JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
HEAD COACH DOUG MARRONE (Transcribed by ASAP Sports)
Obviously not the game you wanted. RB James Robinson, 13 carries. Did you hope to be able to get him more involved in that and have a better, I guess, balance on offense?
“We felt like we had a good plan going in. There were some things that we wanted to take advantage of. So I think anytime you lose a game, it’s always going to be questioning how many times so and so got the ball or what you did. So again, whatever we did wasn’t obviously good enough. So I acknowledge that.”
The fourth-and-1 play, with the halfback pass, looking back on it, I know hindsight is 20/20, but do you wish you just handed that ball off and tried to power forward for that one yard?
“I mean, we worked on that play a bunch. You work on things in certain situations and I think that we felt very comfortable with it. I don’t think we did a good job executing it. I don’t think we sold it well enough because the corner was able to get off on it. So you work on something during the week. You feel comfortable about it, you know when you’re going to call it in that situation, and we just didn’t execute it. So to answer your question, if I had to go back and knowing it wasn’t going to work, would I rather run something else? Obviously I would. But that’s what we worked on and that’s what we were preparing for.”
Obviously, K Stephen Hauschka misses those two kicks in the second quarter. What was your conversation with him at halftime and what is the game plan moving forward?
“I just wanted to make sure I just was with the team. I think that our guys are playing extremely hard. We weren’t able to take advantage of a certain sequence of the two turnovers. We weren’t able to get the momentum back on our side or turn them into points or touchdowns. And then I thought (Keelan) Cole’s big return out to the 39- yard line, the way we were moving the ball, we should have got it into range to be able to score and we had two negative plays. So there’s opportunities out there that we didn’t take advantage of and that’s why we came out with the loss.”
But as far as the kicking game goes, I mean, where do you guys go from here in terms of the kicking game? “I think we’ll figure that out as we go. Obviously with the way the ball was being kicked, it just doesn’t have any, he said he just didn’t have any pop in his leg.”
How did you feel like QB Gardner Minshew II played today?
I think at the end of the day, you talk about individual guys, I’m sure that Gardner (Minshew) wishes he had some plays back and was able to make some more plays for us to win. I think whenever you get those questions and you lost, I mean, obviously everyone, including myself, we want to get more. So I think it’s difficult. I think, at the end, he was throwing there and I think it was 31 for 44. He had two touchdowns, didn’t have any interceptions, had the fumble, got hit from behind trying to make a play. So that’s always difficult. He’s doing everything he can. We just got to execute better.”
What did you see out of CB Sidney Jones IV?
“I saw the two pass defenders. I was excited about it. I think he had an opportunity, came in, and did some good things. So we’ll go back and look at it. I think, he’s a guy that came in here and he’s been bouncing around a little bit and he’s worked really hard and I was happy to see him. He almost got the pick on the one. They went to undercut it, got his hand on the football. But I think it was good to see him out there and I think that he is someone that can help us down the road now.”
You said earlier with regard to not and talking about RB James Robinson and his kind of lack of carries today, he only had 13, that there were other things that you wanted to try to take advantage of. What was that, especially, I think it’s a fair question, given that the Texans were last in the league in run defense? “Yeah, I think that we wanted to go after certain people. We wanted to make sure that we could score touchdowns. We want to be able to push the ball down the field. We wanted to, we thought we would be able to do a better job converting a lot of those things. So those are reasons. I mean, we go into a week game plan, and I mean, we can’t really predict. We felt that was going to give us the best opportunity. I mean, to go in there and we felt like we were going to have to score and we didn’t. I think the game plan that we were trying to put together was to be aggressive and push the ball down the field and score points. We felt coming in with a lot of the defensive players out, we thought we wanted to get a game plan where we could score. And that’s as simple as it is, I think. That’s what we were planning and we didn’t execute it. I think that’s a fair answer.”
You guys got a pretty good pressure on QB Deshaun Watson. It’s hard for anybody to catch him. He does the same thing to almost anybody. But talk about, you did make him work a little bit. You did get him on the run. And comment on DL Dawuane Smoot in that regard and how he played.
“Yeah, I think, overall, I think all those guys, I think there’s been a lot of pressure on us to get to the quarterback. I think that we changed a lot of things up today. We mixed some things up. We were able it get some pressure, get him off the spot. It’s always difficult to get him down. I think a lot of times when we were pressuring or in man, I think that they had a good matchup. I think Brandin Cooks had a big game and they were able to, he was able to find him and be, and go to him and the guy made plays. It’s one of those things where I think all those guys up front were busting their butt effort-wise, not just (Dawuane) Smoot, and really trying to get into the game, trying to get pressure, trying to stop the run, all these things that we ask of them. So at the end of the day they were able to make the plays and we weren’t able to. I thought the effort, though, was good. It’s just we have got to get it right, play-in and play-out, and be able to win some of those matchups, which we did a couple, but not as much as we need to to win the game.”
You talked a little bit about margin of error last week. How much does it hurt a team when you guys aren’t able to score off of turnovers and a play like WR Keelan Cole Sr.’s long kick return?
“Yeah, that was a key to the game, not being able to take advantage of the turnovers or the kickoff return. Like I said, before with Gene question or the running back question, we were planning on coming in here and thinking that we were going to have to score points with the injuries that we had on defense. So that’s the plan that we tried to put together and obviously it didn’t work well. But that’s what I’m talking about where we move the ball at times and look good and then you have opportunities and you need to take advantage of it because if you don’t take advantage of it, and then this is what happens. The momentum swings the other way and it’s tough to capture them. When you have a time where you have the situations like we have had, especially after the turnovers or having the ball down there on the two- or three-yard line, you got to turn those into points. We weren’t able to do that, so that’s on all of us.”
Can you just talk about just the inability to just get everything clicking with all three phases and this is like the fourth game that that has happened?
“Yeah, I think you get to a point where you basically pulling, you know, I’m pulling for these guys. I’m pulling for these three phases to come together. We’re working on that and we talk about that. But we’re not able to do that play-in and play-out right now. We’re not able to, and it’s not like we don’t have opportunities. There’s opportunities out there. We just haven’t been able to take advantage of it. So we just got to work as a whole. And the reason why I say that is because, just like I told the team before I came in here, I mean, the effort of how they’re playing is, I can’t, I mean, I can’t ask for more. Now we can play smarter and we can make some plays, yes, and these are the things that we’re going to have to do. And we’re going to have to go out and get ourselves a win because it stinks. We’ve lost now four in a row. And the one thing about it is these guys work hard and they have got to learn to take advantage and we have got to learn to win some of these games and learn to get this momentum back in our favor. And these are the things that we have to do to win and we’re not doing it right now.”
The S Josh Jones ejection, I was just curious your thoughts on that. And then, did you really, did you have an idea it was going to be a long day defensively when you’re playing without three of your top studs like that? “The Josh (Jones) thing, from the angle I have, I understand that. I don’t argue that call. I mean, we’re trying to protect players and player safety, so I’m behind that 100 percent. I don’t think that Josh was malicious where he tried to do that. I think he was just trying to make a play and some things happened and, you know, it’s probably the right call, not having seen it in slow motion. But beyond that, knowing that the players were not going to make it, obviously, you change what you try to get done. But I thought early on, I think when they hit the big coverage, we had a new starter in there that kind of missed it, and with the over route from the tight end. We want to be looking at that. So that gave up the touchdown. But they were playing hard and playing their butts off, so those are the kind of things that are going to go on. I was just disappointed that we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that presented them self in the game because we’re not, we can’t let those things go by. We have to be able to take advantage of it because, like you said, we don’t have a large margin or anything of that nature. It’s not like we have to play perfect. I’m not saying that. But we got to play better than we are.”
DT ABRY JONES (Transcribed by ASAP Sports)
What did you sort of see from your defense today, able to sort of overcome some adversity, missing four key players, maybe five if you account for S Josh Jones?
“I just saw guys that we that finally got the chance to, young guys, to live out their NFL dreams. It’s one of the biggest clichés out there in the league, when one man goes down, it’s always up to the next man up. And some guys came out here and made some plays when they got their first chance to start and things like that, but we just got to bring it all together as a collective.”
I know you guys still gave up 30 points, but if you consider just where the defense was at heading into this week, and then you see how they played today or how you guys played today, do you think that this could be a time where momentum can start building for you guys to play better and better each week? “Momentum can always take you pretty far and things like that, but I think as a defense we need to understand to gain the momentum we have to make the plays. That’s one of the things me and the other captains on the team are trying to stress, is that we got to go out there and make those plays because momentum just doesn’t happen. We can’t go out there and hope for a bad call or hope for them to penalize themselves. So, I mean, we can gain the momentum. I definitely believe that. I feel like if we eliminate the explosives we’ll be a whole better defense.”
You guys got pressure on QB Deshaun Watson an awful lot today. Do you feel satisfied you flushed him out of the pocket enough times or had enough opportunities?
“I mean, it felt good to see him get flushed and things like that, but you definitely always want to get him down or at least affect him enough where he gets off a bad throw. Ever since he’s got in the league, he’s been one of the best ones escaping out of the pocket. But I was happy to see the pressure we put on him. I think that’s one of the things that we’ve been stressing inside the building where we have been pretty close, we just got to keep grinding and we’re going to finally get him. I think we showed that today and that we just need to keep building. Once we start getting the sack numbers up, I think it will be a real big positive for us.”
From your vantage point how did DL Dawuane Smoot play today?
“He’s showing up big. He’s a guy that had limited reps last year and made the best of it and now he’s getting back in the swing of things and he’s trying his best to ball. He’s showing up in pass versus run. He’s always been a versatile guy like that. I’m glad to see he’s starting to put up results.”
How does being 1-4 change the way you guys go about things now with the odds of being able to make something out of this season dwindling?
“To us, we’re trying to keep a positive mindset, let it be known it’s still kind of early. But we can’t really hide the fact that this was a big one. It was a division one. No matter how bad the record is, we can kind of fight through the division, but it really has to be a more intense focus. I don’t want to stress nobody out, go out there yelling and pointing fingers and things like that because I know how hard this game is and I know how hard our guys are trying, so really just have to talk to them, especially the young guys, and tell them the focus needs to be more. And then I have to go and talk to the vets to let them know, like, if you’ve been here for a couple years, we’ve got to step up and make those plays. When it comes down to crunch time, we’re the ones that have to make plays to kind of inspire the team, inspire the defense and really just lead these guys in the right direction of where we want to go.”
QB Gardner Minshew II was just in here a little bit ago and it doesn’t sound like he has answers for stuff that’s going wrong. He said ‘I don’t know’ a bunch of times. Is that the general feeling around the locker room, the team, you think that people just really don’t have any idea why everything’s going wrong the way it is?
“I don’t know. Personally that’s not my mindset. My mindset is, if it’s wrong, the only way to go out there and fix it is to go to practice, watch film, and come out on Sunday and produce results. I mean, until you produce results they’re going to continuously tell you you’re not doing nothing. That’s just been my experience. He was probably just talking he doesn’t know. He hasn’t watched the game film yet today, so I don’t know if he’s talking over the season or just this past game, but when it comes down to it, we just got to go out there and execute. We got to go out there, get the stops we got to make, score when we need to score and we’ll be all right.”
Just curious, how much was it an emphasis on the run for you guys after last week and how would you evaluate the growth there?
“Well, I feel like the run’s been the topic, a subject for us dating all the way back to last year. Then going into this week, based on all the Cincinnati thing, the thing that really what we tried focus on is making sure every guy’s in their gap. I feel like we did a great job last week. It just happens that when he cuts it back, people aren’t in the gaps where they need to be, and every man has a job. I think we see when every man does his job correctly, comes downhill and puts some pads behind himself and goes down there and make a play, we do all right.”
QB GARDNER MINSHEW II (Transcribed by ASAP Sports)
It was hard to see from TV, but what they were doing specifically to take DJ Chark Jr. away from you today? “I don’t know. I don’t know if it was necessarily more about what they did or more about what we didn’t do. We’ve got to have more of an effort to get him involved in the game early and keep him involved. So I think that’s not as much a thing. Anytime you have something like this, you have to look more inward than outward.”
And then from the plays that WR Laviska Shenault Jr. and WR Collin Johnson made, pretty confident that these guys with their physical skills, is there a catch that they can’t make? Collin with the leaping one in the end zone. Laviska went up high. Is it just fun to play with guys this talented?
“Yeah, they’re great and getting better. The only ones they don’t catch are the ones I throw bad. So I’m going to keep throwing it to them, giving them chances, and I think they’re going to keep making plays.”
Fourth loss in a row. The team is in last place in the AFC South now. How do you guys get this thing turned around?
“Yeah, I don’t know. That’s a great question. It’s something we ask ourselves every week. We’re going to have to go in and look at the film. I know it’s a broken record, and trust me, we feel the same. But we just got to look in the mirror, re-evaluate and just find a way to win.”
How much of a hit to the momentum you guys had going early were those missed field goals? Did it just feel like it took everything you guys had moving forward at that point?
“Well, the only reason we are kicking those field goals is because we didn’t execute in the red zone. So that’s more on us as an offense than special teams. So anytime, we want to be one of the best in the league in the red zone and we got to earn that week-in, week-out, and we didn’t do that today.”
I know all four losses have come in different fashions, but is there one thing that you see as a trend through those four losses that needs to be fixed?
“I don’t know. That’s a good question. We were actually just talking about that in the locker room, trying to figure out what it is, what’s missing, because we have moments where we feel really good about it, moments that it just all goes to shit kind of, and we just got to figure out how to be more consistent and keep moving forward.”
I know you were also an advocate of trying to get RB James Robinson the ball more. At what point do you think you guys got away from that in that he only had, I believe, it was 13 carries today?
“Yeah, I don’t know. That’s going to be a thing we’re going to have to look back at the film. I think he did a good job catching the ball today. And that’s another way, just touches in general are good. But, yeah, we ran the ball well early, and we just got to capitalize on that momentum.”
Can you just talk about the frustration when the offense isn’t able to capitalize on some of the turnovers today or WR Keelan Cole Sr.’s long kick return?
“We couldn’t ask much more of what the defense did today. They gave us opportunities with a short field, and we wasted it. So we got to do better in that sense. There’s no pointing fingers anywhere else but ourselves.”
Is there a concern on your part that this young team, now that you’re in this losing streak, that the team isreally going to struggle to learn how to win? It’s one thing to come out of the gate, you get the win, first week. Now you’ve got four, and now you got some adversity hitting you. Any concerns about if this team will struggle to learn how to win in clutch moments during the game?
“Yeah, I don’t know. We definitely have concerns all over the place, but I believe in the guys that we have. I believe that we’re all on the same page. Everybody’s fighting their tail off, effort’s not an issue. We just got to pinpoint what exactly is going wrong, keep putting that same effort forward and adjust those issues.”
JAGUARS S JARROD WILSON
(On if he has any concern that there’s a struggle for this young team to learn how to win) “Well, obviously we’ve only won one game and that was the first one of the year, so we’ve just got to find a way. We’ve been in every ball game. There hasn’t been a football game that – well, Miami, may be a little different – but as far as the last couple games we’ve been in the ballgame, it comes down to a couple possessions. So really it’s just execution and being on the details and everything. As far as effort, guys are showing up on Sunday ready to play. It’s just really trying to find that way to come out with a W at the end of the day.”
(On how it felt to get back out there and get an interception) “It felt pretty good to be back out there, be with the guys, be with my teammates and really working really hard trying to rehab and get my hamstring as best as possible for the team. Yeah, the interception was cool, but we took an L so kudos to me catching the interception, but I rather take a W any day over an interception.”
(On what he can bring back to the defense) “I mean guys are playing fast and with a lot of effort, so I’m really just coming in trying to do my job as best as I can. I just see myself as a piece of the defense as a whole. I’m not really trying to go out there and be superman, but I’m just going to do my job. Basically just trying to be that leader on the back end, obviously being the oldest guy in the room. Besides that, just doing my job.”
(On Sidney Jones IV’s performance today) “Yeah, Sid had a really good game today. He came to play. Really big, physical corner. Just now being on the team for about a month now. He wasn’t really with us during the training camp and everything, but had an amazing game, got his hands on a couple footballs and definitely contributed to us having both turnovers on defense. He had a really good game.”
(On how he felt he played and if there’s anything he could’ve done better) “Yeah there’s always things I could clean up. I really have to take a look at the film. I could tell you a couple things – haven’t been out there a couple weeks is definitely different as far as football shape and things of that nature. Really just knocking some cobwebs off for me. I had kind of sat down for a month. So just trying to get back into the groove of things and get in a rhythm with my teammates.”
