DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR RYAN NIELSEN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2024
(On the challenge of preparing for two different styled quarterbacks) “Yeah, it’s a challenge.
Both really good players and both present a different challenge. You’ve got a guy who’s
played a ton of football over his career and won a lot of football games, and you’ve got
another guy who’s starting out, who’s a phenomenal athlete and can throw the ball a mile.
So, it’s a good test and so we’ve got to be sound and have a couple of different calls for
both guys up and be able to execute those calls. If we see both—a possibility too that we’re
preparing for, that they both may play. So, we have to adjust the game plan accordingly.”
(On LB Ventrell Miller’s first NFL starting performance vs. Houston) “It was good. It was
good. He made a lot of plays. He was all over the place, inside the box, outside the box, in
pass game, a couple of disruption passes. A lot of tackles. He’s a good tackler and when he
sees the ball and he can go, he can get there quickly. He made the play, that stretch play in
the third quarter. He was like shot out of a cannon. It was awesome to see. So, we’ll just
continue to build on that and build this week and hey, just take one more step forward and
continue to do that. Let’s punch the ball out when we get there.”
(On what kind of confidence Miller is giving him) “Good. A lot, right? I mean, he’s still got to
do things, but again, he’s been playing. That’s not his first game, he started back in Miami
playing. We knew that through the process of putting him out there and having confidence
in him, and Matt’s [inside linebackers coach Matt House] done a great job with him. Those
two guys work really good together. You see them go out, he’s made some plays before, so
it wasn’t even—we didn’t bat an eye. Knew he was going to go out and play well.”
(On CB Montaric Brown’s performance) “Yeah, he’s playing pretty good, isn’t he? Pretty
good. His confidence is through the roof. Here’s a guy, you love the player. What he puts on
tape is exactly what Kris [defensive backs coach Kris Richard] and Cory [defensive
assistant/cornerbacks coach Cory Robinson] coach them. Like, play press, use your hands,
step-kick, challenge. It’s everything that you watch him in and he’s a good tackler. He’s
making plays. He made the second play of the game in the box on the tackle. It’s really good
to see. You see him all over the place and you’re excited that the guy’s out there playing
football for us. Just the progression of Game 1, Game 2, Game 3. He went in there on the
first game when he had to and had success and continued to play like that. He’s playing all
of the coverages really well. He’s playing zone, he’s playing press, man, everything. He’s
doing a really good job, so, just got to keep it going.”
(On punching out the ball to force their first turnover of the season) “Sure. We have to start
doing it. We have to. We’re talking about it. We’re coaching it. We’re practicing it. Our
players are talking about it, those type of things. There’s a fine balance of not pressing too
hard but staying positive with it and staying the course. That’s the thing. We need to stay
positive, stay the course, continue to build this the right way. Year one, this is coming up on
our fourth game together. Just build the foundation and stay positive and stay the course
with what we’re doing. Once one happens, then could lead to two, and sometimes they just
come in bunches. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. That’s what the important thing
is. We’re staying positive with it and we’re working on getting one this week.”
(On the challenge of missing multiple starters due to injury) “You never want to lose a
player on your team. You want everybody to play, but it’s the business that we’re in. It’s the
game. Those things happen. We prepare for that way back from OTAs, next-man-up
mentality. It doesn’t make it any easier. It does present a challenge, but we coach all those
guys. There’s no depth chart. Next-man-up mentality, same fundamentals, same
technique. We don’t change the calls or anything like that. We just go out and play ball. We
want all those guys to be out there. Hopefully, we’ll get a few back this week and get them
back in the fold of the plan and get them going to play. We’re just staying the course and
one day at a time and next-man-up.”
(On what he’s seen from DT Maason Smith since Week 2) “A positive attitude, work,
practices a lot better. He’s been playing better. He’s a rookie. It’s that first game, second
game, third game. Continue to keep him going.”
(On if having no depth chart and mixing rookies with veterans in OTAs was a policy he had
implemented previously) “It’s just part of the game. Again, injuries happen. Sometimes if
you put something up and could be an undrafted free agent or a guy that is a late-round
pick, and all of a sudden, he sees his name on fourth underneath, and he’s buried, it could
create a negative image mindset type thing. We simply say to our guys, our staff, done a
great job of, ‘Hey, here’s your reps. It’s what you do with those reps that matter.’ We don’t
know when you’re going to get in there. You could be on the field first, second, or third in the
team period, but we evaluate what you do. It doesn’t matter who it’s against. It’s just what
that player does so he can take advantage of those reps. So, if something like this happens,
and the same thing in the games, they have to earn the right to play. They have to show,
‘Hey, they’re doing the right things.’ You look at Chad [LB Chad Muma] and Ventrell. They
played 10 snaps in Miami and now here they are. They’re starting. So, you prepare for that.
You never know when it’s going to come, and it might not come, but you just stay the course
and we’re doing the same thing in practice today. ‘Hey, here’s your reps. These guys are
going to go out and play, and let’s make the most of it when we have our reps.’”
(On if he’s satisfied from DE Arik Armstead’s production) “Yeah. Some of the things with
Arik is the behind the scenes, the leadership, things like that. Obviously, we all want to play
better. I’ve got a coach better, but what he’s doing for our team, again, is the foundation, the
culture and the things like that. He’s a huge part of that. Then also, when he comes in, he’s
playing some end, and he hasn’t played end in a while, so he’s growing back into that role.
We’re going to stay positive and stay the course. Yes, everybody, every player, every coach,
we’ve all got to do more to get this thing going in the right direction. And it is. It’s just getting
us over the hump. We’ve been in three of these games. We’ve just got to get one.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR PRESS TAYLOR
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2024
(On how WR Brian Thomas Jr. has responded to his expanding role) “He’s done a great job.
He can handle a lot. That was one of the things that we’ve been most impressed with him
early on. You’d never see it to the naked eye, but we change personnel so much. There are
times he plays Z, times he plays X, and he’s able to do that really well. It’s great
communication throughout the receiving corps, the way we sub, things like that. Then just
the mental aptitude to be able to handle a lot of that as a young player. We’ve tried to be
intentional about kind of taking it slow with him and giving him a lot of things, but still things
that we think he does really well. Then we’ll continue to expand that as he shows the ability
to do even more.”
(On seeing Thomas Jr. coming out of his shell and celebrating after big plays) “He talks
(laughs). Yeah, it’s awesome. I mean, he’s a competitor. That was one of the things you saw
from the jump of he’s not celebrating stuff like that in practice, but you see a different
attitude, different competitiveness show up in those situations, which is what you always
hoped, which is what you’d heard in the past and things like that. Makes it fun. You make a
good play; you deserve to celebrate. So, things like that, within the rules, obviously we don’t
want to get a penalty that sets us back some yards. But yeah, I think it’s fun to see guys
compete and enjoy competing.”
(On working with QB Trevor Lawrence to gain consistency with deep throws) “I mean, we
don’t lose confidence in Trevor for missing a throw. It’s going to happen here and there, and
obviously, some of the ones that we missed the other day were potential big plays. But that
doesn’t deter us from anything. He’s never shown anything to lack the confidence, to let
anything like that affect him to where, if you saw that, I think if he came off and you saw the
wide eyes or you saw something or he said something that made you nervous, then it’s,
alright, we’ve got to get this guy some layups, we’ve got to get him back in the groove. We’ve
never once felt that from Trevor. So as long as we continue to see confidence from himself,
this team, this offense, these coaches, we have ultimate confidence in Trevor to deliver
every single time we ask him to. Is he going to? No, it’s rare that people do every single time.
But we’re continuing to work for that consistency as an offensive unit. We expect that from
him as well. But there’s no lack of confidence. We’ll continue to give him the ball in critical
situations.”
(On the level of interaction he had with Thomas Jr. during the pre-draft process) “We had a
formal with him. So, a formal at the combine, that 15-minute speed dating thing. We had a
top 30 with him here. So, we got to spend a lot of time. The top 30 here is where you really
get to sit down, get a feel for them, talk to them, spend a day with them. They’re still
obviously out of their element. They’re in a business interview. So that’s tough, but we had a
good feel for a lot. We know a lot of people at LSU that had worked with him throughout the
course of his career there that had great things to say about him. Obviously, that’s
important to you, especially if you’re going to invest a first-round pick on a guy you want to
know the ins and outs of the character, the work ethic, the competitiveness, all that. All that
came back great. We had a great feel for him here, and he’s been nothing but impressive as
we’ve gotten here.”
(On if he knew Thomas Jr.’s reservedness prior to drafting him) “That was a little bit of a zeal,
yeah. I mean, he’s to himself and he’s about his business and that’s just kind of how he is.
But it wasn’t anything where we felt like we couldn’t work with the kid because he keeps
quiet. He’s professional, he’s mature, he goes about his business the right way. If he needs
to ask questions, he’ll ask questions. But for the most part, he just kind of goes about his
business the way he does.”
(On if he thinks Thomas Jr. has been more comfortable opening up now compared to when
he first arrived in Jacksonville) “He’s just growing every single day. I don’t know if I’d put a
number on it, but I think you just see, and again, I think you kind of take it for granted that
these guys move to a new city with new faces and a new building. They’re trying to figure
out everything. Where do I stay? How do I get to work? What do the coaches expect of me?
Who are the coaches? All that type of stuff. So, I think just naturally you spend more time
around an environment, you’re going to grow into that environment. So, I think that’s just
something you’re seeing with him.”
(On what impact TE Evan Engram’s absence has on the offense) “Yeah, obviously, I think
one of the big parts is Evan’s such an energy giver for our group. Just the way he plays, the
energy he plays with, the energy on the sidelines in practice, that enthusiasm is a big thing.
So, I think we’ve to an extent missed that. Now we have other guys that step up into that
role and do a good job. Then just Evan’s production through his time here is something
obviously you’re going to miss. Now we’re very happy with Brenton’s [TE Brenton Strange]
progression, the way he stepped into that role, being able to use Luke [TE Luke Farrell] a
little bit more here and there. But anytime you’re missing a great player, obviously, it’s going
to impact you in some way, shape, or form.”
(On if Engram’s absence has affected how often they attack the middle of the field) “A little
bit of both. I mean, a little bit of the coverage structures you get and things like that, of how
many people they put inside the numbers, the way you do certain things. What type of
linebacker are you attacking? Does play action affect him? Does it not? There are certain
things that obviously, yeah, Evan has the size and the capability to produce over the middle
of the field. But no, I wouldn’t say that that’s held us back in any way, shape, form, not
having Evan.”
(On the team’s struggles in short-yardage situations) “Yeah, I mean, every situation is its
own. So, you’re looking at a number of things, and that one, we decided to go to 11
personnel, spread them out, had a five-man box, didn’t work out for us. We want to go back
to our process. How did that play get there? What did we expect? Did we rep it against
certain looks? Did they play it a certain way? All those types of things, but that’s different
than, so we’re going to get in big people and we’re going to line up and we’re going to run
this play, kill it to that play for a certain look. So, each situation is its own, we’ll handle each
one its own way. We’re always just trying to do what’s best for our personnel against their
personnel in the situation.”
(On the crux of the red zone offensive struggles) “I mean, again, each one’s kind of been a
little bit different as we’ve gone. We had the fourth-and-one opportunity at Houston, which
again, we were happy with the way it presented itself, but we didn’t—for a number of
reasons it didn’t go the way we hoped it would go. At Cleveland, we had some
communication issues that kind of set us back a little bit, put us in a little bit of a frenzy. We
scored a touchdown, had a penalty, get it called back. So again, each situation is its own
thing. We don’t just throw a blanket over it and say, this is why. We look at each one
individually, this is why this didn’t work, this is why that didn’t work, whatever it may be, this
is why it did work. Then we go back to our process. Are we showing them the right thing?
The reason for that being on the call sheet, sometimes it comes down to, we’re in this
personnel, they’re going to play that personnel, percentages tell us they’re in this coverage,
that defense. There’s a lot that goes into it. That’s why we spend all this time during the
week doing that. Then we try to prep our guys, here’s the expectations, here’s also the
outliers we need to cover and be prepared for as well.”
(On what he defines Colts defensive coordinator Gus Bradley’s defense as) “I think very
disciplined. I wouldn’t use the term simple, because it’s not simple, but they know what
they do really, really well. They know what you’re trying to do to attack them really, really
well. They spend a lot of time emphasizing those route concepts, those runs, whatever that
may be of how you attack them, because they’ve seen it. They’ve run this defense, its core
has been run since Seattle Legion of Boom, all that type of stuff. It’s been through this
building, obviously. So, guys know it really well, they know their issues very well. They fly
around, sideline to sideline. They’re very disciplined in their gap assignments. Then they’ve
got the D-linemen to make it go. [Colts DT] Grover Stewart has made as much of an impact
as any defensive tackle in the last two years, probably just getting off the ball and damaging
some things. And then it’s made, I think Zaire’s [Colts LB Zaire Franklin] been top five in
tackles in the last two years. I mean, a lot of that comes from the way the D-line gets off the
ball and the way they understand their fits and how they’re making plays.”
(On the difficulty of playing a disciplined Colts defense) “I think a lot of it’s your quarterback
just executing the simple, routine, boring plays over and over and just being productive.
This is what it takes to find completions, to move the ball forward, to stay ahead of the
chains. That’s something we feel like we’ve done well through the course of it. But it’s hard,
sometimes it’s hard to, alright, we haven’t tried to throw the ball. We haven’t tested them
deep. We need to take a shot, all that. Sometimes it’s just keep throwing six-yard
completions, keep protecting the ball, keep drop-stepping, knifing for extra yards over and
over and over and over and see where the course of the game takes us.”
