JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2022
The responsibilities that Press and Jim Bob Cooter and Mike McCoy will have in terms of — how do you envision forming the game plan and their roles?
DOUG PEDERSON: Sure. Mike McCoy is the quarterback coach. He’s going to coach the quarterbacks. He’ll also be involved with game planning. That’s one of the things I like to do in the places I’ve been is we like to interject everybody and their ideas, but Mike will coach the quarterbacks.
Jim Bob as a pass game coordinator can assist the coordinator. He can assist — it’s just another way of looking at it without coaching a position, right. It’s another way of breaking down defenses, help Press wherever he needs help. He can assist in the tight end room or the receiver room or wherever it might be, and then also help us with game planning.
Everything will run through Press Taylor. He is the offensive coordinator. Between he and I we’ll make the final decisions on everything that we do offensively.
Every coach on your staff has NFL experience. How important was that and how much was that a factor in the hiring?
DOUG PEDERSON: I think it’s important. I don’t think it’s the end-all be-all type of thing that they have NFL experience. However, I’m coming into an opportunity as a new head coach again, even though I’ve been a head coach, and I want to make sure there are guys that have great experience, great teaching,
great knowledge, not only of the game of football but what we’re going to teach offensively with schematics.
I looked into the college world to bring guys up. I’ve had guys in Philadelphia where they came from college. You always want to hire the best guys, and some of these guys have actual NFL experience playing, and I think that’s important, as well.
How much do you feel like the role of the passing game coordinator on top of a quarterback coach, on top of an offensive coordinator, is that in your mind something that’s becoming more necessary in the game today, or did you just feel for this particular situation it was the right thing to do?
DOUG PEDERSON: You know, it’s always the interesting question, right, why a pass game coordinator or a run game coordinator on defense, why a passing game coordinator on offense. I just think, too, there’s a lot of — with the technology and the data and the availability of information that’s out there, it’s again, another set of eyes to help us when we put game plans together. It helps us break down all the data, all
the information that we’re getting from Exos or PFF or whatever it might be on our players, on our opponents. Some of it’s analytical obviously.
Having those guys in place to — because as a head coach you’ve got a lot of responsibilities doing other things. You’re diving into the defense, you’re diving into special teams, you’re in a meeting over here, I’m talking with Trent or whatever it might be, so having that extra guy, offense, defense, really benefits the coordinator, but it can really help me, as well.
As a follow-up, this is a little bit off topic. When you were being courted for this job, did you — DOUG PEDERSON: We didn’t go on any dates. (Laughter.) I did get a meal out of it. 1. Had you taken a deep dive into this franchise over what has transpired over the last decade — DOUG PEDERSON: As far as just —
What has gone wrong? What is —
DOUG PEDERSON: It’s hard for me to speak to what has gone wrong or is wrong or whatever. I don’t know, quite frankly, and I really don’t care about that. What I care about is moving forward from two weeks ago when I was hired. That’s what we’re trying to change. That’s what I’m trying to change. I’m trying to turn this into a winning program, a winning organization.
Do you learn from the past? Of course. You study it, of course. But at the same time, my focus has always been a forward-thinking approach to everything we do.
When you look at this roster, what do you see?
DOUG PEDERSON: I see talent, honestly. I see — is it perfect? No. We just finished up two weeks of evaluations with the staff that came in here, so obviously getting those guys on board with the players that we have — look, every year there’s turnover in the NFL, right? Every roster goes through, every team goes through the same process. But when I see — you see flashes. You see the offense taking strides throughout the course of the year. You see the defense making those strides.
Now it’s about just we’ve got to be consistent every week. There’s got to be consistency, and there’s got to be ownership with that.
Are we going to go out and add talent? Yeah, we’re going to add talent. We’re going to add competition. We’re going to bring value to the roster. Every team does that, and we’re no exception to that.
But I see talent here. I said I think in my opening remarks a couple weeks ago that it’s not an overnight fix, and it’s going to be a fix that we’ve got to do it one player at a time, one coach at a time, and get it turned around.
What stood out about Phil Rauscher? It’s been a major concern around both injuries and the lack of production. You talked about your staff has plenty of experience. He’s got eight years in the league, but one as an interim and one as the offensive line coach. What stood out about him?
DOUG PEDERSON: I think the way his guys have played for him. There’s been a lot of stability, consistency with his offensive line. For me, too, he’s a great teacher. He’s a great communicator. He’s a
detailed guy. That’s who I am when it comes to the Xs and Os and being fundamentally sound. Those are the things that kind of drew me to him, and just excited to have him on staff and getting a chance to work with our O-line.
Take us back, give us a history of your relationship with Press. What did you first meet him? Why was it so important for you to bring him here?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, Press and I, when I was hired in 2016, Chip Kelly was the coach there for three years, and actually brought Press on board as an offensive quality control, and he worked with the QBs. I kept him in that role, then I moved him around a couple years later into the receiver room, and just kind of kept listening to him, giving him more responsibility every year that I was a head coach, and then eventually got him into the quarterback room, became a pass game coordinator for me, and just a guy that is highly intelligent, very smart. He’s detailed. He’s organized.
He’s the type of guy that as I went through my tenure there in Philadelphia, he’s the kind of — you always have the coaches you keep your eye on, and he was always one of those guys for me that I kept my eye on. I knew that one day I think he was going to be an offensive coordinator. I felt that in my heart that he could be. I was going to eventually make him a coordinator possibly in Philadelphia, and things changed.
Yeah, I’m so excited for him because of the working relationship that we’ve had and how we think alike and how we bounce ideas off each other, and just looking forward to watching him flourish from here.
A couple weeks ago you said that you were going to call plays; do you still feel that way or did anything change in that thinking with the staff you put together?
DOUG PEDERSON: No, I still have full intention of doing that, calling plays. That’s really what I love to do throughout the course of the week. That’s how I study and help with game plans, and then ultimately on game day.
But look, the way I call plays, it’s still a very collaborative approach. It’s me and Press game day. We’re sitting there talking and he’s giving me ideas and suggestions, and I’m going to — Press is probably going to take some stuff from Jim Bob Cooter, Mike McCoy, they’re going to get together between series. That’s how this whole thing works on game day. At the end of the day it’s coming together and making the right call at the right time, and then of course just teaching our players.
Yeah, for me I’m going to continue to do that, but it takes all of us to get that done.
You said something interesting that day, as well, that if it’s not working for you today, you might hand it off. Is that literally — do you take the headset off and say, you take over? Has that happened to you?
DOUG PEDERSON: It has. It has. You don’t physically take the headset off because we’ve got the communicators and stuff that they can’t switch out that fast, but I’ve done that. I’ve asked the coordinator to give me the play call, and I still have the communicator to call the play. But they’re giving me the play in my headset.
It’s a lot like Coach Reid and I in Kansas City; he called the plays, but he called them through me. I was the coordinator, and I was the one communicating, so it’s just a little bit of the reverse role there.
Yeah, listen, if it’s not working and I’m struggling to find a play, I’m all for giving that up and letting the coordinator do it.
What was the conversation with Mike Caldwell like? What’s your vision for the defense and what does he bring as the defensive coordinator?
DOUG PEDERSON: You know, Mike and I, we go way back too. We were former players together in this league. We kind of cut our teeth together on the Eagles staff, him working under Jim John sore, playing for Jim Johnson and then of course Coach Reid, and then our paths kind of separated. He’s kind of been with Todd Bowles, and we know Todd was a head coach, tremendous coordinator in this league, the
things that Mike has always kind of been in the linebacker room, and the structure of defense that we play and the majority of the guys in the NFL play, it fits what we do. It’s an aggressive mindset, and those are the conversations that Mike and I have had is we want to maintain the aggressiveness, we want to be able to put our players in position to make plays. Moving a Josh Allen around, moving a Chaisson, moving these guys around, moving safeties around, other backers. Really presenting a picture to the offense where maybe you don’t know where the blitz is coming from. You kind of watch what Tampa Bay did this year and the success they had on defense.
But again, it takes players, too, and we understand that. But I’m excited, again, for him to really come in here and having Bob Sutton there to really, I think, even to help Mike, I think that’s a big step for him to use.
Is it too early to decide what the scheme is?
DOUG PEDERSON: I think it is. It’s too early until we get the players in here. It’s one of the biggest things as coaches we try to figure out the identity. Every year you hit the reset button and you try to figure out the identity, because again, we’re about to get into free agency, the draft is coming up, all that stuff, and things are going to look different. You get into the off-season program and you’re trying to figure things out, so identity-wise it’s kind of hard to put a thumb on it right now.
Have you spent enough time with Trevor to kind of get a feel for his personality and how that’ll mesh with Mike and Jim and Press, and how important is that sort of relationship for those guys to be on the same page?
DOUG PEDERSON: It’s a huge relationship, and it’s one that I encourage, not only myself but Mike, Press, Jim Bob, the guys to really cultivate and reach out to him, and of course he was in the building a couple weeks ago, had a chance to meet him and talk to him.
I encourage all my staff members to reach out to the guys this time of year and really start building a relationship with them. It’s going to be a really good dynamic because what I understand of Trevor is his mindset, how he thinks. He’s eager to learn. He wants to grow. I’ve got great teachers in the room that can help him and help him be successful.
That’s not only on the field but I think off the field, as well, and that’s what I’m looking forward to in April when we get the guys in here.
You were obviously coaching last year, but did you do any research on him or did you kind of keep your ears open about him when he was coming out?
DOUG PEDERSON: I didn’t do a lot. I was just mainly watching the game kind of as a fan, too. But as things got closer and you start talking to people that — outside of Jacksonville who kind of know him a little bit, you kind of get into the mind and how he thinks, and a guy that kind of thinks the way we do. That’s encouraging.
Then of course we have to think like he thinks, too. It’s a two-way street. I’m excited about that.
Will you have an assistant head coach? Is there someone who would say — heaven forbid you were to get sick or something —
DOUG PEDERSON: Yes, now that I’ve got the staff in place, it’s something now as I begin to kind of look around the staff, I’m not going to hire another guy as far as that goes, but I will name an assistant head coach pretty quickly here as we go. Now that we’ve got everybody in place, it really gives me time to get a feel for the guys and the direction I want to go with that position.
You’re sitting out a year but probably going to be a head coach again; do you have in mind who my staff is going to be? Does it come together like that?
DOUG PEDERSON: It does, and it can. You want to have an idea. You do — I started a month out before the end of the regular season really starting to kind of put some pieces together, put some names down, formulating lists. You know, when you finally get the job, you hope that these guys are still available. You still have to — you go through the proper channels and do your interviews and all that, and for me, things — especially with the coordinators, I think that’s the key for any head coach is have the great coordinators. That element really kind of fell in place for me with Press, Mike and Heath, special teams coordinator.
Then after that you kind of — especially on offense, you want to target an offensive line guy. I think that’s important to have that piece, and the quarterback coach, especially in the situation that I was coming into here in Jacksonville with Trevor. Again, you’re thinking about the defensive side, then you’re thinking about the guys that were here, the staff members that were here and if there’s a fit with one of those guys. You just start — the pieces and the dominos start to fall, I guess.
For me, it took two weeks to fill out the staff because I wanted to take my time and interview as many guys as possible for all these positions. Here we are today.
What is the value in your opinion of having, like you said, coaches return and just them knowing the relationships already, knowing the players, what kind of value can they bring?
DOUG PEDERSON: A lot of value, a lot. Like you said, they know the guys. They know the ins and outs of the building, they know the strength staff, they know the equipment guys, they know everything, and
it’s valuable, plus they know the team and the players. That’s why you — for me, I think you have to start there, with the staff, and see if there’s a fit.
Again, it’s the one side of the busy just do not like because you’ve got to let good people go and they’re usually good coaches and it disrupts families and lives and all of that, but at the same time I want to make sure that I do surround myself with quality guys.
Is the strength and conditioning staff remaining intact, or is that still a work in progress?
DOUG PEDERSON: It’s kind of a work in progress right now. We’re going to take a look at that department. Obviously we want the best for the players moving forward. We’re going to take a look at that in the next few weeks.
Have you had any input at all in the EVP search or do you have any communication with Shad on how that search —
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, and quite frankly I think those questions can really go to him at this time, but I do want to be a part of that process.
In Philadelphia, Carson, as well as he played as a rookie, he made this pretty dramatic improvement to his second year. What goes into that process, and how much do the coaches and the players get together, self-scouting, whatever, what went into that process and do you see that for Trevor?
DOUG PEDERSON: Well, it’s a little different because first of all, in Philly, I retained the entire staff, so going into year two we had the same — I had the same coordinator, same quarterback coach, myself, the whole thing. A little different here because after Trevor’s first year, things got disrupted, new head coach, new offense, everything.
But the one thing that is consistent, I think, is the growth that Carson made in year two and the growth that we anticipate and hope that Trevor can make in year two. That just comes from him communicating to us, us communicating to him, starting in OTAs when we get the guys in here and get on the grass and really start working the fundamentals, that’s where you start seeing the growth in young quarterbacks in that second year into year three.
It’ll be on Trevor a little bit to come in, learn some new terminology, pick up some new ideas, things of that nature. But we’re hopeful that in year two he’ll make some good strides.
JAGUARS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE CALDWELL
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2022
MIKE CALDWELL: I really just want to say how grateful I am to have this opportunity. I want to thank Doug and the organization for entrusting me with this, and the floor is yours.
You and Doug’s relationship goes back to when you were both players in Philadelphia; did he make an impression on you back then when he was in the locker room that you knew, okay, he’s a head coach and wants to work with me, we can make this work?
MIKE CALDWELL: Well, you know, anytime you’re dealing with a quarterback they’re going to make an impression on you. So he was the guy and we were going through that transition period, and he did a great job, and you can see the knowledge as a player, and it just transitioned to him being a coach.
You’ve worked with a lot of great coaches, including Todd Bowles recently in New York as well as Tampa. If you have the personnel that you want, what is the perfect defensive scheme that you would like to run in Jacksonville?
MIKE CALDWELL: Really that question in Jacksonville, what the Jaguar players do well, we’ll let them do that. It’s really not going to be we’re going to be this type of defense. That one, I’m going to look at the personnel, understand what they do well, let them go out there and do it well, and that’s where success comes from.
Do you see yourself as an aggressive coach? That’s what Doug said. Do you like the blitzes? In Tampa you blitzed a lot. Do you like that aspect of the game?
MIKE CALDWELL: My history and my influences have been Todd Bowles, Jim Johnson, John Harbaugh, just to name a few, and that’s just my nature. I believe as a coach when you’re on the defense you have to affect the quarterback, you have to affect the offense, and that enables you to go out there and be successful.
How much did you learn moving from New York to Tampa with Todd? Maybe some things didn’t change at all, but did you as a staff change your scheme, especially enhancing the secondary, making them more primary blitzers perhaps?
MIKE CALDWELL: The thing I know, just like I was saying, once you see what you have, then you’re able to utilize those pieces and get the best out of them, so if you’re in New York, we were strong outside, we got to Tampa we were a little bit young in the back end, so you kind of tweak what you’re doing to take advantage of their strengths and kind of hide their weaknesses.
What do you see in the talent currently in this building?
MIKE CALDWELL: In this building the one thing when I turn on the film watching them is they play hard. They really do, from the front guys to the linebackers to the secondary, they play hard. That’s right there, that’s one thing that if you’re a football player and you’re a true football player, that’s something you’re going to do, you’re going to play hard, and now it’s just this coaching staff’s job to get them to play hard and play the right way, play the Jags’ way, and that’s our job to get it done.
What did you notice when you watched the defense from last year, their ups, like holding Buffalo to six points, but then the lows of last in the league in takeaways by a good margin. In terms of what positives and negatives did you see when you went back and reviewed it?
MIKE CALDWELL: Just going back, the thing that stands out is the way they came — now, certain games in the NFL you’re going to have ups and downs throughout the season, but if you have the effort and way they played hard, that’s something you can take and you can build on and you can run with.
What do you think about some of the young guys in the secondary, especially Andre Cisco, Tyson Campbell?
MIKE CALDWELL: I think there’s a good mix back there with Shaq Griffin. There’s guys that have played, they have young guys with talent, and I think there’s an opportunity for a lot of growth back there with the veteran guys being able to grow, learn this system, and keep honing their skills and teaching the young guys how to do it.
When you do that and you build that accountability in a room, then that’s when the defense takes off.
Given your past and what you just came from in Tampa with the linebacker play, how excited should Myles Jack be that you’re on the staff and how excited are you about Myles Jack?
MIKE CALDWELL: I’m excited. I spoke with him yesterday, and the thing, it was on the phone, so just I could see it through the phone. That sounds kind of funny. I could see it through the phone that he’s eager and ready to go. He was like, Coach, can I come over — I’m doing a little bit today, take your time, if you want to swing by tomorrow, I’m fine, but he was ready to go. You could see the passion in the voice, and one thing he said, I want to win, and that’s what we’re about here. I know Doug said it; I’m about it. We’re trying to get guys in the best position so we can go out there and win games.
How did working with Jim Johnson, Todd Bowles, how did that kind of shape how you see football?
MIKE CALDWELL: Just the philosophy. If you’re attacking on defense, you’re going to make the offense adjust to what you’re doing, and if you affect them the right way, show a look this way and come from somewhere else, affect them the right way, now it disrupts their timing, and advantage defense.
Do you feel like just seeing firsthand Todd Bowles’ coordinating defenses for as long as he has, do you feel like you’ve been able to see a lot of the insight as far as being a defensive coordinator?
MIKE CALDWELL: That’s the thing sitting in that — I think we were together 10 years, sitting in the meeting rooms together 10 years and understand when you’re watching film what you’re looking for, breaking it down, understanding, developing a game plan to attack the offense. You sit in there for 10 years, something is bound to rub off.
How long will it take you to figure out what’s here, and how much can you get done from the tape and how much will you need mini-camp and OTAs to really hone in on how you’re going to play defense with these guys?
MIKE CALDWELL: That’s going to be important. When you look at it on tape, their technique last year was going to be different than what we play here, so now you have to teach them your technique, get them out on the field and see do I need to tweak my technique, do I need to tweak this to benefit the player, or can they do that technique, then we can go on to something else.
Mini-camps, OTAs, they’re going to be important because one of the teaching aspects of it and then finding out what players do well and let them go out there and do it.
What kind of coach is Cody Grimm? Obviously he’s coming with you from Tampa to coach the safeties.
MIKE CALDWELL: Cody is a coach that when you’re in that quality control role, if guys from other positions go to you to get an answer, and when I was a linebacker coach down there, I saw that. When guys do that, that’s someone that they know has knowledge, understands the game and can relay the message, and that’s what Cody does.
He played in the league. He understands that if we draw it up on the board and we call it this, that play – – you look in that player’s eyes and it doesn’t click, then we have to get it to them another way, and he’s able to do that.
You sort of mentioned this staff is comprised of a lot of former NFL players. How do you think that helps you guys sort of relate to the guys on the field and coach the team?
MIKE CALDWELL: I think it helps, but also once you’re a former player, you can’t say I did it this way, I did it this way. You’ve got to be able to understand the limitations of that player, whether it’s learning or physical, and go out there and help them become the best player they can be.
Now, sitting in that meeting room, understanding that — I remember when the coach told me this, that it makes sense, and have them understand and be able to see in their eyes that they got it, and then once you see that, then be able to move on. If they don’t get it, then you have to come back around and get it to them.
You’re going to be a lot of these guys’ third coordinator in three years. How important is that making sure they play fast so they don’t get caught up in am I supposed to be here or there? Is that hard when guys have had a lot of coordinators?
MIKE CALDWELL: It is, but again, when you’re coaching, different terminology, it’s key. So now you go there, if you teach the terminology in a way they can understand it and it means something to them, then you can put two and two together. As coaches that’s what you hear. We’re teachers; we have to
teach them a system where they can understand it, not make it so difficult that you’re running all over the place, make it simple where they can understand it, they can maximize their talent to get the job done.
From what you’ve seen on tape, the lack of turnovers for this defense last year, sometimes turnovers are a little bit of luck, sometimes they’re a little bit of not being aggressive enough. What do you see when you see a defense that just for whatever reason has such a dearth of turnovers like this team had last year?
MIKE CALDWELL: That’s the thing, turnovers, it’s such an important part of the game. Every defense is going to work it. But you have to work it a certain way. You work it and you have to stress getting the ball out, stress the different types of coverages you’re going to play. Again, it goes back to attacking, affecting the quarterback. So when you affect the quarterback and speed his process up, that enables you to get a chance to break on a ball here and get a pick or break on a ball and knock it down or get a ball tipped up in the air and be able to get a turnover that way.
But speeding up the quarterback is key to doing that, and then flying around, understanding what you’re supposed to do, getting there, getting there nasty, turnovers happen.
Speaking of affecting the quarterback, what was your relationship previously with Brentson Buckner and why was it important for you to bring him and be a part of this staff?
MIKE CALDWELL: When we ended up going to Arizona, Brentson came and he was our defensive line coach. From there, first time coaching, he’s played in the league, I knew him as a player, first time coaching, he came in and did an outstanding job there. We’ve always stayed in touch and have become friends and would lean on each other for that.
I understand what he does for a defensive line room. I understand how the techniques I want, he teaches them. It’s a match that will gel together real nice.
With that said, how much input did you have with Doug when he was hiring, when he was interviewing different guys for different positions on the defensive side of the ball?
MIKE CALDWELL: We talked about it, but at the end, it’s Doug’s decision. We talked about it, I sold the guys that I wanted, and he had guys that he wanted, and I think the staff is exceptional.
How challenging is this for you, this transition, making the jump you are to calling plays and putting a staff together, everything kind of funneling through you and trying to acquire the talent that you want? Is your head spinning a little bit? Is it going to be a challenging time for you personally?
MIKE CALDWELL: No, the thing about it is I’m excited. I’m excited about it. Now I get a chance to put my stamp on it. I’ve said it in many a defensive staff rooms, and all the time every idea doesn’t line up. Now I get input and now I have a chance to develop the ideas the way I see it. I’m excited about the opportunity and ready to roll.
Back to Myles Jack and K’Lavon Chaisson, there have been times in their career that they’ve been asked to do a lot of different things and they have really been out of position or haven’t done well at that position. I realize you’ve just been hired, but have you had a chance to go back and look at some film and wonder why they were in those situations and how much differently would you have put them in?
MIKE CALDWELL: Well, the thing, when you go back and you look at the film, you see the scheme they’re playing, you don’t have the details of what they were taught as far as the technique-wise, so I go back and I just look and I look at ability, someone that can make plays and someone that can process. I see those guys, and again, we talked about going back to keeping it simple. If you’ve got a guy that has this skill set that does this real well, let him do this. If he’s better going forward, let him go forward. If he needs to go back, we’ll let him go back with every blue moon. But if he’s going forward, let him get after the quarterback and let him go.
Was that part of your conversation with Myles, that it seems like every year his position was changing?
MIKE CALDWELL: With Myles he was just, Coach, I’m ready to go, whatever he wants to do. He’s that type of — talking to him, he’s that type of guy that whatever the team asks him to do, he’s a team oriented guy. Whatever we want him to do, he’s going to go out there and do it to the best of his ability. But as coaches, it’s our job to let him go do what he does well, and that’s what we plan on doing.
What kind of a resource can Bob Sutton be for you?
MIKE CALDWELL: I think Bob will be a great resource. He has a bunch of knowledge. We’re in there now piecing together how we’re doing it, and he’ll chime in here or there, and it’s a great resource, something I can bang an idea off of or have him bring an idea to me, and we talk about it as a staff, but he’s a guy that I’m going to lean on, and he’s a great resource.
Does it help that he’s been here and he’s familiar with these guys in terms of their abilities what they can and can’t do?
MIKE CALDWELL: It does — when I walk in the building, everybody has a clean slate, but also get a little knowledge from Tony, from Pat, from Bob that have been here, understand like the personalities and how to approach guys, and got a clean slate, but I’ll learn you, but it’s also good to have a little bit of pre-knowledge from someone has been here about the player.
JAGUARS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR PRESS TAYLOR
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2022
What can you tell us about Trevor Lawrence and your expectations of getting a chance to coordinate an offense that he’s leading?
PRESS TAYLOR: I’m very excited about the opportunity to work with Trevor. All of us are. That was kind of the one thing that when you mentioned there’s an opportunity here with the Jaguars, everybody talks about Trevor Lawrence, the character he has.
I was — whether fortunate or unfortunate, I was on the opposite sideline the last game of the year with a chance to get to the playoffs and Trevor comes out, he’s like 20 of 25 in the very first half, 9 of 11 on 3rd down, kind of lit us up and kept us out of the playoffs. I definitely remember that. At the time had a bad taste in my mouth, but now on this side of it, that was very encouraging, very exciting to see.
I was telling somebody earlier, being in the division, a lot of the stuff I do I would just do — during the week I would watch a lot of press conferences from the other team, so I had the opportunity to watch him specifically. I remember when you guys gave him the Good Guy Award for the season, so that was one I was watching and stuff. The way he handled adversity, success, ownership of certain things, that was very impressive to me.
Everything I’ve heard, that kind of aligned with, I guess, my opinion of him from watching him from afar. Where do you see Travis at in his role, at the receiver, running back, both?
PRESS TAYLOR: Somewhere with the football. You know, it could be anything depending on the play. It’s obviously — Coach Parmalee was here with him, knows him well, has a good feel for him, but didn’t get the chance to watch him during the season obviously with the injury he dealt with, but we’ve all seen what he did at Clemson. Now we’ve seen the clips through training camp or the off-season as they went. So we kind of know what we think he could be, and it’s the opportunity to get to work with him through this off-season, this training camp, and really get a feel for what he does well and how we can put him in position to succeed, just like we want to do with all the guys. If that’s throwing him the ball, handing him the ball, using him in different ways, that’s what we want to do.
When you were growing with Carson Wentz his first couple of years, what did you learn in that experience that you might do differently with Trevor?
PRESS TAYLOR: Yeah, it’s hard to say I’d do this or that differently. I think it’s catered to the person, their personality, how you can reach them best. I think as coaches that’s our job to find a way to reach that individual best and put them in position to maximize his abilities.
All these guys are really talented or they wouldn’t be at this level, and it’s on us to build their confidence to the opportunity where they can go out and succeed at whatever we ask them to do, but at the same time we should be finding what it is they do well, and those are the things we’re asking them to do at a high level. So that’s kind of the art of coaching I guess I’d say, where you reach everybody a little differently.
Doug talked about how you guys think similarly and see things the same, through kind of the same lens. Does that mean how to attack a defense, how to coach a quarterback? Speak to that a little bit.
PRESS TAYLOR: I guess a general answer would be all of the above. We’ve had a lot of conversations over five years. We’ve sat in a lot of rooms speaking the same language in terms of our terminology offensively and grew comfortable with how we like to attack things or how we like to respond to things or what we call things. That’s kind of one of the things we’ve spent a lot of time as an offensive staff just in the week we’ve been together of trying to get on the same page terminology wise. That’s a big thing.
We all know what we’re trying to say on a certain thing, but I called it this, Mike McCoy called it that, Jim Bob called it that. Okay, but what do we want to call it. At the same time in the back of our minds we’ll ask the guys that are in the room, what does Trevor know it as, what do our guys know it as, and how can we combine that to be able to hit the ground running as fast as possible.
Do you remember the first time that you can recall seeing Trevor on tape and what your impression was then and what it is now that you’ve watched more of it?
PRESS TAYLOR: Yeah, it was probably at some point in Clemson, catching a TV game. Every once in a while you’re on the road and you watch a Saturday night game, and whoever that was. I don’t know if I could tell you specifically what game it was that he played in, but it was evident. He had the prototypical look where he’s a big, tall quarterback, has the ability to move, can make every throw on the field. The hair kind of stands out; you notice that when you first turn on the tape and see him.
But I don’t know if I could say what I thought then versus what I thought now. You just — it kind of left off the tape that he was obviously very talented. So I don’t know if that answers your question.
How far ahead from a maturity, leadership standpoint do you think he is for somebody who’s only 22 years old?
PRESS TAYLOR: Again, not knowing him personally and really just watching him from afar and kind of gathering information from people, I think he is well ahead of what you would expect from a 22 year old, but that kind of — every single person, again, like you talked about, it’s a coach finding a way to reach each person is different. To say here’s the expectation for a 22 year old’s maturity level, that’s hard to say.
Does that part excite you as a coach almost as much as his actual ability?
PRESS TAYLOR: Absolutely. That is the character is a huge aspect to the success of a lot of people, I feel like particularly the quarterback. That’s just my opinion of it. There’s probably been guys that are jerks that are great quarterbacks and it is what it is. But I think it definitely goes a long way in terms of
winning over a locker room, just the way you handle things, you handle life, you handle success, adversity on the football field, off the football field. I think that matters.
Knowing that you were brought into Philly by Chip but then Doug retained you and Doug has clearly gone to bat to get to this position now, what has he meant to you in your career?
PRESS TAYLOR: I’ve learned a lot from Doug. Over the course of — we were together for five years. We kept in contact last year just throughout the season and all that just because I enjoy talking football with Doug. He’s a guy that I’ve been able to learn from a lot in terms of maybe it’s his experience as a player or his experience as a coach. He was a quality control, he was a quarterback coach, he was an offensive coordinator, now he’s a head coach. He’s kind of done everything that I’ve done or hope to do.
I think it’s important to learn from people that have gone before you and done these things, and if there’s something he can tell me he hit his head on as a quality control that I can learn from and not hit my head on and be prepared for, I’m going to do that. It just happened to be Doug, but I think you’re kind of a combination of all the people you have worked with, all the experiences you’ve had, and you take that and move forward.
So Doug, we’ve had a lot of experiences together over the last five years or five of the last six years, whatever you want to call it. I’ve been able to learn a lot from him. I look up to him, and I appreciate the mentor role he’s taken in my life.
Knowing that you had the role you did that last year in Philly and then kind of took a different sort of role last year, did it make not having a play calling, quote-unquote title, did it make distance — kind of make-the-heart-grow-fonder kind of deal?
PRESS TAYLOR: I don’t know, I really enjoyed my experience in Indy working with Frank Reich and that offensive staff and the entire staff, that was a great experience. That’s a great organization. I have fond memories of my year there. Still keep in touch with a lot of those guys.
I don’t know if I compared it to Philly or the role or I didn’t worry about that. I was excited to come to work every single day and just contribute to whatever I needed to do to help us win at the time.
Around here the last year or so, the buzz word for lack of speed has been a thing on the offensive side. How much do you notice that, and how much really does this team just overall need more playmakers on that side of the ball to help Trevor?
PRESS TAYLOR: Yeah, you know, the more we can surround him with talented people, the better we feel like our chances will be. But at the same time we’re going to work with whatever we have, and we’re going to identify the strengths and weaknesses of those players, put them in position to do what they do well within the scheme of what we’d like to do.
It’s kind of all encompassing. Obviously we want everybody to be big, tall, strong, fast, can run by everybody, can catch everything. That’s the ideal. But until you get everybody that looks like that or plays like that, if we could have five Calvin Johnsons out on the field, that would be great. We’ll take that. But until then, it’s about building, maximizing the strengths and weaknesses of the people we have. So we’ll do our best to try to utilize that or build around that.
Do you think there are a lot of different styles of players that can fit in what you guys are trying to do?
PRESS TAYLOR: I do think so. I think there’s a lot of different roles, a lot — it’s kind of like building a basketball team almost where everybody contributes in a different way, there’s your rebounder, there’s your three-point shooter, there’s your ball handler. You can make all these different styles kind of fit together in some way, shape or form, and again, that’s the art of coaching. As we build this thing, that’s what we’re going to be conscious of.
Your brother this week said something that I thought really related to Jacksonville. He admitted he made the mistake of leaving Perine in on 3rd down and 4th down. This team just went through complete total lack of accountability when mistakes were made from the top down. How similar are you to your brother in that, and how do you see that room when things don’t go as planned?
PRESS TAYLOR: Yeah, I think the number one thing you ask for from somebody is accountability. I have no problem if I make a mistake of standing up here admitting it. I think part of that is a little bit of self awareness, a little bit of maybe just confidence in yourself where — but at the same time that’s what I would expect of players. If you make a mistake, stand up, say you made a mistake, we evaluate from it, we evolve, we adapt.
That’s something, just the specific example you gave about my brother, I feel like that’s something he’s done really well as a coach. He stands up, he takes accountability. He evaluates what happened that led to that moment that maybe he’s standing up for. He evolves as he goes, but you’re adapting, and when you evaluate, evolve, you can’t go to extremes, either, specifically just going on the Bengals. Obviously I
kept a close eye on them. They lost at San Francisco; he got up in front of the media and said, a guy, somebody asked him, do you wish Joe Burrow had thrown it on 3rd and 4th down, and he said, yeah, probably.
Next week they got in the same situation; Joe Burrow threw it on 3rd or 4th down, they won the game. The next week they had a similar situation; he chose to run the ball. It worked, it was successful, but to me that’s where he didn’t go extreme and said, this situation happened, I said I’d throw the ball; that’s
all I’m ever going to do the rest of my career. It’s still making the best decision at that time that’s best for your team.
So I think that’s important, and I think ownership goes a long way, from players, coaches, the relationship across everybody. If you make a mistake, stand up, say you made a mistake, learn from it and show that you’re going to be better the next time through. I think that’s important and that speaks volumes to your team and from your players to your coaching staff, as well.
What about the offensive brain power in that room, how will you balance all that, Mike McCoy, Jim Bob Cooter, and they’re all a lot older than you? How will you balance that?
PRESS TAYLOR: Yeah, I think it’s exciting bringing different personalities and different experiences together to build the best possible offense. We didn’t take Doug’s Eagles’ playbook and roll it out on the table and say, this is what we do. We said, here’s kind of the experiences, what do you guys do well, what do you think, Mike, what did you experience in your career coaching X, Y, Z, Jim Bob, Phil, all these guys. We’re kind of combining everybody together to build the best offense.
But I think that can only work if everybody kind of puts their ego aside and is truly in it to do what is best for the Jacksonville Jaguars at the time. We all have to be that way. I think that was a big part of the hiring process, of vetting everybody, talking to people they worked with, talking to players they coached, how is this guy in these situations. Trying to figure out the personalities that we’re getting, that we can put together, being specific in what we wanted, to make sure we can put ourselves in position where everybody’s goal is to come in here and do what’s best for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Going back to the Bengals and your brother’s experience, number one, I feel like we’ve skated around the biggest topic in the world. What’s it been like for you and your extended family these three, four weeks with that run? But number two, kind of a big talking point has been that the Bengals picked Ja’Marr Chase over an offensive lineman and now this big conversation, playmakers over offensive line. What’s your perspective on that?
PRESS TAYLOR: Again, I think each situation is its own, so it’s what’s best for your team at the time. They obviously felt comfortable enough with the offensive line they’d had if they took Ja’Marr Chase, so they made that decision. If they just had complete holes and felt like they wouldn’t have any offensive line, they may have made a different decision.
I don’t know that, again, you avoid all extremes of saying, well, they took a receiver, they made it to the Super Bowl; we’re going to take as many skill players as we can. It’s about building the best possible offense and you’ve got to take a lot of factors into that. We can all walk out there and say we want that top free agent, but at some point he costs a certain amount and there’s a big-picture salary cap.
It’s all kind of the whole organization working together to make sure, again, we’re building the best possible offense for the Jacksonville Jaguars or that’s going to contribute to our team, complement our defense, complement our special teams, put us in position to win as many games as possible.
Then just the personal aspect of my family, that was obviously very exciting time for us. We were all geared up. We all went out to the Super Bowl, got a chance to support my brother and his family out there.
And then my wife is super excited to live in Florida. She’s excited for the weather. There was a snowfall yesterday in Indy, so she’s just looking at pictures of the beach, I think, and trying to get down here, so we’re excited to get them down here.
If I can ask a slightly personal question, how did you — the origin of your first name, Press?
PRESS TAYLOR: My first name is actually Sherwood, so that’s my dad’s name. I’m named after my dad. He’s named after a grandfather somewhere down the road, and then I’ve just always gone by Press. I actually named my son Sherwood. His name is Sherwood Press Taylor. We call him Woods just to take the Wood aspect of it, make it different. But my middle name is Press, and all it was was my dad was a giant Pistol Pete Maravich fan.
So my mom is like a month from delivering me, they’re at maybe the Big 8 basketball tournament, and for whatever reason Pete Maravich is there walking down the stands next to my dad and my mom. He’s telling her the story of who he is, his dad Press coached him, so Pete Maravich’s dad is named Press. My dad was just a big fan, liked the name. When he said it, my mom said, “That’s his name.”
That’s how it came about. I thought I’d be a basketball player. A lot of people say I should be a defensive backs coach, but I didn’t ever have that in me, I guess, I don’t know.
What does Andrew Breiner bring to the table as far as a quarterback coach?
PRESS TAYLOR: Yeah, Andrew has got a lot of different experiences than myself. Got a chance to work with Andrew for a year there in Philly. We just kind of hit it off. He’s a great guy to be around in terms of ideas. He’s a great worker. Our personalities just kind of click. Coach Pederson, same with him. They really hit it off. It’s just a lot of different experiences, again, tying together, but we know what we’re getting from a character, work ethic, the way he interacts with people, the relationships he builds. He’s just another element that’s exciting to add to our coaching staff.
