JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022
(On concerns about running the ball) “No, I know the yard per carry, per attempt, was just over two, but
I thought it was effective enough, though, to open up some of those play action stuff, some of the drop
back passes and things of that nature. Quite honestly, you saw commitment to the run and how our
offensive line took charge right there, but sometimes it’s not so much the yards per carry but you’ve just
got to commit to it and stick to it because it does open up some other things in your offense.”
(On if plays like one RB James Robinson made make it worth it) “It does. You just keep chipping away,
chipping away, and that’s what our guys did last week.”
(On if he has ever played through a rib injury and what it is like) “Yes. It’s not fun. It’s not comfortable.
You’re dealing with body movements all the time. I remember when I did mine, sitting down, sneezing,
laughing, coughing, all that kind of stuff can agitate and irritate the area, but it just takes time to heal. I
think it (if it is slow to heal) depends on the person, the treatment, the rehab. For me, it was just a few
days, and you’re back out there throwing and moving, but you know it’s there.”
(On memories of the Chargers from growing up where he did) “Dan Fouts (former Chargers QB) and the
guys growing up on the West Coast. I was a Seattle Seahawks fan growing up, in that same division, it
seemed like they were always the ones kind of—either them or the Raiders—were the ones to knock
the Seahawks out of the postseason at some point. They were fun to watch. Their tight ends, their skill
guys, and they’ve always had a rich tradition of that, and they still do.”
(On the importance of knowing where S Derwin James is lined up) “It’s important. He’s a good player. He
can play on the edge as a rusher, he can play a linebacker, he can play a safety, he can play just about
anywhere on that defense. They ask him to do a lot. He’s a good player. He’s all over the field. He’s
physical, so yeah, it is important that we know where he’s at.”
(On what makes him a different, special type of player) “I think just the versatility. We talk about that a
lot with our guys, having versatility to play multiple spots, and he can do that, and he understands that
defense, and that’s what makes him valuable to that team.”
(On getting in a rhythm as a play caller) “Play callers do get in a rhythm, then play callers can also get out
of a rhythm. It just depends on how the game is going. You hope to be more in a rhythm each week, but
the flow of the game is sometimes predicated by the players and how well we’re executing the offense.
That allows you to kind of free your mind up and open your sheet up a little bit more to get to more of
the good stuff on your call sheet. Last Sunday was one of those examples, and that kind of goes back to
the run game, just being able to stick to the run game and help us open up some other things.”
(On if it’s hard to stick to the run game) “It’s hard. Even the week before when you’re down 14-3, you’re
still not out of the football game. Sometimes it’s hard, for your as a play caller, to commit and stick with
it, but you just have to focus on it and make it an emphasis each week to try to establish that.”
(On the offense being what it is or countering what the opponent is doing) “One of the things you learn
in this league is that it’s week to week. You do what it takes to win, and sometimes each week the game
plans are going to be different. The way we attack an opponent is going to be different. The way our
opponent attacks us is going to be different. You’re constantly evolving and constantly shaping your
game plans that way. What we did—yeah, if there’s a blueprint, yeah, you’d want to be that balance of
run-pass, and success in the red zone and all that, but we know, too, as coaches, that sometimes it could
be a different offense week to week just based on your opponent.”
(On changes for a West Coast trip) “The only thing I’ll tweak is Saturday. We’ll be in the building soon on
Saturday. It’s an early flight, then just keep everything sort of on East Coast time when we’re out there.”
(On the emphasis put on this game given that it is a very good team) “It’s our next game. That’s all the
emphasis I need and our players need, the fact that it’s the next one on the schedule. We don’t look
past anybody, and we try to stay in the moment. Today is Wednesday, and we’re going to go get ready
to practice and play.”
(On if they have tried to go a day early) “I’ve done that before, as a player and a coach. There’s really
none (advantages or disadvantages). Studies have proven that there’s not a whole lot. Every time zone
you go back in time, it takes a day or so, 24 hours, to kind of catch up, so really, you should go out on
like Thursday if you really want to catch up. I think if you just keep everything sort of status and keep the
way we’ve been doing it here, you don’t have to worry about anything other than the time.”
(On the plan to handle Chargers WR Mike Williams after his breakout game last week and WR Keenan
Allen) “You just want me to give away the whole game plan right now? Two really good players. Two big,
physical guys, too. It’s going to take all hands on deck in our secondary, whether we end up doubling the
guy, or sometimes you’ve just got to lock up man to man and play, maybe on third down, but our guys
will battle. They’ve got to watch the tape this week, and they’ve got to study their opponent and study
those one-on-one matchups, but I give these two guys respect. Two really good receivers in this league.”
(On if he has been happy with the left-right split between CB Shaquill Griffin and CB Tyson Campbell)
“Yeah, it’s been working good. It’s based on scheme, too. Corners are going to travel from side to side
from time to time, and you try not to give too many indicators that way. I’ve been pleased with where
they’ve been playing.”
(On Chargers LB Khalil Mack) “It looks like he’s healthy. He’s fresh. He’s ready to go. He’s been playing
well these last two weeks. It’s going to be a good test for both our tackles, really, with these two guys.
Again, a lot of respect for both of them and what they’ve done in this league, and we’ve got a challenge
ahead of us.”
(On how pleased he is with the young, high-drafted guys making plays) “Yeah, that’s what you want
when you draft first, second, even third round guys. You want them to make an impact right away; they
have to make an impact. It’s a credit to Trent (GM Trent Baalke) and the personnel staff for all they do
leading up to the draft then being able to be in a position to draft these guys and add tremendous talent
to your football team. Again, three young players (LB Devin Llyod, OLB Travon Walker, CB Tyson
Campbell, QB Trevor Lawrence, RB Travis Etienne all mentioned by the reporter) I think highly of. They come to work every day. They try to get better at what they’re doing, and they’ve played well these first
two weeks.”
(On what about QB Justin Herbert allows him to avoid pitfalls many young quarterbacks fall into) “The
scheme, possibly, that he’s in allowing him to free up. They surrounded him early with some talented
guys. The run game obviously, the receiving core, and they’re playing good defense, too. They’ve been
there. Really, it’s the mentality of the coach, too. Brandon Staley (Chargers head coach) is an impressive
guy, and that’s how the team, they’re going to feed off of that. That’s kind of the idea here, too. The
team will feed off of the tone I set for them, and you see that with this group. This group flies around,
and that quarterback, he can run. He’s talented with his legs obviously, and he’s turning himself into a
really good passer.”
(On the current injury report) “It’s good. Knock on wood, it’s been good. Again, it’s a credit to the
players for coming in and how they’ve worked in the weight room and their conditioning and all that.
You see it. We practice hard during the week. Right now, it’s been pretty clean. We’ve come out of both
games relatively clean other than just some minor bumps and bruises.”
(On looking at the team last week after the loss compared to this week after a win) “You see a little bit
more confidence coming off a win, but listen, we understand, too, like I said earlier, it’s week to week.
As much as you want to live in the past, you can’t. We’ve got another set of challenges right in front of
us, and we’ve got to go to work today. We’ve got to put the pads on and go to practice. You’ve got to
learn the game plan, study your opponent, can’t worry about last week, and focus on trying to go 1-0
this week.”
(On if some teams don’t handle winning well) “It’s hard to speak for other teams, I just know that
situations I’ve been in, it can happen, but again, I think that it’s my job to keep reeling the guys in and
keep the goals right in front of the team.”
(On winning one week but having to go out and do it again) “It’s that ‘So what, now what?’ mentality.
We don’t really care. Wins are great, and they’re hard to come by in this league, and we like them, but
again, it’s my job to make sure that the goals and ambitions and things we’re trying to get done stay in
front of the football team. Keep pushing the team to get better. Challenge the team to get better.
Challenge the coaches to continue to get better and find ways to improve. It’s a long, long season. You
hear that all the time, but it really is. It’s just one game, but we’ve got a long way to go.”
(On if running different plays from the same formation gets harder as the season goes on) “Yeah, the
more you put on tape, the more tendencies there are going to be. We’ve got to make sure as a staff we
kind of break our own tendencies with different personnel or different ways to run the same plays. The
more you can execute the same play, guys know exactly where to be, you can tweak the personnel or
tweak the formation, whatever, but there’s some consistency there with keeping it simple that way. I’m
also a believer that you have to keep challenging your players with new ideas, new thoughts, new
wrinkles, things throughout the week that maybe you can take advantage of in the game plan. As the
season goes on, more film is out there on every team, obviously, and same way with our opponents
each week. It does get a touch harder to game plan, but it’s our job to find creative ways to move our
guys around.”
(On how he knows they’re making progress on the “So what, now what?” mentality and keeping the
team focused) “There are certain examples. One, Arden Key (DL) after the game, everybody was excited
in the locker room, and we’re getting ready to break the team down and go our own way after the game, and Arden spoke up and basically said it’s a 24-hour rule. You can enjoy this win for 24 hours as a
team, but when we come back on Monday it’s on to the next. That’s a sign of maturity. Then today in
the meetings and stuff, just seeing the focus of the guys shows a sign of maturity. I think they
understand, and it comes from me leading the team that way. Today’s practice will be important. It’s a
big day. You’re putting in your base game plan. How well do they take it from the classroom to the field?
Are we flying around in practice? You can’t shortcut for the hard work and preparation. You’ve got to
keep doing it week-in and week-out.”
(On getting the team to leave the past in the past after having so many losses in previous years) “I think
the number one thing is this is a different team, honestly. We have different faces, different guys in that
dressing room, brought in a level of experienced veterans to this team that have won where they have
been and know how to do that and educate and teach. Same way with myself and some of the staff to
be able to coach up. It’s a different group. I go back to April, in the spring when we start talking about
all that. How we handle success as a football team, I think goes a long way to the success of the season.
Just take it one at a time and just keep preaching that mentality.”
(On the use of analytics throughout the week and on game days) “I visit with our analytics team
throughout the course of the week. It goes back, each week is different. Analytics are different each
week based on your opponent. You sit down, and you look at them, and you study them, and you have a
plan as you go into game planning or even when you get in a game. Just having the information available
to you. Some of the fourth down scenarios where it was favorable for us to go and take advantage of
that, so we did, and we were successful on at least two of those. Analytics is a part of it. I’m going to
continue to listen to it, but at the same time, I’m going to listen and watch the team and see where
we’re at over the course of the ball game, who we’re playing, how all three phases are playing and
making an educated decision at the time.”
(On making quick decisions in games) “I try to take the emotional aspect out of it. Sometimes those can
become emotional decisions based on the smart decision, and I think if you do that and focus on the
team and where you are and all the factors surrounding it, those decisions become easier.”
(On unique challenges of the Chargers’ two-high defensive coverage) “It does (create unique challenges). It’s a two-high, sort of a shell to start, but they’ll roll their safeties down to a bunch of three-
deep looks, and it’s challenging, because they kind of mix things up that way, and very similar to last week, they’ll want to keep some eyes on the quarterback and rally to the football. Receivers have to be
locked into that. Quarterback has to be locked into that. A two-high look at the snap is going to turn into
a one-high pretty quick, so we need to know exactly where to be and where to go with the ball.”
QUARTERBACK TREVOR LAWRENCE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022
(On what kind of player Chargers S Derwin James is) “First of all, he’s just a great player, the way he flies
around, how many different things he does for their team. He’s a great pass rusher. You look at that, a
safety doing all that, then his cover skills, his football IQ, he just sees the play before it happens. I think
he does a great job. Having a guy like that, and they run so many different personnels, and they move
him all over the place, you’ve got to be really aware of him and a few other players on their defense.
They’ve got some great players.”
(On an offense he really loved to watch growing up) “I grew up a big Peyton Manning fan. He was out of
college by the time I really knew what was going on football-wise, so I watched him in the NFL. That’s
like the one guy I really watched. I loved watching him when he was with the Colts and the Broncos and
all that. Other than that, I would say there wasn’t really a specific one. I was a Tennessee fan, so I
watched them, then as I got recruited from schools, obviously Clemson as I got older is one that stuck
out because of Deshaun (QB Deshaun Watson), Tajh Boyd (QB), and all those guys that went there.”
(On if there were other quarterbacks he loved to watch) “There are a lot of fun players, especially right
now, to watch. You look at Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rogers, Tom Brady, Deshaun back then was with
the Texans, they were really fun to watch, then you think about Josh Allen. The list goes on and on,
Lamar (Jackson). All those guys are so much fun to watch, and it’s really cool where we’re at in this
league with so many young quarterbacks. It’s just really fun every game, every week.”
(On West Coast trips) “That’s not something we talk about necessarily, that’s just the way Coach
Pederson does it, and for me, I don’t have a ton of experience with these games. He’s found success
with that, and I’m all for it. I think it makes sense. You don’t really have time to adjust anyways, so you
might as well keep your schedule the same. Go out there, do most of your prep here, go out there, play
the game, come home, so it makes sense to me. We’re looking forward to this matchup. It’s a great
team we get to go play in LA, and we’re excited for that opportunity.”
(On what they can learn from last week) “Definitely, there’s things that can always carry over depending
on the defense you’re playing. There are certainly things to do. As far as just your mentality, you kind of
have to flip the page. You don’t just luck into a win like we Sunday. The preparation to get there, the
focus, those things, you just replicate it. That’s the biggest thing. That’s the positive that you take from
it, and you just try to do it again and again. As far as that result, that’s not going to win you the game on
Sunday, you’ve got to stick to your processes and do it every day of the week.”
(On Doug’s phrase “So what, now what?”) “It’s something he talks about all the time. That’s how
football is. That’s how this league is. You have a 17-game regular season, this is the second game of the
season, whether we won or lost that game, we still have a game this week, and a huge one at that, so it
doesn’t really matter the outcome. You take a lot of confidence from how we played. That’s the goal,
but at the end of the day, we’ve got another game coming up this week, and by lunchtime on Monday,
you’re past it, and you’re moving on to the next week. That’s how we approach it.”
(On his thoughts during the spring free agency when they signed several key players) “Excited. I’m with
you guys, seeing all that stuff happening, I was pumped to see those pickups. I heard about them in the
past, not only on the field, I’ve seen what they’ve done on the field, but just the kind of people they are.
I know a lot of mutual friends of theirs, besides Brandon (OL Brandon Scherff), I didn’t really know a lot
with him in Washington, but he’s incredible. Just to add those guys, quality people to our locker room,
their talent is going to help us, but it’s their leadership, the way they come to work every day, it’s been
awesome.”
(On the free agents being play makers) “When you see that, especially as a quarterback, that excites
you, get a guy up front who’s a stud, a bunch of guys in the perimeter that can run, that are smart, that
can do a lot of different things for us to add to our already good toolbox of playmakers. To add those
guys has been awesome for us. It’s changed the whole dynamic of our team, of our locker room. We
talked about when they came here, you saw that a little bit more, but I was pumped to get those guys.”
(On threats on the Charger’s defense) “They just have a lot of great players at every position. You look at
the two guys on the edges, they’re just play makers. They’re great. Khalil (LB Khalil Mack), both those
guys, great players, so you’ve got to be able to manage that. You’ve got to have a plan. Obviously,
they’re going to make plays, that’s just the way they are, but we’ve got to manage that and figure out
the best way to attack those guys and the whole defense. Then you’ve got Derwin (S Derwin James), JC
Jackson (CB), Asante Samuel (CB), their linebackers Kenneth Murray, Calvin (?), a bunch of those guys.
Their nickel is a great player, Callahan (CB Bryce Callahan). Really just talented all over the board, we’ve
got to just be really disciplined. I feel like we have a great plan as of right now, but this has to develop
more and more, and we’ve got to learn more about them as we go throughout the week and, same
thing as last week, just be prepared, and everyone on the same page, and at the end of the day, it’s just
about who executes better.”
(On if there is a better hair matchup in the league than him and QB Justin Herbert) “I guess, yeah, I guess
so.”
