JAGUARS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR DARRELL BEVELL
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021
(On what makes the Rams defense so good) “Quite a cast of characters on that side. Great players at all levels of their defense. It starts with their defensive line. There is really no one better in the league than Aaron Donald and then they added Von Miller. Leonard Floyd coming off the edge as well, he’s the sack leader. Jalen Ramsey on the back end, so they have really talented players. They’re well coached [and]
they do a nice job, so it’s going to be a huge challenge for us. The biggest issue ends up being handling the front, you have to be able to protect the quarterback and there is different ways to make sure we can do that.”
(On this being the toughest matchup for the offensive line) “We have faced some good lines up to this point. When you throw any of those names out everyone knows them. You can continue to go through their depth and even their backups that come in are doing a good job. I would say as far as personnel and the battles we are going to face, probably the best that we have faced up to this point.”
(On what is causing the third down offense to progress) “Yeah, the last couple weeks have been better. We have talked in here about you get what you emphasize, but I think one of the things that really helped us last week was staying in better down and distance situations. I think six of them were third and ones. One of those six was in that two minute, it was third and one with ten seconds to go so you would like to play that one different, but the game dictated that one. The short yardage was really good so that helped us and then there was a couple of opportunities we made plays and we were able to do that.”
(On getting WR Jaydon Mickens some offensive reps) “Yeah, like we talked about last week, it was a short week so mixing him in and we’ll continue to teach him the offense and get him in. He’ll definitely have some offensive snaps this week.”
(On what he has seen from WR Tavon Austin) “Going back to the beginning with Tavon [Austin], I really liked what he was doing and then he ended up getting that injury. That really set him back and so you know things happen and other guys pass you by as you’re rehabbing and getting ready. Then it took him a little bit to get back from it, but what I see from him is he is back to that full speed guy. One, he brings a great mindset to our team and to our offense. He is very physical minded, he’s tough minded, he’s detailed and when he’s had opportunities to make plays, he’s made the plays for us. That play that he made in the game, it’s a shorter guy climbing the ladder to a high back five throw and Trevor [Lawrence] put it in the right spot and he made a great play. One, to catch it and two to get his feet in and three survive the ground because he took a big hit and held on to the ball.
(On if there was a screen set up on the other side on the third and 21 play to WR Laviska Shenault Jr.) “Yes.”
(On how to run a long third down play with a built in screen and not let QB Trevor Lawrence get hit) “We had a – if you go back and watch we had a little bit of an issue with the snap count, is what ended up having him get hit like that. It wasn’t necessarily that there was a screen on it as much as it was [that] everybody didn’t get off together on the snap. That caused a little bit more of the issue.”
(On if it is first read WR Laviska Shenault Jr. and then the screen) “Yeah, so if you go back and look at it you will see that the snap, so we were late and guys were really chasing and that put us in a bad spot.”
(On if QB Trevor Lawrence thought it was a free play on the interception he threw against Atlanta) “Yeah, I believe he thought it was a free play. Then as well we have been looking for opportunities to take shots and the one thing that we continue to preach is a shot called is not necessarily a shot taken. When you have a shot, know that if you don’t take it and make a good decision then we’ll go to another one. We have to trust him in those situations and make the right decisions. Unfortunately, we turned it over. The only positive about it is that we turned it over on the one-yard line so it did not effect the field position, but we were in a scoring opportunity and we took that chance away.”
(On what he likes about the zone read) “I think there are a lot of things to like about it, just the options that you have on it. I go back to my Seattle days and we kind of talked about free yards where you can get the quarterback on the edge and there is clearer space. You’re not having to make a guy miss in the hole, you’re not having to have a receiver come dig out a safety and make some tough blocks. You can get it out there in space and some better things can happen when you’re out there.”
(On QB Trevor Lawrence being a QB that does not make the same mistakes) “Yeah, he has been a quick learner for us. Again, there’s just so much to learn but I think he’s done a nice job of progressing. There was a lull in there, as a whole really. None of this cam ever be just put on him, it’s really all of us. Everybody has to work together. We have talked about that a bunch in here and just continue to make reads. Everything that he is seeing, he has gotten different things from different defenses. Some defenses say we are going to come after him and see if he has those answers. Then there is teams that have been doing pretty intricate disguises on showing him [QB Trevor Lawrence] one high and going to two high or showing him two high and going to one high and making him progress. All those things that he has gone through have helped him learn and get better.”
(On RB James Robinson’s performance and toughness) “Yeah, you have to give James [Robinson] a lot of credit, he is not 100%. I hate to use the terms, but he is a warrior and he is fighting through the heel and the knee. He is out there for his teammates and he is doing the best that he can. His best is pretty good [and] we know that he has more in it when he is fully healthy, but I love the competitiveness that he’s showing.”
JAGUARS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR JOE CULLEN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2021
(Opening Statement) “We have a major challenge ahead of us. Recapping last week, the fundamentals early in that game [were] not up to our standards. Everybody on defense, with tackling, with striking blocks, getting off the blocks, playing your gap. It was much better in the second half, but we can’t come out and start slow in terms of giving the running back the momentum that he had, then I thought the guys did [a good job] in the second half. They had 30 yards rushing in the second half, but we cannot give teams the ability to run the ball like that. And that’s what we’ll be focusing on and our guys will be ready for the challenge. With that, I’ll leave it open for questions.”
(On the struggle with run defense in the first half of the game over the past few weeks) “Well, I think when you look at it, good point—I mean, we’ve got to be able to stop the run in a two-shell, we’ve got to stop it in a one-shell and a lot of times in that two-shell, believe it or not, you’ve got the corners there which support and you’ve got safeties there that can come down, you’re actually better. So, a lot of it was in every coverage, it wasn’t just that where we had some—one guy here, one guy there. So again, in all three of those games, we were able to at least slow it down and tighten the screws in the second half. But it’s got to be right from the get-go and it was not up to our standards that we’ve set.”
(On the difficulty of covering LA Rams Head Coach Sean McVay’s offense) “Well, the similarities. They were all under the Jon Gruden tree and the [Kyle] Shanahan tree, they all work together. You get the motion coming, you’ve got another guy coming after the motion so they get your eyes wandering and all of a sudden, the ball is running your gap and you’re over here not looking at your responsibilities. So, they do a really good job at that and they have the play action passes off of it. And now, they’ve really added, with Matt Stafford, a guy that can drop back on any down and hit every route. So, it’s a challenging offense.”
(On whether having played against the San Francisco 49ers prepared the defense to better cover the LA Rams offense) “Yeah, I mean, when you look back, Seattle was very similar. That’s a [Sean] McVay tree there, he came [from there], their offensive coordinator came from there. So, there’s a lot of similarities that you get from other teams, but each team is different and they have their own blend of how they want to do it. So, we’ll be ready for it.”
(On how the LA Rams offense with QB Matt Stafford compares to when they had former QB Jared Goff) “Well, they went to a Super Bowl with him, so it was pretty good then and it’s still pretty good. I mean, it’s a little bit different, but not much from a standpoint—maybe a little more drop back than play action, but they run the play action and like I said, they were really good with [Jared] Goff and they’re really good now, with [Matt] Stafford.”
(On the LA Rams offensive line protecting QB Matt Stafford well) “Yeah, they’re protecting him better. I think he’s been sacked 17 times, but sometimes with that drop-back stuff, they’re emptying it out more,
a lot more, they’ve always emptied. But no backs in the back field, so the ball gets out quick. And they do have the down field throws off of that, but not much different, a little bit more drop back.”
(On CB Tyson Campbell taking steps forward) “Well, it was really encouraging. We all thought, I think everybody saw the same thing, I mean, he had his best game of his short career. He attacked the football, he was coming up, making tackles, great play on the interception. He continues to get better every week. He was fighting through—you know, everyone this time of year has the bruises and the nicks and all that stuff—so he was fighting through that and I thought he did a great job. The coaches, Coach [Tim] Walton and Coach [Joe] Danna are doing a great job with those guys back there, the corners. So, we’re really excited about where he’s going.”
(On what CB Tyson Campbell can do to take it to another level) “He had a couple opportunities where even he said he thought he should’ve had another pick when he broke on the ball. But [to] just keep getting better at that and keep playing the ball at its highest point and he’s doing a great job of that.”
(On whether he sees a big difference between AFC and NFC teams in style, physical play, etc.) “No, I mean, not really. You get physical teams in both. I mean, Baltimore can line up and run the ball 45 times and do that or spread you out and throw it. I think there’s physical—New England will hand the ball off 40 times in a game, so there’s physical play in both leagues.”
(On differences between the AFC and NFC in run ratios) “I mean, maybe there is, through certain coordinators or something like that, but not really.”
