JAGUARS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR DARRELL BEVELL
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2021
(On what stood out most in the team’s self-scout) “We got some good information on it. I think one of the biggest things obviously is our third downs. We have to be much better there on third down and really across the board. As I told the players, the thing that happens is, I look at it a bunch of ways. I do not want it to be all of them and it is not all of us, how can we all improve? Whether it is a better play call or whether it is our overall execution. Coach [Meyer] probably talked about it but we had seven penalties in that area which makes it harder and knocks you back. We have had eight drops in that area and we have had other issues so those are the things that we can not inflict on ourselves. That is one of the big takeaways like the third down in the red area. We have done a good job scoring touchdowns, but it is either touchdowns or nothing, so we have to correct that as well.”
(On what Seattle does well defensively) “First of all, I think it is their scheme. Coach [Pete] Caroll and [Defensive Coordinator] Kenny Norton have been in that scheme for a long time. They have interchangeable parts that they can use with different players and they really know their scheme well. They know where all the holes are and they know where people are going to attack them. In the last couple weeks, they kind of have been adding a few new wrinkles to it as well but I think it [comes down to] how well they play their scheme, how well versed they are in it and how they know they are going to be attacked. They then will attack those plays.”
(On Seahawks S Jamal Adams) “Yeah, he is a problem. He is all over the place and does a great job getting after the run. He causes problems in run blocking schemes because he is going to run through and he is going to run off the edge. He is a problem and it is the same in protection as well.”
(On dealing with the Seattle crowd noise) “Yeah [it is the loudest] for an outdoor stadium. I had good years there with that noise and for an outdoor stadium, it is about as loud as it can be and they have great fans there. For us, I think the first thing is understanding it is going to be loud, but [it’s about] your poise and functioning in that atmosphere. Obviously, out here at practice we have it [the speakers] cranked up in all the periods. The thing that it does is that it affects your communication, so we really have to be on point with that. You have to have the nonverbal communication, you have to have your signals and all of those things. You still need to be poised enough in those situations that it can speed you up in your mentality. You have to stay poised and understand that the [play] clock is still 40 seconds and all those things and then get your stuff done and orchestrate it in a timely fashion.”
(On the O-line being together for a while and how that helps with nonverbal communication) “Yeah, for sure. They understand the timing of the center with all the silent counts and those kinds of things. I think that does help you.”
(On what Seattle did well on Monday night) “One of things overall is their numbers as far as yards in rushing or passing, but they also are not giving up a lot of points either. They are lower in the league in terms of yardage, but they are doing a great job of not giving up points. They are somewhere in the middle. You know they only gave up 13 points in that [Monday Night Football] game. They have done a really nice job with settling it down a little bit with their scheme and they had some really nice pressures in the New Orleans game as well. Like I said, they changed a couple of their zone coverages from last week and I think that surprised a little bit.”
(On the importance of tempo in a game like this) “I think it is always important to get in a good rhythm. Whether it is fast tempo or not, I think it is more about the rhythm that you can get. Seattle is pretty well versed with the fans and people coming in and all those situations. Yes, I would tempo can definitely help you because they do not stay hyped up for the whole 40 second play clock, so sometimes you can catch them in those moments.”
(On QB Trevor Lawrence being rattled by the noise) “He has been very poised since he got here. That is one of things we have talked about. He has really impressed me with that and none of the situations have been too big. He has been in big moments, huge moments like the National Championship games and all those kinds of things. I am not expecting him to get rattled. No, you just have to be able to handle the elements, whatever they are.”
(On how impressed he is with OL Tyler Shatley) “I am glad we have him. That was a great pickup for us to bring him back here. He is a calming presence for the quarterback. Just like Brandon Linder is because of the veteran he is and how he can orchestrate things. Trevor [Lawrence] does not have to do it all by himself and that is very comforting for a young quarterback.”
(On conversations with the wide receivers during the Bye Week and what they need to work on) “We looked at all of that really with all of our guys. I think the one thing that stood out to me is our improvement. We have talked about that a bunch and I like the trajectory that we are on. We are making improvements all across the board and getting better. We need to continue to do that and we are just going to continue to move those guys around. We will use Laviska [Shenault Jr.] in the slot, we will move him outside and just try to be smart with the things that we are asking every player to do.”
(On what to stress to running backs and tight ends when playing S Jamal Adams) “I mean you have to know where he is. We have APB out on him all the time so that we understand in protections how he can wreak havoc on the run game, how he can through and those kinds of things. There is basically APB out on him all the time.”
(On if S Jamal Adams is a unique safety) “Yeah, I mean they love to have him around the ball and try to really have him attack the ball. He does a great job when they drop back of adding on, he does a great job of running through in run schemes, so he is a problem.”
(On what team he hated the most in college) “Minnesota, the Gophers. That would be mine. It was the longest rivalry in 1A football and it was a big rivalry for us [Wisconsin].”
(On balancing WR Jamal Agnew’s special teams and offense abilities) “He basically has become one of our starting wide receivers, so at first it was a bonus for us on offense because he was the kick returner and we could use him as a receiver but now he is one of our three guys. He is one of our main guys and
he is going to be out there a lot. I do not expect him to have any drop-off in his return game. We are going to use him the best we can because he makes big plays for us.”
(On how impressed he is with WR Jamal Agnew’s growth and ability to play WR) “His growth has been tremendous and he has picked it up real quickly. It is funny because sometimes we joke with the defensive backs – we send them over there because they can not catch and that is why they became defensive backs. He has always had those ball skills and the movement skills so that was the one thing that I saw when it was not working out for him over there [on defense]. We were going to have him on the team, so we were like give him to us, we are going to use him. He still had to learn the WR ways and learn releases at the first level and learn releases at the second level. He is a quick study and he has picked it up really well. There is the natural ability to move around guys and make guys miss because of the returns that he does. Some of that came pretty seamless for him to the release game and he already had ball skills, so just putting him in the right places, moving him around and spoon feeding him a little but now it is like here the whole deal and let’s go.”
JAGUARS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR JOE CULLEN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2021
(Opening Statement) “Just to recap, obviously we talked last week about the big win in London. We had a really great bye week practice-wise, kind of re-looking at everything we’ve done during the year. We’ve had a really good start to our preparation against a really good Seattle team that is tough at home. I mean it’s crazy their winning percentage at that place. It’s loud. But our guys are excited, ready to go. With that, I’ll open it up for questions.”
(On Seahawks QB Geno Smith) “Well, I’ll tell you this now, he’s very talented. He has a strong arm as you’ll see. He can launch the ball down the field, he can hit the deep ball, and on the flank, they have as good of two receivers as you’re going to see. And Alex Collins, the running back, I was with him for two years. [He’s a] 1,000-yard runner. He’s really shifty. We have to be at the top of our game really making sure we knock the run game out, but really being on the top of our game in terms of with those receivers and keeping Geno [Smith] in the pocket, not letting him extend plays, things like that.”
(On defending Seahawks WR DK Metcalf) “He launches everybody, but I’ll tell you, you just have to match the physicality. You have to. You can’t let someone just all day beat up on you, you have to match the physicality and get help at times. But you have to match the physicality, that’s what you have to do.”
(On what has contributed to the high number of sacks allowed by the Seahawks’ offense) “Well sometimes, it goes hand in hand. You don’t want to make a mistake either. You don’t just want to launch the ball up when you’re under pressure and then all of a sudden, you’re throwing it blind. I mean he’s done a good job. You take a sack. I mean yeah, he could probably get rid of the ball quicker at times, just like any quarterback. But I think it goes hand in hand where he just doesn’t want to launch balls up blindly just to get rid of it, but then obviously he’s being coached to probably get it out a little quicker. The Saints got to him a few times in the second half. We’re going to basically hope our coverage is tighter, our rush is better, and when our rush and coverage works together, then you can get there.”
(On the defense setting the offense up with favorable field position in the game against the Dolphins) “Well, I think that’s a great point. When you look at it like complimentary football, we always say, if we can get the ball two times on the plus side of the 50[-yard line], the odds of [scoring are better]. [Head Coach Urban Meyer] Coach talks about it in the plan to win all the time, tilting the field. Like when you have them backed up and you make a stop, that’s big. We get the punt return, now we’re on the plus side of the 50. You stop them. It’s like a turnover on fourth down on the 49-yard line, whatever it was. So, those are huge plays in the game and now your offense doesn’t have to drive 80 yards to score. We’re a team that I think is coming around. Our big-play potential on the other side, they’re doing a great job. We just have to continue to do that. We’re stressing that. We got the takeaway when we needed it. We have to get more, and then that’s what complimentary football’s all about. When you can do that and then take the ball away and play good defense, and that’s the entire team as Coach talks about, then in situational football, then you have a chance to win every week.”
(On the defense not forcing a fumble yet this season) “Seeing the ball, punching the ball, having opportunities when you’re the second, third man, and they come in bunches, keep working it, stripping from the backside as someone has them up, punching if someone has them wrapped up on one side. We just have to continue to get better. In practice, we’re doing it better and we’re excited about moving forward. If we can get better in our takeaways, eliminate explosive plays in the pass game, and that’s rush and coverage, it’s not just the backend, that goes hand in hand, and do the little things a little bit better, you should improve.”
(On CB Shaquill Griffin giving helpful information about his former team) “Well, there’s always little things when you go against your old team, and he had a great run there. He has a lot of respect for [Seahawks Head Coach] Coach [Pete] Carroll and what he’s done there and what that team has done. Obviously, the receivers, he went against them all the time, so he might have a few little things that he has shared. It goes both ways too and [you] have an opponent that’s played with you going the other way, but yes.”
(On zone coverage fitting the personnel better at this point in the season) “When you look at the games, like when you play a team like Tennessee, you’re going to load the box. When they go big, we have to make sure we’re in man coverage to stop 22 [Titans RB Derrick Henry]. When you look at the pass game that day, they had 180 yards throwing and we had a couple mistakes in terms of dropping your man. It wasn’t really getting beat physically. We dissected everything and then we’ve played zone. [Against] Cincinnati, we were about 80 percent zone, so we’ve played [zone]. It goes hand in hand. Then [with] the game play, you have to play tight coverage in those third-and-2 to 4 windows because if you don’t, if you just play zone, you give them the easy slant. So, you have to be a little bit better when you do play man, the rush has to get there a little bit better, you have to be tighter to your man. It’s not always about getting the interception but knocking the ball out of his hands. Like Tyson [Campbell] when we’re backed up on third-and-2, we went man versus Arizona, he knocked the ball out of the guy’s hands. So, you just have to be a little bit better. The zone eyes give you an opportunity. We worked on landmarks, breaking to the ball, things like that to help you get more bodies to the point of attack in terms of the pass game.”
(On teams playing either zone or man coverage but not both) “I don’t think. [If] any one team just sits in one thing, they’ll have a beat on you. But no, we’ll balance and mix it.”
(On CB Tyson Campbell’s and LB Myles Jack’s recoveries) “Good. They’re working to get back. We’re fighting to get back. They’re doing good.”
(On getting S Andre Cisco on the field more) “He plays a lot of special teams. We had situations last week he got on the field and there’ll be more where he’ll get on the field.”
(On the point of emphasis for CB Tyson Campbell the rest of the season) “Unfortunately, he got hurt. You look at he was making a lot of progress and [had] a couple plays against Cincinnati. He had a couple plays against pretty much a historical receiver right now, historical [Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase]. You guys can figure all that out, but through the first seven games, I think he’s second in the history of the NFL with yardage, [has] a touchdown in every game, I think he has five over 25 yards. I mean he beat up on some other guys too. [He has to] just keep going and then obviously getting healthy and keep improving.”
(On the history of the franchise struggling on the West Coast) “I mean I always thought it was harder to go the other way, when they came out here, you’re playing at 10 in the morning, but [it’s] just adapting to it. Sometimes we’ve gone out a day earlier. Sometimes we went out early Saturday morning, changed everything up. I’ve been out there when we’ve won big and been out there when we lost big, so I think it just goes [to] your mental focus and your preparation. [It’s] kind of like the mindset going to London. I know we’ve been there before, this organization, a lot more than other teams, but now you went eight and a half hours over the ocean, over the Atlantic Ocean, to get there. I think it’s a mindset. You’re in a hostile environment, you have to start fast, you have to weather the storm early, and then make the plays that you’re supposed to make. I think just adapting, using every minute wisely, hydration, all of that stuff comes into play, but I don’t think there’s a science. When you go out the same day, you go out the day before, I don’t really think that there’s anything to that. Now, history’s behind you. Let’s move forward.”
(On the focus of the team after the bye week following the first win of the season) “Even leading up to that, I think their focus had been [good]. We talk about obnoxious communication and communicating in terms of a defense, offense, special teams, everything, but really just being detailed and communicating. A silent defense to me is always a dead defense, so the more you can communicate, everyone being on the same page and loud, especially in a hostile environment, it’s an opportunity to just keep getting better and [we] absolutely have. Really even a couple of weeks before, [we were] starting to go that way and we’ve had a great week so far in preparation.”
(On how the New Orleans Saints contained the Seahawks offensively last week) “It was a tight game. The special teams, I think they missed a couple field goals, the Seahawks. It was a different game maybe if they hit those. Then in the second half, they [the Saints] came up with some big stops and got them behind the chains. I think all of their sacks came in the second half. I just think there were some key situations where they got them into long-yardage situations and that helps your defense. That was the big thing I think.”
