CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury received a much-needed text from the Browns’ Kevin Stefanski on how to handle watching your team play a big game from home while in quarantine with COVID-19.
“Stefanski told me, ‘Turn your phone off,’’’ Kingsbury told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
Stefanski, of course, was confined to his man cave with the virus while the Browns were busy beating the Steelers 48-37 in the Wild Card game in January. He turned his phone off during the game and powered it back up immediately after the victory.
By that time, Jarvis Landry was already FaceTiming him to celebrate.
“It was loud so we couldn’t hear what he was saying,” running back Nick Chubb said. “We all saw him and we all waved to him.”
Stefanski would have another piece of advice for Kingsbury: Don’t put the TV on pause before the game and forget to advance it back to live action. Stefanski did that and missed the first wild play in that monumental victory, when Maurice Pouncey snapped the ball over Ben Roethlisberger’s head and Karl Joseph fell on it in the end zone for a touchdown — just 14 seconds into the game.
“My kids were going crazy upstairs,” he said. “I had an inkling something good was going to happen on that first play.”
Armed with some good institutional quarantine knowledge, Kingsbury should have a jump on Stefanski in how to behave from 4:05 to 7:05 p.m. today, when his 5-0 Cardinals are trying to remain the only unbeaten team in the NFL vs. the 3-2 Browns.
Kingsbury, who helped script the first 15 or plays, Zoomed into the Cardinals team meeting Saturday night in their Cleveland hotel. He told Pelissero he feels great, and that assistant wide receivers coach Spencer Whipple will relay the play into Kyler Murray.
Kingsbury, of course, can’t be involved in play calling while at home with the virus.
He’s not the only one left behind. Quarterbacks coach Cam Turner also tested positive for the virus, as did team sack leader Chandler Jones and starting defensive tackle Zach Allen.
No other Cardinals tested positive on Saturday, but they must all test again today as part of the intensive protocols they’re now under.
Kingsbury had said earlier this season that all of the Cardinals are vaccinated.
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