JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2022
(On the plan at kicker) “You! No, I thank Ryan for what he did. It’s unfortunate, but that’s a downside of the business. We put a claim in for (James) McCourt—Illinois kicker. We’re trying to get him to Atlanta.”
(On K James McCourt’s leg strength) “It’s impressive. That part of it we like, and obviously the consistency is what you look for in kickers, and it will be a good opportunity for him. For us, just keep going through the process, we’ve still got a little bit of time before kicks mean something. It will be a good opportunity for him”
(On what led him to bring back QB Jake Luton) “Right now, too, with having C.J. (Beathard), I just want to get C.J. 100% healthy, it just looked and appeared on film that he wasn’t 100 percent healthy coming off his injury from the spring and this gives him time to get healthy, and it’s a great opportunity for Jake to get some more time and be seen and get some more reps. Hopefully he can take advantage of that.”
(On if QB C.J. Beathard will play in this week’s game) “As of right now, no. I know we’re probably going to limit him through practice this week, but as far as the game goes, because we are shuffling some things around right now.”
(On if any other guys won’t be practicing this week) “Let me think. Will Richardson will be out. Who else did you have in mind, I can probably…”
(On RB James Robinson) “He’s not full clear, but he’s cleared to practice. We plan to increase his reps. You’ll see an orange jersey on him. I spoke with (Falcons Head Coach) Arthur Smith earlier this morning about that, so they’ll be aware about him. Just try to limit the amount of touches. Darious Williams is full go, he’s been cleared for everything, so it will be exciting to get him out there. BT, Badara (Traore) is good to go. We’ll try to ramp up his reps throughout the course of the week. Devin (Lloyd), if the week progresses in his favor and our favor, he will see some time in this game which is what we need to see.”
(On CB Shaq Griffin) “Shaq’s good. He’s one that probably won’t play in the game, but he’ll definitely get some practice time these next couple of days. Yeah (it was back tightness).”
(On DL Folorunso Fatukasi) “Oh, he’s another one that’s going to miss. He will miss practice, then he’ll be more healing that calf and won’t play in the game.”
(On S Rayshawn Jenkins being in and out the past week or so) “Yeah, he’s fine. We’re also seeing some looks from different guys, younger players there, too. Yeah, he’s good. It’s about some of the young guys. The ankle has been fine. He hasn’t had any issues with that. We’ve been smart with him, but it’s a matter of seeing some of these young guys behind him and seeing what they can do.”
(On if any starters will play Saturday) “The plan is not to if we don’t have to, but I always know going into these games that you’ve got to have some guys in some emergency roles just in case something happens. Some of the starters will probably be in uniform, yes.”
(On if tomorrow, Wednesday, is the big, physical practice with the Falcons) “Tomorrow is a padded day. It will be a physical day, nothing live. Talking with Coach Smith up there, both of us want to get work done and compete and see our teams against other opponents, and I’m looking forward to that. Just helmets and shells on Thursday and separate on Friday.”
(On if a roster-bubble player could show out at practices and change his mind on making the team) “Yeah. I think we’ve got a pretty good idea right now, but I told the team this morning, this is going to be a big week for a lot of guys. And, too, they’ve got to understand, not just our team but 31 other teams are watching our roster as well and seeing who’s going to make the 53, who’s not, because there’s going to be a lot of our players get picked up if they’re not here, but it’s a great opportunity for many players, especially the young guys to practice well and play well in this football game because they could end up on a roster. It may not be here, but it could be somewhere.”
(On the level of concern about not being settled on a kicker at this point in the season) “2017 we tried out six guys Week 1. Settled on Jake Elliot. He kicked all the way through to the Super Bowl, so I’ve had some experience there.”
(On if this week will continue the battles at right tackle and left guard) “I think there’s still some competition there, but as we get into more game weeks, say, Washington, it’ll be solidified, and whoever it is will be taking all the reps at that spot. These next two days, the game, how much time they get, if any, is important for seeing who those five guys are going to be.”
(On if QB Trevor Lawrence had the camp he wanted and needed him to have) “He did, he did. One thing I like about Trevor, where he’s at, too, he’s still learning, still growing. Hardest thing, he’s had three head coaches, three coordinators, three position coaches, three years, so there’s been a lot of turnovers and change, and he’s really handled it extremely well, very mature, and it’s just still a work in progress. We go slow. He understands, even when we show him on tape what he’s doing or what he’s not doing, he makes the corrections and moves on. I’m encouraged by where he’s at right now.”
(On if people don’t understand how much of a detriment it is to be changing coaches and systems so much) “Yeah, I think some people don’t understand the magnitude of that. It’s not just about– everybody’s going to have the same pass concepts, same routes, same lines on a page, all that, but it’s how teams call them, the terminology, the verbiage, learning that. Then on top of that, we’re putting a bunch of situational stuff on top of that, and he’s hearing it from me or Press Taylor or Mike McCoy, and we’re playing these games, and he’s trying to study defense. It’s not an overnight fix or process. It takes some time. He’s handled it well. He grows every day. That’s the encouraging part. I know sometimes people don’t want to hear that it takes time, but it does. It was two years in Philly before things really took off for us, so I’m not saying it’s going to be two years but saying that we’re heading in the right direction.”
(On DL Arden Key) “He’s unbelievable. He’s got a great personality. He’s excitable. Comes in the building every day in a good mood all the time. It’s just hard to explain, but great teammate, works hard, good leader, does everything you ask him to do, and it’s fun to have guys like that on your roster, keep things light and energetic.”
(On if he will take it easier on the team after cuts are done) “No. We’ll have three really good days next week to still evaluate. There’s one more week of training camp, but we also maybe want to focus on our one, two, three, opponents, something like that, but it’s a little more of an in-season schedule for the guys now that we’ve kind of broke camp, but at the same time we still want to push them, and it may come down to next week for a couple of these battles, so it’s still an important week.”
(On how far behind LB Devin Lloyd is with the lingering injury) “It’s hard to say until we see him in live action. That’s why this week can be important for him to get out there and try to increase his reps each day and hopefully get some time in the game and see where he’s at. I know he’s getting mental reps, and he’s in there during the walkthroughs in the afternoons with the defense, making calls and all that, but when things get sped up is where things can kind of get sideways, so we just need to see him out there this week and hopefully in the game.”
(On how WR Christian Kirk did in his debut game) “He did well. He’s going to be—one of the things I think Trevor can count on with him is he’s going to be in the right place on the field, and he’s going to do the right thing. That’s a confidence level for your quarterback. He’s a pro at it, he works hard at it. Had it been a game week the week before, he would have played. (It was) my decision to keep him out of that, but he’s in a good spot, too. We’ve just got to keep him and Trevor on the same page and just find more ways to get him open.”
(On the tight ends) “I like our tight end room. A mix of youth and some old guys in there. You take Dan (Arnold) and Evan (Engram), two more athletic route runner tight ends that could possibly create a matchup here and they’re matched with Chris (Manhertz) and his ability to block and Luke (Farrell) doing the same thing. It’s a good room, and it’s a versatile room. It doesn’t keep you locked into certain things offensively that you want to get done. I’m comfortable with using tight ends in my career, having played with a bunch of tight ends and coaching them. It’s a good group.”
(On the wide receivers’ blocking) “It takes 11 players, and we pride ourselves on blocking with the receivers and on the perimeter whether you have to bring in a safety, sometimes a linebacker, corners. We make it a point of emphasis with them. The reward is, too, they can score a touchdown in the pass game, but sometimes it’s rewarding to make that key block down the field to spring your running back or something like that. We’re going to continue to educate our players on that, letting them understand that part of playing football is you’re going to have to get in there and get kind of dirty with some of the blocking schemes.”
(On if he is looking forward to seeing defensively how they handle Falcons TE Kyle Pitts) “Yeah, those are things you look for in these practices coming up, and it will be interesting for me the first time to see him in person run routes and the type of athlete he is, and I’ve heard some great things about him. It’ll be a challenge for our defense, too. Again, not scheming necessarily, but just watching. Seeing how they use him offensively and how we try to defend and how we’re going to, who we’re going to put over there, whoever it might be. It’s going to be fun this week.”
(On what they’ve seen from the pass rush) “It’s good. Again, you’re still not game planning anything, but you just want to see athleticism and see get-off and all that and pushing the pocket, particularly on third down. It’s been good to see the production we’ve had there. Anytime you can just disrupt the timing of a quarterback or at least put somebody back in his lap, it just throws the timing off and rhythm off. Our guys have been able to do that these first three games. As we get going and scheme up a little bit more, I think utilizing our versatility at some positions better.”
