JAGUARS HEAD COACH URBAN MEYER
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2021
(On the Colts passing game) “They are kind of on fire the last, I don’t know what the exact stat is, but the last four or five games, they’ve been hard to defend. [Colts QB] Carson Wentz is a guy that when I was first hired, I remember sitting with [Jaguars Owner] Shad [Khan] and [Jaguars General Manager] Trent [Baalke] talking about quarterbacks. He’s a guy, just because of our relationship with [former Eagles Head Coach] Doug Pederson, I just watched him play. He spreads the field, he’s athletic, he’s tough and obviously, a very good thrower. They are doing very well. You know, the guy that starts, not just [Colts RB Jonathan] Taylor, but the second running back is excellent, too. And then [Colts WR Michael] Pittman [Jr.], the big receiver. So, yeah, they are doing a lot of great things right now.”
(On adjusting the defensive scheme to play the Colts) “There’s a couple, [Colts WR] T.Y. [Hilton], he’s banged up a little bit but he’s legit fast, and they have a good group of receivers led by [Colts WR Michael] Pittman [Jr.]. But what you just said, it’s not finalized yet. We played really, really well with, like you said, shell defense, but we mixed in some man last week as well. You can’t just sit in one, those guys will pick you apart. Last week’s was a spread offense, this is a little different. This is driven by [Colts RB Jonathan] Taylor and the other running back. Those guys, if there’s a crease, it’s a little like Melvin. What’s his name? Melvin, right? Gordon. If you give him a crease, he’s out.”
(On liking the matchup with the Jaguars defense against the run) “Do I like the matchup? I wish we weren’t playing [Colts RB Jonathan] Taylor and the other [running back]. I mean that’s strength against strength.”
(On blocking Colts DT DeForest Buckner) “A lot of guys slide to him. That means your center goes to him and you get four hands on him. It’s not a complicated defense, they’re just really well coached. A little bit like last week, you look at the Bills and the Colts, very similar, similar defensive structures. A little different, their 4-3 defense is. They are a little different. [Colts DT DeForest] Buckner, a lot of people slide to him, but that leaves number 90 [Colts DT Grover Stewart], a big 325-pound nose tackle isolated, but you have to account for him, either help with a back or help with a center.”
(On facing Colts RB Jonathan Taylor when he was at Wisconsin) “[He’s] fast. I used to get so upset with our coaches at Ohio State. I said, ‘Why don’t we have him?’ I didn’t even know about him, and they had like five in a row where every year I would just scream, back when I screamed a lot, scream at our staff,
‘How did we miss on him?’ He was [from] a small school in Jersey? Yeah, I remember it well when he got into the league. I was like, ‘You have to be kidding me?’ The one that just left was NCAA rushing leader or something. What was his name? [Former Wisconsin RB] Ball, Montee Ball.”
(On stacking wins together) “I think we’re playing well and so I’m glad someone asked. I don’t know how the maturity, especially of our young players, to handle a bye week. Us as a new staff and young players in a lot of positions, we could have done things better. I’m glad we’re playing. I don’t want to speak on
behalf of our team, but I’m glad we’re going instead of sitting. There’s a lot of momentum, guys feel good. We were down a left tackle, a tailback, at one point our quarterback, and [Brandon] Linder. Linder, by the way, will be back on the practice field today. There’s a really good vibe in that building right now, so let’s go out and practice and keep going.”
(On an injury report update) “O’Shag’s [TE James O’Shaughnessy] getting close. I can’t tell you the exact time, but Linder I can tell you you’ll see him today on the field doing some stuff off to the side. We’re hoping to get him back next week. Cam [Robinson]’s limited today. James [Robinson] he could probably do more. I personally limited him more. Myles [Jack] by the way, he’ll be limited today, but he’ll be fine. That’s kind of our decision.”
(On how to improve third down conversions) “Complete execution of the quarterback. It’s more than that, but the execution of the quarterback and wide receivers [is important]. The combination of dropped balls and just misses, we have to hit those. That’s a weakness right now. We’ll fix it.”
(On OL Walker Little’s performance providing confidence at the left tackle position) “[Jaguars General Manager] Trent [Baalke] and I both, we kind of felt that way, but you don’t know until you know, and we also have Will Richardson [Jr.]. Trent’s done a good job of putting depth in the d-line and o-line. Those are usually ones, when injuries happens, you are going in reverse. We have some nice depth like [DL Adam] Gotsis and Taven Bryan also can go in there and help us win a game.”
(On his evaluation of the different areas of special teams) “Let’s go punt, I think we have one of the best punters in the league. We do a good job on coverage. I don’t know where we are ranked. I think we’re ranked fairly highly, very high in that. Kickoff return, we had two big hits, but [it’s] inconsistent. Kick off up to this point, I thought we’re really good. I thought special teams for the first half of the season, first five games, we were winning, but our signature was we were smacking people on kickoff, getting good field position, and we went backwards. I don’t know if it’s because now we’re taking Rudy Ford and making him the nickel. I challenged him actually today about that. That’s our signature. When we say special teams is important, we invested. One of the first moves we made was went and paid in free agency [Jamal] Agnew and we paid the best cover guy that I’ve ever seen [Rudy Ford]. I’m not sure many people do that, but we did because that’s how important it is. Now we’re not holding up our end of the bargain, so we have to do better.”
(On being last in the league on punt returns and first in fair catches) “We are? I think maybe it’s short kicks. I don’t know. I’m going to go check. I didn’t know that. I know I’m disappointed like you are. He’s [Jamal Agnew] excellent, we just have to block better. I don’t know what the net kicks are against us. I see a lot of the times he’s running forward doing that [the fair catch hand signal]. Thanks for ruining my day. I’ll get you back. I’ll get you back.”
(On TE Dan Arnold acclimating to the team and the offensive scheme) “He’s everything you want. He’s a very serious guy. I think when we talked to Carolina when they said we have to visit with the team because he’s a leader on their team, I remember [General Manager] Trent [Baalke] and I looking at each other and going, ‘That’s exactly what we want’, and he’s been that way for us.”
(On DE/OLB Josh Allen winning AFC Defensive Player of the Week this week) “Great. I think he’d be the first one to tell you, he’s going to thank Roy [Robertson-Harris], Taven [Bryan], and Malcom [Brown], and the interior. There’s another one. Who’s the other one, inside guy? DaVon Hamilton, you know the
pressure inside, and Jihad Ward when he’s in there, they all work together on that. But there’s no better than Josh [Allen] as far a person that deserves it. You guys all know that.”
(On Colts WR Michael Pittman Jr.) “I actually did a FOX game and I saw him live and in person. I think it was against Utah and he just had 200 yards receiving. [He has] very good speed for his size and he’s a ballhawk. Those contested catches, he comes down with them and that’s their number one guy right now. So, I was in there today talking about the matchup, if we do that, how we’re going to play that. [It’s] still undecided.”
(On DE/OLB K’Lavon Chaisson and the defensive line) “[K’Lavon] Chaisson, when we play predominately four down, he’s the SAM linebacker and then Rudy [Ford] goes in, so we’re just trying to figure out a way to get him [more involved]. We did, I believe, against Seattle a little bit of the three down, it’s third down stuff, to get him in there. But when you’re in four down, you have Josh [Allen] and you have [Dawuane] Smoot, a little bigger and more powerful edge rushers. Chaisson’s more of a SAM linebacker, but we’re not in that base defense very much. He played his best game I believe as a Jaguar against Tennessee because he was on the field a lot because we were in that defense. It’s nothing negative. I think he has a long way to go, but he’s working. I love the guy. He’s working his tail off and he’s going to be a contributor as he continues to get stronger.”
(On QB Trevor Lawrence’s status) “Good. We’ll know more today, but I think he’s fine.”
(On his reaction to DL Taven Bryan’s performance this weekend) “He’s been trending and he’s a great guy. He’s very powerful, strong. Sometimes you hear people [talk about] his instincts. In my opinion, [Defensive Coordinator] Joe Cullen and [Defensive Line Coach] Tosh [Lupoi] are two excellent d-line coaches and they’re doing a good job with him. It’s amazing the price tag you can put on confidence. [He’s] a very confident guy right now after last week.”
(On the conversation with Offensive Line Coach George Warhop after OL Cam Robinson’s injury) “Not pleasant, but I asked about Will [Richardson Jr.] just because I had a little bit more confidence in Will. But that’s why he’s a line coach and I trust him, by the way, a heck of a line coach. He said we should go with Walker [Little]. I looked at him and I said, ‘That’s the number one defense in the league. Are you sure?’ and he said, ‘Coach, I’m sure’ and he did very well.”
(On the having the conversation about the possibility of free agent WR Odell Beckham Jr. signing with Jacksonville) “I believe so. We haven’t talked about it today.”
(On what he wants to see from the offense in terms of the deep passing game) “[It’s] non-existent right now. It’s a problem. We had one, got behind them, and C.J. [Beathard] threw a dot to one of our most reliable guys, Ags [WR Jamal Agnew]. That’s a problem. Big plays are a problem right now. It was last year and it’s this year. [We] have to get that fixed because you’re rolling the dice. If you don’t have big plays, you are not going to win. We won because of a really outstanding effort on defense, and kind of complimentary football. We drove the ball, didn’t put them in bad field position, which is part of the game. But you guys all know, we all know that if you don’t have some hits, you’re not going to win.”
(On a solution to the lack of a deep passing game) “Yeah, I think [it’s about] who you give the ball to, who you hand the ball to, who you flip the ball to. Ags’ [WR Jamal Agnew] a guy that every time he touches it [something happens], so is Laviska [Shenault Jr.]. So, we have to be smart. Those guys are kind
of big play guys, maybe not so much out at the one position, maybe at other positions. I believe Dan Arnold has big play potential. I don’t believe we’re utilizing him enough yet.”
JAGUARS QB TREVOR LAWRENCE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2021
(On how the offense can improve and not be put in long yardage situation) “I think obviously, like you said, penalties is a big part of that and [if] you eliminate some of those, it makes it easier on first and second down. But I’d say just hitting our… when we have an opportunity, just making the play. I know we were really bad on third down this past week and I know I had two plays at the end where I’m still
kicking myself. Like I said after the game, I could’ve hit two of those and those would’ve put the nail in the coffin. Those plays we have to hit. We had some other ones throughout the game that were there that we didn’t make for whatever reason. Everything goes together, it’s upfront, it’s in the backfield, communication, it’s me and the wideouts being on the same page, all that. We just have to get better and obviously be more efficient.”
(On how his ankle feels) “It feels pretty good, better than I thought it would, so I’m happy where I’m at. Obviously, [I’m] trying to be smart and just make sure I’m ready to go. I’m going to ease my way into it but just trying to get as many reps as I can just to make sure I’m ready. But I’m feeling good and we’re where we want to be.”
(On the lack of big plays) “We have to start finding some and like I said, that’s me taking them when we have them, hitting them when we have them. Like I said, down the stretch we had two plays specifically where I easily could’ve hit those. One probably would’ve been a touchdown, the other one probably would’ve been a 30-yard gain to Ag [WR Jamal Agnew] on the sideline. Both of those, those were two opportunities. Like I said, I think when you’re more efficient on first and second down and you run the ball like we did last week, if you can combine all those things, then that sets up some opportunities for some shots because teams have to respect the run the way we’ve run the ball this year. We’ve been really efficient. I think it’s more so of just getting ahead of the chains and penalties or incompletions early in drives and then you get second-and-10, third-and-10, all that [which] sets you back, but we still have to overcome. You’re going to have a lot of second-and-longs and a couple third-and-longs a game, and you have to be able to hit some of them and convert those. We haven’t done a good job of that. Even if we are backed up, just having that mentality on second-and-long, let’s try to get a positive [play], let’s try to get half of it back and then put us in third-and-manageable. We haven’t done a great job of that, so that really starts with me. But I like where we’re at. Obviously, that wasn’t our best game as an offense, but it was really cool to see the defense just have our back and just dominate it for four quarters. There’s going to be games where, hopefully not a lot, but that’s going to happen and then there’s going to be games on the other side where we’re going to have to pick them up. That’s just a part of this game and I think that shows how far this team’s come that one side of the ball can struggle and the other side can play well enough to still win the game. We did enough down the stretch, controlled the clock and took advantage of some opportunities to kick some field goals. Matty Ice [K Matthew Wright] did a good job there. Just all those things go together, but we can definitely play better, so that’s a good sign.”
(On TE Dan Arnold’s contributions despite joining the team late) “It doesn’t surprise me, just seeing the way he works. He’s just a really smart player. Obviously, he’s very athletic, can get open, [has] long strides, [is] a fast guy. He can run, so it’s a mismatch. But [he’s] just really smart, QB friendly. We communicate a lot, so it doesn’t surprise me just seeing how he’s come in and kind of become one of our guys. I think it’s great and it’s something that we needed. It doesn’t really surprise me, but it is cool to see how fast he’s gotten use to the system and kind of just gelled with everyone. It’s been cool.”
(On QB C.J. Beathard stepping in last week) “[It] just speaks to the player he is and just the person he is. He’s always ready. [He’s] just a guy I have a lot of respect for. [He] came in here and he’s an older guy that’s played a lot of football and he’s helped me ever since I’ve gotten here. He’s always been a guy that has been in my corner and tried to help me as much as he can, so I have a lot of respect for him because of that. But even more so to see how he works, he’s always ready no matter what. He knows most weeks he’s probably not going to play and he’s just still taking every rep off to the side and whenever he gets a rep, making the most of it, just always prepared. I think you need a team full of guys like that and he’s a great example of that. Then going in and making the play when he needs to, it was awesome.”
(On what QB C.J. Beathard has helped him with as a rookie quarterback) “Just little things, it’s a bunch of things. For example, if we put a concept in, he was in San Francisco and offenses around the league all do similar things and have plays that are almost the same you just call it something different and you have a certain way of reading it. [It’s] just little tidbits he can give me on how to speed up my feet or my eyes or like what’s the idea here, what we’re trying to do, things like that, but also just on the mentality. He’s talked about he’s had some rough years in San Francisco where they started off struggling and then at the end the won whatever and just talking about kind of the mindset of it’s a long season. That’s been I think the biggest thing is just having him there for that support every week no matter if I play great, don’t play great, if we win, if we don’t win. Just having a guy like that in the room with you that’s been there, that’s been through the ups and downs, was on a team that went to the Super Bowl, was on a team that struggled early one season and then finished really strong, that’s been invaluable for me.”
(On OL Walker Little’s performance last week) “I thought he did great. It’s a tough situation, especially as a left tackle, to walk into the stadium thinking this is going to be like the other seven games and not really going to play and then you have to go play the whole game against one of the best defenses in the league. That’d be hard for anybody and just to see how he was ready and stepped up. Even on the one sack that he gave up, he got stepped on, so it wasn’t even like he really missed the block. He just got stepped on. That’s just one of those plays, so to see how he played and that was the only play really he gave up. I thought he did great. It’s awesome when you know you have depth like that, and you have a guy that’s young that can play now. But just to even think about how good he’s going to be in the future, that’s really cool.”
(On having depth on the offensive line) “Depth is everything. Obviously, you can see, every week you never know what’s going to happen. I went down for a second there, not as bad as I thought it was thankfully. But to have C.J. [Beathard] come in, step up, and make some plays and then Walker [Little] come in. We’re already down a lot of linemen from the beginning of the year, so it’s been cool to be a part of just so many guys that are ready and take advantage of their opportunity.”
(On who he’s watching out for on the Colts defense besides LB Darius Leonard) “Obviously him [Colts LB Darius Leonard], [Colts DT] DeForest Buckner on the d-line. There’s a lot of guys, Kwity [Colts DE Kwity Paye], the other end. There’s a ton more I could talk about too, but I’d say Darius obviously, just his
knack for causing turnovers, especially fumbles. I think every tackle he goes in punching the ball and gets it half the time, so that obviously jumps out. Then as just a heads up for us, these guys do a great job. They force the most turnovers in the league so far and they’re second in turnover margin behind Buffalo. [It’s] another week where it’s just going to be crucial to hang on to the ball. Last week, we didn’t play great on offense, but we only had one turnover to their three. That turnover margin, that won the game for us as far as just that alone. If we match that, then it’s a different game. That’s just going to be a big emphasis again and knowing that they’re trying to knock it out. They do a good job in zone of getting in windows. I think they’ve had ten interceptions and ten fumbles, so they’re really balanced there. They do a good job, so it’s another game where you’re playing against a great defense, and you just have to be prepared and maximize all of our opportunities. That’s one thing, like I said, we didn’t do, and we can get better. Obviously, we still won, so that just shows how much better we can get, so it’s a positive.”
(On playing on the road again this week at the Colts) “I mean you don’t prepare any different obviously. You know that’s it’s going to be loud, and you have I guess that mindset of how you’re going to operate is a little bit different. You have to be a lot quicker just because it might take a little bit longer to communicate than it would at home, so that’s one thing you have to be ready for, which I feel like we have a good feel for that. [We] definitely have to get better from Seattle. We didn’t do a great job of staying ahead of the play clock, so that will be a point of emphasis. I’d say other than that it’s just the same thing every week, but even more so, this a game of emotions, but you can’t get emotional along the way. There’s going to be ups and downs, especially when you’re playing on the road. If they get a little momentum, they might make a few plays and they might take the lead and they might whatever. You just never know what’s going to happen. You have to keep playing the whole game and you’re not going to have the crowd to back you up. You have to create your own momentum. Nothing really changes though, it’s still the same game, but just realizing it’s a long game and just to play four quarters, don’t really let the momentum swings affect you.”
(On possibly losing to Seattle due to not having prepared as well after the win in London) “I don’t think so. I thought we prepared the same honestly. I just think that that’s going to happen sometimes. You go out there and you just don’t play well all the way around and it feels like you can’t get anything going. I’ve been on a lot of teams where that’s happened, and it just happens sometimes. Obviously, you have to limit that and just flush it and move on to the next, but I don’t think it was from not preparing. I thought we did the same thing we always do, but that’s just a good reminder to always have that edge. Maybe we didn’t have that as much, I don’t know. [I] can’t say, but there was a lot of things that went into that for sure.”
(On the play his ankle got injured by OL Walker Little) “He just kind of stepped right on my ankle and rolled it when my foot was in the ground. It doesn’t take much to tweak an ankle, so I don’t really know. His heel weighs more than my body.”
JAGUARS DEFENSIVE END/OUTSIDE LINEBACKER JOSH ALLEN
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2021
(On winning AFC Defensive Player of the Week) “It’s a huge accomplishment for myself and for this team. It’s just how we all played. When we all fly around, when we all do our things, somebody’s going to be there. Kudos to teammates for helping me get success. I can’t do it without them, obviously. Definitely thankful for that being the opportunity to get that award. Hopefully I get some more.”
(On what he saw when watching tape of the Jaguars Bills game) “Guys never quit. It was just that bend, no break mentality defense, man. They had a couple shots, but when they got in the red zone, we stopped them. We pushed them back. So just to see us play mistake free football. And this is kind of crazy because like I know I’ve been saying that the last couple weeks, but then in like watching actual games, and then you can just tell, okay, this team probably won because this team had this many mistakes, you know what I’m saying? Or this team won the turnover battle. Every team, it’s like who’s going to make the least amount of mistakes. The defense collectively, we played sound football, and we played for each other, and we played fast and physical all game. But that’s just the standard we have for ourselves. That’s the standard we feel like we could have been playing, in our minds, that we could have been playing at the whole time. Now that we actually did it for four full quarters consistently every play, that’s just the standard that we have set for ourselves now. So high standards for us, and we’re going to go out there and stop this run and do what we do best.”
(On looking more comfortable dropping in coverage) “It is a part of the game now. If that’s me in that situation, I’m going to make the best of it, you know what I’m saying? Okay, the ball come to me, I’m going to get a pick. That’s how I’ve got to motivate myself to get this job. I know somehow just knowing information like, okay, if I know I got this drop and I got this formation, he might throw this ball to this person. So I’ve got to always be aware of that. Now I’m starting to, you know what I’m saying, feel the game out on that aspect, and now it’s starting to slow down for me a little bit. It’s just fun going out there and just knowing what you’re doing. Now I know what I’m doing, so now I can just play fast and just make a lot of plays out there.”
(On how Dawuane Smoot has progressed) “Dawuane, he just wins, you know what I mean? He’s a winner. If you look at the pressure rate, I believe, I think he should be up there. I know he got more than me probably because he started off fast. You know what I’m saying? I’ve been watching Smoot – how do you do that? Picking his brain. Show me that. Let’s work on it. Then once I finally got my groove now, we’re both eating together and we always picking each other’s brains about all the little things. Just to have that chemistry — because we trained together this off-season. We’re working, you know what I’m saying? Just to have that trust that he knows I put my all into this and I know he put his all into this just makes it even better to know we finally have success, we are playing for each other, and we’re just having a good time out there.”
(On facing Jonathan Taylor) “He’s just explosive, you know what I’m saying? He breaks tackles. He’s in and out of backs, and he can catch the ball well. He’s a great, physical running back, and it’s a good challenge this week. We have been statistically good against the run, and we’re hoping to keep that trend going. We have all the faith that we will. For us, we have to stop the run first if we want to have any success in the back end or just rushing the passer. We’re getting ready for this challenge, and we’re looking forward to it. We’re ready to play.”
(On limiting big plays and QB Carson Wentz throwing downfield) “Going to take him a long time to score, you know what I mean? It’s just going to give us more opportunities for us to get our hands up, us get batted balls, us get picks, us get forced fumbles and for him to hold the ball more. It just creates opportunity, checkdowns, checkdowns. I don’t know what quarterbacks think, I can take the shot. We’ve been getting off the ball so much, okay, so here’s the opportunity for us to get the sack. Let’s make the best of it. Definitely checkdown — we don’t want him to throw checkdowns the whole game, but I know as a D-line, we emphasize stack monsters, getting out of the stack. If it’s in our bubble, go get it. That’s what we emphasize, and that’s what we’re going to do. We know it’s going to come out quick if he does, and we’re ready to go chase anything down.”
(On what has helped him the past few months) “Oh, man, I feel like just the chemistry that we have up front, man, it makes me more relaxed. It makes me feel like I trust this dude. We hang out so much. We have that bond. It’s like when we play, we play, but we know when it’s time to work, we’re all working. We’re all trying to get each other better. We’re talking and communicating and laughing. We’re getting on each other, you know what I’m saying, but we know, when we turn the film on, we all play for each
other. That’s been the biggest take-away, I feel like looking at it deeper is just the chemistry we have, and the chemistry that we’re getting with the whole defense is just growing every week and every day actually. We’re a tight knit group, and we’re going to continue to be a tight knit group, continue to fight for each other, and hopefully continue to win a lot more games.”
(On training with Dawuane Smoot in the offseason) “Man, it’s a great feeling. Just thinking about Jason, you know what I’m saying? Jason Smith, man, just going out there and training and just not wanting to go but you know you got to go and you know Smoot going to be there and A.G. going to be there and all these guys going to be there. I know I’ve got to perform. I want to perform at a high level this year, so to have that mind state, I’m going to come in here and I’m working. We’re going to have fun and joke, but when we’re lifting this weight, we’re going to lift, and I want to out lift everybody in here. That was just our mindsets all together. At that moment, that’s when we started to really connect on another level. Hopefully, it don’t sound too soft, but that’s what it really was, you know what I mean? It shows. It’s just a good feeling.”
(On still getting better) “Definitely, definitely. I ain’t going to tell you what he said, but we can always get better. That’s not the ceiling for any of us. It’s not the ceiling for me, I feel like. It’s not the ceiling for Smoot. This is just a little taste of what we can do when we’re all on the same page. We’re going to continue to get better. That’s the ultimate goal in football is get better.”
(On forgetting he was mic’d up) “I really did forget, and like it kind of sucked, you know what I mean? I know that’s the ultimate — and I knew it too. I knew it during the week, but once I actually got out there, it was like, okay, I’m locked in. When he said that, I’m like huh? Oh, [shoot] But I told him I’ll make it up to them.”
(On if he wished he was yelling more) “Oh, no. It was a lot of good moments out there, though. I’m going to say that. I’m going to say that. Hopefully, play that every week and set that standard for all of us. Now we can’t go back down, you know what I mean? Now everybody expects it. We’re trying to get everybody what we expect, so now just go out there and play.”
JAGUARS DEFENSIVE LINEMAN DAWUANE SMOOT
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2021
(On where he has made the most progress) “I would just say locking into my keys. Paying attention to my hand placement, especially in the run game. I feel like I have progressed better and better each week. I have been getting stronger in the weight room and making strides every week.”
(On if he’s always lifted weights) “I have done that before. We have to lift at least two times a week, but I have tacked on a couple more with [Head Strength and Conditioning Coach] [Anthony] Schlegel. We work closely just focusing on that lockout and just separating.”
(On the importance of stacking wins) “I feel like it is pretty important. We try to do that every single week. In general, this week, we are just focused on the next nine games. We are just trying to focus on that – just winning as much as we can.”
(On focusing on stopping RB Jonathan Taylor) “The good thing is we do have Malcom [Brown] and DaVon Hamilton in the middle. They are like two people [each]. I do not think we have to stack the box too much, we just have to play with our keys and play with our hands and be able to shed off blocks.”
(On Jonathan Taylor’s success) “There are no arm tackles against him. He is kind of like Derrick Henry. You can’t tackle him high. You have to tackle him low and get a lot of guys on him. We have to make sure we get a lot of bodies on him.”
(On if he puts more emphasis on his legs or his upper body when lifting weights) “We have been doing Olympic lifts, which is like full body. We have done a lot of explosions from the hips and explosion with the hands and locking out as well.”
(On everyone meshing together) “I would say on every level everyone’s kind of doing their job. I would say the back end, they’re kind of finding their way. They’re finding exactly the coverages that work best for the people that’s on the field. It’s been working a lot. Rushing coverage has been working very well.
Interior push helps me and Josh as well. We’re going to make them step up all day. So if we have that interior push, there’s going to be a lot of sacks out there.”
(On how the Colts are using QB Carson Wentz) “They’re getting the ball out more than anything. They’re doing quick releases. They’re just getting the ball out more than anything. They’re complementing it with their run game. They have a great run game. So if we are able to shut down the run game and put him in a pass situation where he has to throw pass five yards, I think we’ll be good.”
(On what the team has to do to stop the Colts) “I would just say focus on our game plan just stopping the run. They’re No. 1 and No. 2 in rushing right now? That’s their offense more than anything. If we shut down the run, we’re going to have a good day for sure.”
(On the scheme taking advantage of his abilities) “I think it takes great advantage of it. I’m able to move inside. I’m able to move outside. I’m able to stand up, able to blitz, drop, do whatever I need to do. I feel like it really complements how versatile I am.”
(On if it’s fun to do multiple things) “I definitely feel like it’s a lot more fun than it was last year. Last year I was basically like a big end. So I was basically in the four and two-gapping the whole time. Me getting that space to be able to work my speed and work my moves, it’s a lot more fun for sure.”
(On if he likes to stand up or if he prefers to put his hand on the ground) “I definitely like to put my hand in the dirt when it comes to pass rushing, but to mix it up a little bit, get a different set, it’s good to come out of a two point as well too.”
