HEAD COACH LIAM COEN
HALFTIME SIDELINE INTERVIEW
SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2025
(On what he saw in the first half) “I thought we came out with the right mentality, executed
on both sides. Obviously, you can’t turn the ball over in the red area on the first drive of the
game, but I thought we bounced back, responded in the right way and finished it off the
right way.”
(On what he saw from QB Trevor Lawrence outside of the fumble) “I thought he was
executing really well. I mean, the ball is coming out. He was getting through progressions.
Had the one drop, maybe a little bit of a low ball, to BT [WR Brian Thomas Jr.], but I thought
other than that, he executed pretty well.”
(On the offensive line and the run game) “They did a nice job in the first half. I think a couple
of runs spit out nicely. It’s nice to be able to run the ball in the red zone, and we’ve got to
keep it up for the rest of this game.”
QUARTERBACK TREVOR LAWRENCE
IN-GAME SIDELINE INTERVIEW
SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2025
(On his performance against the Saints) “I thought it was a lot cleaner this week, the
execution. Obviously, pre-snap operation. No penalties to start off. So that was a good
start. Obviously, we had the one play in the red zone that we’d love to take back and love to
just hold onto the ball and live to play another down. Besides that, I thought we moved the
ball well, had some good short-yardage, third-down situations that we executed, moved
the chains. Felt good to convert those third downs, and the guys were ready to roll. Just got
to finish out with the rest of the groups and get this win.”
(On the balance between thinking and playing in the offense) “I feel like I’m in a good spot.
Really feel like I’ve taken a bunch of big steps since the spring. Feel really comfortable in
the system. I think I’m seeing it more and more like Liam [Head Coach Liam Coen] and
Grant [Offensive Coordinator Grant Udinski], and we’re all in this together, obviously. I feel
like we’re just gelling more and more every day, and I’m starting to see it like they see it and
it’s been clean. Obviously, there’s stuff to improve on, but I really liked our execution today.”
(On the impact of the offensive staff and other quarterbacks on his learning) “Just people
who have been around it. Obviously, players, coaches who have coached it. I think all of
that helps because they’ve seen all the different looks. Even talking about footwork stuff,
they’re so dialed in on what we want. We’ve seen kind of everyone do it and what works. So,
there are a lot of great coaching points they can give me in certain concepts of what to look
for, what to see, especially week to week. We’re not game planning like normal, but we’re
still trying to a little bit against these certain defenses. Just talking to Liam and Grant in
those meetings before the game about what the defense could do, what we’re looking for,
helping me play faster.”
(On whether he is feeling new energy from the coaching staff) “Definitely. There’s an energy
for sure. There’s an energy and there’s a standard being set of, not just the way you perform
and play, but the way you come in every day, the way you practice, what you show up with,
the energy you show up with every day on the field. I think that’s something where we’ve
taken some huge steps of growth, and we just have to continue to press the issue on that
because there’s no substitute for that, and your preparation sets you up to perform on
Sunday, and I think more and more guys are getting that understanding, and our practices
are getting better. We just have to keep bringing the juice every day.”
DEFENSIVE END JOSH HINES-ALLEN
IN-GAME SIDELINE INTERVIEW
SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2025
(On how he felt about his work against the Saints) “Well, I think defense, we did better than
okay. They only got nine points. So, I think we’ve been holding our own, too. I’ll start right
there. I think we came out there, we handled what we’re supposed to do, man. Started
faster. I think last week was get our feet wet, and this week was kind of like, alright, let’s all
lock in, man. Do what we do. Let’s not beat ourselves, and we’ll see what we can
accomplish.”
(On how much the defense has been stacking good days on the practice field) “I mean,
that’s the culture that we’re trying to build here, the way we practice. We practice hard. We
practice fast. We communicate at a high level in practice, man. It just translates to the
game. I think all last week, I felt we practiced really well. We communicated. We flew
around. Everything I just said, our culture, our identity, and we showed it today. I think we
could do a better job with the younger guys and make sure that we’re all doing it at a high
level, but I think it was a good start today.”
(On the energy in the defensive room) “It’s very positive. It’s very positive, very optimistic,
very challenging. We challenge ourselves every day. Coach Camp [Defensive Coordinator
Anthony Campanile] challenges us. Our individual coaches challenge us. We challenge
each other to come out there and put our best effort. I say I want to win Defensive Player of
the Year every single day. I’ve got to prove it. I’ve got to show that confidence, play at a high
level, and let my teammates know that if we all [inaudible], we can make anything happen.”
(On the journey of his seven-year-old son overcoming leukemia) “I mean, it was definitely a
very tough journey. I think the first couple of months were the hardest, but every single day,
when we kind of started getting back to normal living, every day became easier. So, we look
back now, and he’s completely in full remission. It’s just a blessing, the strength that he
has, the connection that we built as a family continues to get stronger and stronger every
day. I’m honored to be his father, man. I’m honored to be by him the whole journey and
continue to see how his life comes out.”
JAGUARS HEAD COACH LIAM COEN
(Opening comments) “You want to win the game, obviously, but I thought that the team responded.
They responded in the right way for the majority of the game, in terms of coming out, starting fast.
Defensively, I thought they played really well throughout until obviously, the end when we put them in
a tough spot there. I was pleased with the way that we ran the football early on with the guys that we
expect, obviously, to be contributing at a high level for us consistently. And I thought Trevor [Lawrence],
minus, obviously, the fumble, was pretty sharp.”
(On if he saw improvement from the offense in this game) “Yes, you definitely felt a better sense of
urgency of the alignment assignment, getting lined up, the shifts in motions were clean. I was pleased
with the operation, especially coming from what we were trying to emphasize last week. I was pleased
with that. I definitely felt like we played well enough to win. But, in this game, and especially in pre-
season, you see some crazy stuff and like to be able to finish the game the right way.”
(On his evaluation of the run game specifically) “I was pleased with the way that we’re coming off the
ball up front, I know it wasn’t their starting defense playing, but we did move the ball the way you would
expect them to against anybody’s second unit, but Tank [Bigsby] and [Travis] Etienne [Jr.] both had
some really nice moments. So did [Bhayshul Tuten] and LeQuint [Allen Jr.]. I thought all four of those
guys actually had some really nice moments.”
(On where Trevor is in terms of thinking through the offense) “This game was another step in the right
direction for Trevor. You saw him clicking through progressions again and getting to his third and fourth
reads a few times. I thought we protected him really well up front, which allows a quarterback to do
those things. Also, when you run the ball effectively, it also takes some pressure off the quarterback.
So, I was pleased with his outing tonight. Obviously, the one fumble is a tough one, because you just
got to eat that. It’s a great learning moment for him, especially in the red area, where you already have
points. When you have two turnovers in the red zone, when you already have points, those are tough
ones when you end up tying a game.”
(On WR Parker Washington) “He [Parker Washington] consistently keeps competing at a high level.
Like it’s every day, he makes a play every day. He’s in the right spot at the right time, working his tail
off. I love his play energy. He doesn’t really fatigue that much. He’s in great physical shape. I’ve been
very pleased with Parker.”
(On if an interesting week of practice produced what he wanted and if he saw that on the field) “Very
much. I think we had a very physical week of practice, and then they came out and played physically,
and they also played smarter in a lot of ways. I believe that this team responded in the right way from
being challenged post Steelers game, to coming out and having one of our better practices at training
camp this week. Then having a little bit of an uglier scrimmage and then come out and start fast in the
game. The ones and twos, I feel like, for the most part, really competed at a higher level than maybe
we had. And there was no question that they were trying to play physical.”
(On how valuable these past two weeks with situational plays have been for the team and the staff)
“Oh, it’s great. They get the two-point conversion, and we are ready to go. We have 20 seconds left
and our timeouts. We hit a seam ball down into the plus territory. And, man, you feel like you’re right
back in it. You know, you got a great chance to go win the game. We’re running all slants, a play that
just maybe gained five yards. We’re in a down, down time out situation. It was communicated those
guys were on it. It’s just, hey, the credit them [New Orleans]. They made a good play on the slant. (The)
Ball gets tipped up in the air. And I was just praying that there was no time left on the clock, because it
would have been a bummer to lose that game. You never want to not win, obviously. But the situational
football that does show up for us…And another one before the half where we end up having a two-
minute drill that goes across the 50, we get a good completion. We got a slow clock at four on the
timeout and executed that at a high level. So, you felt like some good stuff did show up for us and from
upstairs to downstairs the communication was much improved.”
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS VS. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
SUNDAY, AUG. 17, 2025 ● CAESARS SUPERDOME
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS PLAYERS
QB TREVOR LAWRENCE
(Opening Statement) “Yeah, I thought it was cleaner in a lot of ways. Operationally, penalties a lot
less of those to start out on the first couple drives, so I think from that standpoint it was a lot better.
We moved the ball well, we were good on third downs, converted some of those third downs, which is
good to see, protection was really good, obviously, besides the one fumble…And that whole
sequence was not good, but besides that one play, to be honest, it was a pretty clean day. We moved
the ball and stayed on schedule, I guess you’d say, and were pretty efficient.”
(On being clean and if it’s good to see since there was such an emphasis this week) “Yeah, good to
see that. We made a big emphasis on it this week in practice, and it was good to see it carry over.
The guys really owned it and were a lot sharper pre-snap. Still more work to be done. That’s a focus
and emphasis of course for us moving forward, but there was definitely improvement.”
(On last week’s practice and its effectiveness to deliver those results today) “It was good. We always
harp on the details, so I wouldn’t say it’s new in that way. I think this staff and everyone else does a
really good job of stressing how important details are, but really letting that kind of drive practice. If
anything was wrong, it was started over, and usually in practice you have those mistakes, every
team, everyone does it, and you kind of correct them after, but one of the days this week, we really
just started everything over when those things happened. So we were looking for all that, and the
coaches did a good job of slowing things down. We slowed some of the tempos down in terms of
post-snap but really just focusing on all the pre-snap stuff. Because keeping the same things gave us
the same results. So I thought it was a good job by the staff of changing some stuff up, and I think it
helped us this week.”
(On feeling the running game getting going) “Definitely. I thought we really settled in nicely on those
two drives, and it was nice to have a second drive today after the first drive obviously didn’t end the
way we wanted to we could kind of settle in and run the ball a little better on the second drive and had
some 3rd down conversions and seeing guys make plays on diff situations, I think that was fun to be
a part of to actually kind of get in the feel of the game and the flow of the game a little bit. It was a
good step for us.”
(On his and Parker Washington’s rapport) “Yeah, I’ve played with Parker now for a few years and just
the way the room has kind of shaken up the past couple years, he’s always been in that position, but
he just keeps making plays, so I don’t want to put numbers on anybody and what they are or aren’t,
but he keeps making plays and keeps showing up. It’s going to be tough to keep that guy off the field
the way he’s been playing. I’ve just been impressed by the way he works. The guy is always in great
shape, and he can play all the different positions. I think that’s really what you’re seeing that’s helped
him so much, is that he can move around. So when something happens you know he can play inside,
he can play outside, a lot of flexibility with him, and he just keeps growing and getting better and
better and smarter and understanding what we’re doing conceptually, and he’s just really doing a
good job right now.”
(On being more than halfway through preseason, and if he looks at milestones more than halfway
through as an offense) “Yeah, I mean it’s just day by day really, that’s how camp is. You take it one
day at a time. You try to make that day the best day as far as just focusing on the details and trying to
get better. There are things that we need to correct that show up at different times, and its just a
constant, I guess, pursuit of being perfect. You know you’re never going to get there, but being
perfect operationally in pre-snap, knowing your job, your assignment for me as a QB, all my footwork
reads, different cans for different plays, you know all those things, and you can never practice them
enough. We’ve done some great work in camp and (and are) really just taking it one day at a time.
We’re at that phase now with the joint practice this week in Miami, which will be great to go against a
different defense. We’ve been going, battling against our defense all of camp, so it’ll be nice to see
something different and have to adjust and see how the guys respond to that and then obviously the
game in Miami after that, and then we’re running, a couple weeks after that to prepare, but then it’s
go time, so it’s getting here quick. I think we’ve taken some big steps, but this week is important for
us, because it’s not just you know we’re still kind of in that camp mindset of really attacking the day,
trying to get better, still continuing to get in shape, getting ready to play week one.”
(On no penalties for the starters) “It was great. It was great. Like I said, the emphasis on it this week, I
think, made a big difference, and the guys really took it to heart and took the coaching, and we
corrected a lot of that.”
DE JOSH HINES-ALLEN
(On today’s game) “We just saw guys doing what they are supposed to do (and) being where they are
supposed to be, playing at a really high level (and) playing fast, first and foremost. I was excited
about the calls that were being called. We kept it very simple and we just lined up and played football.
Our goal this week was to come out and be aggressive and take over. I felt like the first few series’,
that is exactly what we did. We wish that we could’ve played more, because, I think, everybody was
getting into that zone of (thinking) ‘we don’t know how many plays we are going to play, so let’s just
act like we are going to play the whole game’.”
RB TANK BIGSBY
(On the play of the first team) “It was going good. The o-line (was) doing their job. Everybody handled
their business and (was) playing as a team.”
(On correcting mistakes during the week) “It was really big. That is what it is all about. Coming out
and being able to be first, I felt like we did a good job and just have to keep growing from it.”
(On cohesion being important for the offensive line and backfield) “Yes, that is very huge. Getting into
a groove with the guys and all of us clicking on the same level is a blessing, and it is amazing.”
OL PATRICK MEKARI
(On the play of the offensive line and protecting Trevor Lawrence) “It felt good. It felt good to be out
there. We worked decently together. There is a lot to improve on (and) a lot to work on, but it is a
stepping-stone. I think we did a good job. There is always room for improvement. Ultimately, we didn’t
win, and that is what we wanted, so there is a lot to work on”
SAINTS HEAD COACH KELLEN MOORE
(Opening Statement) “Good game. Good battle. Obviously, a unique circumstance in tying a football
game, but our locker room was happy and excited. Our guys played really, really well down the stretch
and made some big-time plays with some big-time opportunities. There were some really good lessons
for our guys throughout this game, starting fast and getting better from that standpoint, and we will just
keep growing.”
(On if he thought there was time left on the clock) “We were hoping, give everyone what they wanted,
which was one second, but it didn’t happen.”
(On QB Spencer Rattler’s performance) “That was a big moment and opportunity for him to have that
great drive going down the field, you throw an interception and have to respond. He responded really,
really well to put the team in an excellent position. He did a great job with situational football in the two-
minute drive, and his ability to play with his feet came up in a number of situations. I just thought our
guys did a really good job in the two-minute just handling and understanding what the situation was.”
(On if it was a tough decision to play Rattler over QB Jake Haener) “It was tricky because obviously,
the one downfall to how this game played out was that we had less drives. Jake (Haener) didn’t get a
chance to go in there, which we certainly wanted him to get in there, but I thought it was important just
from an evaluation standpoint on [Rattler] just to get a critical moment in a tough situation where you
have to respond.”
(On the quarterback battle) “We’re just going to keep building through this process. We think we have
three really good ones here, and we will keep building.”
(On if the starting QB will be named prior to the preseason game Saturday) “We’ll see. Obviously, we
got our first sight here (at the Caesars Superdome), but film will be an important aspect of this thing,
and we will just see how everything progresses leading into this week.”
(On if he was hoping to have a decision on the starting QB) “Not necessarily. Sooner always is better,
but these guys are competing and giving us everything we can ask. We’re going to continue to
evaluate.”
(On what he needs to see to be able to make a decision on the starting QB) “Just the decision-making
and the process. We have to make sure that we are going through the right decision making in certain
circumstances of the game. There are some contexts that you have to know and understand what the
guys are going through. Again, this is an evaluation phase for these guys, just like so many other
positions on our team. Film is going to be really important.”
(On the quarterback battle) “All these QBs aren’t making this easy because I think they’re all doing a
really good job, and they’re all having their days where they’re taking advantage of the opportunities.
It’s an evaluation, and we will take it where it needs to go.”
(On WR Mason Tipton) “He’s just done a phenomenal job since the first day we all got here, collectively
as a staff. To see what he just continues to do day in and day out—his work ethic, his habits. He made
a bunch of big plays. It felt like when we needed a play, he was there. For him, facing adversity with
the interception, he was the one running the route and stuff. We just think the world of him. He’s
progressed in such an awesome way. Again, I think when these guys take advantage of the
opportunities, more come your way, and he’s just following that trend line.”
(On OL Torricelli Simpkins III) “He’s playing a ton of reps through two preseason games, and it’s been
incredible to see. The moment is never too big for him. I think that’s the cool thing. He’s hopped into
some situations where he’s played early in these games, earlier than anticipated and played against
some challenging opponents. He just hops in there and plays ball. We are really excited for what he
has done.”
(On the qualities of Simpkins that stand out) “I think just consistency, and the most important thing is
his play style. We love how physical he plays, how aggressive he plays. It’s not all perfect. It’s not
expected to be perfect at this stage of his career. His play style is everything we want.”
(On if they need a game where everyone will play) “We will see. We’re going to build this thing out this
week, and we will see where it is. We will have three practices, and we will have the game against
Denver on Saturday. We are setting ourselves up for a really good work week this week to kind of build.
We will see how that Saturday plays out.”
(On Rattler’s interception) “It was a slant, and there was a little bit of a traffic situation for Mason, and
their corner made a phenomenal play. He jumped it, and he made a phenomenal play. Obviously, it’s
something for us to look at. He ran a similar play a couple of times, one too many. I thought the kid
made a phenomenal play, and Mason got stuck in a little bit of a traffic jam where he wasn’t able to
finish through the route. It was a challenging situation.”
(On if the QB has time to recognize the traffic situation and timing) “It’s a tricky one. We will evaluate it
and see truly what the picture looked like. In the moment, it felt like he gave us a good opportunity on
that throw. It was a single-high opportunity, two over two. Then, the corner made a really good play.”
(On the message to the offense after the interception) “Yeah, it was just all about how we respond. We
had a big-time opportunity. We were still down 8. Our defense made a big-time stop there and put us
in the position to go and battle for a tie. It was really fun to see those guys respond.”
(On if the interception factored into Rattler having another drive) “Yeah. For sure, I think it’s critical
when these guys go through these situations, the big time moment of how you respond is how we
evaluate these guys all the time on. It was a goofy situation. It was tricky. I would have loved for Jake
(Haener) to have been in there, but I felt like it was important for us from an evaluation standpoint.”
(On RG Cesar Ruiz and injuries) “I think he’s fine. We had a few guys that kind of got a little banged
up, but we’ll get the reports. We will see how it goes.”
(On improving slow starts) “That’s a great question. I don’t have an answer to that one. For our whole
team, just playing a little bit faster. We have to play faster. We have to open up the first quarter and
play better. That will be something for us to learn, especially with a noon kickoff. You have to be ready
to rock and roll. We will grow in that aspect.”
(On adjusting to movement on the line) “I would say it is something we definitely have to evaluate, and
we have to get better (with). Line movement exists in this league. It is a challenge. It is hard for offensive
linemen. There was pressure for sure on one of them with the safety, but movement happens. We have
to be able to respond to it. It’s being all coordinated and being on the same page.”
(On how much of the team’s playbook is shown in preseason games) “We are obviously conscious of
that. We want to give our guys an excellent opportunity to be successful. We don’t want to shortchange
them in any way. There’s naturally some things we will continue to build throughout the regular season.”
(On how he evaluates the quarterback battle while not showing everything in preseason games) “There
are a few game management items that just come up that we may play out a situation a little differently
if we saw it in a regular season game. For the most part, we are competing and playing ball.
Schematically, there are a few items that maybe you don’t do during the regular season or during the
preseason that we do during the regular season, but I think these guys are going out there and
competing.”
(On seeing the two-minute drive unfold) “It was awesome. It was just a good example for our guys of
taking walkthroughs to practice to games and the stuff that goes into that because there’s situations
every single Sunday that sometimes you get one shot of during an August walkthrough. That’s hopefully
going to come up, and when we played out of a couple of those at the end and for those guys to be on
the same page and to understand what play was coming, what the situation was and what would have
to be the response based on the clock, I thought our guys just did an awesome job.
(On the running game) “Running game, I think, we just continue to feel like there’s more out there. I
think our play style is getting better. Our finish is getting better, but we have to get better en masse.”
(On if the tie felt like a win for the team) “I felt like our guys just loved how we faced adversity and we
met the challenge. I think there’s a lot of energy, a lot of juice in our locker room. It felt like a win in
many ways from the standpoint of how it ended. We were put in a challenging situation, fought
ourselves back. The offense made some big time plays there to score. Defense had a great response.
(Jonas) Sanker’s pick was awesome. I wish we had one second so we could put Charlie (Smyth) out
there, but you know, it didn’t happen.”
(On the crowd not appreciating punting on fourth down) “I’m going to get a few of those. Those are
always those fun challenges—fourth down decision-making. It is what it is. Some of those you’re going
to love. Some you are going to have to bite the bullet, so to speak. I felt like our defense was playing
really well. We were still in a one-score game, so we punted. They had a three-and-out, so that was
good.”
(On whether a punter battle played into the decision to punt) “No. No, it’s all game circumstance.”
(On if he called the game as if it were a regular season game) “There’s just a couple. There’s just a
couple, but I think it’s a really good exercise for all of us, especially those types of game situations –
the timeouts, playing defense in four-minute mode, playing offense in two-minute. Our defense did an
awesome job in the end, right on field goal range, because their field goal kicker just kicked a 70-yarder
last week. We were playing in a really good, contested situation. Our guys did a really good job
contesting the receivers and made a play.”
(On the decision to make WR Chris Olave active) “(Brandin) Cooks and Juwan (Johnson) played last
week. Then, we had a plan of flip-flopping those guys with Rashid (Shaheed) and C.O. in this game
just to get themselves acclimated back into a game instance. 8-12 plays, which puts them in a position
to play for a little while as well. We will see how the third game plays out.”
(On everyone seeing the field despite limited snap count) “I think it’s good for any of these guys to get
out there and play the game, no matter what the length is. We will try to do that with as many of them
as we can, but we will see how this week progresses.”
(On LT Kelvin Banks Jr.) “Kelvin’s done a really nice job. When you add those two (preseason games)
and a joint practice at the Rams, he has gotten some really good work now against three teams.
Different schemes, different exposures- he just needs all of that. He just needs to keep responding in
the right way. I think that’s the beauty of the player he is. He’s going to do a ton of really good things
for us. When something doesn’t go his way, he hops up, and he’s ready to play the next day. We think
he’s heading in the right direction.”
(On playing a preseason game at home) “This dome was awesome. The Caesars Superdome is home,
and we got treated like that. It’s going to be big time. It’s going to take this entire community, our team,
everyone, rallying together. It’s got to be a place where it’s a big-time opportunity for us to win at home
and control this place.”
(On the tackling performance) “I took a note on it. It felt like there were opportunities where it felt like
when one guy missed a tackle, there were three or four in a couple of instances. Off a screen, they
missed a couple of tackles there that turned into a big gain. Something we will have to keep an eye
on.”
(On missed tackle evaluations) “We will evaluate it. There’s obviously a lot of fundamentals associated
with it that we will continue to build and practice. We just have to harp on it.”
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS VS. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
SUNDAY, AUG. 17, 2025 ● CAESARS SUPERDOME
SAINTS PLAYER QUOTES
QB TYLER SHOUGH
(On receiving his first start) “It felt good. I felt really comfortable. We stalled out on a couple of those
third downs. It was a lot of fun. We just have to capitalize on some of those little mistakes. We will keep
improving and keep getting better.”
(On the third drive) “We just (were) moving the ball really well. Protection was good. We kind of found
a rhythm and got the ball moving. We just didn’t end up getting to finish it in the red zone. I think the
decision making in the first half was good, but we just have to finish those drives on third down. I think
we did a good job in the second half of bouncing back and finishing strong.”
(On the intentional grounding) “I was just trying to play ball. In that part of the field, you are going to be
backed up. I did not anticipate him coming free. I tried to burn it down to the checkdown in the flat. I
have to be better there by throwing it way out of bounds and not even giving them a chance. I knew I
was backed up, so I didn’t want to be too close.”
QB SPENCER RATTLER
(On how did it feel) “It was a fun one. I thought we could have finished a little better in the red zone.
Throughout that second half, I thought we shot ourselves in the foot. We should have had multiple
scores down there. I thought we moved the ball well. The receivers stepped up and made big plays.
(Mason) Tipton flashed big time today. We made some big plays. I thought the O-line played really well.
We did not take many sacks if any in the second half. A lot of guys made plays. We just have to finish
more.”
(On if he had more big play opportunities this week) “For sure. I think last week it was our first time live
and we all have to get settled in. We needed to play cleaner. Coming into this week, we wanted to be
more aggressive. I wanted to be more aggressive. I wanted to play free and play my style of ball within
the offense. I wanted to get it to the playmakers. Guys did great on the check downs and on the down
the field throws. Those are momentum changes and gets you in the right position to score.”
(On the two-point conversion) “They had the perfect defense call for it. They zoned it up. They played
it perfect. I had to extend and scramble. They let me leak out. I saw the edge and hit it.”
WR MASON TIPTON
(On how fun was the last drive) “It was awesome. We are at home. I definitely did not want to leave
here with a loss. I definitely did not want to leave here with a tie either. I think it shows the resilience
that we have. I think I spoke about this last week. There is a lot of love and a lot of camaraderie with
this team. I think we showed that by making some plays at the end of the game I think that is the
highlight of the day.”
(On making plays down the stretch after the interception) “That is a play that I have to make. I am mad
that. Spencer (Rattler) ended up throwing an interception and that was my fault. Coming back and
making plays is the kind of player that I am. I’m always going to double down after a mistake.”
(On what he should have done during that play) “I should have run through it. There is no way the
defensive back is supposed to make that play. I have to run through that slant so he can’t even make
that play.”
S JONAS SANKER
(On the last play of the game) “They are at about the 40-yard line and they are trying to get into field
goal range. We are tightening up the coverage a little bit. You could feel the energy with the whole team
and everyone on the sideline. We were just rallying and showing how much that we care. It was
definitely special.”
(On if he knew where the clock was and if he got out with one second left) “When I looked up, I thought
I did. I probably could have played it a little safer and out a little earlier.”
(On his tackling progress) “Coach (Brandon) Staley emphasizes the physicality and that has to be the
identity. It was definitely a point of emphasis coming into this game. I think I did a good job today of
being physical. I think the team did a really good job. In the run game, the whole part of our game was
physical. Being able to finish was a big part of our game.”
LB JAYLAN FORD
(On the interception) “I was playing the call. I got back on my drop and I read his eyes. I could see
where he wanted to throw it. I worked my way over there. I saw the ball pop up in the air and my instincts
just grabbed it.”
(On Coach Staley’s defense playing with vision) “Absolutely. He is a great teacher. He has done a great
job of teaching us how to play the right technique within our scheme and make it work. For linebackers,
being able to play with vision is everything.”
(On special teams) “I try to do everything that my coach asks of me. I never complain. Every day you
have to come out here and put your hard hat on and work. I learn from the veterans and continue to
grow as well. I try to earn my keep and hopefully my coaches see it.”
