TENNESSEE TITANS VS. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS POSTGAME QUOTES Sunday, December 12, 2021
JAGUARS HEAD COACH URBAN MEYER
Q. What are your thoughts about the game today?
URBAN MEYER: Awful. Just appreciated the fact that (we) had some guys play their tails off. I mean, like really play their tails off. But the game of football will always be about complementary football, and that’s offense, defense working together, and obviously special teams, and when that happens, you win games. We’re not doing that right now. The best defense is sustained drives, first downs, and obviously score points, and that didn’t happen today. Defense gave up a couple drives, but they were on the field far too long. I was very appreciative of the fact that they were swinging as hard as they possibly could in that second half. Even sudden changes they were out there sacking the quarterback, stopping the run. I know we gave up a few points, but they were on the field far too long.
Q. What do you say to Trevor (Lawrence) after four interceptions and no points? URBAN MEYER: Yeah, it’s tough. I grabbed him a little bit. I’m going to grab him again here in a minute. It’s tough. It’s growing pains. To say that’s all on Trevor (Lawrence), of course not. When you run eight times for eight yards or something like that, that’s — losing sucks. That’s all I can tell you. It eats at away at your soul. You got to regroup. I keep bragging about the locker room because there is a great locker room in there, guys fighting, guys that want to win. There’s no pointing fingers. I’ve seen that before. Not very often in my lifetime, but I’ve seen it. There’s none of that. But we just have to play better and go beat Houston next week.
Q. How much does just the offense regress, not even taking a step forward but — URBAN MEYER: Yeah, that’s what was so disappointing. I went back and getting ready for this game, you look at the trajectory of that offense, Arizona Cardinals, you’ve got the Titans, the Miami — you saw some really, really positive things. We started off slow with some interceptions. I’m talking about beginning of the season. I actually spent a lot of time with our defense because I thought that’s where we’re going to transition from, a little bit more man to zone because I was very pleased with the offense the way it was moving forward, and then after the bye week it’s been a weekly struggle. What is the issue? If it was one issue you’d fix the one issue. I think it starts with the inability to consistently run the ball and be a run play action offense. The last week against — whoever we played last week — yeah, Rams. We’re not getting the movement. We’re not running the ball very effectively, and then today just couldn’t run the ball.
Q. On the Ryan Tannehill touchdown run in the third quarter, it looked like you were maybe trying to get a time-out. Can you take us through —
URBAN MEYER: Yeah, we misaligned on defense, and right at the last second you can’t get a timeout like that.
Q. There have been reports in the last 24 hours about dysfunction on the team, you having an incident with Marvin Jones, you having some acrimony with the assistant coaches, saying to one assistant that they were losers because their resume didn’t have any, I guess, championship or winning seasons, whatever. Can you at least address that and whether it’s accurate? URBAN MEYER: Yeah, calling someone a loser, that’s inaccurate. I have high expectations for our coaches. I’m very demanding of our coaches and expect guys to be held accountable for their positions, and the times when they’re not, we address it. But I assure you there was not whatever report — Amy (Palcic) told me something about that. That’s nonsense. And then the other — oh, Marvin Jones. Marvin Jones had a conversation because he came to me and said that there was something in the media, and I said, what’s that, and I didn’t read it, and he said that people were blaming the receivers for all the issues
on offense. And I went back and I looked at it, and it was about — I think I said something like we have some injury issues and some lack of consistency. We talked about that, and he’s great. We moved on, and he just — one thing about Marvin (Jones), and there’s a lot of players, especially these professional veterans, there’s a lot of pride. Some guys aren’t used to this, and he’s one of them. But he’s fantastic and we have a fantastic relationship, and I started hearing that, and Marvin looked at me — he walked by yesterday when I saw something on TV, like a heated argument, and he goes, I guess we’re not allowed to talk anymore, are we, and started laughing about it. So there’s nothing.
Q. So no yelling —
URBAN MEYER: No.
Q. When you have those kind of reports, do you start getting concerned a little bit about losing a locker room, leaks coming on? Obviously somebody is sharing that stuff.
URBAN MEYER: Yeah, once again, most of this is fairly new to me. Am I worried about losing a locker room? I always am worried about losing a locker room when you are 2-and whatever we are. But then I see what I saw, and I see the guys play as hard as they possibly can. I challenge our coaches, I challenge our players, and I challenge myself.
Q. Andrew (Norwell) had three penalties today. Did you ever consider taking him out of the game and putting (Will) Richardson or somebody else in for Andrew?
URBAN MEYER: There was some conversation there. Obviously we didn’t make that decision.
Q. Have you talked to Shahid Khan? Do you have any sense this is going to be okay, a vote of confidence or anything going forward?
URBAN MEYER: I talk to Shahid (Khan) all the time. He’s been fantastic since the day I’ve been here, and we’re going to do the best we can to win games. That’s our job.
Q. What about this week amid all of this, whether right, wrong, indifferent? Have you talked to him like last night or the night before, today?
URBAN MEYER: Yeah, I talked to him last night. I talked to him today. Our focus is to finish the season strong and to make whatever adjustments we have to make to get this thing cooking.
Q. Do you still have confidence that you can win at this level in the NFL?
URBAN MEYER: Yeah, I do. Most certainly. Me personally you mean? Yeah. It hasn’t exactly materialized the way I expected it to have, the experience of winning games. I knew that this was somewhat of a build. I also really believe that we have plenty of good enough players to go win games. I still believe that. That’s why I get so disappointed sometimes with our coaching staff or myself, because I think we can do better than we’re doing. Really disappointed.
Q. You’ve been telling us all year that you have faith in that offensive line. They’re getting their (butt) kicked every week. What’s going on there? They’re getting paid a lot of money to be better than what they’ve been.
URBAN MEYER: Yeah.
Q. Do you have a contentious relationship? You were hard on your assistant coaches — URBAN MEYER: I’m not hard, I’m honest. When people say that, that’s — I’ve done this a long time, and I’m very demanding and honest with coaches. If we’re struggling, let’s get this thing fixed. Why? I’m not a big blame-player guy. When something is going wrong and I hear a coach or someone say, ‘Well, I told him to do it,’ that’s not the coaching tree I grew up in. What are we doing to put that player in position to have success? So, when you say ‘hard,’ I’m very transparent, very honest with coaches and have extremely high expectations with staff, and I’ve done that for as long as I’ve been a head coach.
Q. For guys that haven’t coached with you before, is that a shock to them, or is it an adjustment to them? Is there any tension with you and some of those guys because they’ve not dealt with this before?
URBAN MEYER: Yeah, I think sometimes — whatever coaching trees people are from. Once again, I don’t believe in saying that (a) player is not good enough. That’s something that in my entire years when I hear that, that’s not — don’t put this on a player. Why are we not putting them in position to be successful? That’s the way I’ve always approached it. That’s the way I grew up in coaching.
Q. You’ve been around this long enough that you’ve heard noise before, but how tough is that to navigate when you’re doing all these storylines that —
URBAN MEYER: Yeah, this week for some reason was a week of storylining, and like I said, one was like I had an argument with Marvin Jones, and once again, Amy (Palcic) told me, and I was like, ‘What argument?’ Then Marvin (Jones) and I talked about it. The other one was something about a coach on our staff is seeping things out. That’s a new one to me, too. I’ve not been in that conversation where there’s — whatever happens in the staff room, something starts leaking out. That’s the first. So those are all things we have to address and find out what’s going on.
Q. The psyche of everything, is that a hard thing to navigate for those guys, for you? Do you have to talk about that stuff?
URBAN MEYER: I mean, this just happened yesterday when I started hearing stuff, so no, we’ll address it on Monday. The reality is that losing sucks. Losing tears you apart. Especially people with pride and people that work their butts off, man. We’ve just got to stick together and keep going.
Q. Is that what you tell Shahid in your meetings, Shahid Khan? About losing sucks and we’ve just got to stick together and get this thing turned around?
URBAN MEYER: Yeah, I assured him that I still believe in my heart that we will. How fast, that depends on — again, I still think there’s good pieces. You watched out there today, Myles Jack and that defense and some of those kids, Roy (Robertson-Harris), (Dawuane) Smoot, those guys are playing their tails off. You get a couple scores on offense, you’re right there, and we didn’t do it. So what’s the answer? Start leaking information or some nonsense? No. No, that’s nonsense. That’s garbage. That’s once again — I’ve been very blessed. I’ve not really dealt with that. I’ve not dealt with, ‘Well, did you hear what he said?’ What? No. Let’s improve on offense and get our quarterback in a position to be successful. That’s our focus. What someone’s brother said, or someone said someone said, that will occupy very little of my time. And if there is a source, that source is unemployed. I mean, within seconds, if there’s some source that’s doing that.
Q. Have you ever been shut out?
URBAN MEYER: I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about it.
JAGUARS QUARTERBACK TREVOR LAWRENCE
(on the disaster that today was for the team especially for the offense)
Yeah, I feel like I can come up here and say the same things. You’ve got to keep it positive. One thing is, I think we’ve got some guys in that room, we’ve got enough guys to make it work. We’re just not playing well and that’s something that you obviously see on tape. Everyone that watches the game, they see. You know, I thought the start of the game, obviously we didn’t put any points on the board but we’re moving
the ball. We were really good on third down. I thought we had a really good plan. I felt dialed in. I felt like I was seeing it well, especially in the first half. Obviously, the one interception off two-live, the guy was in the right spot, caught the ball. That’s tough, you know? That’s just a play that bounced their way. And then from there, we kind of seemed to go downhill. I’m frustrated the way I finished. Obviously towards the end of the game, that last interception, I think that was definitely the worst one, as far as
decisions. I’m frustrated with that. I can’t give them the ball again even if the game is probably already away from us. You’ve got to take care of it and put a drive together and feel good about where you’re at. I didn’t do that. I got a little careless with the ball that throw so definitely want that one back. Tennessee had a good plan. They had some cover-zero looks that were different. The one, the second interception, we had Tavon (Austin) on a route inside and he beat his man, but then the linebacker dropped out underneath it right as I thew it and they brought more guys than we could block. That’s a tough one. Obviously, chalk that up on me. Pre-snap I didn’t like the look and I was behind the clock and I wanted to check it. I just should have called timeout. I rushed myself into that one. Hindsight, obviously, I would have wished I would have called the timeout to get us in a better situation. Yeah, like I said, I think that last one definitely was the one that annoys me the most, for sure. It’s just careless with the ball. Yeah, offensively, obviously we’ve got to run the ball better. That starts in this league. If you can’t run the ball it’s tough, and today we didn’t. I know, we’ve got the guys to do it. We’ve got a great running back, couple of great running backs, great O-line. We’ve shown – we’ve done it earlier in the year so whatever that piece is to get that back going, we’ve got to find it. We’re going to go back to work this week and figure it out. That’s something that you’ve got to be able to do and didn’t do it today, obviously. We had a couple calls that killed some momentum. I’ll have to look at them. I’m not saying they were bad calls, but you just look at them. We had a big play and there’s a holding call, brings it back so we’ve got to be better with the penalties like we said earlier in the year as well. And then for me, I’ve just got to finish better. Got to keep playing. Like I said, I felt really good at the beginning of the game. I thought we were doing a good job taking what the defense was giving us. I felt like we were all on our assignments. It just got away from us in the end. I don’t think we played a full game at all. Obviously, you can tell that. We’ve got to help our defense, you know? They kept us in the game, gave us plenty of chances but we didn’t do anything with it. A lot of things to correct and you’ve got to take it one thing at a time. Like I always say, I’ve got to watch the tape and see where that starts, but it obviously starts with me being the quarterback and I’ve got to accept all the blame for what I did. I didn’t play well, didn’t put us in good situations. I take that on the chin and we’re going to keep getting better and keep going to work. That’s all there is to do. The season is not over yet. We’ve got to keep building, keep playing, try to build some confidence toward the end of the season.
(on the conscious effort to throw more deep balls today)
Yeah, that was an emphasis that we had and I thought we had a really good plan to attack them down the field. Like I said, you look at – I missed one. I overthrew it by a yard or two to Tavon (Austin) on third down. That was one we could have hit, and then the go to Marvin (Jones Jr.) that he caught on the sideline that got brought back for holding. Hit that one and then I think the next play, threw the one to Laquon (Treadwell) on the right side. He makes a great catch. Just giving those guys a shot down field. They did a great job. So those are two really that we hit. One of them got brought back. The scramble like you were talking about, third-and-10, late in the game. We need to get something going. I try to make a play and Jaydon (Mickens) did a good job working back and trying to give him a chance to make a big play. It ended up being like a long punt, I guess, on third-and-10. Obviously, you don’t want to turn the ball over and throw, I guess that would be my third pick in the game. Maybe in hindsight just try to scramble, get four or five, put us in fourth-and-four and you have a chance to go for it and dial up whatever play you want, gives you a better shot. But in my mind, you know, just give a him shot to make a play.
(on how hard it is to focus with the news stories about the team this week)
That’s not a part of my job to worry about that. I play football. Guys in this locker room have done a great job of staying focused. I hate to even say that when we played like that because it doesn’t look like it, but really we’ve got a great locker room and everyone’s stayed together and stayed focused. We’re all just doing whatever we can to go try to win some games. But to your point, it’s just control what I can control. All I can control is who I am, how I treat people, the way I respond, and just being as prepared as I can and going and playing the best I can. Today definitely wasn’t my best, but I feel I was prepared. I feel like I saw everything well, especially early in the game. And then later, like I said, got away from us. To your
question, there’s only so much you can worry about that stuff. There will be a time and a place where that stuff is addressed. I don’t know exactly what that is or my involvement. I’m here to play ball and be the best quarterback I can and lead the team. So, I’m going to keep doing that and I think everything will work itself out.
(on the frustration of running back James Robinson’s lack of carries after going to bat for him last week)
A lot of stuff happened that game, so it’s hard to keep track of exactly what the situations were, why we did this and that. Like I said, I need to watch it and break it down. And that’s something that I’m sure we’ll talk about, obviously, because the run game is so important in this league as far as time of possession, field position, play action, all that stuff. It’s really critical, so that’s definitely something we have to look at and obviously have to get James (Robinson) involved more. I know some of those were different, you’ve got some runs called and release throws and all that that end up being some quick-gain throws if you have the numbers. That happened a couple of times, but you’re spot on. We have to look at it. Can’t let that happen.
(on playing a little freer this week offensively)
We are, we’re trying to do that. I don’t think that’s the reason for the turnovers today. A couple of them just bad breaks, and then two of them, bad decisions by me. You have to compartmentalize those and learn what you can from them. I thought pushing the ball downfield, we did a good job. I think the biggest thing was just consistency. We were actually, I don’t know what the numbers were, were pretty good on third down, especially the first three quarters. But it just seemed like we’d get a first down or two and then the next set of downs we’d have to punt. So, it’s like we just couldn’t get a few of those in a row or hit a big play and continue that drive in the red zone. Like when we hit the one to Laquon (Treadwell), I checked it down for like six, seven yards, holding call brought us back. And then on the next play where they dropped out and the linebacker picked me off, I tried to throw it inside. That’s something where we get down there in plus territory on the 30 and you have to be able to put a drive together to at least get a field goal. But we need to score a touchdown there to get us back in the game.
(on if sparking the offense is like ‘trying to find a needle in a haystack’)
There’s definitely that feeling because you have to do something. If something’s not working, you have to try to figure it out. But, to the same point, you can’t try to change everything and I think that’s where you have to be careful. You have to figure out what you’re good at. Obviously, we don’t know that right now cause you can see we’re not playing well on offense. That’s something we need to work on and need to have a lot of conversations and figure it out. You can’t try to change everything, but you’re right, there’s definitely some things we need to consider to jumpstart the offense because we have to be better for the defense. They’re playing pretty well and we put them in a bad spot.
JAGUARS CORNERBACK SHAQUILL GRIFFIN
(on what was said in the locker room following the game)
It’s kind of hard to find the words. It’s not like I am going to tell them to give up. The main thing is, with the type of individual I am, you just got to keep fighting. It doesn’t matter the outcome or the circumstances. The main thing is we are not going to lay down for anybody. So it’s back to the drawing board each week. We have got to figure out something, get better at something. That’s what we have got to figure out. We’ve got to take 24 hours, figure out what happened, adjust, make some arrangements and make this stuff work, get this stuff cleared and get us going. We are going to figure it out.
(on staying focused)
My main focus is focusing on the players, focusing on the game, focusing on each practice and trying to play my best ball I can play. Besides everything outside of that, you can’t control it. I give my all for each
player. I make sure they are good. I make sure I do my best and they can count on me. I focus on each guy, get the guys started, get them going, bringing the energy. That’s the part I control. In the locker room that is what I do.
(on Head Coach Urban Meyer still having control of the locker room)
For sure. As a coach, there is no way we can go between each another. It’s tough, it’s hard to do that. My main thing is whatever it is, we have to figure out as a group being on the same page, as grown men, that’s what we have to do and we will. There’s no pointing fingers, there’s no, ‘It’s the coaches,’ there’s none of that. We are grown men and we have to have grown men conversations and figure out how to get on the same page with each other so we won’t have these stories or whatever it is coming out.
(on if Head Coach Urban Meyer was the only one speaking in the locker room) Yeah, we kind of got straight to our prayer and we have kind of already been through this kind of scenario. There is no real speech you can give. For the main thing that I do is not speaking up right then. I have no problem speaking to each guy one by one.
(on what he shared with Trevor Lawrence after his four interceptions)
Just keep going. Keep going. What are you going to do about it? You can’t get the four picks back. You have got to believe in something and whatever it is it is going to come around. You can’t give up now. It’s his rookie year. You can’t give up. You can’t. And whatever is going on this year, you have got to reevaluate yourself. Figure out what you have got to do to get better. Learn how to take criticism, learn how to take certain pointers that works for you, and whatever doesn’t, get rid of it. As a young man you have to learn that.
(on his biggest challenges of being a team leader)
My challenge is getting these guys to believe and not give up. That is the only part I can do. When you are talking about the offensive side of the ball and them trying to figure out whatever it is they need to figure out, it’s not my job to figure that out. I have to do my best at my position and let the guys know
they can count on me that I get it right. It’s tough to try to coach the cornerbacks, coach the safeties, linebackers and D-line, and then go on the offensive side of the ball and try to coach those guys. They got to figure it out. Like I said we are grown men. That’s our job. We have to be able to adapt, we have to adjust. So as grown me we want to fix this. We believe in this offense and we are going to figure something out.
(on the challenge for the defensive side when the offense hasn’t been performing well) The main thing I tell the defense is to focus on the defense. Focus on you. One thing about it, whatever you do is going to be on tape. I refuse to let my emotions run me because of what is going on outside of the defense and then I go out there and mess up. I can’t do that. I won’t do that. The defense has been doing a phenomenal job focusing on that. We can be a top defense if we focus on defense. I don’t care where you put that ball, we are going to fight. You can put it at the two-yard line, we have got to fight. That’s what this defense has been doing so I take my hat off to those guys because it is tough for anybody. It’s tough to just focus on what is going on because you are watching the game too. We are watching the game too. We are seating the watching the game as well.
(on teammates having the same mindset as him)
The majority, if not all. Like I said, there is no reason for me to say this and not continue to do it until I get everyone on the same page. The majority is on the right track and that’s where it starts. We are starting to learn and figure out the ones who truly love football, truly love this game. That’s the part we are figuring out. So, I say the majority is on the right track, in the same mindset, but I got to get everybody. I need 400 percent support. I am going to continue do that. I don’t care how tough it is. Somebody has to do it so I am fine with taking it upon myself to make this happen.
