JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG MARRONE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
December 21, 2020
(On any adjustments to be made for the last two games, if James Robinson will be shut down and his job being on the line) “A couple things, for the first question, I always felt that, and still do and will always feel it, my job is to make sure I’m supporting the players and the coaches and doing the best job I can for them. Two, obviously we’re going to do everything we can to win these games because, like I said, as bad as everything’s been and it’s tough, the greatest gift that we can give each other is to win this game. That’s what I told the team yesterday afterwards, to win a game, to make sure that we have two left and do everything we can to do that. Three, I don’t know if I can play anymore players. I think I’ve played everybody. And then four, I don’t think James Robinson would want to shut down. I think he wants to be out there with his teammates and help this team win. I think that’s where we are.”
(On DE/LB K’Lavon Chaisson) “There’s some flashes again where he has made plays. I think obviously [we’re] in a year where we’re not doing well with our record but K’Lavon [Chaisson], he probably didn’t start off the way we wanted to, but the one thing I will say is that he has been working and trying and it’s starting to show. I think that’s something that’s a credit to him. I think that you’re starting to see it more. You’re starting to see it at a consistent level. Is it as consistent as we need it to be for us to win? Is it consistent enough for where he wants it to be? No, not right now, but he’s always been available, he always practices. What you see is he’s getting better and I appreciate that. He’s working extremely hard. I’m interested to see how these next two games go because right now he’s on a trend that’s going upward.”
(On balancing winning the next two games versus what is best for the franchise in terms of the draft) “Well, I mean no one’s advised me anything different than to go out there and win. I understand I guess from a standpoint of I was young growing up and had a favorite team and was excited to see where they were going to pick. So, it’s not something that I don’t look back and I understand, but Jesus, we’re trying to win. We’re doing everything we possibly can and that’s my job right now and I owe it to the coaches and players. None of us are going to look at this and the future. No one knows what’s going to happen tomorrow never mind at the end of the year. But I do understand the question and appreciate it. That’s probably a better question maybe for… I don’t know. I really don’t know. I can understand it though, but that’s not the way we think, myself, players. We’re just too competitive.”
(On his reaction to talk of the team tanking) “I feel a sense of responsibility. I’ve always taken a lot of pride in being able to get a football team to play well and a team that people can be proud of. I think when people start talking about that, then they know that you’re obviously not performing to the level that you want to perform to. Myself, personally, it’s very difficult for me to manage a team and to really read about what goes on and what people say or anything like that, so I really don’t pay a lot attention to that because I just have too much going on. But I’m not an idiot either, I understand that there’s talk out there. I just think the way today’s world is everyone’s going to have their opinions, everyone’s going to write what they want to write, and they’re free to do it. That’s why it’s such a great country. But at the same time, I can only explain to you what my thought process is and how I think and what I do. I think that’s the one thing I’ve always appreciated [is] that you guys would always let me explain my side of it. That’s the one thing I feel fortunate about. I don’t really think about that.”
(On if a coach has ever been advised to lose games and what his reaction would be to that) “I wouldn’t be able to do that. I couldn’t do it. I just wouldn’t. I’ve never done that with anything in my life. I had trouble letting my kids win when they were little. And I’ve never heard of it, no.”
(On the fact that the team won’t be scratching any healthy, active players in the last two weeks) “Correct.”
(On his comment about not letting his kids win) “I was just trying to make a point that I always like to win, and I think everyone likes to win. I think that’s what we all do, just compete. If I’m playing horse with my kids, I’m going to try to beat them. I’m not going to let them win so they feel good. I’m going to try to beat them and then I’m going to rub it in.”
(On fans and local media rooting for the team to lose for draft purposes) “It’s like kind of how we talk and when you say, ‘Hey Doug, you said this’ and I say, ‘Hey, that’s a valid question.’ I understand that they would want to, the ones that are expressing that of their opinion. They want to be able to get a certain player or whatever they think is going to happen in the draft, pulling for that. When you’ve lost as many games as we’ve lost in a row now and we’ve only won one with two games left, there’s going to be a lot of stuff that’s going to be said. There’s not going to be a lot of positive. Sometimes you put yourself, and we’re all responsible for this, in this situation where there is going to be a lot of talk about a lot of things, whether it be draft, whether it be coaches, whether it be players, whatever it may be. I think you have to understand that’s the business we’re in. If you sit here and you say, ‘I can’t believe that’ or ‘They’re not this’ or ‘They’re not that’ or ‘Hey, we’re this’ or ‘We’re separated’ and you don’t acknowledge what happens when we’ve all performed the way we have, it’s fair game. I don’t criticize what anyone says, I really don’t. I just try my best to change the losing into winning.”
(On the team not having any locker room distractions despite the losing streak) “Like I said before, this team is pulling for each other. I think they respect one another. I think that they communicate well with each other. I just want to make sure [this is known], there’s obviously a lot of frustration. There’s obviously a lot of people [that] are upset. I’m sure people are embarrassed. There’s a lot of that, but we don’t let the personal feelings come into play when we have an opportunity to fix things and try to work to get better. I think that’s what this team has done really an outstanding job of. Like I said before, there’s no finger pointing, there’s no issues, nothing going on on the practice field, no jabbing back and forth, no holding their heads down low. They’re fighting their ass off, along with the coaches and that’s something that is a credit to them.”
(On the trouble running the ball in yesterday’s game against the Ravens) “They got the better of us up front. It’s plain and simple and I think that they played well. They got a bunch of people to the football. I mean I’ve been involved in this before when I was with good running teams and we’re doing really well and you get one of these games where it’s really not your day and you get knocked back and you can’t really get anything going. We popped a little bit at the end, like one or two runs at the end, but we couldn’t get anything going to establish the [run] early on. They have a bunch of good players, so I don’t want to take anything away from them.”
