MIAMI DOLPHINS QUOTES
Sunday, September 8, 2024
Postgame – Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach Doug Pederson
Q. The fourth down call in the second half, was that just trying to gain a little bit of momentum?
DOUG PEDERSON: No, it was trying to stay on the field. Really just wanted to stay on the field.
Execute the play, stay on the field. First-and-10, they stopped us, made a play, and then it turned into
a good situation because they ended up missing the field goal there. But no, just wanted to stay on
the field.
Q. You had 105 yards in the second half, putting together the one big drive that RB Travis Etienne
Jr. fumbled, can you talk how much wind that took out of the sails?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, it takes a little wind out, but guys battled. The defense stepped up and
made some stops. It was just kind of a tale of two halves, really. We made plays in the first half, they
made plays in the second half, so credit them.
Q. CB Tyson Campbell with the hamstring injury –
DOUG PEDERSON: I think so. I’ll check him out here in a little bit on the way back and probably have
an update for you tomorrow.
Q. What do you say to RB Travis Etienne Jr. after that play?
DOUG PEDERSON: I just told him keep his head up. He’s a good player. We’re going to give him the
football a lot this season. It’s Week 1. Learn from it and we’ll be better.
Q. What was your reaction to QB Trevor Lawrence’s performance today?
DOUG PEDERSON: I thought he did some good things in the first half. He saw the field, did some
good things. I think in the second half, our lack of execution offensively – it wasn’t just one person. It
really comes down to our third-down conversion in this football game and not staying on the field. I
thought Trevor played a good game. We’ll look at it, make the corrections and get ready for next
week.
Q. What about the rookie debut of WR Brian Thomas Jr. had?
DOUG PEDERSON: I thought he did some good things. Game is not too big for him, and great
touchdown catch obviously there in the first half and did some good things. Played tough and physical
in the run game, as well.
Q. Were those communication break downs in the secondary on the backend on the touchdown?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, I’ll have to get with Ryan and the guys. In the moment — it happens so fast
and you’re switching gears. So we’ve got to look at the tape and figure out what happened.
Q. You might have been asked about this already, but the defense’s play for the most part held
Miami in check in terms of the explosives. How did you feel about their performance?
DOUG PEDERSON: I thought they did a nice job today. You take away two of those explosives and
one fumble on offense, it’s a different ball game. But listen, it’s a team game, team sport, but the
defense played well and kept us plugging away in the second half at least.
Q. Are you disappointed in the back-to-back sacks, the offensive line’s play on the edge the last
time you had the ball?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, it’s a longer yardage situation, too, and you’re going to have to ask Trevor
to hold the football a little bit. Coverage did a nice job in the secondary, that’s just football.
Q. Overall you ran it well. Are you encouraged by that?
DOUG PEDERSON: I am encouraged by that. There’s something there to work with and build on.
We’ll improve each week. We’ll keep getting better.
-DOLPHINS-
MIAMI DOLPHINS QUOTES
Sunday, September 8, 2024
Postgame – Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence
Q. Did you at all walk off the field in disbelief thinking to yourself, man, I just can’t believe we lost
that game?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: For sure, yeah. It’s pretty spot on to my feelings after the game. We just kind of
gave it away. There’s going to be a lot to learn from Week 1. It’s early, and we’ve got a lot of
confidence in the group we have. We’ve got a really good team, but we can’t give games away,
especially against another really good team, which is going to be every week. Yeah, definitely
disappointing.
Q. The turnover in the end zone seemed like it turned the whole momentum around. Is that what
you feel?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: I mean, obviously turnovers are killers, especially down in the red zone, but I
thought Travis (Etienne Jr.) did a good job of bouncing back and keeping his head in the game. Stuff
like that is going to happen at times. We preach taking care of the ball, not doing it, but I’ve been in
that same position, and that’s what I told Travis. I’ve done it before, too. So no one is pointing the
fingers. We still had plenty of time in the game, and we have to be able to handle the adversity and
go score in the next series, and that’s the only good drive we had the whole half. It’s on all of us when
something like that does happen; we’ve got to gather around and make the next play, and we didn’t
do that. It seemed like we couldn’t get any rhythm going the second half besides on that drive. Yeah,
obviously that’s going to be the story, and of course, that’s important. That’s something that you don’t
want to do and you can’t do, but we had plenty of opportunities after that and we couldn’t get anything
going. I took a bad sack on second down on our last drive that we got that put us in a tough third
down. There’s plays all over the place that we’ve got to make and that we can’t — it’s more mistakes,
though than the plays you’ve got to make. It’s more don’t beat yourself, and I think you look at the
whole game and that was where we struggled. We made a lot of great plays, and our defense did a
good job of holding a really explosive offense, and offensively we didn’t score any points in the second
half. That’s something that can’t happen if we’re going to win a lot of games, which is the plan. So
we’ve got to score more.
Q. You talk about not beating yourself, but that’s kind of how last season fell apart a little bit
towards the end. Any thinking of here we go again, or —
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Not really. You know, it’s just kind of — it’s what happened today and don’t
make it more than it is. We know we have to improve and get better. The reality is though, it’s Week
1 – we’re 0-1. Not the start we wanted, but even if we’re 1-0, we still have 16 more games that we’ve
got to do something with. The mindset doesn’t change for us. Obviously, there’s some sense of
urgency of we’ve got to clean some things up, it was pretty sloppy at times. I thought in the first half
we played really well, complementary, moved the ball, even after a rough start on that first drive
offensively we settled in, but for whatever reason there was a disconnect in the second half and we
didn’t seem to get things going. We were behind the chains, and they kind of took back the
momentum. We’ve got to be able to play with the ebbs and flows and make those plays when we
need them, and I take that on myself, too. I’ve got to make a play on that last drive that we ended up
having because you’re sitting there and you don’t get the ball back and you feel like you blew your
shot. For me, I’m frustrated with that, as well.
Q. From your vantage point, what went wrong in the second half? You touched on some things,
but what did you see out there? What happened with the offense?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, just some untimely errors, a couple — early on the first couple drives, I
don’t know if we had two or three three-and-outs, but we started off really slow and just getting behind
the chain early, whether it was a penalty or a stuffed run or an incompletion on first down. They were
all kind of something different, but just didn’t seem to get the drives going, and then in those second-
and-longs we didn’t get anything positive in those, either so then you’re in third-and-long. That’s
going to happen occasionally and you’ve got to convert, but you can’t rely on doing that time and
time again. Defenses in this league are too good and you’ve got to stay ahead of the chains. We didn’t
do that early, and then when we put a good drive together, seemed like we were rolling, great tempo,
and then same thing, had the turnover. Then after that it went right back to just kind of stagnant,
weren’t able to move the ball. We’ve got to be able to put drives together consistently like we did in
the first half. We’ll have to look at it and see exactly what it was. I don’t have all the answers right now.
But I definitely know that we had our opportunities, and we really just didn’t take advantage of them.
Q. What did you think of WR Brian Thomas Jr.?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Played great.
Q. Can you take us through the two plays, the PI and also the touchdown.
TREVOR LAWRENCE: PI, I was pissed because I missed the throw, left it a little short, and he did a
great job. Safety ended up jumping down and took Christian away, so we had the shot over the top.
He did a great job. Won at the line of scrimmage, I think it was press, too, with Jalen, so he did a great
job winning, and I underthrew it a little bit. Fortunately we got the PI, but he did a good job going
and winning, and then the one in the end zone, just — that’s just us and trusting it and me trusting he’s
going to get there and him trusting I’m going to put it in the right spot, and you see he made a great
play, so it was awesome.
Q. The fourth-and-1 to RB Travis Etienne Jr., was there any audible at the line of scrimmage on
that, or was that an intentional call to run him wide?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: That was a call. Obviously it wasn’t to go there and then back across. He’s
playing ball and trying to make a play, and they did a good job — I’d have to watch it to know exactly
what happened, but it seemed like Jalen Ramsey did a good job of setting the edge there and wasn’t
what we thought was going to happen, obviously. We had a plan for that play, and that really didn’t
play out how we thought it would. Got to give credit to them. They made some big defensive stops
at the end of that game. But we put ourselves in some tough spots. You’d love to go get it on third
down and not be in that fourth down situation where you’ve got to go get that. A lot of stuff to learn
from.
Q. Is it a missed opportunity right now? You’re going in to maybe put the game away. How quick
does that change do you think?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: It changes quick. This game, this league, it’s a game of momentum, and you
have to be able to — if you’re on the good side of the momentum flip, you’ve got to be able to take it
and run with it, which they did today. And if you’re on the opposite side, you’ve got to be able to
weather the storm and settle back in as quickly as possible. Seemed like we weren’t able to do that.
The next time we got the ball, like I said, real stagnant and just weren’t getting many positives, and
then had some bad sacks there at the end on me. I thought protection was really great all day, and
those guys did a good job of getting me time. A couple of those were either coverage sacks or me
trying to scramble into one. Yeah, it’s just frustrating. You feel the momentum flip and you’ve got to
be able to settle in. Playing on the road, obviously that’s a huge thing is don’t let the momentum take
the game away from you, and I felt like we didn’t settle back in and they did. Yeah, you’ve got to be
able to recover from those things. It’s football. It’s the NFL. You’re not going to blow many teams out.
We had the opportunity coming out of halftime to go put some points on the board and really make
it a 24-7 game. We didn’t do that, and that would have been a big opportunity for us. But all these
games are going to come down to one score, so you’ve got to be able to win it at the end.
-DOLPHINS-
MIAMI DOLPHINS QUOTES
Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024
Postgame – Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars RB Travis Etienne Jr.
(Travis, if you could just describe the second half for this team as a whole?) – “I felt like we had a
great fight. I felt like just kind of a momentum swing in the red zone. I just got to have my hands on
the ball enough. It felt like kind of a turning point in the game, and I just have to be better for my
team.”
(Overall thoughts on today’s game, can you take anything away positives-wise?) – “Most definitely,
I feel like it was a great game. It was a great game. Just the turnover margin, I feel like in the NFL you
have to understand if you lose the turnover margin, you lose the game. I just have to better in that
situation for my teammates and for myself, just understanding the ball is the most important thing and
just hold onto it with two hands, then we wouldn’t be sitting here talking about what went wrong.”
(Did you sense something different in the locker room after this loss comparatively to losses in the
two previous years?) – “Yeah, I feel like just seeing we’re pissed off with greatness. I feel like we can’t
have those things come up in critical situations. It’s just hard when you’re a competitor. I just hate that
for myself and for my teammates because they believe in me and I believe in me, and I try to be better
for them in that situation. I want to be the best player that I can be for them, so I have to flush it and
just find a way to get better and just be better for them.”
-DOLPHINS-
MIAMI DOLPHINS QUOTES
Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024
Postgame – Jacksonville
Jaguars DE Josh Hines-Allen
(Did you walk off the feel in disbelief at all that you had lost that game?) – “Yeah, I walked off I
think as any player would, just like, ‘OK, errors where I can improve on, handle it next week.’ I knew a
couple of guys out there, so chopping it up with them to see their thoughts and stuff and how I can
approve on it again next week.”
(How much did you guys execute the way you kind of planned to execute this week?) – “I mean,
execute, I feel like we did execute to the most part. I think we missed tackles – we had a couple of
missed tackles on third downs and just key tackles. Beating ourselves with penalties as well, I think if
we take that back, it’s a football game. You’re going to have ebbs and flows of games. One thing we
don’t want to do is have ebbs and flows in the season, but ebbs and flows, again, that what comes
with the game. So they’re going to get theirs, but if we can make our tackles and then if we can not
have penalties – I caused a penalty on an extended drive, so that’s an area where I can approve. We
can dial in, because we beat ourselves today. Like I don’t think they really beat us. They had a lot of
good players, but at the end of the day, I don’t feel like they beat us. I think we beat ourselves, then
put them in that position to capitalize off of it. But kudos to that team. That’s a heck of the team and
hopefully we see them down the road.”
(You’re going to be home now. How good does that feel to be back at home next week?) – “I’’s
going to feel good, man. Playing in front of the home crowd, hearing our cheers on third down, that
fuels us, that gets us lit. And we got a good team coming in as well, so it’s going to be a great game.
And, you know, we know Duval is going to show out.”
-DOLPHINS-
MIAMI DOLPHINS QUOTES
Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024
Postgame – Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars WR Christian Kirk
(The decision to go for it on fourth down, was that something you guys talked about on the
sideline? Obviously it was in between the quarters.) – “Yeah, Doug (Pederson) has all the confidence
in the world in us to go out there and be able to convert that. So as long as he has that trust and we
have the conviction to go out there and do it, we have all the belief in the world that that’s the right
decision. I think the whole time we were going to go for it.”
(The way today unfolded, is it hard not to think “oh my gosh it’s like the way the season ended
last year?”) – “I don’t think that really ever came to my mind or I don’t really get that vibe. This is a
new team. We got a clean slate and a fresh opportunity to start the season off the way we wanted to
and it just didn’t go our way today. But we’re close. I think it’s a good starting point. That’s a good
football team at the end of the day. That’s a playoff football team over there. But these are games
we’re going to have to learn how to finish.”
(The third downs, was it something that Miami was doing to make it so difficult? Or execution on
your guys’ end?) – “They definitely did some things. But for the most part, we knew what they were
in. I think it’s just execution. Two of them were on me, not being able to make the play. Some of the
other ones were just little things. Whether it was communication, detail in what we’re doing. We got
to go back at the film and look at it, but definitely an area where we can be better.”
-DOLPHINS-
MIAMI DOLPHINS QUOTES
Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024
Postgame – Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars WR Brian Thomas Jr.
(What were the highs and lows of this game for you?) – “We went out there and played hard. We
just have to come back Monday, tomorrow, just correct the things that we did wrong and just come
back next week and be better.”
(The touchdown, was that designed to do that?) – “Yeah, that was a designed play for me to get
over. Trevor (Lawrence) just trusted me, throwing it up and gave me enough air to run up under it.”
(Did you think that something wasn’t clicking for you guys in the second half that was working in
the first?) – “We just have to come out and execute better. When the play was called, just coming
out, getting the play, getting to the line of scrimmage and just executing the play that was called.”
-DOLPHINS-
MIAMI DOLPHINS QUOTES
Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024
Postgame – Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars DE Travon Walker
(For you, let’s start big picture here for this defense. How would you evaluate the performance
today?) – “I feel like the defense overall, we played pretty good. Obviously, we got to get out and
pursuit a little bit more on the screens that they hit us on and things of that nature. One of our main
focuses was stopping the run, I feel like we did that. During this game, we had a lot of ebbs and flows
and we got to try and keep it more consistent.”
(How much do you feel like it was adjustments by them in the second half versus just simply time
of possession and you guys were on the field?) – “I wouldn’t even say it was their adjustments, I’d
say it’s us as a whole. Obviously, everybody just has to hone in on the small details and be in the
places to make 100 percent of the plays that we’re supposed to make when we’re supposed to make
them.”
(For you personally, walk us through that second sack. I know they credited you with one in the
first half, but the second one in the second half.) – “That was just one of those effort plays. Obviously,
I knew the type of set that I was getting the whole game. It finally opened up for me the way he got
his shoulders to turn and I hit him in the right spot, and there it was.”
-DOLPHINS-
