JAGUARS OWNER SHAD KHAN
IN-GAME INTERVIEW
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2024
(On what addressing the team on the first night of training camp was like) “Fabulous for me
because I think we started out with social responsibility. Jaguars are really an institution in
Jacksonville. We bring people together. Players are a big part of it, so especially in these
times, an election coming up, I think the responsibility, that was really important to me.
Everything we’ve done, where we come from, I think it’s time for us to win now. All those
expectations, they’re clear to everyone, but I thought was important to restate them and it
was very well received.”
(On his level of optimism about the team heading into the season) “Well, I’m optimistic. I
think whatever you need to win, we’ve got here. We’ve got a great head coach, we’ve got a
great quarterback, great talent all-around and a great facility. So, all the ingredients that go
in are here. We’ve got to demonstrate that by winning.”
(On the decision to re-sign QB Trevor Lawrence, DE Josh Hines-Allen and CB Tyson
Campbell long-term) “Well, they’ve earned it. I think it’s really proof-positive that we’re
drafting really great players, but they’re also great human beings. If you go around town, I
think Josh Allen, he’s been here a while, really loves the community. He’s in the fabric of the
city and all of these players represent the city and they are Jaguars down to the deep core.”
(On his satisfaction with making the Stadium of the Future a reality) “Well, we worked for it
for a long time, and we wanted to get it right. Number one, fans’ experience, but also what
the city is about and the future of the city, and the future of the team. We’re in a community,
socially, and economically that needs help. I’m talking about this part of the city of
Jacksonville and the stadium is going to do that, too. So, it’s an economic driver.”
(On what kind of experience can the fans expect from the new stadium) “Well, I think
number one, shade. I think especially this time of the year, it’s warm. We want to make it
comfortable for them. Then use passive air cooling to move the bar of the experience up.
But also, the game day experience. We’re talking about food, concourses, all the other
elements that go into it to really make it exceptional.”
(On what he’s most looking forward to about the Stadium of the Future) “I think a lot, just
about all of that. But one of the things I’m really proud of is how we went about it. We
worked and our goal was we want to be responsible for ecologically reusing as much as we
can of the stadium without absolute compromises. Reducing the cost, but also being very
smart about it. We did that in many different ways.”
(On what it was about Jacksonville that captivated him) “I think from the day I got here
talking to the people, seeing all the assets we have, the potential is just unbelievable. For
me, it was about bringing that all together. I’m a deep believer in, ‘never doubt Jacksonville,’
and I think a lot more people now, even outside the city, know that our potential is
unlimited.”
JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
POSTGAME MEDIA AVAILABILITY
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2024
Q. Doug, obviously get the big return from Parker Washington. Can you describe that
for us and how pleasing was it to see the touchdown from Trevor to Etienne?
DOUG PEDERSON: With the returns, it was all new obviously. Things we’ve been working
on. Just a really good, really good return by Parker. There were also some good blocks on
that play. He ran tough. Physical run. It was a great way to really start our offense and get
the game rolling for us. Then Trevor to Etienne, on the play, just a nice one-on-one
matchup. It was an angle route by Etienne. He just did a great job setting up the backer, a
good throw.
Q. How encouraging was it for you to see so much production from guys that are either
considered backups or newcomers to the squad?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, I mean, it is pleasing. It goes back to our message back in April. I
talked about development. I think that’s what you’re seeing out there in practice. It’s what
I’m seeing anyway. Then tonight with so many guys playing in this game, there wasn’t really
a dropoff. Sometimes when you get out of that first, second unit, sometimes there’s a
letdown or a dropoff with play. I didn’t see that tonight. Our guys played fast, they played
hard. Were there mistakes? Sure, there were mistakes, and MAs (missed assignments),
things like that we can clean up this week. I think top to bottom, the guys played, credit to
them, fast and they played physical.
Q. Could you talk specifically about Tank Bigsby, what he was able to do tonight, how
hard he ran.
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, we know that Tank is a physical, downhill runner. Quite honestly,
the kickoff return is a lot like a zone run play. It’s a downhill-type play. He’s built for that. It
was exciting to see him not only in the return game, but also offensively get some carries
and do the things we know he’s capable of doing. But again, it’s also giving him the
opportunity to do it, right, in practice and in the game tonight.
Q. It was the fourth defensive play, like a hockey shift. Five guys came on the field,
then the rotation and the substitution. Have you ever seen a defense off the top of your
head that substituted as much as your team did tonight in the first half with solid
production?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yes, I have seen it. It’s the reason the guys can stay fresh not only
throughout the game, but they stay fresh throughout the course of the season. It was our
team in Philly with Jim Schwartz as the coordinator. When you have eight guys on your
roster and you can consistently rotate and keep those guys fresh the entire game, it helps.
It helps on third down, when they’re fresh and can get after the passer. It’s just something
that Ryan obviously believes in. I believe in it. Listen, it’s coordinated. It’s not just you go
pick five guys. It’s well organized and well coordinated. Credit to the defensive staff and the
players for getting in and out.
Q. Talk to us a little bit about your quarterback play, what you were hoping to see. Did
you see what you wanted to see out of them for an opener?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, I did. All three of ’em played good. They played smart. I don’t
think there was a turnover there with those guys. Trevor played smart. Obviously the throw
to Etienne. Then C.J. comes in and make some really nice down-the-field throws, in the
face of adversity, too. Getting hit on the roughing the passer. For Mac to come in and do
what he’s capable of doing… It’s a great room. It’s a great room. We’re blessed and
fortunate to have three veteran players in that room. It was exciting to watch all three play.
Q. Can you take us through the touchback argument.
DOUG PEDERSON: No, I can’t. We’ll be here a while (smiling).
I’m just glad honestly they went to review. The ball landed in the end zone. Now by rule it’s
still a live ball. Last year it would have been dead, right, the ball comes out to the, what, 25
or whatever it was last year. Now the ball’s live. So the ball was in the end zone, came out to
about the half yard line. The returner was in the end zone but pulled the ball back into the
end zone when he took a knee. Safety (smiling). That’s the rule. It’s a safety.
Q. Did you know that immediately?
DOUG PEDERSON: Well, Heath was yelling at me and Zach (Beistline) and the guys
upstairs were kind of in my ear about it when I was talking to the officials about it…
My point to the officials was, You got to review it at least, give us an opportunity to review it.
Not me, I couldn’t, but let the officials review it. They got together. They collaborated on it.
Obviously went to review. That was the right rule.
Q. You expect a lot of confusion like that until this thing kind of sorts itself out?
DOUG PEDERSON: I don’t know if it’s going to be much confusion on it. I think it’s a good
coaching point for all teams, to really coach our returners in that situation. It’s definitely
going to be on the coach’s video that’s going to come out this week. It’s really a good
teaching moment for everybody, us included, for our returners. It’s just a great way to learn
that rule and to learn the game of football.
Q. Not a lot ever is put into pre-season results. Do you feel like maybe you needed this
to gain some momentum after the way last year ended?
DOUG PEDERSON: No, not necessarily. I just wanted our guys to execute and play hard,
play fast. I felt like they did that today. It’s a new season, new faces. Some old faces out
there. For us internally, it’s just a different feel, a different team, a whole different year. It’s
not anything about last year. It’s just about getting better and moving forward.
Q. (Question on the kicking game.)
DOUG PEDERSON: It just shows the leg strength that Cam has, the reason we drafted him.
He definitely had some wind in his back on that one before half there. He works hard. He
works hard in practice at it. You can see, he’s not a big guy, but he’s got a really strong and
powerful leg. I went into this game thinking I wanted to get him some opportunities to kick
under this type of pressure, this kind of stage. He performed extremely well. I mean, he was
amped up now to start the game. He saw those kickoffs go through the end zone, and he
was excited, which rightfully so. He’ll learn from it. But he had a good night.
Q. Can you talk about Brian’s big catch. What does it say to you to see the team go as
crazy as they did for him?
DOUG PEDERSON: Well, obviously when you draft a guy first this year, the type of receiver,
really the type of person. He’s very capable obviously of making those types of plays. Just
an excellent play. I think you see the excitement from the entire team. Same thing when
Christian Braswell, even though it was ruled down, you saw the excitement there, as well,
some of the other big plays that were made. We just got to keep Brian coming. He’s going to
be a big part of our offense.
Q. Did you mention anything to Trevor after he took the sack on a fourth down instead
of trying to get the ball downfield?
DOUG PEDERSON: No, not really. It would have been too long for a field goal anyway
because the wind was in our face. That one didn’t hurt us as much. Didn’t really feel like
that was worthy of a conversation at that time.
Q. Parker Washington, not only did he have the big kickoff, we’ve heard teammates
raving about him, but what we saw tonight is what you expect going into year two?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah. It’s just the growth and development. Just like Tank. Both guys are
having really good camp right now.
Parker has worked extremely hard. He worked during the off-season and obviously now in
camp to put himself in this position. It’s showing on the field, right? It obviously showed
today.
JAGUARS QUARTERBACK TREVOR LAWRENCE
POSTGAME MEDIA AVAILABILITY
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2024
Q. How good did the throw to RB Travis Etienne Jr. feel for the touchdown?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Great, love touchdowns. [laughter] No, it was good. Talked about it
earlier in the week. Just him expanding his game, his skill set, what he brings to the table.
It’s been cool to see this offseason.
The amount of work that he’s put in, the amount of work we’ve put in as an offense to do
some of that of stuff. It’s great. Ran a great route. Perfect coverage for it. Our receiver did a
good job of kind of how we teach it on the outside there. It was good. He did a great job.
Q. 48 hours after you showered praise on WR Parker Washington, how encouraging
was it for you to see that he validated what you said?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: I told him, I’m telling everybody how good you look. You got to go out
there and show it [laughter].
No, I knew he would come to play. Man, he’s a spark. Even last year, some of the plays he
made, just some incredible plays down the field, with the ball in his hand, you see him on
the return today how special he is. He looks good, man.
He’s been working super hard. It’s cool to see the work pay off more than anything. He’s
earned it. Just continue to get more opportunities and the way he’s playing.
Q. Fourth down sack, any regrets about not throwing the ball downfield?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: No, not really [smiling].
Q. You were the guy who was jumping out of his shoulder pads on the Brian Thomas Jr.
catch down the sidelines. What has it been like to see his progress and how excited
are you to be the one throwing him the passes this season?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Really excited. Just happy for him. To see him make that kind of play
downfield. Should have been a flag I thought. They were letting us play those, so that’s
good. Didn’t see a lot of PI calls tonight, letting the guys play.
I think it helps. Like I said before, play our defense, really physical, press coverage, not
going to get free release off the line. Kansas City does a lot of similar things as well. That
helped us in a lot of areas tonight. It carried over.
To see him make a play down the field was awesome. I was hoping we’d get an opportunity
to give him a shot down the field. Obvious that was when C.J. was in. He gave him an
opportunity, threw a good ball, Brian made a heck of a play.
He’s a guy that has all the ability in the world, it’s starting to click more and more every day.
When you see guys make plays like that, instills more confidence in them.
Regardless, coming to the NFL, new league, a lot of changes. You want to make those
plays and gain some confidence. To see guys have that, it’s exciting. Everybody was
pumped for him.
Q. Beating the Chiefs, it’s preseason, but what is the confidence level right now in the
locker room?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: Yeah, I mean, it’s one of those things. You want to win every game
you play. It feels good to win. We played really clean all the way across the board. Our
depth showed on both sides of the ball. Special teams did a great job, too, made some
plays.
I think that’s the best thing. We got some great work against a good team who does a lot of
different things whether it’s defensively or offensively, presents some challenges.
I think it’s always good to kind of measure up against teams like them or teams in the
league in general. You’re in training camp, you’re going against each other, it’s nice to play
a different opponent and kind of see where you stack up.
Did a good job tonight. Obviously it’s preseason. The game isn’t going to count for our
regular season record. Take it with a grain of salt. But you want to win them all. It feels good
to beat them tonight, whoever it is. It’s going to be Tampa next week, we want to win that
one, too.
I think it’s good for our guys, our depth to show, guys to play well throughout the whole
game. There wasn’t a drop off, didn’t get sloppy really. I think that was the most
encouraging and best thing to see is guys were prepared to play. We flew around and were
physical, fast, played fast. It was fun to watch.
Q. What was the dynamic like with Offensive Coordinator Press Taylor being on the
field?
TREVOR LAWRENCE: It was good. Not much was different. I could go up to him after some
series. More communication, which is not going to be the case in the regular season.
When I was done, kind of standing by him. I can hear him in the headset, but talking to him
between calls, what he’s thinking. He can echo things to me. That was good to get that
insight, to be able to talk to him in person face to face on the field. That was cool to get. I
think after series, it was quicker communication, go up to him, say what you’re thinking,
why maybe he called something in a certain situation, if this is what he was thinking. It was
good. Communication was great tonight.
Thank you, guys. Have a great night.
JAGUARS WIDE RECEIVER PARKER WASHINGTON
POSTGAME MEDIA AVAILABILITY
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2024
(On how he’s feeling) “I’m feeling good. It was good. We got a preseason win. I know it
doesn’t count toward the real record, but it’s always great to get a win with the fellas. It was
an exciting day. That return, I was a little nervous at first, but it was cool. I liked the set-up of
it.”
(On if he checked the boxes that he wanted to in this game) “As a team, I feel like we did a
great job. Like I said, we got a win. It’s good to see that everything is paying off. Personally, I
feel like I did pretty good. There are still a couple of things that I want to work on, and I still
have a lot of time to work on them. It was an exciting moment. I am glad we got the win
today.”
(On if the special teams unit felt confident in their ability to execute the new kickoff) “Heath
[Special Teams Coordinator Heath Farwell] does a really good job of coaching us up and
giving us all the rules we need to know and understand. Like I said, he does a great job with
that. I felt like we came in there confident, understanding what needed to be executed. I felt
we did a pretty good job tonight.”
(On if he knew right away it was a safety) “It was a little grey area for me. I kind of thought,
maybe, with him in the endzone that he could possibly do that, but that was a crazy call. It
was a good learning experience, and now you know (laughs). It was exciting to be able to
learn from that. “
(On the electricity from the crowd during his kickoff return) “It was exciting to be able to
kickoff, pretty much, the season. To be able to kick off with a big play like that, to get the
guys ready to go, a lot of my teammates were like, ‘I’m excited, that was big time, and I’m
amped up.’ It was cool to bring that energy, to bring that juice. I felt like it propelled us
forward throughout that game.”
(On how the kickoff rule changes looked from his perspective as he was running) “I’m not
going to lie; it looked crazy at first. Tank [RB Tank Bigsby] had a much cleaner look for his. I
thought I was supposed to be tackled a long time ago in mine, but it was exciting to be able
to make a play like that. It was cool. It gave us confidence to be like, ‘Okay, these kick
returns are real and it’s going to be an exciting year.’
(On if the kickoff returns were what he expected compared to practice) “You can’t really
compare it to a game. Once you get into a game, it’s much quicker, much faster. I felt like
we did the best job we could to simulate it. It was fun, it was exciting. I feel like it’s going to
bring a lot of fun and excitement to the game now.
(On how it feels to have the longest kick return in the NFL) “It was pretty cool. It’s
preseason, so it doesn’t really count, but it was exciting to start off, because it’s new. It’s
brand new. To be one of the first big returns, that was a cool moment for me. I’m just going
to continue to propel myself with that.”
JAGUARS WIDE RECEIVER BRIAN THOMAS JR.
POSTGAME MEDIA AVAILABILITY
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2024
(On how it felt to play his first game in the NFL) “It felt great to be able to come out here. It’s
just something I dreamed of playing in the NFL, just to be able to get that first game out of
the way, it felt great. There was a lot of excitement going into the game, but I mean, I had to
control my emotions and stay focused. I feel like I did good. It was a great experience.”
(On how it felt to get his first catch in the NFL) “It was great just to be able to go out there
and get my first NFL catch. It was a great feeling, great experience.”
(On the reaction of his teammates on the sideline after his catch) “It was great man, just
great to have great teammates, just to be around great people. I actually saw the replay and
I saw that Gabe [WR Gabe Davis] was all on the field, standing all over me, man. It was a
great feeling just to have them there supporting me.”
(On his comfort level playing in tonight’s game) “I felt like I was very comfortable out there.
Like I said, I was able to control my emotion, just go out there and play like I know I can
play. So, I feel like I was very comfortable out there.”
(On him being energetic and celebrating) “It’s football. Competing brings it out of me. This
is what I love to do, this is my passion. When I’m out there on the football field, I give it my
all and that’s when it comes out.”
(On if anything surprised him going out against a different team) “I mean, I wouldn’t say
anything surprised me. It’s football. But just being able to finally go against a different team
was very nice. Just the competition level as you go up each and every step gets harder and
harder.”
(On if the first catch sets the tone for what they can expect of him throughout the season)
“Yeah, for sure. I want to come out each and every game and put my best foot forward. Just
give it my all, go out there and compete.”
