JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
Postgame Media Availability
Saturday, August 20, 2022
Q. How did you feel about your starting defense tonight and their play?
DOUG PEDERSON: Other than the two-minute drive at the end of the half, I thought they played well. I don’t have the stat book in front of me, but I think someone told me it was maybe 1.2 yards per attempt in the running game. I really felt like they got after them early and often. Two-minute drive, though, is something that we’ve got to get better at.
Q. You guys had a lot of really good looks on 3rd down offensively. QB Trevor Lawrence missed a couple throws early on, but you still were four of your first six. How did you feel like it went for you on 3rd down?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, that was something we talked about this week and wanted to do better in is the 3rd down scenarios, and I felt like the first unit was able to do that tonight. We still missed. We still missed some opportunities, which again, we’ve got a little time here to learn from and correct as we finish up camp here in a week or so.
Q. Those are obviously long kicks but how do you evaluate K Ryan Santoso tonight?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, obviously not good enough. We had a chance to win the game, had a chance to start the game 3-0, and it’s disappointing. But I know he’ll battle back this week and try to correct it.
Q. Is everything all right with CB Shaquill Griffin?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, he just had a little — I think some back tightness this morning when he woke up, so we tried to get him loose, and again, the nature of where we are in camp and stuff, you just don’t want to push guys like that and risk further injury.
Q. For a second consecutive week, your starters come out with a lead. How hard is it to separate that from the reserves and a lot of guys who aren’t going to make the team, but you end up losing, considering where this club was a year ago? You talked so much about healing—I imagine winning a game would have meant something even though it was the preseason.
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, and that’s a fine line, obviously. There’s still a lot of – I think there’s a lot of good, positive takeaways from tonight with the starters and I feel good there. The young guys are going to learn. There were some good things that they did. But obviously sort of the obvious things are [that] we can’t turn the ball over in the red zone. We got points there again potentially. We’ve got to tackle better and things of that nature in the second half. But I think if you look at where we are at starters, I think we’re right on track to where we need to be and where we want to be, and that gives us a lot of hope as we head into the regular season.
Q. Certainly you need to look at the film, but could you get an idea of OL Ben Bartch tonight at left guard, and was there any separation for either one of the two right tackles?
DOUG PEDERSON: I think it’s going to be early until we watch the film and really chop it up in the morning and really see. But I thought overall, pretty good. It was a good test, too. T.J. is out there, [LB] T.J. Watt is out there playing the first couple series, and it was good for our tackles to play against him and get some work in that way. We’ll evaluate the film in the morning and probably have a better determination on that.
Q. You didn’t finish with touchdowns offensively, but drove in the first half with the starting unit. How do you assess that?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, not good enough. We’ve got to finish drives with scores. That’s something we talk about and work on quite a bit with the red zone, and we’ve just got to keep working. The offense understands that one, we’ve got to run the football in the red zone, number one, and we tried to do that tonight, and that wasn’t good enough. We’ve just got to keep plugging away and look at it and get better and make sure we get the right guys in there and get ready here in a couple weeks.
Q. LB Chad Muma starting the night almost making that interception on the sideline and then not being able to make the tackle on the touchdown pass, how do you evaluate your inside line backing room especially with Devin missing most of training camp? Are you comfortable with LB Shaquille Quarterman and Chad Muma in that kind of interior rotating role?
DOUG PEDERSON: Right now, obviously, with [LB] Devin [Lloyd] not being out there, it definitely kind of weakens the core because both Chad and Shaq are also special teams players and they’re getting a lot of double work out there, and it can play a little bit into the fatigue factor, especially in the second half of football games. These guys have done well. They’ve played well. The more time they get on the field, the better they’re going to become. These are valuable reps for them, even in Devin’s absence right now. But at some point, we’ve got to get Devin back on the field, too, and really help that room out.
Q. Coach, this month is the league’s play football initiative, and a lot of prep athletes were able to come to games through the first two preseason games. Obviously, you guys are at Episcopal. What does it mean to be able to see some of those younger guys see you guys up close and have that experience?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, our hats off to Episcopal for allowing us to come out there for camp and be a part of their school for the last four weeks or so. And then to have – their team came out to practice one day, and to see all the youth that are involved. I just think it’s encouraging to see the youth level, and really for them to be a part of our guys and for us to kind of rub shoulders with them and see what it’s all about. Some of these young kids have hopes and dreams to one day be on this stage, and to see our guys do it and what they go through I think can be motivating to them to work hard at it.
Q. What are you seeing out of Dawuane Smoot and Arden Key?
DOUG PEDERSON: Really good things, honestly. Two players that are I think dynamic pass rushers. Smoot is a little different. He’s more of a bull type guy. He’s physical and strong. Arden is quick and slithery and can bend. I think both of them have unique skills that obviously we can exploit defensively for us, and I think they’re both having a really good camp right now.
Q. Could you just talk a little bit about not being able to finish some of those first-half scoring drives, first-and-10 at the 12, Trevor Lawrence had a couple 3rd down throws to Christian Kirk where it was there, just in one instance the ball was too high?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, I made a conscious effort as a play caller when we did get to the red zone tonight that we were going to focus a little bit on the run game. We kind of pride ourselves on that, being able to run the football in the red zone. We’ve got to do a little bit better there. In Trevor’s case, we’ve just got to get him to calm down early in the football game and settle in. There were some throws that were missed that I know he would want back, and we’ve seen him make those throws in practice, so we know he’s capable of doing it. It’s just a matter of just kind of taking a deep breath as he starts the game and settle in. But those are all things that we continue to work on. We’ve got a couple weeks left here in camp, and we’ll try to get better.
Q. In terms of the play calling in the red zone, was it a little less vanilla than it was last week against Cleveland, or was it more just a lack of execution this week from your guys?
DOUG PEDERSON: It’s a little of both. Again, when you’re in preseason mode, you don’t necessarily scheme your opponent because they’re playing some guys and we’re playing some guys. You just want to see execution. Where we missed was on that part of it, just execution. Give credit to Pittsburgh. They made some plays down there and got some stops that led to one field goal for us. Obviously should have had the second one or the first one, I guess, but those are all areas that we’re going to take a look at this tape and make the corrections.
Q. Foley went down early in the game. Is there any update on him?
DOUG PEDERSON: Not at this time. I’m going to wait until the guys come in in the morning, get a full medical, and we’ll see where he’s at. Last word I got was he was okay. He wanted to go back in the football game, but we just said pump the brakes and we’ll get him healthy. I’ll have a better answer for you either tomorrow or the next day.
JAGUARS QB TREVOR LAWRENCE
Postgame Media Availability
Saturday, August 20, 2022
Q. Trevor, overall how do you feel like it went tonight? How did it feel out there? Did it feel like maybe it just took a little bit to get settled in?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, I don’t like to say too much before I watch it and see, and there’s definitely a lot of good things to watch from the tape and learn from. Pittsburgh did a nice job, gave a lot of different looks. So there will be a lot of things to learn from. I’d say just we want to score more touchdowns, last theme as last week. Got to improve there. You’ve seen our ability to drive the ball and time of possession and keep drives going has been great, and that’s something that’s really going to help us throughout the season, but in order to win these games you’ve got to score more points. From there, I’d say the first thing that comes to mind. And then I think I left a few plays out there, got a little bit antsy with my feet at times, so there’s some things individually to work on and then to watch. I think as a unit, though, we did — there was more good things than bad, especially in that first half with our crew that was out there. I felt good about the things we did. The obvious is to score more touchdowns, but there will be more to learn from for sure.
Q. How important is it to get those kind of game-speed reps with Christian Kirk against another defense as opposed to just in practice?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, it’s different. It’s similar — it’s different for him, one, because it is full live all the time. That’s not how it is in practice. But then also for me, throwing to him, the time clock speeds up a little bit, especially when you’re playing against a guy like T.J. Watt who is a great pass rusher. That was great for our group to get to work through that and have a couple series against all those guys just like a real game, and to have three 10-plus play drives, I don’t know if that’s exact, but some long drives, so I thought it was great. The reps with Christian, it’s our first game playing together. That’s going to get better and better. I thought he did some nice things. I missed him on one or two early that I’d like to have back, but we’ll connect on those.
Q. Coach Pederson said that he wanted to lean a little bit more on the run tonight. Do you believe in a normal set of circumstances those calls wouldn’t have been made?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, I mean, you try to play these games because they’re still real games. You’ve got to play them like they’re real. But on the other hand, you don’t game plan the same. You know that you have a season coming up in a couple weeks and you want to have all your ammo, you want to be prepared. You’ve got to play smart, but you also can’t come out here and not use anything and get your teeth kicked in, so you’ve got to balance a find. I think we’re doing a great job. I think whatever we run we’ve just got to execute. You saw that tonight at times and other times where we didn’t, all around, every position. I would say from that standpoint, game week, that could change. Like you said, the game plans are very detailed and in depth week to week, so it just depends.
Q. That one play, there appeared to be about three guys all in the same area when you threw into the end zone. Was that just an offensive breakdown there? Was that a wrong route that was run?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: No, I mean, I’ll have to watch it to make sure, but really from the pictures on the sideline and just being out there and seeing it unfold, I think we were in the right spots. It was a little naked and they covered up our flat quick and then it was zone, so they covered up Zay (Jones) coming across and then Marvin (Jones Jr.) did a good job working the back of the end zone scramble drill. I just missed it about a foot wide there, so we should have scored there, so that’s one along with some to Christian that I’d want back.
Q. Speaking of the two that you’ve talked about with Christian, one of them you led him a little bit too much and the other one was too high. When you get back to the sideline, Christian said that you guys don’t really talk about regrets or anything like that. You may talk a little bit about scheme. But in your own mind when you walked off, was it like, I should have had that one, I should have had that one? TREVOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, definitely, the first one especially. Both of them were on their sideline. But the first one just missed pretty bad. It should have been an easy first down. I think it was like 3rd and 4, something like that. Then the second one had a little bit of pressure and threw the ball a little early and just kind of misplaced it by probably a yard. That will happen from time to time. The first one should have been an easy completion, got to have that. Yeah, we’re talking about — he has the confidence in me like I’m going to make that throw. That’s not going to happen often. We don’t really talk much about that. I’m telling him, I’ve got to hit him there, but we’re talking more about general scheme, how did the DB play it, why did he decide to do this on the route instead of this. That’s kind of what we’re talking about.
Q. Why did you flash that Dikembe Mutombo finger?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Just having fun out there. I didn’t think you guys would catch it, but of course you did. No, I was talking to Cam after the game — so I grew up a big Tennessee fan, you guys know, and just was telling him, hey, I watched you play all three years. We ended up switching jerseys, so hopefully he doesn’t get mad about the video.
Q. Nobody in the locker room has seen it at this point.
TREVOR LAWRENCE: C.J. (Beathard) showed me actually. I didn’t even realize it was going to be on camera. But I was just having fun. No harm there.
Q. How valuable has Quarterbacks Coach Mike McCoy been on the sidelines for you just kind of coaching you through the game when you’re looking on the tablet, looking at the pictures of what the defense is showing? How valuable has he been so far early on?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: He does a great job. I think just his calm presence has been great. He’s not a guy that’s a big high energy on game day. He stays really calm. You make a mistake, you miss a throw, whatever, he really likes to keep looking forward, he doesn’t look back on what happened in the past. I think he does a great job of getting us ready for the next series. We look at all the pictures. He just has so much experience from guys that he’s coached, being offensive coordinator, head coach, all those things, just every time we’re looking at something he has kind of a different thought that we’re kind of looking at what happened and little things that are more obvious and he’s kind of looking backside of — think about this next time, if this is covered, get to this, a lot of different things. Then (Assistant Quarterbacks Coach) Andrew Breiner is another guy, he does a great job getting the looks, the pictures on there for us and really breaking them down. He does an awesome job.
Q. In the first half you were still 5-for-9 on third downs for that portion of the game, even despite some stuff you’d rather have back. Still getting Christian in, though, chemistry-wise, how much of a positive is that to say about the offense growing during camp?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Like I said, there was definitely more good than bad today. Obviously, the end result is not what you want. You want to win the game. But I think there was a lot of good things we did and a lot to learn from. Third down has been something the last two weeks we’ve done a really good job. That’s been a big emphasis for us because last year we weren’t a good third down team. So you’ve got to be if you’re going to be a good offense. You’ve got to be good on third down. It’s good to see that. But like we said, just continuing to finish those drives. Last week was more we were getting down there in the red zone and didn’t finish them. This week we were getting stuck in the fringe area, so just all that, all stuff to work on and situations that we’ll work on for sure.
Q. Would you say as far as the ones that you did miss with Christian, is it too simple to say that it’s just chemistry at this point because you guys are new together?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: I don’t even think that. I think really it’s more just two missed throws, and that’s going to happen. I know one I threw to the left didn’t feel like I really got set for it properly, so I didn’t feel great coming out. Then the other one, like I said, tried to anticipate it because I had a guy in my face and just missed it. I think we’ve gotten a lot of work together. You guys have seen practices. We’ve gotten a ton of reps and he’s been a main target. He’s done a great job of us communicating. That’s going to come with time, to your point, but no, it’s just missed throws.
Q. Are you dwelling less on those mistakes knowing that they’re going to get ironed out later on in the preseason and the regular season this year compared to last year where maybe they got to you a little more in the preseason? Is that fair to say?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, I mean, I think that just comes with experience, too, realizing that it’s all about the next play, the next game, all that stuff. You can’t dwell in the past, especially in this league. Like I’ve said, it’s a long season, and you’ve really got to put your best foot forward every day. I think I learned that last year, too, struggling a little bit throughout the season. I had to learn kind of the hard way of how to move on. Now you have a couple bad plays in a row, you have a bad series, you’ve just got to go on to the next. That already happened, you can’t go back and fix it. All you can do is just the next series try to take it one play at a time and try to put yourself in a position to score.
Q. Christian said in the locker room that just in terms of what you guys have shown in terms of the offensive scheme it hasn’t been very much at all. Is that what you would say, as well? TREVOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, I mean, I would agree with that.
STEELERS HEAD COACH MIKE TOMLIN
Postgame Media Availability
Saturday, August 20, 2022
MIKE TOMLIN: “Man, just like I told the team, I told them at halftime, and I told them after the game, and it was true in both instances; they control the football game. But we won the game, and so we’ve got to take responsibility for that positively and negatively. Down in and down out, we didn’t perform well enough. We didn’t perform at a high enough level to control the game. I thought their defensive front in the environment, in particular, controlled the game. I thought we had some blown assignments on defense that cost us from a field positioning standpoint. But when you looked at it, the weighty downs — oftentimes, we talk about downs, [they] aren’t weighted the same, and that’s where we were able to win the football game. We won enough possession downs on defense, particularly when the field got short. We made them settle for three a couple of times. We functioned in two-minute offense, and it was great because we put an extra emphasis on two-minute offense in preparation for this game. So, it’s good to see time spent pay off. Seven shot football won the game for us, fourth down and 2 there at the end, and we’re appreciative of that. Down in and down out, [we were] not good enough by any stretch, but it’s good to learn with a ‘W’. Football is our game; our business is winning, and we’ve got to find ways to win even when we win poorly. Make no mistake, we won because we won the weighty downs. They won significantly more downs than we did. It’s good to learn with a W and hopefully we’ll do so. But obviously we’ve got some correcting and some things to do based on that performance.
Q. Did you see what QB Kenny Pickett did and was that all you planned to play him?
MIKE TOMLIN: “Yeah. That was all I had planned to play him. I would have liked to possess the football more in the first half and thus have a bigger body of work, but some things are outside of your control. We’ve got to get first downs in order for that to happen. Oftentimes when you’re not possessing the ball enough, there’s not enough snaps to go around for everyone. So, it could be said for some of the offensive people we wanted to take a look at, a lack of conversions limits some of that.”
Q. What is it about him that he’s able to produce those last-minute touchdowns like he’s done the last two games?
MIKE TOMLIN: “You know, it’s probably who he is. I know he did it next door [in college at Pitt]. He probably did it in high school. He probably did it in little league. Some things people are born with.”
Q. You mentioned was that kind of an extension of what you saw in Saint Vincent with him moving the offense?
MIKE TOMLIN: “I just think largely as a collective we put time into two-minute football. You guys have been at our training camp practices. You know how much we devote to that. I think it paid dividends in
the stadium, not only at the end of the half but at the end of the game. We were in two-minute there when we went down the field with [QB Mason] Rudolph and [WR Tyler] Vaughns.”
Q. From what you’ve seen from QB Kenny Pickett over the last two preseason games, has that done anything to change where he sits on the depth chart?
MIKE TOMLIN: “We’ll address depth chart related things over the next couple of things as we zero in on our next opportunity. I don’t make knee-jerk reactions or statements following a performance.”
Q. How did you think QB Mitch Trubisky played overall?
MIKE TOMLIN: “I thought Mitch [Trubisky] played well. I thought he created and extended some things when there wasn’t much there. We’ve got to do a better job in protecting him and having some semblance of a running game if you want a fair evaluation, and I’m just being bluntly honest.”
Q. QB Mason Rudolph is playing with the third team, but he comes down the field and makes a big pass too. I’m just curious what you thought?
MIKE TOMLIN: “I thought he looked like a varsity guy in a JV game, and I told him that. It was reminiscent of when we had Charlie Batch and Byron Leftwich up as backups. When you’ve got a veteran guy like that late in the preseason game in the quarterback position, he should be the best player on the field. It should show and I thought it did.”
Q. If you have to pick something from tonight’s performance from your team to say this is a building block we can carry into the season, what would it be?
MIKE TOMLIN: “I don’t know that I’m looking for that type of comfort. We didn’t play well tonight. They controlled the game, and so we’ve got some work to do. “
Q. Did you come out of it clean from an injury standpoint?
MIKE TOMLIN: “To the best of my knowledge, but the upcoming hours and days will tell that tell.”
STEELERS QB MITCH TRUBISKY
Postgame Media Availability
Saturday, August 20, 2022
Q. Mitch, disappointed that you guys weren’t able to do a little bit more?
MITCH TRUBISKY: Yeah. I definitely wanted to score with the three drives, moving the ball a little bit and just — we hurt ourselves. We’ve just got to execute better. And it will be good to look at the film. Got to give credit to their front and what they did defensively. And we’ll watch the film, come back better and get better for next week
Q. How much game planning did you guys do with these guys? I saw you working off cards. MITCH TRUBISKY: We did a little bit more than last week but not a full game plan to that extent. So, it will be nice once we get a little more into the regular season, into the routine, it will be more game planning things to take advantage and obviously more scheming and more film watching on that front. But it was a good challenge for us. And no excuses. We’ve got to come out and execute the plays. It doesn’t matter what they run. We recognize what they run out there. And we’ve got to go out there and execute and make the plays happen. So, I feel like we left a few out there.
Q. Did you see anything schematically from them on defense that surprised you that you didn’t expect?
MITCH TRUBISKY: Not really. I think they played a little more Cover 2 early on. They were letting their front work and we’ve just got to do better with our matchups all the way around. I’ve got to put the ball where the guys can catch it. And we’ve just got to be more efficient on first and second down. I think we were in too many 3rd– and-long situations. It doesn’t matter who you play in the NFL. If you’re in 3rd-and long, it’s going to be tough shedding. We’ve just got to be more efficient on first and second down and stay out of those 3rd-and-longs. And we’ll drive the ball down and hopefully come away with points next time. It will be good for them to look at.
Q. You want to play next week?
MITCH TRUBISKY: Oh, yeah. For sure. For sure.
Q. Do you think they’ll let you?
MITCH TRUBISKY: We’ll see. We’ll see. I don’t know what the — how they feel about the third game or whatever it is. But I feel like we’ve just got to continue to keep better rhythm on offense and be better.
Q. You’ve seen the other quarterbacks get opportunities in those two-minute type situations. You’ve been the only one in the game that hasn’t gotten to do it.
MITCH TRUBISKY: Yeah. I’ve gotten those in practice. I love 2-minute. It’s something I feel that is a good part of my game. I like the no huddle. I like going fast and staying on the ball. I think we’ve seen that in practice, just haven’t got that situation in the game. But when it comes, you’ve just got to be ready. Maybe next week. Maybe week one. You just never know. Just got to stay ready for that and continue to watch film and be ready.
Q. How different is your experience here in Pittsburgh versus your previous stops in the NFL? And what do you do offensively that complements your skill set the best?
MITCH TRUBISKY: I think we’re still figuring that out as an offense. Each stop, I was at was a little different. (In) Chicago, (I) was there for four years. High pick. And obviously last year being in Buffalo as a backup, they were all learning experiences. And I’ve taken everything I’ve learned with me up to where I am now. And I think we’re still trying to figure out where we are as an offense. But I think to move the pockets, just using my legs when plays break down, my mobility is a factor. And the RPO game here can be very beneficial to this offense. I think my overall experience and my leadership and just the amount of ball I’ve seen can help the young guys on this offense. And we’re still building in the right direction. So, we’ve got to keep going.
Q. Are there any receivers that you felt that you’ve developed a particular rapport as quarterback in camp with so far?
MITCH TRUBISKY: Yeah. Really all of them. We’re getting the guys back. I got Chase [Claypool] one early on. I got connected with Diontae [Johnson]. I was trying to get George going early on. I wanted to get the pass going as well. So, we’ve got a lot of play makers. That’s the thing. When you’re trying to get everybody going, trying to get everybody a touch early in the game, early on, and we’ve only got three drives. We’d just like to see more completions and obviously more efficient plays. But we’ve got tons of play makers. I’m looking forward to getting them all the ball. But I definitely have real great connections with all those guys. And it’s just a testament to all the work we’ve been putting in during practice and afterwards.
