JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG MARRONE
Jaguars at Colts
Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021
Opening Statement:
“Floyd Little passed away the other day and he was a – he with us to London, he was close to our program and my thoughts and prayers. Obviously he’s in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and he’s been around our program. His wife, DeBorah, and his family – our thoughts and prayers go out him and their family. I just wanted to make sure I said that before we get started.”
Obviously 15 straight losses, have you talked to Shad Khan? Do you have any times set up tomorrow where you’re going to meet with Shad about your future?
“Yeah, when all that stuff started coming out yesterday, I gave him a call. He said it was news to him and he would talk to me on Monday. He didn’t really give me a time yet.”
It was one more game where you guys showed good effort. Being 1-15 there’s not a lot to be proud of, but how proud are you of cleaning up the locker room and getting this team where it looks like it is potentially close?
“Well, I think a lot of things. I appreciate the effort and the professionalism of all of the players. I feel that we have some really good coaches on this staff that have done a nice job of keeping everything together. Whatever happens is going to happen. I know that the record doesn’t reflect it. I know I am a good football coach and I’m looking to have an opportunity and we’ll see where it goes.”
Are you prepared for whatever happens and was there a distraction for you to hear all the talk about Urban Meyer that came out yesterday and Friday?
“Well, I think it’s the same thing. I’ll tell you, I give a lot of credit and I want to make sure I say this to —- and I don’t really ever go outside, Ian Rapoport wound up texting me the other day before he broke the story with his sources and I’ll tell you what, I have a great amount of respect for that, I really do. In other words, he was able to get that to me so I can prep my family, my children so they don’t have to hear it from their friends or anything like that and I think that’s something I’ll always appreciate. I think that when the record is what it is, you have to be able to expect those things. But like I said before, I asked about it and it was new news for us. So we’ll see what happens.”
We were in this same situation last year with that ESPN report. Do you just deal with it or what? It’s like the second year in a row with a report and obviously you have to alert your family, but you’ve been in this same situation two years in a row.
“I worry – I’ll tell you, the way I look at it is this way. First of all, the person that really comes to my mind is obviously my family. The second thing that comes is the coaches and players. I don’t ever want to be a distraction to them. As far as myself, I’ve been very fortunate and been gifted with great opportunities and I know who I am as a coach, but I know I’m not going to make excuses and the one thing that always – and I’ll be honest – saved me in difficult situations or anything with adversity is where I grew up. I didn’t grow up with getting things handed to you and all of that stuff. I mean, you had to earn (expletive) and you had to work your butt off. If you’re a bad player or couldn’t play a sport, people abuse you, you know what I’m saying, made fun of you. You didn’t run home and cry. You didn’t cry to the coaches and you didn’t do those things. So there’s a lot of things that happened in my life growing up that prepared me that were a hell of a lot tougher than the situations that I’m going through now and I think that’s just me. That’s how I personally look at it. Growing up where I grew up, it’s tough and I was fortunate that I always had good friends, I had great coaches, I had great teachers that cared for me, but you’ve got to have a callus when you’re brought up in the Bronx.”
What was the message to the guys postgame? I know you had said last week the concept of a new year, it’s 2021, let’s get a win here. What was the message to them today?
“Yeah, I think we talked about it. I normally end the season – the record is obviously terrible, we understand that, but there’s always a relationship, a family type of atmosphere that’s created amongst players and coaches and I usually end the year with one thing, hey listen, there’s going to be changes, there’s change everywhere. We understand that when you don’t play well and I told them, look, the one thing that I hope at the end of the day and I said this many years to many teams that I have coached is first thing, be a great family man. Be a great father. Be a great husband. Have faith. Go back to your communities and do well and make change. This game has taught us so much and it gives us the opportunity to do that. So that’s kind of what I spoke to the players about afterwards and tomorrow we start at 7:30 a.m. We have our team meeting and then we go with our exit interviews. So that’s pretty much our schedule, but that’s always what I’ve believed. I think that when we walk away and we look at games and scores and records, but what has the game done and how have we improved as individuals from our character standpoint as we go through life? Because me, I’m probably on the back side. Like I always tell my wife, ‘Big dogs die early,’ you know what I’m saying? So that’s probably going to be me — that’s a pretty good one wasn’t it? I say it all of the time and she gets pissed, but anyway these players have most of their lives ahead of themselves, so you always want to leave with a good message.”
What happened to stopping the run all year long and did it have to do with guys opting out or guys getting hurt?
“I think that there’s a couple of times where I think crack-replace –we’re in man-coverage and the corners get caught inside and the ball gets outside on us, where we just have to keep that discipline. Obviously, missed tackles. I think when you look at – when you go back and you look at things and you look at the yardage, the first thing you say is, ‘Hey, listen is there anyone there?’ If there’s no one there, it’s obviously schematics and you haven’t put your players in the best position and then I think you look at it and when all these yards are given up in any game, you have to look to see how they are – like crack-replace, missed tackling on an unblocked player on a sweep, the toss play, which is a good play, a good call and then the three missed tackles on some of those runs. So at the end of the day, those are the things that you can’t have because if you’re looking at it defensively, the way that my philosophy has always been, everyone is responsible for a gap. So someone’s in that gap and then they ought to be able to make that play and everyone else is doing their job, it’s going to be very difficult for people to overcome that unless you’re going to a two-deep, two-gap type defense, which we’re a one-gap defense.”
| JAGUARS QUARTERBACK MIKE GLENNON Just the way things shook out with injuries, you guys couldn’t have gone five wide if you wanted to today. But the four wide receivers all made some plays, and you were under a lot of duress there from the Colts. Laviska Shenault Jr., Chris Conley, Terry Godwin and Keelan Cole Sr. got in there. How did those guys play given the cirumstnaces? “I thought they played great and all year long we’ve known about the depth we had at receiver. This is probably the deepest receiver group I’ve been a part of. Terry (Godwin) showing up – he finally got to do it on a Sunday, but he’s been doing it all year on scout team. It was great to see him finally get out there and showcase what he can do. I’m super proud of those guys to go – as many times as we threw the ball, only having four active receivers, they laid it all on the line. They all made plays. Chris (Conley) stepped up big with DJ (Chark Jr.) being out. Keelan (Cole Sr.) is always in the mix, Laviska (Shenault Jr.) two touchdowns, Terry (Godwin). It was a good defense and I thought they stepped up.“ Laviska Shenault Jr. in particular, you’ve seen a lot of NFL receivers in your day, what does the future look like for someone like him? “If you can find a way to get the ball in his hands, good things are going to happen. He is one of, if not the strongest receiver I’ve been around and I can’t even remember seeing. He is like a running back when he gets the ball in his hands but he can run receiver routes. He is so hard to bring down, he’s so strong, he is like a man-child out there. The future is bright for this receiver group, obviously, with DJ (Chark Jr.), I think some of the guys might be free agent, but Chris Conley showed what he can do. We’ll see who is back, but Jaguars fans should feel good about their receiver group.“ Now that the season has officially concluded, what is your biggest takeaway? Having had so many head coaches in your career, of the performance that Doug Marrrone did this year both on and off the field? “I think Doug (Marrone) is a great guy. He really does a great job. What they decide, I don’t know. That’s just how this business works, but we all appreciate what he has done for us and we’ll see what happens.“ How difficult was this season with COVID-19 and playing in empty stadiums and all the things you guys had to go through this season? “It’s going to feel good not to be wearing a mask everywhere I go and having to worry about getting COVID-19, spreading it to teammates, everything that goes with it. This mask, I will still wear in public. I cannot wait to not be wearing it for half of my day around the building. It’s been a unique year. Empty stadiums – I was talking to someone today about it like, ‘When was the last time we played somewhere, an away game, without fans?’ I think it went all the way back to Houston. I think we only played two games this year away that had fans. So, hopefully next year there will be fans back. The atmosphere will feel more normal, but all in all, I think guys adjusted really well. I think the NFL did a great job, to go through every single game and not get one cancelled is pretty impressive. It’s definitely a unique year with a lot of challenges.“ You trusting the vaccines and everything to get back to normal by next season? “We’ll see. I don’t know. I’m not going to get into – I don’t know if that’s a political question or what, but I’m not going to go down there.“ |
