Monday, August 12, 2019
(Opening Statement) “A couple things, we’ll start off with yesterday. For me, I really like the practice that we had yesterday, and I’m going to tell you why. It’s because you’re going to be challenged as a player. You’re going to go out there, after a while the conditions started off pretty good yesterday, and you guys are out there, then all of a sudden, here comes the heat. Here comes those things that we have to play in. And you look around, there might be a poorly thrown ball, there might be a miss over here or there may be drops, and those things they’re going to occur. Those things are going to happen, and you have to learn to fight through them, and at the end of the day, the team, you saw them trying to fight through it and trying to get themselves better and that’s what really makes you better. That’s what’s going to make you a better team, so as far as yesterday’s practice, those are the type of practices I like, where you see a little bit of progress. Now today’s a good indication because we’re going to have the same type of workload today, and you want to see the same thing. And what you want to see is, you want to see that next step where it’s not the drop now at the end when you’re tired, it’s not maybe the route that’s short, or you took an extra step before you made your break. And now the focus becomes greater once you were able to look at it on film and push through it, so those are the things that get you better during training camp, so I’m excited about that. The other thing is obviously injuries have been a big thing. We do have one change which we’re excited about. Cam Robinson is going to be off of PUP [Physically Unable to Perform List], so he’ll be out there on the practice field, he’ll be going through walkthroughs and individual. And it’s like before, I think the other day when we were talking about it, if I seem frustrated or down, I think it’s natural. I mean, I’m not going to sit here and bullshit you guys. I’m not going to be someone different. We all want those guys out there, but everybody’s working hard and the one thing about it, and again I never want to be that guy that stands up here and tries to spin things, I’m not that type of person, but, we got an opportunity to look at some other guys, and some other guys have had an opportunity to put themselves in position to make this team and now we’ll just see the consistency of it. But pretty much the people that we’re relying on are practicing very well. You’re talking about, they’re almost playing a game per day. I think when you look at yesterday’s practice, and you look at our ones, you’re talking about 48-50 plays, normally in a game you’re going to get about 62 plays a game, so you’re talking about are guys are definitely putting in the work.”
(On the surprise of Cam Robinson being taken off of the PUP list) “You’ll have to ask him. I don’t disagree with that. I don’t. I can’t answer that question. I really can’t.”
(On if it was the player or trainer coming to him with the decision to take Robinson off of the PUP list) “Listen, when they tell me someone’s going to be on the field and ready, I am not going to ask a lot of questions to that. I’m going to take that, take what I can, but that’s something that you can easily ask him [Cam Robinson]. And you can request from [Jaguars Director of Public Relations] Tad [Dickman] to talk to the trainers or the doctors.”
(On what the doctors told him) “They just said, ‘Hey, [we’re] thinking about taking him off of PUP and putting him through walkthrough and individual, and seeing where it goes.’ I said, ‘Awesome.’ I keep my mouth shut and that’s it. I don’t want to say anything and then they say, ‘Yeah, you know what, maybe you’re right, maybe we should keep him on PUP.’ I’m not that stupid.”
(On if the doctors told him something different today than previously earlier this week) “Hey listen, I think you need to go do one of those investigative things. I don’t know. I can’t answer a question I don’t know. I just know that he was at a point that they couldn’t get him over a point, and that he was going to stay on PUP, and that’s what I was told and then this morning I was told something different in a good way. Now I’m happy. Now you write I’m happy. Before when guys get hurt and I’m down, I know, but hey, you take it. It’s like when you’re walking down the street, you see 20 dollars, you pick it up, right? No one’s around, you pick it up and you put it in your pocket. You’re happy about it. You move on.”
(On if he’s talked to Robinson since he’s been informed to take him off of the PUP list) “I just found out before I walked in here.”
(On if Robinson took the same evaluation test he talked about on Saturday) “I have no idea. I really don’t.”
(On how slowly he will integrate Robinson back in to practice) “I’m just saying, they said individual and walkthrough, so I think that’s what you’ll see, and we’ll see what he can so. And like I told the coach, ‘Hey, be careful, just watch him. We don’t want any setbacks.’ And we’ll see where he’s at, and bring him along and that’s it. I know it sounds crazy, but I’m just telling you that that’s how it works.”
(On how Robinson’s spirits are) “I haven’t talked to him, I really haven’t. He was working, I’d see him, ‘Hey, how are you doing. How’s your work?’, ‘Going well.’ ‘Keep working, we need you back, let’s go,’ yada yada. Next thing you know, boom, he’s here. He’s going to be on the field.”
(On what Robinson returning changes in regard to the offensive lines rotation) “He’s on the field. I don’t know where he’s at as far as being able to play or anything like that. Obviously, I’m going to keep Cedric [Ogbuehi] over there. We have Josh [Wells] over there. I was thinking about Will [Richardson Jr.] because Will’s played a bunch of right. Now Jawaan Taylor, obviously he’s out, so I’ll probably keep Will over there at right because I really think he’s one of the better storylines for the team. I don’t know if a lot of people have written about it, but he’s really done a hell of a job from where he was last year to this year and that’s a credit to him. [Leonard] Wester played well in the game. We’ve got some things, and we’ll just prepare ourselves for the worst. I have to say it like that, but I think you have to make sure you’re prepared for that, if those guys aren’t ready to go and have people in place.”
(On what he’s seen from rookie QB Gardner Minshew II) “He’s an aggressive kid, meaning that he’s the kind of guy that has a lot of pride in what he does like a lot of people, but he gets upset and pissed and he wants to get back out there and get better, so I saw that a little bit. I think that there’s some things that occurred in the game that he would want back and doesn’t want people to look at him as that’s—He’s better than that, and he knows that. We know that, too. So, it’s going to be exciting to see what he does in this next one, because I really think he’ll improve. I always say before, the first time you play to the second time you play it’s usually one of the biggest increases. And then when you look at it year-by-year, your first year to your second year is usually another big increase in the way people play. I think that’s just the nature of it. The first time you go out there it’s different, so you’re going to have different types of emotions. The next time you go out there, you’re like, ‘Ok, I know my hearts going to be beating faster,’ or, ‘This is going to happen pregame.’ You’re more capable of controlling the anxiety that happens that maybe you didn’t control because of the unknown. Now the unknown becomes known, now you can control your anxiety and it gives you a chance to play better when you get out there on the field.”
(On the progress he’s seen from Datone Jones) “I thought he started well. There are somethings that he’s done well. I still think it’s the same thing, and he’ll probably tell you, the consistency. Being consistent is a big thing. We feel he has a great opportunity to help us on this team, and we’ll just see how it goes. I think it’s hard a lot of times. Like I told the coaches, you go in there and those first couple practices, or the first preseason game, right away you judge someone so strongly. You really just have to wait and see, because sometimes someone will go out there, they’ll have a great first preseason game and you won’t even hear about them the next two or three and they’re on the team because of what they did earlier. And it goes back to some of those sayings of, ‘Hey, if you go show something, show me early, show me what you can do.’ But in the other sense, someone may not play as well in the first preseason game, you may write them off and not even give them an opportunity. I’ve always been big on making sure that, ‘Hey, we have these games to give people the opportunity, let’s just see how it plays out.’ If you have one poor game and three good ones, then yeah, then that person should make the team. If you have three poor ones and one good one, then you’re probably not going to. If it’s two-by-two, you hope you have someone better, that’s really how it works, but you have to give guys these opportunities. You can’t just write them off the minute it’s one bad play, because then you’re going to create an atmosphere where I can’t make a mistake, and when you create an atmosphere that I can’t make a mistake, when you’re cautious, it’s hard to play this game that way.”
(On his impressions of Charles Jones and if a TE can make the roster if he is just a blocker) “I’d probably expand a little bit further. I think that position when you say your tight end and you look at him as a blocker, I think there’s certain routes you have to run. There’s a stick route which is five-yard, four to six, a flat route, maybe a basic at 12 yards and then obviously the nakeds and boots. Because if that person can’t do that, then you might as well put in a tackle, you see what I’m saying? But Charles [Jones] can do that, and most of those guys can and that’s what you’re looking for. So, to answer your question, absolutely. He’s big, he’s strong. It’s unfortunate the shoe, the orthotics, caused a problem on the bottom of his foot. Actually, gotten good news on him where it’s actually healing faster. It’s good because he’s big, he’s strong, he’s smart and he has a great chance to make this team, but it’s hard to make it when you’re not on the field. So, I liked what I’ve seen out of him because I’ve seen what you were talking about, I’ve seen the strength in line for a young player and that’s something that we do need on this team, yes.”
(On if there is a change in the status of Marqise Lee) “No, nope. He’s still on PUP.”
(On if he feels good about the tight end position when all of them are healthy) “I think we have people that can do it, but it’s hard for me to say, ‘Hey listen, I feel great about it’ because they haven’t been out there that much. We’ve had so many injuries at that position, so I think I’d be bullshitting if I said, ‘I feel great,’ you know? I’d rather be able to see them do it. When he asked me about Charles, I was feeling really good about Charles. I was like, ‘Holy shit, this guy is strong. He’s in line. He’s got a really good chance.’ [Geoff] Swaim, [Ben] Koyack, James [O’Shaughnessy], really excited about Josh Oliver knowing that he can make plays and everything, but it’s just a matter of getting these guys healthy and getting them back out there. And I think you start building up that excitement again, I guess that’s the best way. When I’m talking, I’m talking about that’s how I feel, that’s how I look at things personally. The coaches may have a different opinion. I get excited, and then something happens, and I don’t keep it at that same point, because I know when they return, if I kept it at the same point, when that player first takes the field then I’m just going to just go [sigh], because he hasn’t been out there. I can’t expect the same out of the player if he hasn’t been out there for a while. I have to expect him to build it up again, but the one thing, if you know what he can do, and you want to be able to push him to do better.”
(On when Josh Oliver will get evaluated to make a return) “Every day we evaluate him. Every day it’s like, ‘Where is he? Where he’s at and what going on?’”
(On the current status of Oliver) “We’re trying to get him back for the first game. That’s our goal. He’s doing everything he can, though.”
