JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2022
(On S Rayshawn Jenkins’s progress with his concussion) “You’ve got to go through all the steps (of the
concussion protocol), and tomorrow would be the day that we could, the last day could be Saturday.”
(On TE Evan Engram’s back) “He’s fine. He’s good.”
(On if TE Evan Engram and S Rayshawn Jenkins will travel to Kansas City) “Yes.”
(On what would be the best way to slow down TE Travis Kelce) “It’s hard. It’s difficult. He’s such a great
player. The ability for him to just wiggle. He really runs great routes. He’s just a solid player and has
learned, him and Mahomes (QB Patrick Mahomes) being on the same page so much that they kind of
sometimes do their own … I don’t want to say do their own thing, but it’s like they’re doing their own
thing, playing pitch and catch. You’ve got to do the best you can to disrupt timing at the line of
scrimmage. Obviously pressure on the quarterback helps a little bit with that, but it’s something that
you’ve really got to I think focus on throughout the course of the game.”
(On if it is helpful to know that if QB Patrick Mahomes gets in trouble, he will look to TE Travis Kelce
first) “Yeah, and really sometimes, I know probably in the redzone might be looking for him, but
sometimes it’s all the guys. I’ll tell you one thing – all the guys on offense do a great job of their scramble
[situations]. It’s tough. Again, you just have to plaster on a receiver, tight end and hopefully either get
him to throw it away or a short gain.”
(On what WR Mecole Hardman brings to the Chiefs offense) “He’s a speed guy. They do a lot of jet
sweeps with him, get him in space in the passing game, and of course the specialists, the return game is
obviously big. He’s a good player, too. Again, for us, we have to prepare as if he’s going to be out there
and go into the game that way.”
(On not having to worry about WR Tyreek Hill) “They’ve got a lot of other guys.”
(On how tough it is to handle QB Patrick Mahomes and his elite ability to improvise) “That’s the hardest
thing. That’s what makes him special as a quarterback, the ability to do that. I know every defense that
faces Mahomes probably preaches the same thing. You have to continue to finish. You’ve got to play to
the whistle. Do what you can to try to get to him. Again, those are all the things that make him great and
you just try to minimize as many of those plays as possible.”
(On what type of pass rusher DT Chris Jones is) “He’s pretty good. He’s got great quickness, crowds the
line of scrimmage. His first step is explosive. He’s powerful. He gets right into the offensive linemen.
When you put him on the edge, he’s got the speed to go around tackles. Playing at home, crowd noise,
great anticipation with getting off the ball and can get to the quarterback that way and really be
disruptive, good pass rusher. Just got to know where he’s at.”
(On how to prepare the defense for a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense) “Their
style, too, is a lot of the RPO game. Ball is going to come out quick to the tight end or receiver in those
situations. Obviously Patrick can run. It’s just disciplined game. It’s trusting your read, trusting your keys.
You can’t get out of whack with what you’re trying to do. You’ve just got to stay within the framework of
the defense called and just do your job that way. The more that you can sort of disrupt that and kind of
get them out of that can be helpful as the games goes on.”
(On how much he can learn about the team in a big matchup like this) “You can learn a lot. One, the
character of your team. You’re on the road, hostile, crowd noise, all that. How we respond, too, after a
win last weekend and building off of that. This is a great opportunity for our guys to go in there and play
a really good football team, well-coached team, disciplined football team. It’ll be a nice benchmark
game for us to see where we’re at.”
(On how QB Trevor Lawrence has progressed against a Cover 2 defense such as the Chiefs) “I wouldn’t
categorize this as much as cover two like Houston does. It’s more middle field open. Spags (Defensive
Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo), you go back and watch his teams, the Giants, when I faced him before
with Philly, and there’s a lot of the same, similar style of defenses even back then, probably eve the
same type of pass rushers. You see a lot of the same things. He does sprinkle the traditional cover two,
but this is more of a read style, and really, much like cover two principles, a lot of eyes are on the
quarterback. Then they’re going to rally, and they squeeze passing lanes. The ball’s got to come out, it’s
got to be accurate, receivers have got to be detailed. You’ve got to catch, put your foot in the ground,
get up field, all those things against his style of defense, especially the shell defenses.”
