| October 16, 2020 Opening statement: “Morning everybody. Let’s dive into it. What do you guys got?” On how G Joe Dahl has looked in practice and if he will be active on Sunday: “We’ll see after another day today, but I thought on Wednesday with the pads on, I thought Joe looked pretty good. Came out, his pad level was good, I thought he moved well, that was a good, competitive practice for us. Yesterday, coming off of the padded practice, you know we do it probably a little bit slower from that standpoint, but I thought he was doing a great job. So we’ll get through another day today and then go from there. But he’s looked good so far.” On Jaguars QB Gardner Minshew II and if his swagger can elevate an offense: “Just as far as his quarterback play, I think he’s done a great job of showing that he can really be quite dynamic in the passing game. We know he’s athletic. He has a very strong arm. He does a good job with the deep balls, which they have some phenomenal skill players around him that can run vertical, get open, big-catch-radius guys. He has that element of athleticism so they can mix in some of the read-option stuff with him too, and certainly the extended plays that he gets out of the pocket on scrambles are outstanding. I think he’s going to continue to get better, and I think that once he settles in to the comfort level of those new guys around him too, and some of those skill players, I think all of that group will just continue to gel. I think that they’ve settled the run game down obviously with (James) Robinson, and they feel good about where that’s at, being consistent, so I think he’ll continue to get better. Certainly I think any player that’s out there that’s producing and playing well can impact a team, and certainly no more than from the quarterback position. I think that’s why they like him.” On if RB Adrian Peterson is in the building: “Adrian is in the building. He’s in the building today.” On his feelings about head coaching changes at this point in the season: “Look, obviously we all know that this business is tough, and those are two great guys. I reached out to (Bill O’Brien and Dan Quinn) just to make sure that they were OK. Certainly when any situation comes up, I just think about how he’s doing, how his family’s doing, those are the most important thing just to make sure that everybody’s OK. We know what we sign up for other than that. But it effects people’s families and you want to make sure everybody is all right.” On if the quarter mark of the season enough time for organizations to evaluate a head coach’s performance: “I mean, I don’t know. I’m not in any of those other organizations. So we’re just going to worry about Jacksonville. I think you feel for the guys, you feel for what everybody’s going through.” On how he addresses rumors about his job security with the players: “I think I’ve probably hit this multiple times in the past. For us, every week, we’re just trying to go out and compete and win and do everything that we can to get better. We come in, and we do our job. That’s what we do. I don’t think you get into anything other than that, and you don’t ride that wave. You just try to go out and do the best you can that week.” On if the organization has had enough time to evaluate what he’s brought to Detroit: “I mean, I’m really focused on the Jaguars here, guys. So, I mean, from that standpoint – we have a big game in front of us. We’re going to try to go down to Florida and play well.” On how hard it is for a team who traditionally doesn’t have success to maintain success once they reach it, like Jacksonville in 2017: “That was an outstanding team. I thought they were playing really well, at the end of the year especially. You could just see. As you go through the course of an NFL season, you see how teams change, and you see how as you get toward Thanksgiving, those teams that are really starting to push and play at a high level, and you know that they’re going to be rolling through the end of December toward the playoffs. That’s a team that was doing that, certainly. I’ve known (Head) Coach (Doug) Marrone for a long time. When I was in college, he was a coach for the Coast Guard Academy. So, we’ve gone against each other for a while. He’s a great coach. He does a great job of just leading that team. I think that he understands what it takes to get to that point, but we all know that every year is a new year, it’s a new season in the NFL. There are so many things that change, and you’ve just kind of got to start over. I’m sure that’s all he’s focused on right now, is this year. Certainly, I think for the Jaguars that year, that was a great team.” On if the teams he built in New England had to have had a strong identity, like a strong defense, and if every team needs something to hang their hat on: “I mean, I’m probably not going to really get into the New England thing. It’s all about that team, that year, that you’re trying to build. So, for us, it’s the same. We’re trying to work through 2020 and try to get better and improve. As a team, we’ll come together and we’ll keep pushing, and we’ve got guys that are working hard. I think that every year, every team in the NFL is certainly trying to find something that is going to be who they are for that year. Sometimes it takes teams a little bit longer, sometimes teams walk into the season and maybe it’s a carryover from the year before. I think you definitely see that, certainly, where there’s not a lot of change of not a lot of differences from the year before and they can just kind of pick up and keep going. But, it’s a long season. Sometimes that stuff changes as the season goes on, and the teams that are trying to find that through the course of the year, that’s part of the fun. That’s part of the process.” |
