JAGUARS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR TODD WASH
Thursday, October 1, 2020
(On the plan to get the defense off to a better start this week) “Well, I think a lot of it is we have to come out and execute early on. You know, I was talking to our defense this week, that we’re missing some things in the opening drives, to be able to create touchdowns within that first drive. I think we’ve just got to really stick to our fundamentals and make the plays we’re capable of making and I think we’ll get off on those drives. We had a great opportunity on third-and-7: we had a missed tackle that we should’ve got off the grass on Thursday night. So, a lot of it is, we’ve just got to clean up some fundamentals and I think we’ll get off the grass.”
(On the fundamental reason behind why teams that have scored in opening drives are not facing third downs) “Well, a lot of it is, as we’re looking at our third down statistics, we haven’t had very many opportunities in the field of 6-to-10 or even if you want to go 7-to-10. And a lot of that is because first- and second down, we’re not keeping them behind the chains and getting into a situation where I think we can really pin our ears back. Once again on Thursday night, we had a lot of third and two-to-6s and two-to-5s and we’ve got to find ways, once again, to get stops, [to get] population to the ball, so there’s no back yards. There are some different things that I think we can do better and we’ve focused on this week to get that fixed for this game.”
(On whether the lack of pass rush thus far is due to the young defense) “I think we’ve got four guys that are working towards developing into pass rushers. Like you said, we’re young, but that is not an excuse. We’ve got to be able to get in situations where they can pass rush. We’ve seen them have the ability to pass rush, they flash every now and then, but we consistently have to get them in situations where you can just pin your ears back and get after the quarterback. And we’re not doing that on first and second down to give those guys a true opportunity. I think the jury is still out a little bit, if we can or can’t pass rush. I have faith in them, but we’ve got to put them in situations where we can actually evaluate to see if they can.”
(On the correlation between going beyond third-and-7 and getting a sack) “Yeah, because the quarterback has to hold the football to get to level twos and threes to try to convert those third downs. When you’re sitting at two and six, quick game can get it. Any type of rhythm passing can get the first downs, with the concepts we’re seeing. So, I think that’s going to be key for us, for them to show they can rush, we’ve got to get them on third-and-7 plus. That’s a big key and we’ve been talking about it all week.”
(On the success against rookie quarterbacks and expectations from Bengals QB Joe Burrow) “I just— [Head Coach] Doug [Marrone] and I were talking, he’s wise beyond his years already. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to him, obviously their coaching staff, of how well he’s prepared going into games. But obviously, the key is we’ve got to get pressure. When it’s a passing situation, we’ve got to put them in some calls where they can pin their ears back. And then same thing on third down, we’ve got to affect him. He’s a very tough man, he’s already taken some big-time shots already. You know, Malik [Jackson] got a shot on him last week and there were some other ones. He’s very tough, he doesn’t waiver in the pocket at all, he’ll stand in there and he’ll take them, and his teammates pick him up and he’s ready to go again. So, a lot of credit to him, but we’re going to have to do something. We’ve got to disrupt their wide receivers, first of all, we’ve got to get our hands on them, try to disrupt the timing of the routes and concepts, so he’s got to hold it, finding time for our rush to get there. It’s going to be important on Sunday.”
(On his expectations from DT Doug Costin) “I think we’ve seen a lot coming out of training camp. He’s got multi-position flex[ibility], which is very important. He can play three [technique], he can play big end, but he’s an explosive player. And if you really look at what he did in college, in our whole defensive line room, he’s the second leading college sacker in the room, behind Josh [Allen]. So, I think he’s got the ability to get after the passer and he’s stout enough to play against the run. So, I really look forward to seeing how he develops as the game goes on Sunday.”
(On if CB CJ Henderson’s performance on Thursday can serve as a learning experience) “Well, I think that happens with a lot of rookies. He came out in the first game versus Indy, had the interception, got his hands on some balls. And the last two weeks, we’ve kind of been—we haven’t been as good, technically, on the line of scrimmage, and he knows that and we’ve really seen it come Monday when we watched the tape, in the game. I think him and Tre [Herndon] both realized that for them to excel within the system, we’ve got to get our hands on people. I think it was an eye-opener for him and I think you’re going to see a totally different type of player this week when he comes to try to get his hands on people.”
(On CB D.J. Hayden matching up with Bengals WR Tyler Boyd) “That matchup, obviously, in the slot and our man coverages and stuff like that, it could be a situation where D.J. draws him, D.J. doesn’t draw him and that kind of stuff in passing situations. But there’s no doubt that Boyd is a very good receiver, obviously you’ve got A.J. Green, you’ve got Tee Higgins out there, you’ve got [John] Ross. They’ve got about five guys that we’re concerned with and Joe [Burrow] does a really nice job of getting them the football. But I think D.J. has been playing very good for us, he’s showing up in the run game, which is big. It’ll be a big part of what we need this week out of D.J. within the run game. And he’s playing good man-to-man situations and he understands the zone concepts. I really like what we’re getting, that matchup is going to be a fun one to watch between two really good veteran players.”
JAGUARS RB JAMES ROBINSON
October 1, 2020
(On how his attitude and mindset has contributed to his success) “I like to go about it like I don’t want to be surprised by anything that I do. For me, I want to go out there and play the same or even better every time and help out the team and play my role and doing my job and helping my teammates out.”
(On finding out he received the NFL Rookie of the Month honor) “I didn’t find about it until our team meeting. I just kind of went about my day and then just went in the meeting room and sat there and then once [Coach Marrone] started talking, that’s when I found out and he just kind of went on and we just kind of went on about our day.”
(On if anything has been hard so far for him in the NFL) “I would say just in practice. I mean you’re going against NFL guys, so I don’t really want to be nervous or anything once I go out there and play. I just have to go out there and play the way I’ve been playing in camp. [I have to] play confident and I feel like I have been confident this whole time, so I really don’t have much room for error. I think I just go out there and play hard every time.”
(On if growing up in Rockford, Ill has inspired him) “I think growing up, for me, in Rockford [Illinois], everyone wanted to make it, play professional. Either it was NBA or NFL and for me it was all about NFL, trying to get here. I think a lot of people doubt people from Rockford, but I think it was just me working hard trying to get to this point.”
(On the biggest influence in his life) “I would say my immediate family, everyone in my immediate family. They always kept my head straight and kept me in sports. I don’t think there was ever a day or season I went without playing something, mostly it was football and basketball the whole time. All the credit really goes to them. They kept my head on straight and I’ve just been in sports ever since.”
(On choosing football over basketball) “I grew up playing basketball first actually and I just kind of grew out of it once I started playing football. Everyone always played backyard football and my mom came to me and asked me if I wanted to play organized football. That’s when I started junior tackle and I was just like, ‘I have to play. I have to play this because you can hit people without getting in trouble.’”
(On the importance of getting positive yards on every carry and how much he credits that to his offensive line) “All the credit goes to those guys, the o-line, and even the quarterback. Even if the hole’s not there, you have to get a yard at least. That’s what I kind of think of if I don’t see anything is, ‘Don’t get tackled behind the line of scrimmage’, so I think it’s win-win even if you do get a yard. I mean it might not seem like much but you’re not second-and-11 or second-and-12 or something like that. I think it’s a big thing to always move forward.”
(On if receiving the Rookie of the Month honor is cool to him) “Yeah, it’s pretty cool. I mean I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t, but coming in today, I didn’t think anything of it. I just kind of go about how I go about my day every day and it just came up. It was just kind of a surprise to me because I didn’t know about it at all. It is cool though.”
(On the challenges the Bengals defense present) “They’re great. They’re a great defense I would say. I mean every team has great players on their defense. I think, for us, it’s more of trying to get going fast because we came out slow the past few games and I think the focus for us is trying to come out fast and move the ball and actually score.”
(On what he expects from himself the rest of the season) “[I expect to] just keep making a big impact on the team. Like I said, make an impact and keep going forward. That’s it.”
(On how his success can motivate the younger generation in his hometown of Rockford, Ill) “[I would] just [say] that anything’s possible. It doesn’t really matter where you go that much, so I would say just keep working hard. You never know who’s watching and I was always told that so every game I always tried to make a play every play and try to stand out. I would just say keep working hard and then you never know what can happen.”
| JAGUARS DEFENSIVE END JOSH ALLEN Thursday, October 1, 2020 (On whether there’s an easy answer to the defense getting off to quicker starts) “I mean, we’ve just got to play better as a whole for the first series. There’s no A, B, C answer, it’s just [that] we’ve got to play better, upfront, back end and all included. These last couple practices, we’ve been practicing real well, communicating real well, flying to the ball, running out the stacks. So, we’ve been doing a lot of good things this practice and I’m just excited to see what’s going to happen this week.” (On the pressure on Bengals QB Joe Burrow to keep up on the pace with the pass rush) “I mean, for me, thinking about it, I’m not really worried about what everybody else is doing, because everybody is going to play differently, everybody schemes differently. So, I’m worried about how we prepare and how we’re going to come execute. So, I know we’ve got to do our thing this week and I know they’ve gained up a lot of pressures, which is a good sign for us. But we still have to do our job, still got to get to the ball, still got to rush the passer as much as we can and get into situations where we can be able to rush the passer as much as we want. So, our mindset, man, is just coming in [and] being the best us, because like you said, like I’ve [been] trying to tell everybody, they’ve got to block us and we’re not trying to have them block us and find a way to try to block us. We’ve got to get after them and show them we’re top dogs and that’s just our mindsets going into this week. Man, I’m really excited.” (On whether the Bengals’ issues with pass protection gives them motivation) “I mean, yeah, numbers are always a big, good thing to look at, especially when you have numbers like that. So, it does give us a little bit of juice, but we’ve got to put them in situations where we can really affect the passer; third-and-long, second-and-long. So, we’ve got to get in situations like that to really apply the pressure. And if not, we’ve got to do what we can to affect the quarterback. But yeah, I like those numbers, I like hearing stuff like that obviously. But like I said, it’s up to us on how we come to prepare for this game.” (On his reaction when they hear news like COVID-19 positive cases within the NFL) “I hope it [doesn’t] happen here, I just hope it [doesn’t] happen here. I try to take myself—I try to surround myself around, well I try to distance myself around situations outside the facility. And I do what I can for my team so we can all be healthy and I’m just praying and hoping that my teammates do the same. So, just hearing stuff like that is kind of crazy, this is the first case that it happened. So, hopefully—I think the NFL is doing a good job handling it, I believe, I hope so. And I hope that this doesn’t continue and everybody just stays safe and you know, stay healthy so we can play.” (On the pass rush creating pressures and building momentum forward) “Yeah, it’s always a little frustrating when you don’t bring them down. But just being able to win your one-on-ones and just apply pressure consistently, that’s something that we need to harp on and that’s something that I feel like we are going to do. We’re starting to get—just like I said, man, we’ve just got to get put in a situation—well, we have to put ourselves in situations to where we can get after the passer. And I feel like once we do that, it’s going to open us up a lot. People are really going to see that there ain’t no slipping around here. So, I’m excited for this matchup and like I said, we prepare well, we are preparing well and we’ve just got to stop them [on] first and second [downs] and be able to get after them on third.” (On what he can do to get to the quarterback quicker) “Get there quicker. You know, the rush compliments the coverage and the coverage compliments the rush, so we all work hand-in-hand. And if we’re not doing a good job getting back there, that puts a lot of stress on our DBs, because they can only cover for so long. That works vice versa, so not only me, but everybody else, we all have to do a better job of getting to the quarterback quicker, so we can give our DBs the opportunities to make a lot of plays. Because if a quarterback is back there chopping it up, they can make any throw in the game. You know, I’ve just got to get there a little quicker, but it is what it is and I know my opportunities are going to come.” (On getting his gloves signed) “Oh they’re not getting signed. Gardner is the only one I let sign my glove. And you know, I actually wore it to practice the other day and not knowing, I looked at my hand and I’m like, ‘What the heck?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, okay I remember this one.’ And then I had a good practice, so it’s good luck.” (On whether he can apply “When it rains it pours” to getting sacks) “Yeah man, I feel like once you get that first one early, that just opens the book up to a lot of better situations. You know, honestly, we have to put the offense in a better position. I feel like the first couple games, we had to put the offense in a situation to where we can have the momentum and now we’re playing catchup. So, we all have got to do a better job, but I feel like once we get the offense in those situations, because I know they’re going to put up points, I feel like that’s when the opportunities are going to come to rush the passer. But once one comes, then they’re all going to come and I feel like that just builds confidence. That’s what—getting a tackle, once you get that one tackle, you’re in the game, you’re in the groove. So, once you get one, they come in bunches.” (On what Kentucky means to him, being close to Cincinnati) “I mean, it means a lot honestly. Just being able to—just to, I don’t know, I’m just happy to go back. Nobody is going to be really in the stands, I really can’t see [anybody]. So, it’s like they’re watching it from the TV to just get to be able to watch the game. But man, I love Kentucky, they helped me get to where I am today. And a lot of love for those bluegrass people and I love them and I hope they love me the same. I hope they [haven’t forgotten] about me yet. And go big blue.” (On DE/LB K’Lavon Chaisson spilling any tricks on taking down his former LSU QB Joe Burrow) “Man, he ain’t tell me nothing. I don’t know what’s wrong with LSU people. They just—I don’t know. I told him he better hit him. He better not—if he gets the opportunity to like really hit that man, he better really hit him and don’t shy away. Because if not, I’m going to hit him. So, we’ve got to get after him, he’s got to get after him and there [aren’t any] friends until after the game. So, that’s all I’ve been trying to tell him.” |
