JAGUARS INTERIM HEAD COACH DARRELL BEVELL
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2021
(On QB Trevor Lawrence as a rookie adjusting to everything that has happened this season) “Yeah, I think the NFL season is hard enough. Just being a rookie and playing in the position that he gets to play, there’s a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. Any time you add any more distractions or outside interference into that, I think it adds to that. I like the way he’s handled it. I think he’s been a true professional about it. He continues to work and has been about his business each and every day. So, I’m really proud of what he’s done over this time that he’s been here.”
(On QB Trevor Lawrence’s poise this season) “Yeah, I mean, one, it’s a grind. It’s a long season, the lack of success that we’ve had and then all of the other distractions. I think that was the one thing, when you looked at him at Clemson [University], that you really liked. He was very poised under pressure and he’s been in some big moments, so he’s kind of come here and done the exact same thing.”
(On how Mondays are different now being the interim head coach) “Yeah, today was a little bit different for me. So, I started the day, I came in and met with [Defensive Coordinator] Joe [Cullen], sat and watched the game tape with him on the defensive side. And then I went in with [Special Teams Coordinator] Nick [Sorensen] and [Special Teams Assistant] Carlos [Polk] and watched the special teams side. Then, I met with the offensive staff and we watched the offense together. Then, we went up and headed to team meeting and here I am talking to you guys.”
(On the change of responsibilities this week to balance his plate) “Yeah, so what I’ve done, I’ve thought about it as I told you guys I would—I thought about it a lot, had some conversations with [Jaguars General Manager] Trent [Baalke] and everybody. I think what I’m going to do is I’m going to turn the play calling over to [Passing Game Coordinator] Brian Schottenheimer to really help on the offensive side of the ball. I think it helps us in a lot of ways. No. 1, it helps me take more on of the head coach role that I’m being asked to do, with that added responsibility. But also, we have another really accomplished play caller in our midst. We’ll be able to let Brian take an opportunity at it and put his own personality into the offense as well. We’ll be obviously in constant communication, we game plan together a lot anyways. So, I’m really confident and happy that I’m going to be able to turn that to him.”
(On the enhanced COVID-19 protocols and precautions they’re taking with the team) “No, what I would like to do is—I think it’s really important for us to have the guys in person and the protocols allow us to still do that. Obviously, we have to be in the building with our masks on, we have to be socially distanced in the meeting rooms. But the way we’ve been able to set up the building, we can get these guys here in person. You really want to touch, feel, be around them, feel the camaraderie but have the eye contact, the better focus. So, that’s kind of the mission that I want, is I want to get these guys here and have them in the building. We’ll be set up a little bit different here these next few weeks, but they’ll all be here in the building.”
(On the top priorities going into this week) “Well, I think just a big priority is obviously the team. The thing that I want to work on the most is just our mindset and our mentality and how I want them to approach the game, the thoughts that I want them to have, how I want them to work together, how offense, defense and special teams can complement each other, all those things. I think that’s really the area that I’m trying to focus a lot of time on.”
(On injury status update of S Rayshawn Jenkins and how that affects the safety rotation) “So, I’ll give you the injury update. So, Rayshawn [Jenkins] unfortunately, he broke his ankle, so we’ll put him on IR. Cam Robinson, he had his neck strained during the game, so he’ll be day-to-day. Carlos Hyde, still in the concussion protocol, so there’s no update there. He’s still got to pass all the protocols there. And then Will Richardson Jr., I think it was the day before the game and the day of the game, he still came in with a little back strain. He was trying to fight through it and they weren’t able to get him to a place where he could get in the game. So, those are our guys. As far as rotation, after Rayshawn went down, I think you saw both [Andre] Cisco and DT [Daniel Thomas] were in there and that’s kind of the rotation. We basically did it by series, that’s how that was. And then there obviously were times where both of them were on the field when you go dime. So, we’ll continue to work in that fashion.”
(On what gives him confidence in Passing Game Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and whether he’ll go upstairs to the booth during the games) “Yeah, good question. I think he’s going to go upstairs. We had that communication this morning and as we talked it through, it’s not 100 percent yet, but I believe that’s where we’ll end up going. I’m just really confident. I think it might be a one of a kind here that I was in Seattle and then he followed me in Seattle. He continued with great success there, had record-breaking seasons with those guys as well, so I’m super confident in him. I love working with him each and every day. [I have] total 100 percent confidence that he will do a great job. We’ve spent enough weeks together here to kind of know the ins and outs of it with each other in terms of what we like and the things we want to go to. But I basically told him it’s his deal. I’m turning it all over to him so put his own personality on it. There’s not going to be drastic changes, but it will be his personality and it will look different.”
(On delegating play calling responsibilities when he took over as interim head coach in Detroit last year) “I did not. I remained calling the whole season.”
(On the difficulty of giving up play calling responsibilities) “I mean we’ll see. I know it’s going to be hard but one of the things I think that makes it easier for me is how much confidence I have in [Passing Game Coordinator Brian] Schotty [Schottenheimer]. He’s done a great job, he’s had a great career, so I have 100 percent confidence in him.”
(On the differences Passing Game Coordinator Brain Schottenheimer will bring as the play caller the remainder of the season) “I don’t know if anything comes to my mind. I know the offense that he ran after me in Seattle. [I] was able to watch him and the things that he did with [Seahawks QB] Russell [Wilson] to continue his progression, the guys that he had with [Seahawks WR] DK [Metcalf], and with [Seahawks WR] Tyler Lockett and those guys, so I’m hoping that whatever he can bring to us can help us. We think a lot in the same ways. But again, a different personality, it’s going to look different, so he has his own firm beliefs on how he wants thing to be run as well. I’m going to go for that, and I think that can help us.”
(On former Wisconsin Head Coach Barry Alvarez’s impact on him and other former Wisconsin players that went into coaching) “First of all, it was awesome to hear the names that you were saying. All those guys are great guys and most of them were teammates of mine. But without a doubt [he had an impact]. Each and every one of us, when we got in there, to have [former Wisconsin Head Coach] Coach [Barry] Alvarez,
to learn from him and the impact that he had on all of us for sure was something that kind of lead us into the coaching ranks. I think, one, we all love football, we all want to continue doing that, but the influence that Coach Alvarez has on it yes is definitely big.”
(On if he felt RB James Robinson was not as involved in the game plan in the fourth quarter and why it relied so heavily on QB Trevor Lawrence throwing the ball) “I think if I remember right, the drive that we had off the interception, so first down we went with a quicker play coming out of the huddle trying to hit a naked [bootleg] because of the fact that we had handed the ball to James [Robinson] a few times. They really lucked into it. The corner that was covering [Laquon] Treadwell came over late, so he ends up falling into our slider that we had coming back on O’Shag [James O’Shaughnessy]. That’s not even the guy he’s supposed to be covering, should’ve had a good play there, but they fell into it, covered it well. Then second down, it’s a read option play and I don’t think the read was there for Trevor [Lawrence] to pull it, but he did. That’s the deal when you’re doing those read options, he’s making decisions. I think that was an opportunity for him to get the ball there. Then third down was third down. If I got it right, I believe our next two drives that we had, it was still a seven-point game. No, let’s see. We had a field goal drive in there and then the next two drives, we went three and out on those drives. One of them we ran for five [yards], we ran it for one [yard], and then we had the drop there on the outside. I think that was the second drive. Then the other drive is we handed him [James Robinson] the ball on first down, so there was run plays in there. I think there’s at least three runs out of those six plays on those next two drives with three and outs. So, there was no opportunity to go away from him. Again, we were still handing him the ball I believe.”
(On the balance on offense between pass and run plays) “I really liked some of the things that we were able to do, particularly early. I think our first drive was a field goal drive, the second drive was a touchdown drive, and there was good mix. There was good flow. We even mixed in a couple tempo things and was really liking where that was going. Then I think we had, if I remember right, a three and out, then it was the two-minute drive. [I] didn’t like the drive coming out of [the] half that we had. But as far as the balance, I was really trying to do a good job of keeping track of it, really wanted to make sure that we were getting the runs to James [Robinson]. The one play before the half, he got dinged up and we were going to run the ball the next down, he’s not in there. But the mix, I think yeah, I was okay with where the mix was. If you can make it more, I don’t think that hurts us at all.”
