JAGUARS OL BRANDON SCHERFF
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
SUNDAY, JULY 31, 2022
(On the offensive line after the first few days of camp) “It’s nice to put shoulder pads on and actually just be able to make it feel like football. With shells you kind of go full speed but you still have to take care of each other, but with pads you can get those real fits that [Offensive Line Coach] Phil [Rauscher] always talks about at meetings, so it’s nice to be able to get that fit get the real handles and shoulder pads and stuff, and I think we got a pretty good group, and we’re excited to just keep stacking them one day at a time.”
(On what the right tackles are asking him) “You know like during certain looks I’ll just give them tips on what I see. I’m trying to be for them what like Trent Williams, [Kory] Lichtensteiger, Morgan Moses, all those guys were for me so anything I can do to help the game slow down for them. Play as one and make sure we all know what we’re doing on the same page. We’ll be alright.”
(On the tape on his fingers) “Normal. Yeah. Normal. If I jam one finger, then I the other one moves it for me. A lot of guys do it.”
(On what separates Phil Rauscher from other offensive line coaches) “He’s energetic. You can probably hear him all the way over here when we’re down doing Indy drills. He’s energetic in the O line room. He has a passion for the game, and he’s a heck of a coach. He knows how to incorporate being serious, but still have a little fun with it. I think I can speak for all the guys saying that we’re enjoying him a lot.”
(On how much of a factor Coach Phil Rauscher was in the decision to come to Jacksonville) “I was with them for two years, and I enjoyed him as a coach. So that was a big factor for me as well. I’m enjoying my time down here.”
(On a rookie playing center in the NFL) I think it’s pretty difficult with just all the formations and all different looks that the defense gives you. He’s a smart cat. He’s not quite as smart as [Tyler Shatley] [walking] right here, but, he’ll get there. Good thing [Shatley is] right next to him to help him out too.”
(On if the team forgets what day it is) “Yeah, absolutely. Yep, we actually caught ourselves doing that yesterday. You just have to deal with it. It’s a part of a part of the business. That’s it right there.”
(On the guardian caps) “I really haven’t noticed any difference. I just think we look kind of funny to watch on film. But I haven’t noticed really a big difference, not much for weight or anything else. It doesn’t bother me.”
(On Josh Allen—asked by Josh himself) “I think he’s alright. He’s going to be a good player. Oh, right, no, he’s a great player. Gives us really good looks during practice.”
(On if there is a point during training camp that they feel ready for the regular season) “You just know when you have to get yourself ready by, and that’s September 11, right? So, you just have to keep stacking days and make sure you are ready by then. That’s my goal is to make sure I’m ready by then.”
(On what gives him hope that this offensive line can be successful in the NFL) “Everybody’s coachable and trying to do what Phil asks us to do. You see some of those plays we’re breaking out 20, 30, 40-yard runs. That’s what you want to see as an offensive line. It’s kind of cool, doing our job and then seeing Travis and Rock and Snoop hit those holes and there’s nobody around him. So that’s, that’s when we know that we’re doing our job and we just have to keep stacking them.”
(On if he prefers getting the run game going or pancake) “That’s part of the getting run going. Yeah, you can incorporate those into both.”
(On if he was excited to play Washington in Week 1 of the regular season) “Not actually, not really. I had a great time and a great experience in Washington, and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all the coaches that I played with through there. For me, Week 1 is another game that I have to get myself ready for and you know, we just got to get show up and get ready to play because they’re a heck of a team.”
(On Cam Robinson’s enthusiasm at practices) “That’s good. He’s a great left tackle in this league, and he’s very energetic and it’s kind of fun to see players enjoy. Some guys just come out and sulk and moan about practice, and it’s nice to have fun because it makes the day a lot more enjoyable for everybody else.”
JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
SUNDAY, JULY 31, 2022
(On whether he’s determined playing time for next week’s game) “It’s going to be exciting just to get the team on the field, you know, against another opponent. And then for the first time for all of us with the coaches and new players and really the whole team, so we’re looking forward to that. I haven’t set any parameters yet on how much playing time people are going to get. (We’re going to) be as fair especially for the young guys, try to get as many of the young guys in the game as I can. But I’ll make those determinations. We still got a couple days here left to practice.”
(On what he’s looking to see on the field from the guys with pads) “Yesterday, I went with uppers actually, I went with the shoulder pads. And full pads today. For the first time in pads, the number one thing is player safety and protecting each other, practicing hard, practicing fast, being smart about it. Nobody’s going to the ground. We try to stay off the ground, no live tackling, things like that. But you’re kind of getting used to wearing the extra gear now. We’re kind of getting into that part of training camp where things get ramped up.”
(On if he likes the level of physicality yesterday) “I did. That’s encouraging. It kind of happens throughout training camp, there’s going be those warm, hot days where tension sort of builds and you start seeing it back and forth offensively and defensively and it was good to see. But at the same time, we got to make sure that we play smart, play headsy and control that.”
(On if he learns more from the rookies when they put the pads on) “I think not only them, but I think everybody really, you get to learn a little bit about your football team and the physicality that we talked about. But for the rookies, too, sometimes the eyes can be a little more wide open in situations like this, because it was the first time, but these guys are pros, and they’ve been doing it a long time going back to college and high school, so they should be okay.”
(So how he would evaluate Evan Engram’s camp) “It’s been good. I really like where he’s at mentally and how he’s picking things up. His connection with Trevor and I see the communication with those two and where he’s at and he’s going to be a big part of the offense for us.”
(On Dan Arnold) “Same thing. I like where Dan is. A veteran guy and kind of a sneaky athlete. Just a little bit sneaky tight end who I really like and I think he’s in a good place as well.”
(On Andrew Mevis) “It’s unfortunate sometimes with young guys and you hate to see it. Sometimes they put a little bit too much pressure on themselves and just to try to do things right and compete and just kind of learn to relax and play., I know things are going to happen, and it’s unfortunate but wish him well and hopefully we’ll see him again down the road.”
(On if Evan Engram’s play in the red zone yesterday was concerning to him) “No, no, that would have been a tough catch to make anyway. Game time and he knows it and he will make that next time, and it was good to
see because it was a chance for us in that situation — if you make that play, you score, you win the game because that was the scenario yesterday. So better now than Week 1.”
On the status of Jawaan Taylor and Foley Fatukasi) “Yeah, again, kind of day to day with both those guys. I think we’re going to ramp them up a little bit more today but still keep them out of the contact stuff and again, just want to make sure that they’re 100 percent. With the injuries they have, they can be nagging and lingering if we don’t protect them now, but we’re going to continue to ramp them.”
(On if he can disclose what their injuries are) “Foley has a calf and Jawaan, it’s a hamstring. Both those guys are doing really well.
(On Travon Walker) I think just as he gets more comfortable with the defense. I know Coach Caldwell is really throwing a lot at the defensive guys with information and volume, and again, that’s what we need to see as we keep progressing here in camp, just how these young guys handle the volume. Travon being been one of those guys. And so far, it’s been good. He studies well, student of the game. He’s hard on himself. If he makes a mistake, he usually doesn’t make the same mistake again. And that’s good to see from young guys.
(On what he thought of the veterans putting packaging peanuts in Walker’s car) “Yeah, I did see that. Yes, it’s fun. It’s fun. Yeah, it happens from time to time in camp with young players, and veterans kind of take advantage of that. It’s just as long as it stays in good fun and humor, then everybody’s okay.
(On how Walker reacted to it) “I didn’t necessarily see his reaction on it. But I’m assuming everything was okay. And we’ve been we’ve been good since.”
(On how he views Luke Fortner at center) “We’re early in camp. But yeah, we want to see Luke in there. We want to see him with the starters. And then (Tyler) Shatley and Ben Bartch in there at the guard positions. And then with JT (Jawaan Taylor) and Walker Little at the tackle spots,. It just comes down to these days, right here, you put the pads on, and this is where really the evaluation process comes in. And then of course, when you get into these preseason games, playing against good competition, and the starters playing against starters, you can make a better determination with some of these battles. But with Luke, he’s done really well. He’s not only going in as a potential starter at center, but then Shatley can be the guard or he can move back to center. You just got to have some combination of guys that if something happens during the regular season, you can move guys around.”
(On how excited he is to see Travis Etienne Jr. in a real game) “Yeah, it’s exciting to see him and where he’s come from, how he’s kind of battled to get himself back on the football field. It appears that he hasn’t lost the explosiveness, which is good. You have to understand, too, he’s a young player that missed everything last year. And so I don’t want to treat him that way. But at the same time, we have to understand that there’s going to be some mistakes, but to see those types of runs, credit to the other 10 guys but good to see
(On what motivated him to give the players two days off of practice following preseason games) “It’s something I studied a little bit in 2021 with my time off and went back and evaluated my training camps in Philadelphia. There’s always that area around like day 5, 6, 7, 8, somewhere in that second week, beginning of the second week, where some of the soft tissue injuries begin to creep up and guys start missing time, and then it taxes the rest of the team and a position group and all that and just took a look at all of that. And I even looked at the regular season and how we practice during the regular season. There’s typically two days after a game before we’re back on the practice field. So I wanted to use that model just a little bit in training camp, we’ve got a lot of
time together, we still get the padded practices in that we need. And yet try to still maintain enough rest and hydration and nutrition for the players within that 48 hour window after games.”
(On how the team balances between rest and making sure that the team is getting enough work in) “The thing is you got to be very efficient out here on the field, and walk throughs in the afternoon are a part of that. That’s where they get a lot of the mental reps. And then of course, the physical reps are out here. But again, we play Thursday, and then we don’t play again until the next Friday. So we’ve got time in between to get a lot of stuff accomplished and worked on, and that’s really what training camp is all about. We still don’t play a game for another five or six weeks, a meaningful game that allows us to really prepare the football team properly.
(On if he feels like the team is efficient if they end practice periods with time remaining on the clock) “In my philosophy there too is I try to keep the number of minutes on the clock to about the number of plays and then as we go, I’ll increase the number of plays to eat up the number of minutes remaining in that period if that makes sense. And that’s all part of the progression of sort of ramping up these practices and again, being more efficient with what we’re doing is being able to increase a period by two or three or four reps. And I’m keeping track of that. I’m keeping track of that as far as what periods have time remaining. I’m not a big guy that I don’t want to repeat a lot of plays if we don’t have to. We do a lot of this stuff, but the guys have been doing a really good job. And we just got to clean up a few areas but doing well.
(On being efficient with time in between plays and within periods) “Right. And that’s the thing now that we’ve had time together and the guys are understanding the drills and the tempo and what we’re trying to get done. We are more efficient that way, when we blow a horn and start the next period or whatever. We’re moving from drill to drill and getting things done.
(On his thoughts about the offense’s performance during team drills on Thursday) “It happens, honestly. So we don’t game plan our defense. Defense doesn’t game plan the offense. We’re all in this. We’re in this evaluation phase. That’s what training camp is about. It’s about evaluating. Just as Press (Taylor) puts the installations together at night, we have certain things that we just want to work on for that particular day. So we’re not taking advantage right now by not game planning our defense, certain coverages and certain looks. So there’s going to be some times when it doesn’t look very pretty. And that’s okay. For us right now, it’s about assignments, it’s about alignment, executing the play. Look, you get in the game, I’m going to call a play that might not be great against the coverage we see. So the quarterback has to make us right. And so we’d like to see that as well when we’re in drills like that.”
(On the communication within the coaching staff) “It really has. And again, like the players, it starts with me, having a virtual staff meeting in the morning. Let’s just get everybody on the same page for the day and going through a little injury, medical updates, and then just planning from there. The coordinators have done a great job of communicating with one another and what we’re trying to get done, and that’s what it takes to be a cohesive staff and a successful staff is having great communication.”
