JAGUARS HEAD COACH URBAN MEYER
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2021
(On what the team is working on this week) “It is a pretty long to-do list. We had some momentum there, we won two out of three and we were playing excellent defense, opportunistic offense and not turning the ball over. Last week, we lost that a little bit. Even Indianapolis, we fell behind, but the street fight was on and we came back. Last week, offensively we just could not get anything going. A lot to work on and Jamal Agnew is out for [a while] and we are just putting those puzzle pieces around right now. As we speak, we are still not quite sure what the puzzle pieces are going to be.”
(On the longevity of WR Jamal Agnew’s hip injury) “[He is out for the season.] Good news is his knee is fine and I just want to everybody to know, they’re expecting a full recovery with his injury. I saw him today, I love that guy, we all do.”
(On whether there’s concern about the lack of success with touchdown passes) “What’s concerning is when you don’t win games and then also just I feel our staff has got to do a little bit of creativity, which I feel we haven’t done. And we’ve got to get the ball in the hands of the guys that score. But we have to do that, that’s the problem. And James [Robinson], you could tell last week, was not full speed. We’ll have to get him full speed this week.”
(On improving the speed of the offense) “Yeah, we still have good players. You’ll never hear me say that the—it’s obvious that the three fast guys, [Travis] Etienne [Jr.], [DJ] Chark [Jr.], and now [Jamal] Agnew are [out]. Those guys are all legitimate fast, but we have all we need, we just have to be creative in game planning and make some plays. Execute and it’s a great challenge this week to do that.”
(On the special qualities of Falcons TE Kyle Pitts) “Yes. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one like that. I’ve had some good tight ends and coached against some good tight ends, but he’s a receiver with a receiver skill set, great mindset because I got to know him and I knew the guy that coached him very well, so I was very involved in who he was as a player and a person.”
(On Falcons TE Kyle Pitts’ growth in the NFL thus far) “Just like I thought he would. I thought the Patriots did a pretty good job against him, before that he’s—I don’t know if one guy can stop him. He’s one of those players that you have to have help over the top or help inside, something like that. If you’re going to play man [you need help], in the zone it’s different.”
(On whether he’ll line up a cornerback or safety against Falcons TE Kyle Pitts) “We are still early in the week.”
(On whether it has become more difficult to evaluate QB Trevor Lawrence) “Yeah, with the week before. Well, Trevor [Lawrence] actually, I thought he played better this week than he did against Indianapolis.
He played really well this week and you look at me like I’m nuts, but he did. The guys around him didn’t play as well, but he’s growing up. He is already a tough guy and we got the right quarterback.”
(On whether QB Trevor Lawrence has taken a step in the right direction) “Yup.”
(On keeping QB Trevor Lawrence from feeling discouraged following a loss) “I remind him they’re professionals. We’re all professionals. You have a job to do, go out and do it. We’re going to try to build this thing to be [great]. The vision hasn’t changed here, what we expect this place to be. Go out and beat the Falcons, that’s what we’re doing.”
(On adding more run-pass option plays for QB Trevor Lawrence) “Yeah, we can. Those conversations have been had, do what he does well. Those are conversation we’re having.”
(When those conversations about adjusting the offense to favor QB Trevor Lawrence started) “Really in the last month because there was a nice trajectory there for a minute. That’s when James [Robinson] was running the ball at the extremely high level and you’re getting good balance, run pass, and then the breaks hit after, when he got hurt against [the Seahawks]. I don’t want to put it on him but that’s coming off that win at London where it’s pretty good balance in that game and Trevor [Lawrence] played really well. We just have to get that back.”
(On Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell integrating new plays into his system) “Well, one of the reasons I hired Bev [Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell] and also [Passing Game Coordinator] Brian Schottenheimer, they did it with [Seahawks QB] Russell Wilson. They weren’t resistive because we met for a long time and I watched the film and I saw what they did with Russell as far as break-contain, RPO, the zone read type stuff. They did that with Russell. There’s a fine line too about preparing a quarterback for a long career and then also keeping him out of harm’s way and those are conversations we have daily.”
(On why adjustments weren’t made earlier in the season) “Once again, I felt beginning of the season was awful, but then against the Cardinals, you started seeing some good stuff and then you started seeing a nice trajectory. We ran the ball. We were up 19-10 and then we made a couple mistakes against the Cardinals. I just felt good about the trajectory and that changed about a month ago.”
(On the growing injury list going into Week 11) “Yeah, I’ve always heard the stories and we’re in it now. We’re in it with injuries. We are pulling guys off the street. I sit in [Jaguars General Manager] Trent [Baalke]’s office every morning, we watch film [and I ask,] ‘Where’s this guy?’ ‘He’s on the street.’ ‘What does that mean he’s on the street?’ ‘He’s not physically on the street but he’s actually on a plane here right now.’ ‘Okay, good.’”
(On speaking with former Florida Head Coach Dan Mullen following his departure from the program) “[We] texted. We will. I’m going to give [him] his space. He knows I’m here. We did text back and forth. [Urban Meyer’s wife] Shelley [Meyer] did talk to [Dan Mullen’s wife] Megan [Mullen].”
(On how former Florida Head Coach Dan Mullen is doing after being fired) “He said he had a glass of wine last night or two nights ago and he was going to call me after he takes a deep breath. It’s tough, man. It’s a tough profession, at times awful.”
(On having been fired in his career) “As an assistant, [at] Colorado State and Ohio State. There you go, a little trivia. [It was in] 1987 and 1993.”
(On CB Tyson Campbell missing time due to injury) “I think we’re going to be okay there. It’s day to day. He has an AC sprain. It’s nothing major, and then Shaq[uill Griffin]’s day to day. Myles [Jack] is good. Cam Robinson’s good. Dakota Allen, [there’s] good news on him. I think we have him back for this one, which we need him [with] this returner [Falcons RB Cordarrelle Patterson] we’re facing.”
