(Opening statement) “Just to kind of give you [an overview for] the week, I think it’s important to understand the week we took to prepare. Obviously, for today’s game, we all made sure we understood [the situation] and take accountability for the season. What we tried to focus on, all week long with the players, was making sure that, ‘Let’s not let the past stuff dwell during the week. Let’s have an opportunity to know what it feels like to play at home, to win a game in front of the fans and to play, not for coaches or family or anything else, but play for each other in that room.’ That was really what I talked about to the players [about]. I talk to them about enjoying this moment. We’ll all have a long time to reflect on the season, but at least from now until whenever we start the offseason, which obviously starts when the last ball is snapped, the guys in that locker room can feel good about something. I think we had a lot of guys playing, like you’ve seen, that haven’t played before. Those guys stepped up. You saw where some of our good players made some plays, and they hung in there and it was tough stopping them in that first half, and it was big that we were able to score after the turnover, we gave up three, being able to get three before halftime. And being able to score, and obviously all the sudden the tide started to turn, and we were able to create some turnovers and made some plays. I thought situationally, we did a much better job on third down. It was disappointing early in the game. It was fourth-and-two, or it was second-and-two and we really had some good calls, we just missed them. I just felt like those are the best calls we can have down there, so fourth-and-two in a 3-0 game and I wanted to go 3-3. I think for this moment, wins are hard to come by and I’m going to try and enjoy it.”
(On if he wished the team could have put a game like this together sooner in the season) “There might be time to do that, but I would say you are always going to look to say why and look to improve. I think I’ve always been someone who has always acknowledged where I need to get better and have been able to see things and try things and do different things to get them going. I would say, yeah, that’s a good question and one that we obviously have to figure out.”
(On if he feels winning that game does anything for his future) “I don’t know. The one thing I will say is [Jaguars Owner] Shad [Khan] and [Jaguars Senior Vice President of Football Administration and Technology] Tony [Khan] are really great owners. The communication that we’ve had, even though it’s not public, we’ve had a lot of communication. They want to do the best job they can for our fans and for the city, for our sponsors, for everyone in the building. I know for me; I appreciate that and thank them. I feel that it’s been disappointing. I know in my heart that I can take this team to better roads, but again, that’s not my decision.”
(On where he goes from here) “We’ve had a plan for a while. Obviously the stuff comes out yesterday, which is kind of joke because the one thing I know about [Jaguars Owner] Shad [Khan] and [Jaguars Senior Vice President of Football Administration and Technology] Tony [Khan] is that we’ve had communication and it would come from them. It’s not going to come from somewhere out in the media, especially if it’s going to come from someone from a national standpoint. That didn’t phase me. What I tried to do is make sure the players are focused on what they needed to do. We’re in a league where if you don’t play well, there are going to be a lot of things out there about a lot of us. For weeks now, it’s always been, ‘Hey, exit interviews, meeting during the week, coming up with a plan,’ and I think Shad and Tony are going to look and see if that’s the right plan and make the best decision.”
(On what gives him confidence looking at this roster that he could take this team from 6-10 to 10-6 next season) “I think that’s probably a better question after, strategically, we meet and go. In other words, obviously there’s always change in this business, whether you win or lose, so are there things that are going to have to change? Absolutely, or else we’ll be sitting in the same spot as before. We’ll get together, sit down, I’ll give my opinion, everyone will have opinions on it. Then, [Jaguars Owner] Shad [Khan] and [Jaguars Senior Vice President of Football Administration and Technology] Tony [Khan] will sit down and see if it’s what best moving forward for the organization.”
(On why QB Gardner Minshew II was able to be more productive today then in recent weeks) “I think he’s going to be someone that gets better and better. There are still a couple of things that go on on that field that I’m sure Gardner wishes he had back, like that drive down there when it was 3-0. Those two throws or the errant throw, ‘Hey, throw it away or throw it down in the dirt and not try to force something there.’ The bootleg where he wound up throwing for an incomplete, where you are working against the clock a little bit, but those things are natural. Those things are going to have to, you know, those things take a little bit of time and I’ve always said one thing about Gardner is he’s a guy that keeps on learning as he goes and gets better and doesn’t make a mistake twice, at least consciously.”
(On what Yannick Ngakoue means to this team) “I can’t speak for the team, but I can speak for me. Like I’ve said before when you guys have been here during the week, you know, you got a player that is going into a year where there is a little bit of unknown. A lot of times, in my experience, I’ve had players that it’s affected them, or it’s affected the way they acted around their teammates or affected the way they practice or even affected the way they play. The one thing about Yannick, you talk about a professional through it all, he’s 100 mph in practice. He’s not doing things on the field to get sacks and get numbers. He’s doing what he wants to do. He played at an extremely high level. I can’t tell you how many times people are grabbing him, holding him and that play, what’s interesting, before he went out I told him, ‘We stop them the first two downs and it’s third down, I expect a safety.’ You know what I’m saying? And then on the third down play, he gets knocked down — I don’t know if you guys were able to see that — here’s a guy that gets back up, runs, strip-fumble. What better way than for Calais Campbell to grab it up and go? It’s almost like if you had to write a story, that would be the story, and a lot of times that doesn’t happen.”
(On if he’ll tell [Jaguars Owner] Shad [Khan] and [Jaguars Senior Vice President of Football Administration and Technology] Tony [Khan] this week about his plans to get the team turned around next season) “I think that, you are asked those questions quite a bit at the end of the year, every year, no matter what. How are we going to do this? How are we going to get better? How are we going to change? The one thing, and I’ll say it again, Shad and Tony want a great football team here. There’s no doubt in my mind, and they are two great owners. It’s just a matter of, does it make sense? Is it right? Obviously, I’m not going to communicate that here. That’s for a private conversation. This is the way I feel. This is what we have to do. This is what I need. And express those opinions and if it is the right direction, then I’m the right person for the job, and if it isn’t, then I’m not. That’s the case no matter what. That’s the case in coaching wherever.”
(On how helpful it was to not have to overcome a large first-half deficit like recent weeks) “A little uphill at the half. We got that extra three, but I understand what you mean. In other words, it’s not two touchdowns, three touchdowns, where you don’t want to change your game plan and you can stay within the game plan and still play football and get some things done. There were some momentum changes, obviously, in that game either way, but to be able to have a plan, go out there and be able to kind of fully run your plan. Obviously, there will be some things that don’t work, but to be able to do that instead of all the sudden, ‘Hey, we’re down X amount of scores. We’re in a two-minute situation where everyone in the stadium knows what you are doing.’ It’s much tougher to play that way.”
(On how far off the 2020 team is compared to the 2017 team that almost made the Super Bowl) “I’m not going to comment on that because I don’t know what the team is going to look like. I think from year to year, for me, in this profession, there’s been years when we made big runs and there’s been years where we haven’t. In New Orleans, we went to the NFC Championship game our first year and kind of went along the next two, then I left to go to Syracuse, and they popped a Super Bowl. I think it’s very hard to predict, but make no mistake about it, [Jaguars Owner] Shad [Khan] and [Jaguars Senior Vice President of Football Administration and Technology] Tony [Khan] want to win. Whatever we have to do to win, it’s going to be about that.”
(On if he would do anything differently looking back on the season) “I’ve been a person that’s been straight up. If I see problems, I’m going to change them. I think that’s what good leadership is and as long as you feel like it’s within your philosophy and you are comfortable with it, then you have to do it because at the end of the day, what I learned a long time ago in this business is if you do something that maybe someone talked to you or did that and then things don’t work out, I think it’s very hard to look at yourself in the mirror. For me, it’s very easy. Am I disappointed? Obviously. Am I concerned? Yes. You are always concerned when you have a disappointing season, but for this moment, when I leave here, when I’m done answering the questions, which I really appreciate everyone being great all year, I might have a little bit more than one beer.”
