JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
Can you talk about your decision to turnover the play calling over to Offensive Coordinator Press
Taylor?
“Press (Taylor) and I have been together a long time. How does anybody in this league gain experience if
I don’t trust them to do something, right? He’s been ready for this, he’s been preparing for this, he’s
smart, he’s well thought out, great game plans. This decision also went into last year where I did the first
half and he did the second half of every football game last year. I have a lot of confidence in him. Some of
our biggest comeback wins were him calling plays in the second half last year.”
How did you feel it went today in his first full game?
“I thought it went great. We have to execute better. There were just too many mistakes, too many little
things that flared up offensively that caused us to either stay on the field or keep the football, we can’t
make the turnovers that we did. Things that we can control, we have to do a better job at doing. All of us
have to be accountable, including myself there.”
You said that play callers can sometimes gets stunned, yourself – if Offensive Coordinator Press
Taylor gets into that situation, is it something where you can jump back in and call plays or will
you not contribute to that?
“We’ll see how it goes, we’ll see how it goes. I’ve got a lot of faith in Press (Taylor), a lot of confidence in
him and what he’s done in our past. We’re 1-0.”
Overall assessment getting out of Week 1 with a win?
“I think it’s huge. We haven’t done so well down here, obviously in past history. I thought the guys battled
for four quarters. They played hard, they played tough. The things that we can clean up, obviously we will
in all three phases but it was that type of football game. I’ve been around this league a long time to know
that – you go on the road, division opponent; it’s going to be a dogfight, it’s going to be a battle. You know, my hat is off to our guys in that locker room for sticking it out for the four quarters and pulling this one out.”
Can you talk about how wide receiver Jamal Agnew’s return was – the 47-yarder?
“Yeah, obviously – I think he got a great hop, a great bounce off the turf, but just he’s so smart. We’ve got
a lot of confidence in him and obviously give him the freedom to make those decisions because he
usually does the right thing. Great return, we had some great blocks there and really, really set us up
there in good field position.”
Wide receiver Calvin Ridley’s debut for you guys in the regular season, how did you feel about it?
His production was pretty good but from your vantage point?
Overall, without really looking at the tape, just kind of going back on memory I thought he did some really nice things. Had a couple of explosive plays there and the touchdown off kind of the scramble. I thought
he really good a good job. Things we can clean up but overall, you know, pretty good for us, and just one
of the weapons that Trevor (Lawrence) can use.”
You talked before about the running game …
“You have to do that and you’ve got to continue to stick with that. Again, it’s Phil Rauscher, the O-line
coach and obviously Press (Taylor) and the offensive staff, trusting with that and sticking to our guns as
far as the run game goes. T.J., heck of a run, bouncing it out to the outside there and finishing that and
Tank’s (Bigsby) big run inside the five I thought was just a great run for him to get us the first down there
and eventually score. You know, you’ve just got to stick with it, trust the guys and you know and you get
runs like that.”
Speaking of running back Tank Bigsby, what was that weird play where quarterback Trevor
Lawrence was called for a fumble and maybe Tank didn’t realize it and the Colts end up getting a
touchdown out of it – but Tank comes back and scores the go ahead-touchdown. Did you or
anybody else give him an extra boost after the touchdown?
“Those, it’s interesting because if you go in there and ask every offensive player right now, they will tell
you exactly what we talk about Thursdays. We talk about getting on every loose ball and for some
reason, we all kind of froze. You know, it’s obviously a learning moment for Tank (Bigsny), for the offense,
for the guys but for a young player to come back like he did and have those tough runs late in the game, I think is a credit to him and the ability to shake off a negative play.”
Brandon Scherff tried to come back in and then couldn’t, what was he fighting through?
“Yeah, I think it’s his right ankle. He was evaluated on the sideline. He said he could probably go but just
couldn’t brace and anchor and all that kind of stuff. You don’t want to risk anything further. We will
evaluate him obviously when we get back and I’ll probably have an update for you tomorrow furtherer.”
Defensively, seemed like a lot of good things. What did you see out of your defense?
“I saw some great things. We knew coming in that, you know, this quarterback, Anthony Richardson, is a
big, strong, powerful guy and he showed that a little about the today. But I thought our defense really held in there and did a nice job getting him off the field on third down. We kind of exchanged some fourth downs in the football game which we have to get better at and obviously none bigger than the goal line stand at the end of the game. Creating takeaways, we talked a lot about; they did that and really kept us in football game the whole day.”
Josh Allen was physical it seemed like, three sacks, had a nice tackle behind the line on that run.
What did you see?
“Yeah, I thought Josh (Allen) really came into this game focused, energized, ready to get the season off
on the right foot for himself. Played well. Like you said, played physical and it was good to see. It was
good to see from him and obviously a leader of the football team and the defense and just pleased by
how he performed today.”
What did you learn about your team in this first game? A game where, a lot of mistakes, but you
guys were able to finish, showing that resiliency. What did you gather about the identity of this
team?
“Week 1 of the regular season, even Week 2, Week 3 – you’re still trying to figure out who you are and
what you want to be as a team. You’re not a well-oiled machine going into Week 1 and that was obviously
on display today. But this team, I learned a lot last year with this team and you know, playing for four
quarters and learning how to finish, learning how to win – that showed up today. That’s a great sign with
our guys into that locker room that no matter what happens, I tell them all the time; there’s going to be
adversity in the game, right? You’re going to give up scores and you’re going to give up plays, whatever it
is. There’s going to be takeaways, all this stuff. But it’s just how you respond. They just kind of picked up
where they left off last year with that that and put together a good four-quarter game.”
JAGUARS QUARTERBACK TREVOR LAWRENCE
What were your overall thoughts on the game?
“Feels good to win, first season opener won here. So feels good, especially in this stadium. Haven’t had a
ton of success over here lately so feels good. That’s a good team. Presented some challenges for us.
Offensively, pretty sloppy game. Obviously, some good points in the game for us. We made some plays.
We ended up making the plays we had to make to win. Defense really kept us in the game, I thought, so
only giving up 14 points, we put them in a bad spot a few times where they got some huge stops.
Turnover on downs some turnovers, it was big it. It was great to see them pick us up when we needed it.
Obviously, it wasn’t a super clean game offensively. There’s a lot of things to clean up but can’t be too
upset with a win. It’s hard to win in this league and division game, too, so that’s big for us. Good start.”
Everything is kind of new in Week 1. How much did that come into play today?
“Yeah, Week 1 is more challenging sometimes for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes defenses might
do things a little differently, not to say that the Colts did. I think they stuck to who they were, and they just did a really good job of making things difficult up front for us. Those guys, I mean, that’s one of the best fronts, especially the interior in the whole NFL. Those guys are really good. They make it challenging for you. They do some really good things. Their back end played sticky. They did a good job. They are really sound. They did a good job. They put us in a lot of second and third and longs and that’s harder obviously from an offensive perspective. Your call sheet shrinks a lot when that happens. We have to do a better job of being efficient on first down. We have to be better on third down. We have to be better on fourth down. I mean, all the downs. But yeah, obviously it’s a lot better to be able to learn from a win than a loss. Still a win’s a win.”
What are your thoughts on the third quarter fumble that the Colts recovered for a touchdown? Did
anyone remind [RB] Tank Bigsby to protect the ball?
“Crazy play. I think everybody rallied behind him. Kind of a weird play. It’s tough. Obviously, you get hit
and you don’t know if it’s a fumble or an incompletion. We teach our guys to treat every loose ball like it’s
a fumble, because of that. And he even recovered it, and just standing there and they punch the ball out
because the ref didn’t blow the whistle. So that’s a crazy play and one to learn from. It’s a shame it
happened to a rookie because that would have been a tough play for anyone, really. You recover it, and
you end up getting it punched out. Yeah, you learn from it and you move on. That just shows the faith that we have in him, to put it back in his hands there, and to give us that big touchdown and go up 10 in the end. So, it doesn’t concern me. He’s going to keep learning. Obviously, he’s a rookie, and I think he did some good things today. So, we’ll keep getting better.”
Doug Pederson said this game felt like last year where you’d have some ups and downs before
the end of the game. Would you agree with that?
“A little bit. Obviously, we started the game better, besides the first drive, we had a three-and-out, which
you want to start better than that. But we scored a couple touchdowns early, put a little pressure on them.
They answered, and then our defense really, really bowed up. And then we just got sloppy in the second
and third quarter, even the beginning of the fourth, we just got sloppy and I think we could have taken
advantage of more things out there and really put ourselves in even better positions obviously going into
the end of the game, just to put them away, and we didn’t do that but it’s hard in the NFL. Like I said, they
are not going to lay down. They have the same job we do and they are going to make it challenging for
us. It’s a good football team and so it’s a good game and obviously it’s better when you can find a way to
win.”
So much of the positive publicity in the preseason has been tailored toward the offense. But today
it felt like the defense in the second quarter with those three consecutive stops kind of set the
tone and making, I don’t want to say bailed you guys out but certainly complemented you. Would
you agree?
“Played great. That’s the game, it’s three phases. If it was all about the offense, you know, we would have
been in trouble today and same thing in different games, it was all about the defense. So, we pick each
other up. We feed off one another. That’s what makes teams great and we’ve got to continue to do that.
There’s going to be a week where we are going to have to pick our defense up. This week they got some huge stops for us that we really needed. We got some bad possessions in a row and they were able to
come through, get a turnover, turnover on downs, make a stop, force a punt, whatever it was.
They played great. Hats off to them. I think they played with that chip on their shoulder like you want your defense to and it was cool to see them fly around and make some huge plays for us.”
Do you remember your first start in the NFL, obviously [Colts QB] Anthony Richardson’s today,
some good, some bad. Did you catch up with him after the game and what did you think?
“Yeah, I thought he made some great plays. Obviously being a rookie quarterback, it’s a tough spot.
There’s a lot of learning that you have to do and it’s just every week, learning and getting better. The only
thing I told him after the game was “Great game.” He made some unbelievable plays, but just try to
protect yourself. The hits add up in this league and they are a little different than in college. So I just told
him to protect himself. I’m excited to watch his career unfold. I think he’s going to be a great player and
obviously we’ll see him again later in the season, but that was my only message to him, really, protect
yourself. It’s a long season, and I think he’s going to be a great player.”
What did you make of [WR] Calvin Ridley’s performance? Touchdown, 100-something yards?
“It’s great, not a surprise to me and I don’t think it was to anybody. He played great. It was cool to see him in his first game back. He was amped up and ready to go to play well and make some huge plays for us. It was awesome.”
COLTS HEAD COACH SHANE STEICHEN
Opening Statement:
“I’ll start off just on the injuries. (Drew) Ogletree had a concussion and then Evan (Hull) had a knee. With
that, I’ll open it up for questions.”
So Anthony Richardson ended up fine?
“Yeah, he should be all right. Everything should be all right.”
What were your takeaways from Anthony Richardson’s performance?
“I thought he played solid – I did. I’ll take fault for that interception right there, second-and-10 or whatever.
It was a Cover 2 deal and we didn’t have a great route called there and got to be better there. But I
thought he managed the game well, thought he did some really good things, really encouraged with his
progress and what he did.”
Is this what we should expect most of the year – just up and down – figure it out here with these
guys?
“Ideally that’s not what you want to do is up and down. You want to keep progressing forward, so we’ve
got to learn from our mistakes today and get better.”
What’s the line, trying to be aggressive but also acknowledging you’ve got a rookie quarterback,
he hasn’t seen a lot. Is there some of that going on in your head?
“Yeah, you’re talking about fourth downs and stuff?”
Just in general calling the game.
“Yeah, I think so. I’ll take it, too. It always starts with myself with anything. We’ve got to run the ball better,
and it starts with me. We didn’t run it as good as we should have. We’ve got to run it better. I’ve got to go
back and clean that stuff up and go from there.”
Running back by committee didn’t seem to work too well today.
“We’ve got to go back and look at the tape. We’ve got to go back and look at the tape and look and see
where we’re at with those guys.”
Do you get away from the run game a little bit when it’s not being effective? When you really can’t
rely on it.
“Yeah, you’ve just got to find a rhythm in the run game. I think once you pop a few, you start hitting it.
When you get one or two yards on first down, it’s hard to keep calling those runs. Again, I’ve got to do a
better job. It starts with me. I’ve got to do better.”
You were 2-of-12 on third down. Do you have to be better than that?
“Yeah, no doubt, got to be better on third down. It wasn’t good enough. Again, it starts with myself and
then fourth downs there – we’ve got to be better. Fourth-and-one, we had two of those I think and then we just tried to get a quarterback sneak, didn’t get it, and then we had a fourth-and-four I think it was at the 42-yard line, you’re in that kind of long, long field goal range or punt in your plus territory, so decided to go for it there.”
How did Anthony Richardson react from the moment of the interception?
“He was fine. He bounced back, and led that two-minute drive down there, so he was good.”
The way they played in the secondary, did that take away a lot of deep shots today?
“A few times, yeah. We had a few chunks, had one to Pitt (Michael Pittman Jr.), had a deep safety there.
We had a couple other ones. Yeah, they played deep, and Anthony (Richardson) had to check it down a
few times.”
Were there any that you felt like could have gone down the field a little bit more?
“No, looking at the tape they played it pretty good. They played it pretty good looking at the pictures.”
When they do take away those big plays, how does that change the dynamic for you, to kind of
have to try to win without those big plays?
“Yeah, no doubt you’ve got to be efficient throwing the ball, you’ve got to maintain possession. You can’t
turn it over like we did three times and lose the turnover battle. It’s hard to win in this league when you
turn it over.”
What did you think of Anthony Richardson’s decision making as far as when to run and when to
stay in the pocket?
“I thought overall pretty good. I’ve got to go back and review the tape, but I thought he made some good plays. Obviously, we had a few quarterback designed runs that he popped. Early on that one drive went down and scored, and it was good to see him get his first touchdown of his career.”
At the end you had I think fourth-and-five, and Anthony Richardson was able to get it, but at that
point were you thinking at all, kick the field goal and go onside kick?
“There’s a thought there to it, but the thought process there to me, too, is hey, let’s go score a touchdown,
get the onside (kick), now you can get a field goal right there because the clock is running down.”
What was going through your head during DeForest Buckner’s touchdown?
“It was awesome just to see those guys. We always preach get on all loose balls, and that looked like a
sack, whatever, or maybe an incomplete pass. But Zaire (Franklin) really made that thing go, to get up
and get the punch out and then Buck (DeForest Buckner) could go and score there, so it was good to see
that.”
Have you ever seen anything like that before?
“Probably in the past like on videotape, but never live like that. It was pretty good to see. I thought our
defense overall played solid. They took the ball away. They played hard. Shoot, they put us in positions.
We’ve got to be better, I’ve got to be better offensively.”
On the opposing sideline you got to see the energy of Shaq Leonard and what he brings to the
defense, so having him on your side, what was it like?
“It was awesome. To see him out there and the energy he brings, running around, flying around, making
plays, getting the crowd fired up, just his intensity level every day that he brings to that practice field and
then get to see him back on the field, it was awesome to see.”
He was also productive, as well. Were you expecting that type of outing especially dealing with
some of that adversity he had during training camp?
“Yeah, I think when you’ve got a veteran player that’s coming back from something, he’s got something to prove, and he did, and I thought he was productive. Obviously, I’ve got to go back and look at the tape, but pleased with what he did out there.”
What did you think of Anthony Richardson just at halftime maybe getting that first wind of an NFL
game and having to go back in?
“Yeah, again, obviously first time out there I thought he managed it well. I think you’ve really got to go
back and look at the tape, but I thought overall his performance was good. There’s probably some things
we’ve got to clean up, but I thought he did a nice job.”
COLTS QUARTERBACK ANTHONY RICHARDSON
How are you feeling?
“I’m all right. More so hurt that we lost than my knee, but other than that, I’m good. I’ve just got to get to
the drawing board and focus on next week.”
How did you think you did today? Tell us what you thought about it.
“We didn’t win, so I didn’t do good enough. But first game, first experience, felt good just being out there
with my teammates. The energy was good. We’ve just got to clean some things up, including myself, but
it was fun out there just being back out there playing football.”
Shane Steichen said that there were some times you guys had some stuff dialed up to go down
the field. Was it tough to do that with the coverage they were playing?
“Not so much. We were practicing against certain looks. We were preparing for certain looks. They didn’t
run those certain looks all the time, so we just tried to find a way to make it work, just get the ball down
the field, move the ball for the offense, because our defense played well, so we just tried to make
something work for them.”
What were kind of your thoughts and emotions when you scored that first touchdown?
“You know, it felt good. I felt excited. At that point I just thought everything was rolling for us. Just getting
in the box for the first time in my NFL career – it felt good. Shoutout to my o-line for opening up the hole
for me. Shoutout to everybody else for even helping us out get the ball down the field. But it was good. It
felt good. Hopefully I get more.”
How long did it take you to settle into this game? Was it immediate?
“I guess I was settled the first couple drives. I knew everything wasn’t going to be perfect. I didn’t want
everything to be perfect because that’s part of the game, that’s part of life. Everything is not going to be
perfect. I was just trying to stay calm the whole time, including the first drive. We went three-and-out, but
got my feet wet a little bit, let me know how things were going to be, and we just had to push.”
2-of-12 on third down and 1-of-5 on fourth down. Those are numbers that obviously have to get
better. What do you have to do in those situations to make sure you’re at your best to make it the
best possible outcome?
“I’ve just got to help the team. Going into the game, we knew we were going to be aggressive when it
came down to the conversion downs. We just got to find a way to convert, stop getting penalties. One of
those are on me, just trying to communicate with Alec (Pierce). Thought I had a matchup, but just trying to communicate too much. But it’s just us getting back in the film room and just understanding what we have to do to convert.”
Talk about the interception and what you saw on that play and then realizing that’s one that I can’t
get back.
“That’s one of our good plays. We trust that play a lot, so we called it. I saw the corner, but I just threw it a
little too flat, and we weren’t trying to attack him the whole game, but I saw that matchup and I thought I
could get it over his head, but I threw it a little too flat. But he made a good play. Hopefully it doesn’t
happen again. We just grow from it.”
What’s the biggest lesson you think you’ll take away from this first game?
“How different it is from college. Every possession matters, every down matters, every play matters. You
can’t just take off one play because you think it’s all right. You can’t take off one quarter because you
think you’ve got the lead and think you’re going to get the W. Every play, every detail, everything matters
in this league, so that’s one thing I took away for sure.”
What knee was it and what happened?
“The left knee. First quarter, I can’t remember exactly what play it was, but I had a zone read, pulled it, hit
my knee on the turf. Just a little bruise on it, that’s it. Just ice it – I’ll be all right.”
What did you take away from the game? You didn’t win, but fourth quarter you’re right there, got
the lead. Do you feel like at least you guys were in position?
“We definitely were in position. We had it the whole way, I believe. I felt like we had the game the whole
way. Our defense played great. They played lights out. They helped us a lot. Almost every possession,
almost every drive for them was a turnover, and we’ve just got to help them out. They can’t get a turnover
when you go three-and-out. That’s not good for them or for us. We’ve just got to get better because our
defense played good. Shoutout to those guys, but offense we’ve got to clean some things up so we can
make it easy for them.”
Do you keep concerted energy to keep these footballs from touchdowns?
“I threw the first one to Pitt (Michael Pittman Jr.) and he scored, and he gave it to me. I don’t know what
was going through my head at the time, but I grabbed it and I gave it to somebody. I don’t know where it
is, but hopefully I can find it.”
What was the balance like of deciding when to scramble and when to leave the pocket versus
letting things develop?
“Just looking through my reads, just trusting it. Certain guys were getting open and everything was
working for us and just trust it, stay in the pocket and make it work. If not, I’m part of the offense as well
so using my legs definitely helps us. It’s just a matter of just seeing if I have a lane or not.”
What went through your head going into this game? I think you got here pretty early this morning.
What was the pregame routine like and what was going through your head as you were walking
off the field?
“Pregame, I like to get here early, get my body right, get my mind right. Go through the script of the game, make sure I’m precise on plays, make sure I’m getting extra reps with the receivers if they need them. Just making sure I’m here, just feeling the building, feeling the atmosphere, feeling everything. I was pretty hyped getting here. I was pretty focused, pretty calm. Throughout the game, emotions were
everywhere. I was happy, I was a little bit more chill, then I was happy again. So that was that. Then after
the game, I was a little hurt because I felt like we had it. We’ve just got to clean some things up as an
offense. I feel like the defense helped us out a lot. We just couldn’t do anything for them at the time. I felt
good throughout the whole thing, but this is something we’ve got to learn from and just work on.”
