DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR RYAN NIELSEN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2024
(On the impact of CB Tyson Campbell being placed on injured reserve on the defense) “I
hate it for him, first. He was playing at an elite level, really high. Can’t wait to get him back,
and we will. He’ll come back; he’ll be fine. It’s just a next-man-up mentality. It’s part of the
game. One of the things is, we’ve talked about no depth chart, things like that. So, the guys
behind him have had plenty of reps, plenty of opportunity to go out and play against good
quality opponents and show what they can do. We’re very confident the next guy up out
there will do a good job.”
(On what he saw from CB Montaric Brown and CB Jarrian Jones) “Technique, fundamentals,
extra effort, where they were supposed to be. Excited about both those two players, young
players that did a pretty good job in the game. So, now let’s take the next step.”
(On what the largest improvement from Week 1 to 2 is and who the jump is biggest for)
“Young players, especially. Some guys have played in their first NFL football game against a
really good team, really good opponent. Some of the guys had some success and now
they’re building on that and they know, ‘Hey, I can play this game at this level.’ So that
confidence is a huge thing that goes a lot with that. Then some of the guys that, hey, maybe
need to do a little bit better, maybe a little bit frustrated or disappointed in their
performance. So, they’re really focused on this week and taking it one day at a time to not
let that happen again. So, look for a big step from our defense just from one week to the
next. It is, like you said, it’s a huge—most teams, first week to second week, make that big
jump. We’re looking forward to the same thing.”
(On how impressed he was by LB Foye Oluokun, LB Devin Lloyd and the rotation of
linebackers as a whole) “The whole group, as a group, we thought they did a good job, really
good job. I thought the communication was really good. Matt [Inside Linebackers Coach
Matt House] did a good job in terms of what their offense did and gave them some good
tips. Foye, Devin, flew around, physical tackles. But then there wasn’t a drop-off when the
next guy came in. You saw that it was really good. We played down there. Those guys came
in, flew around, Chad [LB Chad Muma], you saw Ventrell [LB Ventrell Miller] in the box. They
did a good job, they’ve earned some reps and so we’ll continue that throughout the
season.”
(On his assessment of the run defense Week 1 vs. Miami) “I mean, that’s what we want to
be about, run and the pass. Pound the line of scrimmage, eliminate explosive plays in pass
and run. But it was a good start. We can build off of that, and kind of our expectations. So,
we shouldn’t have been surprised that that happened. That’s kind of where you talk to the
guys, ‘Hey, don’t be surprised.’ It’s how we practice, it’s our fundamentals, how we’re
locked in, the players that we have, that type of thing. But then let’s take the next step this
week. Let’s be even better.”
(On how having DE Josh Hines-Allen and DE Travon Walker on the edge helps the team)
“Yeah, helps our defense, our team. I mean, we’ve got good players, add Arik [DE Arik
Armstead] in there. They’re really good, do a good job using their hands, knocking the line of
scrimmage back, they’re big bodies, they run real well. Those guys did a good job on the
edge, they really did. Travon getting off of blocks. I mean, there were times Josh, his
awareness in terms of the blocks and his block reaction, things like that. There’s some
disruption, there’s some things that you didn’t see on the stat line that he did during the
game in the run game and the pass-rush game that showed up on the tape on the toss
plays in the backfield, taking two guys where Tyson can make a tackle. So, there are some
really good things that those guys did. Again, we just got to build off of it.”
(On his assessment of the performance of the interior defensive line and snap balance)
“We could—at every position, we can get better. So that was the same thing with those
guys. I thought it was okay. Could’ve been better at times. But at certain times, there were
very encouraging things. We played some young players, not an excuse, but young guys out
there. There are some of those guys that can play and need to get and play better for us,
their ability and things that they’ve done. But as I think overall, when you really look at it,
yep, towards the end of the game, I think there’s a couple of plays that you’d like to have
back in the run game. A couple of—the third down belly play and the last play of the game
where he falls off a tackle. If you make those two tackles, you’d feel even better, because
we felt pretty good about it right now.”
(On if he felt he had to give the young guys snaps to allow them to gain experience) “It’s one
of the things that, at all positions, is having the rotation. Like we saw with the linebackers,
the D-line, in the secondary, is continue—because it’s such a long, I mean, look what
happened to Tyson. Tyson goes down Week 1 and so, next guy up. If Buster [CB Montaric
Brown] didn’t play in the preseason and things like that, then we wouldn’t know, because
he was playing against really good—so we knew, hey, we were confident. Something
happened, he’s next guy in, he goes out there and does his job. Same thing in the interior of
the D-line. It’s really important how we practice, and they go against our best players, those
young guys, and they have success or they don’t and we can work with them on
fundamentals and technique. So, we’ll continue to work that group. I mean, we have seven
D-tackles on the roster, so there’s a bunch of guys that we think that they can play in there.
So, you’ll see a combination throughout the year, and if a guy gets nicked or something like
that, and God forbid that that happens, but next-man-up mentality.”
(On if it will be an adjustment for the veteran players such as Oluokun to share snaps with
younger guys) “That’s probably more of a question for him. I mean, that’s just how we’ve
been practicing. You go out there four, five reps, next guy in. So, it’d probably be a better
question for him, but don’t see it being too big of an issue.”
(On the impact of having players like Muma and Miller that can sub in for Oluokun) “Sure,
the more you can do helps in all the packages. Yasir [LB Yasir Abdullah] out there… There
are some things that we can do with those guys with their skill sets, but you’re confident.
Next guy in there, and to be honest with you, I at times didn’t know that Foye was out of the
game, and then he got a blow and then, hey, looked out there and there’s 51 [LB Ventrell
Miller] out there. It was like, ‘All right, here we go.’ Next man up. It’s awesome. You see Chad
out there, Chad’s out there making a play and you’re like, all right. So, you feel really good at
all positions with our rotation. We’ve got a good roster. We have a good roster, we’ve got
depth on our defense. That’s one of the things we do have. Regardless of who’s out on the
field, you always feel like, hey, we’re confident in every single play that every player is going
to do their job.”
(On how long it took for him to find the best role for Armstead on the defensive line) “Pretty
quickly. We knew exactly where we were going to do when he got here: play some ends,
play some tackle. That’s kind of what his—and then how we rotated it was personnel
packages, things like that. So, it wasn’t a big—and you’ll see the continuation of that,
moving him around, things like that for the rest of the year. It wasn’t a huge deal.”
(On S Darnell Savage’s unique skill set) “Very, very unique. He played really well. His speed,
sometimes in the secondary when you don’t show up with a lot of statistics, regardless of
whatever position, could mean you played really well. The ball didn’t go to you because
you’re tight coverage, things like that. He had some tackles. He was flying around. His
ability to play close to the line of scrimmage and deep on the safety positions and be able
to play different coverages with his skill set. The nickel safety, and if you need him to in a
pinch, he can go out there and play some corner, certain things, because nickel’s very
similar. So, you fired up about the guy. He’s very confident. He came off the field feeling
very confident, he did a good job. We are as well. We’ve just got to continue to go with that.
You’ll see him continue to move around within the package.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR PRESS TAYLOR
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2024
(On his assessment of the offensive performance vs. Miami) “Yeah, just didn’t consistently
make enough plays or execute at a high enough level throughout the course of the game.
Really from the start, the first drive did not go the way we wanted it to go. Same thing
coming out of the half. So, we’ve got to find a way to make sure we’re starting fast.
Obviously, we were able to put together drives within the game, but that’s something you’ve
got to do consistently. You’ve got to find a way to start fast, stay consistent throughout, and
then finish strong. That’s just something we’ve got to continue to improve upon.”
(On how correctable the mistakes made are) “I think very correctable, honestly. Some of
the things were just communication or maybe just little techniques here and there as we
go. You’re going to have plays that things don’t go well throughout the course of a game, but
it’s managing and minimizing how bad things go at times. You can’t turn the ball over. That’s
a big thing for us. Then just being on the same page with communication. On offense,
running the football, it’s 11 guys on the exact same page all the time, seeing it the same
way and making sure we’re just all in sync, communicating throughout.”
(On his assessment of the offensive line’s first game playing as a unit) “I thought there were
some encouraging things. I thought just overall as an entire offensive unit, it’s a lot to build
on, but a lot that we need to improve on as we move forward throughout the week.”
(On how much he can draw from last year against the Browns’ defense) “Yeah, I think that’s
a big thing is the fact that it is the same D-coordinator. A lot of very similar personnel. So
that’s something we’ll definitely look at. We haven’t changed a whole lot if you look at us
and who we are and how we deploy people and all that. So, I would assume the way they
felt going into that game is probably similar going into this game. So, you’re going to look at
it, but you want to look at any adjustments they made from that game on through their
season, Week 1 against Dallas. All information you can get, you’ll take into account as you
build your plan and prepare your guys.”
(On if he has any concerns with the way the offense handles adversity after their
performance in the second half against Miami) “I don’t know that necessarily had to do with
momentum or anything like that. I think it just came down to being able to execute. I think if
we convert one of those third downs, we get a chance to run more plays, we get a chance to
continue to move the football… I think you saw we had the backed-up drive. We had six
plays and we’re all the way down to the three-yard line out of our own two, I believe it was.
We know we’re capable of that, we just have to do it consistently as we go.”
(On if the transition from Week 1 to 2 will bring about the biggest improvement as a team)
“Our goal is just to improve every single week. So regardless of how big that jump is, what it
is, we just want to be better each week as we get going. Better with communication, better
with our tempo, better with our execution, every little aspect of it. So, I think there’s a lot to
build on, a lot of things that we feel good about that we were able to do, a lot of things that
we do feel are correctable as we move forward to be able to put our best foot forward each
Sunday.”
(On how much he game plans around key defensive players such as Browns DE Myles
Garrett) “Yeah, there are certain guys in this league that we would just classify as game-
wreckers, and he is certainly one of those. So, you pay special attention to that guy.
Whether it’s we’re going to provide help in the pass game, we’re going to run away from him,
we’re going to do this, we’re going to run at him with certain schemes. We will do everything
in our power to be very aware of where 95 [Browns DE Myles Garrett] is at all times. They do
a great job of moving him. On third down particularly, he could align anywhere at any time.
He did that against us, he’s done that in the past, so that’s something we’re certainly aware
of with everything we do in our plan. I think special players require special focus, and he’s
definitely one of those guys.”
(On if he’s looking for more opportunities to explore the deep-passing game this week)
“Yeah, I think a lot of that’s just the limited number of plays we were able to have in that
situation. We moved the ball, we felt like we were getting started on a couple of drives, and
we get in a third-and-one scenario, we don’t convert, fourth-and-one, don’t convert, but
that gives you an opportunity now to get a whole new set of downs, call more plays, get in
that rhythm of things. I think what we were trying to do was the right thing. Did we get it
done all the time? No, obviously not. You want to be able to consistently put things
together, but we felt like we were two yards away from potentially putting that game away,
and then all of a sudden… But you have to overcome that. That’s the NFL. Every game is
going to find a way to come down to one score. 75 percent of the games are going to come
down to one score. You’ve got to find a way to, when you have an opportunity to put
somebody away, put them away, but then respond and be resilient when things aren’t going
your way, or you feel momentum is flipped, or whatever the challenges are, you’ve got to be
able to execute every single situation.”
(On his assessment of the running game Week 1 vs. Miami) “I think there were some
positives to build on. Again, we just want to get better next week than we were this week.
There’s a lot to build on with certain things, whether it was the timing of the backs being in
synchronization with the combination block, the timing of combination blocks, the
togetherness of some of those blocks at times, to even just the communication of making
sure we’re echoed across the line of how we see certain things, and to even going back to
our game planning process, our practice process of did we give them all the looks that we
possibly saw? Did we give them tools, and then did they use the tools at the right time and
making sure that we’re all on the same page and understanding the importance of all of
that.”
(On how much he goes back to last year’s meeting with Browns and what he remembers
from facing that team) “We go back a lot. That’s certainly a game that we’re going to—
anytime we play an opponent again that has the same DNA as well as personnel, you’re
going to spend a lot of time watching that because you want to look at how they treated
you, how they thought of you, defended you, where did that differ from what you planned
going into the game, and then try to figure out why that happened, why that was, what they
feel like they could hang their hat on of they were successful with this, and plan for that.
Then learning from it, moving forward, I think looking back on the personnel we had, and
the guys playing, I know Ezra [OL Ezra Cleveland] was hurt going into the game and ended
up playing left tackle for us right there, [OL] Blake Hance comes in and finishes it, and it felt
like one of those games it was just nothing went well. Then you look back and realize we
had the ball, we’re down one possession with the chance to win the game amid not playing
well. That’s one of those little things that you gain some confidence of, okay, if we can just
get out of our own way, give ourselves a possibility to win this game if we execute at a high
level, we stick together throughout, we’ll be in these games. Same thing we were talking
about the other way, we were never out of that game, we always had an opportunity to win,
so now you’ve got to capitalize and make those plays.”
(On if it is frustrating looking back at last year’s close loss to Cleveland) “It is frustrating.
Yes, it is. Anytime you’re looking back, and a lot of times we’ll tell our guys one of our big
things, it’s all about us, and so us getting out of our own way and giving ourselves the best
possibility to win the game.”
JAGUARS MAKE ROSTER MOVES
JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville Jaguars have signed S Andre Chachere to the practice squad, the team announced today. Additionally, the team has signed CB Tre Flowers to the active roster and placed CB Tyson Campbell on the injured reserve list.
Chachere was originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Houston Texans in 2018. He spent his first three seasons on the practice squad with Houston, Detroit, Arizona, Carolina and Indianapolis before being claimed off waivers by Philadelphia in 2021. In 2023, Chachere signed with Arizona and appeared in 17 games, recording 23 tackles and three passes defensed. The Fresno, Calif., native attended San Jose State and played four seasons (2014-17). In 2016, he recorded 117 interception return yards, becoming the first Spartan to record more than 100 interception return yards in a single season since 2012.
Flowers was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the fifth round (146th overall) of the 2018 Draft. He appeared in 47 games for Seattle (2018-21) before being acquired via waivers by Cincinnati in October of 2021. After spending time with Cincinnati (2021-22) and Atlanta (2023), he joined the Jaguars (2024) and eventually signed with the team’s practice squad. Throughout his career, Flowers has played in 90 games (44 starts), posting 208 total tackles, 22 passes defensed, five forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and four interceptions. The Converse, Texas, native spent five seasons at Oklahoma State (2013-17) appearing in 51 games. During his senior season (2017), he was named First-Team All-Big 12 and voted as a captain by his teammates.
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