HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2024
(On defensive fatigue setting in) “One, yeah, they’ve been on the field a lot in the last four
games. They’re at I think it was right around 80 snaps on average, give or take a few plays.
That’s a lot in a row, consecutively in a row, to be playing. Eleven-straight games, two weeks
in London. And look, I’m not making excuses for anything, I’m just kind of trying to paint a
picture. And then you add on top of that, we’re not winning. We’re not executing. We’re not
winning games. I think all of that, from a team perspective, not just the defense, but a team
perspective, the guys are tired. The guys are mentally and physically fatigued. This is a good
time to step away and take a break, and recharge for the last six games.”
(On the reason for the margin of loss in Detroit) “I don’t believe they’re letting go of the rope.
I don’t. It is a good football team. They are good, and they’re going to play for a long time, I
think, this year. That’s just without question in the NFC. I look at it, even visiting with guys
today and seeing the guys today, they are. They’re tired. It’s been, each week, each Monday,
we haven’t felt very good. That also weighs on it. You’re going into the next week, you’re
trying to motivate yourself again, you’re trying to get yourself—pick back up for another
game. That’s hard. That’s hard emotionally. Then, like I said, you go out, you don’t coach
well, you don’t play well. Obviously, what result are you trying to get at the end of the day?
You are trying to win a game. I see these guys practice and do the things during the week,
and not be rewarded for all that on Sundays. That also plays a part in this as well.”
(On injury updates to WR Gabe Davis and any other players) “He [Davis] is going to miss the
rest of the season. It is confirmed, this morning. Gosh, I hate it for him. He’s battled through
some injury this season, but he was in good spirits today when I saw him. But he’ll miss the
remainder of the year. Everybody else came out… Ezra [OL Ezra Cleveland] just kind of
tweaked his ankle, the same one he’s had. He’s fine. [OL] Walker Little came out, had a
little knee tweak in there. He’s going to be OK. Everybody else… Tyson [CB Tyson
Campbell], he came off kind of holding the—all the three DBs, Darby [CB Ronald Darby],
Buster [CB Montaric Brown], Tyson, are all going to be fine.”
(On an update on OL Mitch Morse) “Yeah, he got poked in the eye. Came out for a little bit
there. Actually, went back in the game late, and he’ll be fine.”
(On if he’s decided on potential coaching staff changes) “No, I’m still evaluating.”
(On if he’s spoken with Jaguars Owner Shad Khan) “Just after the game.”
(On if he’s meeting with Khan today) “No. I mean, not yet.”
(On if he has a meeting scheduled with Khan) “I wouldn’t tell you. But no.”
(On whom told Khan this Jaguars team was the “best ever assembled”) “I don’t know. I’m
not privy to those conversations that Shad has or who he’s talking to. I don’t know. I can’t
answer that.”
(On if it was him that told Khan this Jaguars team was the “best ever assembled”) “No.”
(On why Khan had those sentiments) “We talk a lot. Preseason, offseason, I mean, going
into the season you’ve got high expectations, obviously, for your football team, as you
should. Everybody does. Start of camp, start of the regular season, and rightfully so.”
(On his ability to make staffing changes himself or if it must be through consultation with
Khan and General Manager Trent Baalke) “I would definitely have a conversation with them
first, if that were the case. But we’re not there.”
(On if there’s an “unwritten rule” that exists in the NFL about making coaching staff
changes at a certain point in the season) “I think you’ve got to be really, really careful when
you start pointing fingers at certain people. It’s a dangerous thing. I’m not going to do that.
Not doing it. Not right now. Because, as a head coach in this league that’s going through
what we’re going through, you’re pointing a finger. If it’s going to be pointed, it needs to be
pointed at me. Start with me. So, that’s enough on that.”
(On his message to Jaguars fans that had high expectations at the beginning of the season)
“I’ll say this, and I told the team this today and I told it to them after the game, that the team
that was out there yesterday, that was not us. That’s not who we are. That’s not who we
stand for. There’s enough pride in that locker room, enough pride on the coaching staff,
whether we win the game or not. How we performed, it’s not who we are. It’s not who we
are. It’s not how I coach. It’s not how we prepare during the week. It’s not how the players
practice and what they put their bodies through. I don’t think many people understand
what these guys go through during the course of a week. These guys play—and this is
across the league. This is not just us. This is everybody who puts on a uniform on game
days. They’re playing through pain. They’re playing through injury. They’re playing hurt and
sore, and especially this time of the year. So, my hat is off to those players because of what
they battle through. And so, yeah, you can criticize me all you want, point the finger at me.
That’s fine because that’s where it starts. But for the players, they put their best foot
forward every single day. Yesterday was not who we are. And to his point, I mean, this is an
exhausted team right now and we need this week to get rejuvenated again, get fresh again,
get ready to go for the last six weeks.”
(On if he has any regrets about holding tough practices during training camp) “I don’t. I
don’t. Look, I always tell the guys too, there’s no substitution for your hard work and
preparation. This is a football game, a sport. It’s contact. You’ve got to put pads on. You’ve
got to do those things to condition your body. The way camp and the way the schedule and
the way the CBA and the way everything is sort of laid out for us to do that once a week,
twice a week at the most when camp starts, and really when pads come on. You’ve got to
remember too, we do both the bulk of our hitting before we play a game, right? And then we
do maybe that second week because we do a joint practice, right? Then after that, you’re
kind of getting ready for Week 1. So, I’m very conscious of getting the guys ready. I mean, if
you look at that Miami game, we were flying around. We were fresh. Our guys were in great
shape, right? So that’s the goal coming out of camp is being in that position. Now as the
season goes, right, the bodies wear down, wears on the mind. Losing, obviously, doesn’t
help that, right? I guess it does kind of help that, right? I mean, it just kind of fans the flame
a little bit. And it’s hard. It’s hard to, each week, pick yourself back up when you’re
defeated. I think it’s, again, a credit to the players for rolling up their sleeves each week,
going to work, getting ready to play another football game, putting their bodies on the line
one more time for themselves, for their families, for the fans, in order to win the game.”
(On the effect of traveling to London on the team’s fatigue) “I think it’s something we need
to take a look at, where the bye is. 10 days over there. I know we always go early in the
season. So having the bye early in the year is—I don’t necessarily like that as much. But I
think we need to take a look at where it is and the timing of it as we move forward.”
(On the plan for the players during the bye week) “My plan was to bring them in tomorrow.
We’re still getting together tomorrow in the morning. We’ve got a couple things we got to
take care of, sort of business side. But other than that, my plan was to get them in here and
do a little work tomorrow as well. But I think where we are, the best thing is just cut them
loose, let them start getting healthy, let them get fresh, get away, get away from me, I’ll get
away from them, type thing. And enjoy the week.”
(On if the team watched the film from the game vs. Detroit) “We did this morning. And
again, to that point, if I’m not—and I shared with this, this morning, if I don’t keep my foot
on the gas with these guys, then it’s almost like you are pulling the plug on the season. I’m
not going to do that for these players. I’m going to keep pushing them. I’m going to keep
showing them. I’m going to show them the good. I’m going to show them the bad. We have
to get through these games. We’ve got to watch the tape in order to get better. I think it’s
important to do that, and that’s why we did it today.”
(On if who will be play calling is up for change) “Let’s just put it this way: everything’s on the
table. Let’s leave it at that.”
(On not wanting to get back on the field this week to get over the loss) “Because I think it’s
like a reset. This is a reset. If we were 9-2, I’d be like, no, let’s not have a break. Let’s keep
rolling. But where we are and still six games to go, I think it’s time to just hit the reset button
and just sort of rewind, kind of get, like I said, get fresh again, coaches and players. And the
coaches need to—this is what I challenged them to this week, we’ve got to go back, and
we’ve got to look at everything from a schematic standpoint, player standpoint, personnel
standpoint, all that kind of stuff this week. If we come out of this bye and we just kind of
keep doing the same things and trying to expect different results, it’s probably not going to
happen, right? So, we’ve got to do some little things, some minor things. We’ll do it, and
that’s what we’re going to spend these next couple of days doing.”
(On also reevaluating things that are working) “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, right? I mean,
that just goes without saying. If something’s working, let’s figure out how to keep doing that.
But if it’s something we like and we need to tweak it, we’ll tweak it. But if it’s working, I’m not
going to fix it. No need to.”
(On what he believes is working) “Let’s just say there are things that are—we need to coach
some things a little bit better. See things, anticipate them. There’s some good on the film.
That’s the thing about it, too: I think sometimes people are so fixated, I think, on the final
result. Which is, listen, it’s the number one thing. I got it. It’s a win or it’s a loss. End of the
day, got it. But it’s how did we get there? What did we do in between from snap to whistle?
There are some really good things. There are some physicality things. There’s some
improvement in the secondary. BT [WR Brian Thomas Jr.], obviously, is a bright spot. I mean,
there’s some things out there that—[TE] Brenton Strange—there’s some things out there
that lead you to believe that we’ve got to continue going down that path and sort of find
ways to either get the ball to them or at least give them opportunities during the game.”
