JAGUARS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR TODD WASH
Thursday, October 22, 2020
(On the confidence from Head Coach Doug Marrone saying that Coach Wash is his defensive coordinator) “You know, I think it’s—obviously it’s great. But Doug’s got to do what’s best for the organization, one way or the other, and it’s not about a friendship or anything like that. It’s about us trusting each other and we’re going to continue working together as long as we can and try to win as many football games as we can.”
(On the effort from the team and the talent on the roster comparatively) “I agree, the talent is there. We’ve just got to be able to continue to put them in the right spots. And when they’re in the right spots, we’ve got to make plays. But I think we have some talented guys on this defense. We’ve just got to continue to get better. We’re just young at this point in time.”
(On DE Adam Gotsis’ performance) “Yeah, Adam is a great story, he’s a great person. But what he’s brought is a level of toughness for us. I think he does a really good job in what we’re asking him to do; playing the run on first and second down, he’s stout at the point of attack, and I think he does a nice job of leading those guys with the work ethic that he brings in every day. So, it’s a heck of a story and I think he’s got a lot of football ahead of him.”
(On the similarities between the Jaguars current defense and the old Seattle Seahawks defense) “I would say we continue to play the 3-deep concepts and how we handle the race routes, and stuff like that, is very similar. But even out in San Francisco with Gus [Bradley], a little bit in Atlanta with Rich [Smith], everybody has kind of put their own twist on it—especially on third down, everybody’s got a little different philosophy. But on first and second down, there’s a lot of it that has the same similarities that we had in Seattle.”
(On the plan against Chargers QB Justin Herbert) “The first thing that pops off the tape is obviously his ability to handle pressure. You look at the analytic side of things, his quarterback rating is higher than it is pressure than it is without pressure. So, he handles pressure really well. I think he’s got a big-time arm, he can make all the throws, he avoids the rush well and he’s a good athlete. But for us, the biggest thing is we’ve got to try to pressure him and play some man-to-man in the back end. Obviously, they’ve got some very good skill position players that we’ve got to take care of. But I still think if you can rattle a quarterback, your chances of winning go up.”
(On DE Aaron Lynch potentially returning next week) “You know, obviously he’s not in the building, we’ve got to wait six days for all the protocol stuff to kick through. He’s able to be in meetings by Zoom and what we see is a real long athlete, has the ability to rush the passer. Obviously, we were excited about him when we signed him in the offseason. [He] had a little time off, so it’s going to take him some time to get back into shape, but once he gets back in here and gets working out, I think we’re going to see the player that we signed in free agency; it’s the ability to play on the line of scrimmage and affect the quarterback.”
(On where the pressure comes from on interceptions) “For us, we basically tell them, ‘Hey, if you play the technique right, you play the coverage right, you’re going to have opportunities,’ and that has shown up the last couple games. Even Jarrod Wilson, when he got his [against Houston], it was nothing but a tip ball and he was playing with great effort getting to the ball. So, I think if you play hard and you play with the right fundamentals, the game is going to come to you and you’re going to have opportunities for plays –and that’s what’s happened the last couple weeks with our guys in the back end.”
(On whether the defenders need to just do what they can to get their hands on the ball) “Yeah, we talk about it in our room, when we talk about tips and overthrows and everybody says, ‘We’ve got to get those.’ That’s a main philosophy of ours on defense. If we can get that ball up in the air and all 11 guys are getting to the football, obviously the opportunities are increased for us to make a play. So, we talk about tips and overthrows all the time—and playing with good effort so you have [opportunities].”
(On who has the advantage of having familiarity between the Chargers offense and the Jaguars defense) “I think offense really tries to scheme it. We see that with Jay [Gruden] during training camp and I’m sure Gus [Bradley] sees it at his place. So, they’re going to try to scheme us and do some things that are a little bit unorthodox. We’ve seen that last year when we’ve played them, there [were] a couple things down in the red zone where we go, ‘That’s not even a concept we normally see, obviously there’s been some communication going on.’ So, we try to change some things up. I think tendencies are big when you go into this game, when they have an idea of when you’re playing what and how you’re playing it. And we’ve got to break those tendencies, both Gus and myself.”
JAGUARS DE JOSH ALLEN
October 22, 2020
(On his plans to play on Sunday) “I’m working as hard as I can to get back on the field as soon as possible. Like I said before, it’s a day-by-day process, and I’m just doing everything I can to get back on there.”
(On not playing in the past two games) “It’s been stressful for me just not being able to help my team out and in a couple situations. Especially not traveling to Houston, that was a big one for me. [It was the] first game I’ve ever missed in my career and just watching it on TV, not being out there to support them, not being out there to cheer them on was kind of really hard for me at first. I had all [the] faith in my boys, and we didn’t pull it out but hopefully we do a good job this week.”
(On if it’s frustrating to see former Jaguars Yannick Ngakoue and Calais Campbell reuniting in Baltimore on the Ravens) “I mean no, it’s good for them. They’re back together and I’m happy for both of them because they know how each other rush. So, it is what it is. It’s the NFL and they’re in it. Baltimore’s trying to do something. They’re trying to compete for a Super Bowl, and they thought that having him is going to be beneficial for him and hopefully it is, but I’m glad that they’re both happy and continue to have success.”
(On the advice he’s been giving to DE/LB K’Lavon Chaisson) “Just don’t think, just react, just play free, play like you’re playing backyard football and just react. When you overthink and you overanalyze in the game, it tends to slow your game down and you just have to see ball, get ball, see your man and see what he’s doing and just react off of that and just go. That’s something that we’ve been harping on and he’s getting it. He’s still a rookie, but he’s getting it down and hopefully he’ll have a tremendous game and I think he is.”
(On getting experience last year as a rookie) “It was big just to get my confidence up. Last year I was fortunate to have Yan[nick Ngakoue] and Calais [Campbell] rushing with me so I took my job a little bit lax right there, so that made it easy for me. Bu, just training early definitely was a confidence booster for me, just to know that I can play within the scheme and play against other high-caliber players and be successful. So just playing early is definitely good and that’s something that he has to learn. It’s something that he has to just really accept and just play as hard as he can.”
(On the day he missed the first game in his entire football career) “[It] definitely sucked to be honest, but I was fortunate to have my family with me and have my two little boys and my wife came and dressed them up as what they wear on game day, so I got to cheer and support and scream as hard as I can for them. While watching the game with me, Kaitlyn’s cooking some food and my youngest is just looking at us like we just lost our heads. But I definitely enjoyed my time spending with my family because there’s not a lot of Sundays that I get to do that with them, so that was a blessing. I try not to make a negative and try to find a positive within anything and that was a big positive. But on a standpoint of just me being a competitor and being a football player, it kind of got me down a little bit. But, like I said, I got to spend good time with my family.”
(On if his sister Myisha Hines-Allen brags about winning a championship ring before him) “No, she hasn’t. She hasn’t yet, but like I said, she got her one, but I have to go get me one. Like I said, I’m a competitor in anything that I do. She’s up one right one, so I have to get her, and I have to up one plus one, so I’m working on that. She’s a world champion and can’t take that from her and I can’t stop until I get me one. But I love her and she’s in France right now doing her thing and I wish nothing but the best for her.”
(On if he’s seen his sister’s WBNA Championship ring) “No, I haven’t seen it, I haven’t seen it yet. I don’t think I’ve seen it. I have not seen it yet, so I’m definitely going to text her and have her send me a picture.”
(On if the team has lost confidence after losing five games in a row) “Those games are over with. That’s the mindset that we have to really play with, and we can’t keep reflecting on those losses that we had. Like I said, the record dictates the record. We play for each other, we play as one, and we play for each other. We just have to forget that. Our record’s 0-0 and we’re trying to get 1-0 this week so that’s our mindset. That’s what we try to harp on. That’s what I try to tell guys and we have to motivate and that’s how we have to play because I feel like the first game we played, we played lights out and we have to continue to do that. We have to have our mindsets set that we’re playing a really good team and we’re 0-0 and we have to get this one. That’s how our mindset has to be, and we can’t do anything more or less than that.”
(On what he’s seen from Chargers QB Justin Herbert) “He definitely makes a lot of good plays. He’s a competitor. He’s a guy that came off the bench and didn’t struggle for real. He made a lot of good plays. He has a lot of great receivers; he can just throw the ball up to them and they can just make a lot of plays. He’s a good quarterback. He can scramble. He can run the ball in his read option to get his team a lot of yards, so we definitely have to be honed in on that. But he’s a good quarterback and we have to make him play like a rookie, make him play with a lot of mistakes. Upfront, [we] just have to be dominant and get a lot of pressure in his face so he can throw the balls up and we can get them.”
