OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR PRESS TAYLOR
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2022
(On talent of Jets CB Sauce Gardner) “He’s got a lot of length. He kind of looks like the old Seattle
corners, the Richard Shermans. The guys that are just long and lengthy and able to make plays on the
ball. He’s playing with a ton of confidence, I think last week they didn’t really go after him much at all
and didn’t really test him, which I understand. You can see that watching the tape. He’s really made an
impact early on in his career there, so he’s a good player.”
(On Jets CB Sauce Gardner not being an average rookie player) “Yeah. Obviously, he was drafted high.
There were a lot of high opinions of him coming in and he’s lived up to that expectation in my opinion.”
(On the talent of Jets CB DJ Reed) “Yeah, he’s played really well. They’re built very differently, but he’s
done a great job. He’s really feisty, obviously, with teams getting more and more attention to Sauce
Gardner [Jets CB Sauce Gardner], it feels like teams are going after him a little bit more. He’s risen to the
challenge, they’re playing really, really well. It’s a really good pass defense, I think the stats would tell
you that as well. They play with high effort, that kid has done a great job on his side as well.”
(On if he learned anything from the Jaguars game against Philadelphia earlier in the year in bad weather)
“Not necessarily, we’re aware of it, we understand that. We understand that we kind of had our own
self-inflicted issues in Philly in terms of our ball security. That’s just something we’ve been aware of,
we’ve tried to emphasize that. Every single week we’ve gone in, we’ve played games where there’s
expected rain. Whether that was home games or on the road. That’s certainly something we’re aware
of, we understand that we have to do a better job than we did, and we saw that three months ago.”
(On if there’s a desire for snow instead of rain for Thursday night’s game) “I’m in the box (joking) It’s
going to be nice, we’re going to get good food. That’s a fair question. Anything falling; snow falling, rain
falling, that’s not ideal. If it’s just snow on the ground, that’s different and you probably prefer that
depending on how much. Each game the conditions are what they are, and you just deal with it. At least
both teams are playing in it, that’s the biggest thing. I’d love it to be perfectly nice and sunny and warm,
no breeze, all that type of thing, but that’s just not the way you play football. When you play in these
outdoor environments, you have to deal with it.”
(On having different guys stepping up each week) “I think it’s all the above. We build a game plan and
really everybody has their place. Everybody would go home at night and say, ‘Ah, I hope they call these
3-4 plays that’s going to hit.’ Then, it’s just a matter of how it works in the game. Sometimes you call it,
they break the huddle and probably think that I’m going to get this ball. The defense plays a certain way
and it goes to another place or something happens. I think it’s more just the byproduct of the offense
and Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] operating it very efficiently, at least. Where the ball just goes where
it’s supposed to go if the look is right. If the look isn’t right, get a completion, keep the play moving.
Keep the series moving and we’ll come back to certain things. I think it just kind of played out that way
where a couple weeks ago, things just found Evan [TE Evan Engram], last week things found Zay [WR Zay
Jones], but I think it was spread pretty evenly, which we like to see. There were a couple of guys that get
6-7 targets, a couple of guys that got around 60, 70, 80 yards, somebody makes a big play, and it just
blew up their numbers a little bit. That’s just the way it works sometimes.”
(On confidence in LT Walker Little) “Tons of confidence with Walker [LT Walker Little]. He stepped in, did
a good job, he’s got plenty of experience from last year even to draw on. There was a legitimate battle
through the offseason and training camp at the tackle position, and that’s because Walker put himself in
that position to make that a real competition. Now, we were fortunate that Cam [LT Cam Robinson] and
JT [RT Jawaan Taylor] have played so well and have stayed healthy until this point. There are tons of
confidence in Walker that Walker is going to step in and do his job. I think he will play well performing
next to Tyler Shatley [LG Tyler Shatley] as well. Tyler has done a great job communicating with the
tackles next to him. It’s the next man up, he’s got a job to do, and we expect him to do it at a high level.”
(On the challenge of playing right tackle and left tackle in a game) “I mean, I assume it’s really hard. I’ve
never done it myself. I can imagine it would be hard, changing your stance, changing your dominant
hand, and especially with the pass rushers we were going against last week. All the sudden, you’re cool
on the sideline, you step into the game, and you’re facing Micah Parsons [Cowboys OLB Micah Parsons]
on one side. You move over to the other side, maybe you’re still facing him because they flipped him or
you’re facing Demarcus Lawrence [Cowboys DE Demarcus Lawrence]. I thought Walker handled the
challenge really well.”
(On the job Phil Rauscher has done with the offensive line) “Yeah, Phil [Offensive Line Coach Phil
Rauscher] has done a phenomenal job of having all of those guys ready. A lot of it is the room that’s
been built, the type of character we have in that room. We lost Ben Bartch [OL Ben Bartch], Shatley [LG
Tyler Shatley] stepped in and Shatley has played great so far. They’ve done a good job of keeping Trevor
[QB Trevor Lawrence] clean and being able to keep us in situations where we can kind of dictate the
terms of the game. If you get in 3rd-and-11, you’re not going to make a 3rd-and-11 against the Dallas
Cowboys and that pass rush. Being able to maintain that, but then like you said, Walker [LT Walker
Little] stepping in and just being ready to play, whatever side he’s needed on. All those guys are
expecting that the next man up is going to be able to do their job. Luke [C Luke Fortner] running the
show and communicating has been really, really good so far at this point in his rookie year. Now, we’ve
got to continue to adjust as an offense. We have one good game that doesn’t do anything for us on
Thursday night. We have to continue to come out and execute at a high level.”
(On if there’s changes in the playbook with absence of LT Cam Robinson) “No, nothing will change. We
will continue to operate as is.”
(On if the Denver game was a turning point for Trevor Lawrence) “Yeah, I mean, you saw the dejection in
him. I remember him coming up and sitting next to me on the plane for a long time. We just had a long
conversation about where we were and all that, I wouldn’t have said he was down in the dumps. He just
doesn’t have that personality. You felt like he would respond. Just want to watch him work and the way
he pulled himself out of that moment. I think it was just that moment. I don’t think things linger with
him very long, good or bad. I think he just continues to play and move on. You felt confident that was
going to happen, and then, you needed to see it. It’s every single week, like we said. Just because he’s
had success in consecutive weeks doesn’t do anything for Thursday night. You’ve got to go out and play
well. That’s what the great players in this league do, regardless of position. The great players show up
every single week and they’re consistently great.”
(On talent of Jets defense) “It feels like there’s just a wave of defensive linemen coming in and out. It
doesn’t feel like there’s a major drop off and then the backup D-line comes in, which is not always
common across the board with defenses you face. It just feels like they keep throwing pass rushers out
there. They’re playing with their hair on fire, they’re flying up the field at the quarterback, they’ve done
a good job. I think they’re top ten in the league in sacks. They’ve done a great job in pressures; they fly
around in the backend. You can tell the command that C.J. Mosley [Jets LB C.J. Mosley] has in this
defense of just running the show and getting everything directed. When they’re checking, they all get on
the same page pretty quickly. I think the safeties have played really well, even with Joyner [Jets S
Lamarcus Joyner] out the other day, Will Parks [Jets S Will Parks] stepped in, I thought he played well.
Then the Whitehead [Jets S Jordan Whitehead], number three, he’s played really well this season. He
shows up. Our receivers are very aware that if you have to block him in the run game, he’s going to
show up quickly with a bad attitude.
(On Jets DL Quinnen Williams) “Yeah, he is a great player, causes a lot of disruption in there. It’s tough
when it’s inside, because it’s not like you can put a tight end on the edge and try to help. When you can,
you try to send a double team to him, but that’s the versatility of being able to move around inside.
They present issues when there’s going to be one-on-one situations, he’s a very good player that can
cause a lot of problems in there.”
QUARTERBACK TREVOR LAWRENCE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2022
(On his protective boot) “Yeah, it’s this thing called a Sam Sport. It’s like ultrasound, you stick it on in a couple places and leave it on for a couple of hours. It’s supposed to heat it, help it heal. Anyone that’s in training rooms and stuff would know what a Sam Sport is, but I guess not. It’s not normal world stuff, but yeah, we have guys that use it all the time.”
(On if the Sam Sport was used throughout the year before the toe injury) “Yeah, on different spots. Not as consistently on one spot, necessarily, but yes. If something is sore or whatever it may be after a game, throw it on for three or four hours and it works pretty good.”
(On what stands out about Jets QB Zach Wilson) “Yeah, I’ve known him since the draft process. We both trained out in California pretty close to one another. He trained with someone else, but I met him out there, we actually used the same chef. I met him a few different times since then, obviously, we played up there last year. I’ve always had a good relationship with him. We’ve kept in touch loosely throughout, not really this season, but the offseason and during the season last year both being rookies. We kind of kept in touch and root for him obviously, we got a pretty good relationship. We’re not super close necessarily, but I have a lot of respect for him and all that.”
(On if there’s a competitive switch against people in his draft class) “Not really, I think if you look at especially if where we’re at in our season, that’s the feeling every week. That’s what we all feel here, no matter who we’re playing, no matter who the other quarterback is. It just has to be, that’s the way these games are down the stretch. That’s the mindset no matter what, I think that’s one thing that you can’t do as a quarterback. I’m not playing against Zach [Jets QB Zach Wilson], I’m playing against the Jets defense. It’s annoying when people always compare it to all that because that’s not what it’s about. That’s not how the game should be played, you just do whatever it takes to win the game. Whatever that is, who knows. Who knows what that’s going to take out of myself, it could be maybe that we’re running the ball great. Maybe we’re throwing it great. Who knows what that’s going to be, but whatever it takes to win, that’s the goal and not really anything else.”
(On if he learned any lesson from the game in Philadelphia this year which had bad weather) “I mean, you got to take care of the ball a little better. As far as just my preparation, you know what to expect as far as it’s probably going to rain, it’s going to be cold. I think you just approach it like any other week, obviously. Ball security is really important, especially in games like that, it always is. Especially in those conditions, just be smart and work on it this week with some wet ball drill stuff with the wide outs and myself just throwing in those conditions. It’s really it, that’s all we can do.”
(On if it helps already having a game in poor weather conditions) “Yeah, I think all of the experience you have and stuff you can pull from is good. It rains here, it’s not cold here, but it’s rained in two or three of our home games, so I have experience with that and those twenty-minute showers during the games
that you get. We know what that’s like and having to adjust on the fly hasn’t really affected our plan much or how we call plays or execute, so it’s been good.”
(On the talent of Jets cornerbacks compared to other defenses) “Yeah, they’re really good players. You look at just the stats. The stats speak for themselves just in his [Jets CB Sauce Gardner] production this year and D.J. [Jets CB D.J. Reed], too, I mean, he’s playing really well. It might get overlooked a little bit because Sauce is a rookie and playing great, too. Both of them are playing great and they’re really sticky
in coverage. They don’t give up easy stuff. I’d say that about their defense as a whole. They’re really well coached, they’re simple, but they know exactly where they’re supposed to be, what they’re doing, what their job is, they play together, and they play together really fast. I’d say that’s one of the bigger challenges this week is just playing a really disciplined group that plays really hard and just knows where they’re supposed to be. On the outside, they have the guys to match you up, to play man, to press you, to cover you down the field, all those things. We got a challenge, and those guys are playing great, they’re playing with a lot of confidence, and they’ve had a really good year.”
(On if he has done anything differently since the game against the Broncos in London) “Yeah, not really. I feel like I’ve always prioritized my preparation. I think the more you play, the better you get, the more you refine your skills like film watching and preparing for an opponent and what you look for. I think that naturally happens the more you play and the more you experience different things. I think it’s gotten better probably in that sense, but not necessarily the amount of time or what I’ve watched hasn’t changed a ton. I would just say my mindset has shifted a lot. I’d say I have a lot of confidence back and I was able to bring myself back to reality and kind of flush everything that’s happened. Use it obviously, you learn from all that stuff, but really did not allow one play or a few plays or weeks prior to effect the next week. That’s been the thing I’ve really been able to grow in and get better at. You even look at the game on Sunday, I had a couple mistakes, but you just got to keep playing. That’s what I said after the game. (I) Made a couple of mistakes, and it could’ve cost us, but our defense stepped up for us both times. Then, I get another chance to go make that play. That’s where you see a lot of growth in me, in this team, just in general of where guys have stepped up, including myself. I think that’s been the biggest shift, is just how do you play each play as its own and not carry anything over. That’s always a challenge, but I think I’ve gotten a lot better at that this season.”
(On when did he start to notice guys rallying around him after making mistakes) “Yeah, I’ve felt that at different times really throughout my couple of years here, but I would say it all comes together, not just myself, but that belief of full circle and seeing it consistently. I think you look back at the Raiders game, being down and coming back and winning that game. That specifically, I would say, you start to see it happened with everyone. Everyone’s got each other’s backs, there’s no panic. From there, we’ve got that confidence where we we’re actually able to come back and win the game and finish. You have that confidence moving forward, then you go and do it against Baltimore where the offense had to go on a game winning drive and two-point conversion to win it. Then, it just builds even more, and I think guys see that. Whether it’s me and those guys having confidence in me, just giving me the ball, and we’ll have a chance, or whether that’s in overtime, we have to punt on our first drive which isn’t what you want, and we have to punt, it’s just trusting our defense. They’re sitting over there like, ‘We got you; we’re going to end the game.’ It goes both ways, but I think you’re seeing that with everybody. Not just myself, but I definitely feel that guys look at me and when we get a stop and we’re back up on offense whether that’s a two-minute drill or we’re down by a couple scores and we need to score to get back in it, they’re looking at me with all of the confidence because we’ve done it before. I had that respect before, but I think now that we’ve proven that we can do it and I’ve proven that I can do it, it adds to that even more.”
