JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
Re: The end of the game. The defense was too tired and weren’t able to get to Matt Ryan.
“Yeah, I mean, look, this is one of the things we talk about a lot, is the finish, right? Credit them. Their
game plan today obviously was not to huddle as much and try to play a little tempo and get the ball out
quickly. Try to eliminate some of your pass rush that way. They did a good job with that. Our guys
battled for 60 minutes. We just got to find a time, a place, a play somewhere that we can win these
games. It’s obviously an opportunity to do that, and our guys will be better. We’ll be better for it as we
go. Great opportunities to teach.”
You guys had some penalties on third downs. Extended drives. A couple pass interference penalties.
“Again, self-inflicted. I think they were six-for-six on third down in the second half I believe. You know,
whether by penalty or by catch, we’ve just got to evaluate the tape and see if, as coaches, we’re doing
the right thing and be hard and critical on ourselves and try to put our players in position. But at the
same time, we understand that those mistakes can extend drives.”
How encouraged were you that when you needed it from Trevor Lawrence he went and got you the
go-ahead touchdown?
“Yeah, I thought that was not only by him, but I think the offense. It was really good to see for us to go
down and get that touchdown the go-ahead score there. I put a lot on Trevor (Lawrence) and he made
some big throws, and just good to see. Something we can learn from with him and keep building. Just
continue to work at it, but that was good to see.”
Even outside of the last drive, did you like his decision making?
“Yeah, for the most part he did some really nice things. There were some quick sacks on him. We got
edged a little bit and there were some quick sacks that got us on some first downs, put us in some
second-and-long situations. Some of those we were able to overcome, but we just didn’t do enough.
There is more out there that we can get, and we just got to find a way to do that.”
How much are you still trying to figure out who you guys are? Last week, you go down the field and
can’t get enough points and the defense plays well. You get 27 points today and the big drive. Is that
just the NFL?
“I mean, I think it’s both. We keep talking about it’s about us, and focusing on our jobs and what we do,
players and coaches. We’re all in this thing together. We’re going to learn from it and we’re going to fix
it. But this team, one thing I like about this team is there is no quit in these guys. They battle for 60
minutes. They don’t shut it down at all. They play hard. They play fast. Like I told them after the game,
we’re going to end up – whenever that is, whether it’s through time or what, we’re going to come out
ahead on most of these as we go.”
Back-to-back big weeks for Travis Etienne Jr., can you talk about his growth and even bigger roles for
him going forward?
“I thought Travis (Etienne Jr.) did a really nice job for us today. Some nice explosive runs in there.
Offensive line did a nice job. You know, he’s getting better. He’s getting better within the offense and
what we’re asking him to do. I thought James (Robinson) even had some good runs in there and got
JaMycal (Hasty) going. I thought overall offensive line opened up some – the receivers blocked safeties,
linebackers from time to time, which is asked of them. I thought the run game was good. We’ve just got
to find a way to finish.”
Colts were very effective on crossing routes against a lot of man-to-man coverage. How much do you
anticipate you’ll see more of that going forward until you prove you can slow it down better than you
did today?
“That’s one thing about this league is until you stop something, you’re going to continue to see it. We’ve
got to evaluate the tape obviously, making sure we’re doing the right things as coaches to put our
players in position to win those battles. But, yeah, it’s something we’ll look at tonight on the way home.”
The option on fourth down, what did you see?
“We’ve had that play in and we were – listen, we were rolling at that time and felt comfortable and
confident that we were going to pick that up. Credit them. They did a nice job stopping that one.
You know, just something we got to evaluate and look at the decision, the play, all of it as we go
forward.”
Were you expecting them to go over the top? One of the things that Shaquill Griffin said is that he had
been playing – kind of guarding the inside most of the time. There was also defensive pass
interference on both sides. Were you expecting them to go over the top like that when they needed
six or seven yards closer for the kicker?
“You know, I think in that situation they were already in field goal range for that kicker. You know, it’s
just an opportunity there for them to – whether they obviously complete it for the score or get the DPI
(defensive pass interference), whatever it might be, the risk-reward there kind of favors offense in
situations like that, because with the time and on fourth down they have the opportunity to kick the
field goal. So kind of expect it in those situations. Just credit them. They made the play.”
Last week you said it was a pissed off team in the locker room. What did you get a sense this week?
Demoralized?
“Yeah, they’re hurting obviously. They battled. Again, it’s an opportunity to get better this week and
learn from the film – coaches and players. Just get back to work. Nobody is going to, as we say, feel sorry
for us. We just have to keep grinding and keep going.”
JAGUARS QUARTERBACK TREVOR LAWRENCE
How are your emotions after the game?
“Yeah, obviously it’s — we’ve had a few of these this year, so it’s just frustrating. It’s tough. Not as much
frustrating, just those are the games — we feel like we could have won every game that we’ve been in
this year. That’s the NFL though, so there is a lot of teams that can say that. At the end of the day just
matters if you win or lose, so continuing to find ways to go and finish and win these games. Yeah,
obviously going to be a lot to learn from today. There was some interesting situations that I think
everywhere, players, like we can handle better. There were some tough situations, and at the end of the
day I think we did take a big step offensively. What was that, 20-play drive at the end, just the
confidence that was in that huddle, it was cool to see. Just wouldn’t want to be beside anybody else in
there. Just proud of those guys. Defensively, too, made some big plays. It’s really just on all of us to find
ways to execute better. I know offensively we had a drive where I missed a big throw on third down on
the plus 40 or so. It was really the plus 30, 32-yard line on third down. Got to hit that one to Christian
(Kirk). So there are plays you think about and kick yourself over, and it’s just how can we all get better
and put ourselves in position to just go win it, not just be close. That’s what’s frustrating. I really believe
in the team that we have. I know we have that confidence no matter who we’re playing that we can go
win, and that’s huge obviously. Eventually, we got to go and win those games, and we know that. There
is a lot of things we can learn from and get better at. We’re obviously taking it in, and emotions are high.
Biggest thing is we got to stick together. We’re all in it together. No matter what the result was, we all
have our part and we got to look in the mirror, kind of same thing we said last week, and address it and
move on this week.”
How encouraging was it for you that when it mattered, and you needed that go-ahead score, that you
were able to get it?
“Yeah, there has been — bunch of guys on the defense came up to me and were apologizing. I was like,
man, there has been plenty of times where I wasn’t able to get it done and you guys put me in a position
to go win the game. We’re a team. That’s the beautiful thing about this game, is that it’s a team game
and you got to have everybody. Whoever plays the better, compete game wins the game. That’s the
thing.
I really believe in the guys we have and love our team, and just we fought to the very last second. Didn’t
go our way today, but I am really confident in who we have and how we’ll responsibility.”
How have you seen Travis Etienne Jr. improve over the last couple weeks?
“Yeah, Travis (Etienne Jr.) has been great. You guys see how hard he runs. Obviously, his speed helps us
lots, and just between him and James (Robinson) and (JaMycal) Hasty, you know, he had a big run to do
on third and short, so that was awesome. Might have been fourth down actually. But anyways, that was
a huge run. Just those guys are doing a great job. O-line is going is a heck of a job up front. We ran the
ball great today. That was good to see. I know they were excited, and we all were. So, it’s hard to talk
about the positives when you lose. It’s frustrating. Like every game, there is positives, there’s negatives,
things we got to do better. Thought we ran the ball great today. Obviously in the second half, as much
success as we had on the ground first half, they had some adjustments, so it was tougher to break off
those chunks. We still did a few of them and ran when we needed to and converted a bunch of third
downs down the stretch in that last drive. I thought we did some things really well and obviously there
are some things to work on.”
How hard are you finding it is to win in the NFL? You guys ran for 200, you missed two passes, and you
have a ten-minute drive in the fourth quarter to go ahead and you still can’t get it done.
“It’s hard. It’s hard to win. Every team is good, so it’s — I’ve known how hard it is to win, especially after
last season. We had some close games. Some that weren’t so close. All those things. It’s hard to win. You
got to play well. You’re not going to luck into any wins in the NFL. You got to play a complete game,
offense, defense, special teams, and you can’t let up at all, you can’t take a breath. We’re going to look
at some times in that game where speaking specifically offensively where we had them 14 to 3, and I
think, that’s when we got to strike and keep going and dominate the game and really take over. There
was a little bit of a lull there, let them get back into the game at the end of the second half. And then we
came out — sorry, end of the first half. And then beginning of the second half we came out, scored first
drive, kind of got back on track. There are positives and negatives, and you look at all of it and we’ll get
better.”
Did you think your legs were going to be a big part of the game plan as they were today?
“You never know. You have a game plan and you kind of prepare for everything. I know that’s a part of
my game where honestly haven’t had to use too much this season, but that’s a part of my game I’m
comfortable with and I know that can help us if needed. Whenever my number is called, just doing what
I can to help the team, and today that was — that seemed to be something that was working, especially
down there on the goal line, all those things. So, guys did a great job up front, all that.”
Did losing Jamal Agnew on top of Marvin Jones Jr., did that affect things, what you were trying to do
in today’s game?
“You know, our guys did a good job adjusting. I talked to the production crew before the game and all
the different personnels we have and the plan to have this guy here on certain plays, and then we have
you have one guy go down a day or two before the game and then Ag (Jamal Agnew), who’s a huge
playmaker for us, especially in certain situations, goes down in the game, gets a little banged up, it
changes your – not necessarily your plan, but then you got to rearrange all the personnels and thought
the guys did a good job adjusting to it. Obviously, it’s an extra challenge. You have guys in spots that you
didn’t rep in practice, but I thought the guys did a good job of handling it.”
