| Thursday, September 26, 2019 (On if he is preparing to play with or without Jalen Ramsey) “I think we have to prepare for both, not understanding [the timing of] the birth of his second child and that kind of stuff, but we have to have a plan either way if he’s back and when he gets back from the birth. So, we’ve got a plan for both scenarios and we’ll see how it plays out the rest of the week.” (On what he likes about Tre Herndon) “It’s funny you say he doesn’t talk much, I even asked the DB coaches yesterday; I said, ‘Does he ever talk?’ But what he does is he comes in, works, he prepares. And anything that he is given by the position coaches or whatever it may be, he’s going out there and he’s going to do it to the best of his ability. You have to give a lot of credit to the kid, obviously coming in as a college free agent, how he’s improved so much. And not only can he play outside, he’s our backup nickel and we feel very, very comfortable with him playing either spot, either outside or inside. So it’s a lot of credit to him and where he’s made himself.” (On if the Jaguars’ success in the past against Broncos QB Joe Flacco is because he is not a mobile QB) “Well, we’ve had some pretty good players too going against him, so that definitely helps, but I think we’ve had some success in the past. Obviously, he’s not like the three quarterbacks that we’ve faced the last three weeks, but he does have the ability to extend some plays. I think they’re doing a nice job of getting the offense in boot[legs]s and stuff to get him off the perimeter. But I think anytime the quarterback is more of a pocket passer, as a defensive line you like that better than these mobile guys. So hopefully we can control their run; I think that’s where their offense starts with the two backs. We’re going to try to do everything we can to try to stop the run and make them one dimensional, that’s going to be the key to the whole ball game.” (On Flacco having a break-through factor) “He can make every throw. We told our group yesterday when we met, he can make every throw on the field. He’s got a very, very strong arm. The ball coming out is 2.44 seconds, so he’s getting rid of the ball extremely quick, going through his reads. Hopefully we can do some things maybe to get him off of his first read, buying time for us to get there. But, he’s a very talented quarterback. Anytime you win a Super Bowl, I don’t care who you are, there’s something to you.” (On what he’s seen on tape from Denver’s running backs) “Both of them, which is kind of amazing, is they’re three and four in targets in the pass game, so they do a really nice job [on] first, second and third down of getting them the ball in space. Both of them are very athletic, they catch the ball well. [Philip] Lindsay has a little bit more juice I would say. [He] can take it to the house, where [Royce] Freeman is one cut, but his shoulders are going north and south and getting a lot of yards. He’s a powerful back. So you have to do reports and stuff each week, and I think they’re a two-headed monster with both of those backs; they’re very good.” (On if he is surprised by Quincy Williams’ production) “It’s a lot of credit to him. He never was in a stacked position behind the football in college, so that was the big concern we had as coaches. I think our scouting service did a heck of a job of evaluating him and taking him where we took him, but it’s once again a lot of credit. He’s in here a lot. He’s a football junkie. Yesterday he was sick, he stayed in the training room as long as he needed to be, did what he needed to do so he could make meetings after practice, so it’s a lot of credit to the kid how he studies and understands what we’re asking of him.” (On if Williams was pressing on his return time with the training staff during his knee injury in the preseason) “Not only that situation but yesterday. A lot of players, they may not be in the building or whatever it is. He stayed in the training room, did exactly what the doctors asked him to do so he could stay for post-practice meetings. He was in early this morning. So he’s a football junkie and I think that’s what’s really helped him make this transition from nickel in college to a Will linebacker now.” (On the production from Josh Allen) “You take a young man that high, you want to have production, and he’s given us production. He’s a big, strong kid, does a nice job in the run game, too. That’s always one of your concerns when you draft a pass rusher. He’s a complete player. You can tell we can put him over a tight end, we can move Calais [Campbell] around. He really adds some ability to do different things I would say with him. But he studies the game well. He’s constantly with Calais, he follows him around like a little puppy, which is a heck of a guy you want to follow around. So, I think [Defensive Line Coach] Rebs [Jason Rebrovich] has done a nice job in just that room, of bringing him on [and] making sure he understands what we’re asking him in each and every defense.” (On what he’s seen from Leon Jacobs in the past two games) “[Head Coach] Doug [Marrone] and I have talked about it. He is playing extremely well. Through the years we’ve talked about Sams [linebackers] and all of this kind of stuff, but in our base package he’s playing well. We have him as basically an outside linebacker. A lot of the things that we do now in our system is to try to get him on the line of scrimmage, not as much off the ball, and he’s really adjusted to that well. And he’s good in coverage. We don’t put him in a lot of man-to-man situations, but he’s good in zone coverage. And you see him, he’s got a natural instinct to rush the passer, so you see him a little bit more with our blitz package and that stuff, coming as a blitzer. But we really like what we got out of Leon. Very, very excited.” (On how much the defensive line’s good play will minimize the loss of Ramsey if he does not play on Sunday) “Obviously if you can get pressure on the quarterback it helps out every DB. It doesn’t matter who’s in the game. But you can’t replace Jalen, regardless of what anybody says. He’s an elite league player. But it obviously helps. And those guys know up front, it doesn’t matter who’s behind us, who’s playing in the back end, if they get pressure on the quarterback it’s only going to make them better in the back end. So, it’s important that they play well up front, regardless of who’s playing.” (On if it’s fun to watch Calais Campbell play at an elite level despite his age) “Yeah. Him and I talk quite a bit. Whatever we have to do during the week to get him to play on Sundays. I think that’s one of the things that Rebs and I talk about quite a bit, is how are we going to get some of our older players to the game healthy and rested? And I think so far the plan has worked out really well. I think Calais has got a lot of football in him if we manage him right. And if we don’t, then that’s our fault. But if we manage him, he still can make a lot of plays like he did last week.” (On if he’s seen the video of Campbell getting tackled by Peyton Manning) “No, he’s mentioned it. It was just short of a touchdown I believe, right? Yeah, and I said that’s not something that you should really be proud of. But you know, he’s mentioned it, I have not seen it yet.” (On Jarrod Wilson playing every snap on defense so far this year) “He’s extremely smart. He’s our communicator in the back end. Does an excellent job with that, getting in and making sure everybody’s on the same page. But he does a nice job in the box, he does a nice job playing deep. A lot of credit once again, a college free agent. We went through some lumps early on and he was a special teams player, and then he’s just developed into a heck of a football player. And once again, we feel very, very comfortable with him in there as much as we can possible have him in there.” |
