “It is nothing that he's not used to,” Akins said. “Back in Houston, we started real slow. I remember, I think it's 19, 18 or 19. We started out oh and three. We flipped it around and won 11 straight. So we just got to make some adjustments. We got to keep him positive and just hopefully he makes some big time plays for us.”