JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG MARRONE
Jaguars vs. Bengals
Sunday, October 4, 2020
(On the defensive effort and the 2-point conversion attempt) “I think the first time you look at it and you use words like ‘the effort of the defense,’ there was a lot of effort. I mean, I’m not trying to—that’s what I just told the team, there was a lot of effort, but we weren’t able to—you know, they come out in the second half, I thought we did a nice job in the first half defensively. In the second half, they come out, they had their first two drives where they score touchdowns, we were man, and they double cracked and he took it right outside and we didn’t have enough speed to get back outside to get him. They split us later on, twice inside, we just kind of overran it from a second-level position. And we made some plays and we missed some tackles, we missed a couple tackles, so you know, when we went up there inside. So it really goes back to the execution on that to be able to do that. And then we could’ve gotten the momentum back and we had a big play by James [Robinson] and it got called back by a holding penalty. I didn’t see the hold, but it was thrown by the back judge. So that really hurt us, we couldn’t respond to it and I think that’s what you have to do in a game like this. You have to be able to respond to those types of plays and be able to make plays. Credit to Cincinnati, they made some plays. We had some guys in position and their guys came up with plays. So going for two, you look at it, the time of the game, six minutes, it gives you—you know, analytically, it’s the better chance of winning the football game if you go for two right there. I think with the way the game was going, if you get it now he’s trying to put pressure on them for a different ball game. Now you’re going for the win, which is going to be aggressive, so it gives you a better chance to win the football game. That’s why we went for two.”
(On whether he would’ve considered going for two with a healthy K Josh Lambo) “Yes. Yes, at that point in the game, because of—again, I go back to, I don’t like getting heavy into the analytics, what we do, but it gives you a better chance to win the football game and that’s what we were trying to do with six minutes left. They were moving the football and we wanted to go for two, trying to get a stop and then go ahead and score a touchdown for the win. If not, you miss it and now you’re down by eight, now you’ve got to get the two-point conversion, to tie the game up.”
(On LB Myles Jack’s performance and then how the defense suffered after his injury) “I mean, anytime you lose—what happens in this league, it’s tough to get these other guys a lot of reps during the course of a week, you’re very limited. So they’re preparing in a different way than the guys that are on the field playing. I think Myles has been playing at an extremely high level for us, I think you saw that today early on. You said that was an unbelievable play that he made, and he’s been making plays for us the whole time. So, you know, CJ Henderson goes out and then DJ—and then [Chris] Claybrooks goes in for him and D.J. Hayden goes out and then Myles is out. So you’ve got a chance to look at some tough guys that are really giving a great effort and that we’re going to just keep coaching up and getting these guys ready to go. But obviously, to answer your question, obviously Myles is a big part of what we do and he’s been playing at a high level.”
(On the disappointment of not being able to build on the momentum after winning in Week 1) “Yeah, I just think you go from week to week. I think you want to be able to do that, it’s tough. I mean, we’ve got to be able to make some plays, we’ve got to be able to coach them and get the guys better so they can win more of the one-on-one situations that we have. It’s really on all of us, because I can’t ask more from the players and coaches because, like I said, it’s not from a lack of effort or lack of trying, it’s more of a lack of whether we execute. And today we were in position at times and they just made the plays. And we made some.”
(On the reason behind the lack of sacks and whether it’s due to not wining one-on-one situations) “Yeah, I think you’re seeing it. I think that we’ve got to do a good job, we’ve got to coach them up better, we’ve got to get them technically to go in there, because obviously it’s a fine line, bringing pressure, being messed up out there, you’re trying to change things up, you don’t want to give them—everyone has a great read. You’ve got to watch your matchups on the outside as the game goes. But I think when you drop back to pass and you look to see, especially in the empty situation, there’s going to be five guys blocking and usually you’re going to get three over two, but you’re going to have two guys singled up. So we’ve just got to do a better job of coaching those guys to get them in a better position to win.”
(On CB CJ Henderson’s injury impacting the decision to bring extra pressure) “I mean, it’s hard in an empty [set], you know what I’m saying? In an empty, you’re bringing pressure, all of a sudden now it’s—you look at the skill players, I have a ton of respect for the skill players coming into this game. But I think it’s difficult, we were going to mix it up on third down at times. You know, we brought pressure and you saw at the end, [Joe] Burrow gets out of it and runs for the first down. So it’s not a matter of, ‘Hey are you bringing pressure?’ We’re doing it, but we’re not getting any results out of it. So [we’ve] still got to win the one-on-one stuff and trying to rely—trying to get someone free a little bit. And it’s tough in this league.”
(On QB Gardner Minshew II’s timing in the last 40 seconds of the game) “I think where I would’ve liked to get the spike—the spike, you usually want to use the spike and kick the field goal with 30 seconds. And I wanted to take a shot—you know, it’s hard because it’s easy for us to sit on the sidelines and say, ‘Hey get it in the end zone, throw it in the end zone.’ We got it down to [Keelan] Cole and that situation, looking back, I probably should’ve told Jay [Gruden] to tell them to spike it there. And that would’ve put us in a better position, because with the field goal and then the onside kick, thinking that you have a chance to get it, you want to do that in about 30 seconds, so we were too low on that. So I thought at that time I could’ve done a better job there, but I made a decision to go for it there because that was the only chance we had, really, of kicking the field goal, onside kick and a Hail Mary. If you go for the touchdown, you get the onside kick and I don’t know if you’re going to have enough time.”
(On injury update of CB DJ Hayden, CB CJ Henderson, LB Myles Jack and OL Cam Robinson) “I can tell you where they are, hold on, I’ve got it on a piece of paper. CJ Henderson with a shoulder, Myles Jack with an ankle, DJ Hayden with a hamstring, Cam Robinson with a knee and Laviska [Shenault Jr.] with a hamstring. That’s all I have. I won’t know until later.”
(On getting off to a faster start but not being able to maintain that momentum and on any adjustments to make moving forward) “Yeah, I mean, that’s our goal. That’s what we’re looking to do; we wound up taking the football in the game and we threw an interception—an interception of a guy just hops the ball up in the air and we throw an interception and the defense comes on and does a good start. So I think in the second half we come out, we don’t really start fast and that’s where we want to do a good job. I think the whole goal was to go ahead for four quarters and really do a good job and try to put a full game together. I think that’s what our goal is.”
(On what they can do to improve the pass rush) “Yeah, we’re going to try to get these guys—we have guys that have the ability to do it. So we’ve got to do, we’ve got to coach the heck out of them, we really do, and give them some opportunities. I thought they got us in some one-on-ones and I’ll probably go back and look and I’m sure some of our guys will look at it and say, ‘Gosh, we need to win more in that situation.’ And for us as coaches, we’ve just got to help them out. You know, put them in better situations, really get better plans on how we want to pass rush these guys, and go out there and execute it, because that’s what we have to do a better job of for sure.”
(On the run defense’s performance from the first half to the second half) “I thought they did a good job in the first half, but obviously in the second half, we gave up—the double crack, we were man-coverage, liked I said before. And [Joe] Mixon did a good job, he just took a right-hand turn and took it right down and out-ran us. We go ahead inside, we overran at the second level, Myles [Jack] wasn’t in there, he could fix some of those things, and we gave up those big runs. But he’s a really good back, we knew that coming in. And then it’s just, again, consistency. I think when you look at it, there [are] times when we did a good job and there [are] times where we gave up some big plays. And we’ve just got to keep working and do better job of it.”
JAGUARS QB GARDNER MINSHEW II
(On not having any margin for error on offense) “It’s one of those things that we set out every drive to go score seven points. We fall short sometimes, we score sometimes. No matter what, I think we each have to take a one play at a time, one drive at a time mentality. That’s our best recipe for success.”
(On how different it was with WR DJ Chark Jr. playing today) “Man, it’s huge having DJ out there. He’s one of the top receivers in the league, I truly believe that. He went to the Pro Bowl last year. He is better than he was last year. He is also good at being a leader and a guy we can really count on. I believe the ceiling is very high for this offense. We ran the ball well today. Threw it well at times. We’ve just got to stay away from drive killers, away from turnovers, and I believe we can be really good.”
(On how he would evaluate his performance in terms of settling down in the first half versus the second half) “Yeah, the start of the first half was pretty bad and the start of the second half was pretty bad. We’re going to have to go back and look at it and see what we are doing wrong. Just have to make sure we are getting into the right mindset every time we step out there.”
(On the conversation between Offensive Coordinator Jay Gruden prior to going out on the final drive) “Yeah, we knew we would have to go try and put up some points on the board to give ourselves a chance. We were going to try to hit a big play to try and get in the endzone but at that point, Coach [Marrone] made the call, it was the right call, to kick the field goal and try to get the onside and have a chance at the Hail Mary once the clock got down that low.”
(On not getting into an offensive rhythm when not in hurry up situations) “Yeah, we felt really good about our two-minute offense. We were doing some good things, guys were catching the ball and making plays. We just have to bring more consistency is the big thing. We have the capability to go and do that every drive, we just have to find the consistency and focus to be able to do that more often.”
(On the short throw to TE James O’Shaughnessy) “Yeah, I go to throw the ball, as it leaves my hand, it flies through the air, and James didn’t catch it. That’s how it works sometimes. I missed it. It was a bad throw.”
(On going for two and showing aggressiveness) “Yeah, I love when Coach [Doug] Marrone puts his faith in us. We have got to deliver for him. He has a lot of belief in us, and we have a lot of belief in ourselves as well. We just have to cash in when we get those opportunities.”
JAGUARS WR DJ CHARK JR.
(On if he feels like they got off to a fast start in the first drive) “I wouldn’t necessarily say a strong start because I feel like we can be better. I think we didn’t do bad at all. We moved the ball up and down the field. We have to capitalize on some of the plays, but with this offense, I feel like we have the ability to move the ball up and down field whether it’s the first drive or last drive. We just have to figure out how to do it more consistently and do it every time.”
(On the Bengals changed their defense or the lack of execution was the reason for the ineffective offense in the second half) “Both. It [Bengals defense] did adjust the coverage a little bit. They went more two-high safety than they usually play, or at least what we studied on film, and it’s also us not just completing the plays, passes, or moving the ball. [We] had a big run, I don’t know at what point in the game, but it came back. That would’ve helped us a lot. That would have got the offensive line even more into it. [It’s] just the small things we have to fix, but also, every week we can’t say we have to fix it. We have to step up and do it and I feel like we can. I feel like we will, and I feel like we just have to be determined. I think we have guys on this offense that’s willing to put in the work.”
(On struggling with defenses playing the two-high safety) “Last year, we struggled a little bit with two-high [safety]. This year, not as much. We moved the ball. Like in those two-minute situations, a lot of times, those are two-high safeties and we’ve been pretty efficient in our two-minute offense. It’s just [that] we have to get the time. Gardner [Minshew II] has to go through his reads. We have to get in our spots. It’s less room for error as opposed to one high safety, man [coverage]. If the route calls for you to be 16 yards deep, then you have to be 16 and that’s something that we can fix. But I don’t think we’re too bad at it. We’re getting better at it and I think we can be really efficient.”
(On the decision to go for two points instead of kicking the extra point) “I love it, but me loving it doesn’t change the fact that we have to get it. But whatever the play is called, whatever’s called, we have to execute. It was there, we just have to make it happen. If we would have gotten it, maybe that would have changed the offensive approach for the Bengals. Maybe they would have been more cautious and maybe we could have made those plays and had a chance to make it a tie game. But any play he calls, I don’t care [if it’s] first, second, third down, going for two, we just have to complete it.”
(On the disappointment in the locker room following today’s loss) “Well first, I want to say that the Bengals are a good team. I know the record may not show that, but Joe Burrow is a hell of a player and they have a hell of an offense and they’re not just going out there and getting beat 30 to 0. It was bound [to happen] that that team was going to get a win. Unfortunately, it was against us. The mood in the locker room is basically [that] we have to stick together and [ignore] the outside. I know we get home and we look on Instagram, we look at Twitter and a lot of times we are the laughingstock because people love making jokes when they’re not in the fire with us. But at this point, it’s forget them. When I go out there and play, I’m playing for those 53, 56 guys [on the roster]. I don’t care, I’m going to put my body on the line and that’s just what we have to do and I feel like that’s the feeling and if it’s not, that’s what the feeling is going to be. We just have to go out there. I don’t care if we win every game moving on or don’t win every game moving on, we’re not going to quit, for sure, and that’s the mindset we have to have. Somebody’s going to have to feel us.”
JAGUARS DT Abry Jones
(On struggling to contain Bengals RB Joe Mixon in the second half) “I think the most obvious changes was really just execution. I think they came out and they had an emphasis on trying to run between the tackles and things like that. We did a good job of bottling that up and really restricting the run game and then in the second half, they really just started hitting one way and cutting back and really testing our responsibilities and we didn’t execute properly. I mean every man on defense has a gap and we have to be able to trust every man on that field to make that play when it comes to him.”
(On the frustration level of not being able to get pressure on Bengals QB Joe Burrow) “[It’s] high.”
(On why they weren’t able to get pressure on Bengals QB Joe Burrow) “I mean their offensive line gets paid too just like us. They did their job, we didn’t. I think we have tremendous talent on this d-line, I mean first round talent year in and year out that’s on this team right now and we’re not getting enough [pressure]. I think we have to look at ourselves and really see that there are a lot of problems, but there are some things that start with us upfront and definitely pressure is one of them.”
(On how they can start to create pressure upfront) “We have to do what we always do. We have to practice. We have to make pressure an emphasis. Me, being a vet on this team and being pretty much the old head in the room and stuff like that, I have to find a way to motivate these guys. It’s too much talent out here that’s not getting their name called on Sundays for doing what they do best. I really don’t have a secret formula for you. That’s just the good old football, blue-collar grit. Go back to the drawing board, grind it out, and make the results come on Sunday. I feel like if we do that, come back, we get a good couple weeks back to back. This was will just look like an old problem and we can roll forward and really become a better defense.”
(On if he still feels like the defense can be a good defense this year) “Yes, I’m always going to believe in my guys. I mean it comes down to just straight execution. We gave up some bad numbers at the beginning. I don’t know where it’s going to lead in the whole one through 32 ranking and stuff like that, but I feel like this a defense that can turn it around, execute, and take out the mistakes that we’ve been making and we can get on a nice run of out some wins together and get where we want to go further in this season. After that, once we get ourselves in position and we get to a postseason playing, we’re going to look like a good defense.”
(On his injury status) “Yeah, I played all game, so I’m good.”
(On if the injuries contributed to the decreased run defense) “I’m going to tell you honestly, it was already a drop a little bit. We didn’t really come focused in that second half, but we never want key players getting hurt. Myles [Jack] has been doing a tremendous job coming downhill and making plays on running backs, so he’s definitely going to be missed if he leaves. D.J [Hayden]’s always been a nickel and a corner that’s not afraid to come up and tackle someone, so he was definitely missed. But it’s the NFL, people get hurt, [it’s] next man up. Next man has the same dream as the first man to make it in this league so if someone goes down, you have to make that play or they’re going to find someone who’s going to make it for you.”
(On the lack of focus in the second half to stop the run) “Why’d we lose focus? I don’t know. I haven’t asked enough people yet, but for me, personally, it’s just execution and responsibility. I really feel like he [Joe Mixon] had too many clean runs when he cut back on the defense and I really like when guys execute and do their responsibilities and least someone is going to try to slow him down. So, right now, I’m going to say execution because I haven’t watched the film yet.”
(On his level of disappointment at this point in the season) “I mean I’m frustrated. I mean that’s obvious. We all play this game to win. Like you said, I’ve been through this more than most and I want something to change. Am I disappointed in guys? No because I’m still rooting for everybody on this team, rooting for everybody on this defense. I know the type of players we have, and I know the type of talent they have, and I know how hard they work, so I’m never going to be disappointed in them. I’m just going to keep on encouraging them, keep having their back.”
(On the loss of LB Myles Jack for the defense) “Myles [Jack] has been a playmaker since he stepped on the field, so I mean it’s always going to be drastic to replace that playmaker. But next guy has to come in and has to kind of relish the opportunity. You’re a guy coming in and replacing a big name, those eyes are going to be on you. It’s also going to look good if you make those plays that you’re supposed to make, so, Dakota [Allen], he came in. I feel like he’s a guy has enough speed, just like Myles. [He’s] athletic. He can get downhill and make plays and he just has to do that. And then when Myles gets back, hopefully he’s good to go and we can continue this defense going on.”
