Skip to main content
Advertising

Jaguars News | Jacksonville Jaguars - jaguars.com

John DeFilippo - Tuesday, September 17, 2019

(Opening statement) "It's great to see everyone, I hope everyone is having a great day. Obviously, tough game on Sunday for us. I was proud of the way our guys fought back in the fourth quarter, on the road. Rookie quarterback making his first start in a hostile environment on the road in the division. For us to have the wherewithal and the way we came back, the way we did after having struggled for a little bit there in stretches in the game, I was really proud of our guys, and hopefully next time we are in that situation, we can finish that game off."

(On Gardner Minshew II's progress) "A lot of little things that some people wouldn't see. There were about 10-12 plays where we were up against the play clock where it was, two, one [seconds], ball was snapped, where that wasn't the case this week. So, I thought our huddle procedure overall was a lot better. The fact that it was a loud environment, on the road, that was really good to see. You see Gardner being more comfortable in the offense, knowing when to take off and go or get down. I think he was much more situationally-aware, running for a couple first downs, knowing where the sticks were to get down. So, I think as you see him play more, he's going to become more situationally-aware, which will be great for our team."

(On Minshew's decision-making in key situations) "Obviously, they [Texans] did a good job up front of getting us on a couple sacks. But I thought he [Minshew] did a good job overall of managing the game."

(On how much Minshew can progress if the offensive line continues to struggle) "If you ask those guys [offensive line] they would say they need to play better. There were some really good plays they made as well. We need to work on our consistency and finish up front, and I told those guys that today. We need a little bit more strain and a little bit more finish, and if we accomplish that we will take another step this week."

(On how encouraging it was knowing the Texans had a game plan for Minshew) "It's really good. That wasn't an easy game. I talked a little bit last week about games on the road, you never know how they're going to play out. Sometimes it does come down to the fourth quarter on the last drive to try and win a football game. It gets a bit dirty in there. It was great to see him and the other 10 guys on the offense to have the courage and the persistence to be able to put a drive together like that."

(On if Minshew does anything that Nick Foles can't do) "I don't know about that. I think Nick extends plays really well. Nick will be the first to admit to you he's not the fastest guy, but athleticism comes in a lot of different ways. There are a lot of guys like Nick Foles, Tom Brady, who aren't the fastest guys out there, but have tremendous pocket athleticism. In terms of being able to throw off-balanced, being able to move in the pocket and keep their feet in the throw. There is always different types of athleticism, where it's not just the guys like Mike Vick and [Patrick] Mahomes and those guys that can run around and are really fast. Pocket athleticism and playing quarterback in this league is a very huge attribute to have."

(On what point Doug Marrone had him ready to call a two-point play at the end of the last drive) "Pretty early, pretty early. He and I were on the same page. We had talked about it and worked that play all week. It was a run-pass option that we knew they would give us one of three looks on the two-point play. Two of the options were to throw the football and one of them was to run it. They gave us the look to run it and the kid, Jordan Reed, made a good play on the goal line. Some angles it looked like he [Leonard Fournette] was in and it was called that he wasn't in. It was early. Everyone was on the same page; players, coaches, we were all on the same page."

(On if Minshew had the option to check out of the two-point conversion play) "It was a run-pass option. So, if they gave us this look, we were throwing it, if they gave us another look, we were throwing it, if they gave us this look, we were running it. If they gave us the look to run it, we ran it."

(On if he wants Minshew to slide differently when running) "I wouldn't mind him getting down a little bit earlier. We've talked about that. That just comes with experience and playing time."

(On whether he should try to limit Minshew's instinctive traits) "You never want to make a quarterback a robot, I'm big on that. You got to let the guy play and let it loose, but at the same time protect yourself. I think the more he plays the more comfortable he will get in those situations."

(On Minshew's potentially nervous feet in the pocket) "That's fair, that's totally fair. I would say yes, that's totally the case. I think the first throw we missed to DJ [Chark Jr.] on the third down play. He had a little pressure there. He probably could've had a little better footwork on the one down the left sideline there to Leonard [Fournette], but that's a fair statement, sure."

(On the offensive line breakdowns in the run game) "At times we need to take a little bit better angles and our finish. It's usually not one specific person, unfortunately, it's been one guy on one play. There's not one guy that's not playing well. There's a lot of young players in there and a lot of guys are getting their first time and they're holding their own for the most part. The tough ones are the first-and-20s, the second-and-20s, and those are the ones we have to alleviate. We just have to keep our hands inside and finish. I'll tell you what, those guys up front, that's a tough group. I'm proud of the way some of those guys have had to step in and play. You look at a guy like Will Richardson Jr. has grown exponentially from what I saw on tape a year ago. So, I'm proud of those guys. Do they need to play better and get more push? [Jaguars Head] Coach [Doug Marrone] is 100 percent correct and they will get better. [Jaguars Offensive Line Coach] George Warhop is as good as it gets. So, I have all the faith in the world in George and [Jaguars Assistant Offensive Line Coach] Tony Sparano Jr. that they will get those guys even better."

(On if he sees Leonard Fournette playing every snap throughout the season, like last game) "Sure, yeah."

(On if he wants to get Ryquell Armstead more involved) "Leonard is playing at a high-level right now. I'm pleased with the way Leonard is playing. That was a pretty good play he made on the 20-yard gain on the swing pass. I love the way Leonard is playing right now. I love his mindset; I love where he is mentally. He is into it right now and that's what we need. As you see us go along into the season, there's no doubt we will get a little bit more of a rotation in there as those guys grow. At the same time, I'll be honest with you, it's hard to take a player like Leonard Fournette out of the game. It really is. The way he's playing right now and buying in and doing what we're asking him to do. Pass protecting, catching the ball, running downhill, and all the things you ask big-time backs to do. It's hard to take them out of the game. As long as he stays healthy, you're going to see Leonard Fournette a lot."

(On if he's surprised Dede Westbrook isn't producing as much) "That's a great question. That is not by design. That is not by design, trust me. I think you saw Week 1 in Kansas City, they doubled him a lot. They were bracketing him, and that's a credit to him. When you get bracketed, you know that the other team has a tremendous amount of respect for you. There were some other times where either they covered him, he was not the first progression … You just never know. When you game plan a pass game, you have an idea of where the ball is going to go, but you just don't know the specific coverage you are going to get. If the quarterback gets flushed, all of those things. We don't want to force feed anything because that affects the whole offense and the team and those things. We don't want to force feed anything, but we are going to try to keep finding ways to get him the football. That's a great question."

(On how close Cam Robinson is to returning) "From what I hear, Cam has been working out good. Obviously, we haven't practiced yet this week. I think we will know a lot more after these next two days with where Cam is at both mentally and physically to see where he is at."

(On if he sees DJ Chark Jr.'s maturation process coming along) "Yes. DJ grows every week. I think you see his confidence level just keep rising and little things with DJ – he's running across on the touchdown pass and he points up to the sky like they put it up for me. Little things like that, the tricks of the trade that as you play a lot, you grow, receivers do. I'm pleased with DJ. He's playing his butt off right now. He was running on Sunday. That guy was running fast and doing good things. The thing about DJ is this also – DJ doesn't get enough credit. Receivers probably, especially DJ, doesn't get enough credit for what he does in the run game. He does some dirty jobs in there. We ask him to do a lot of things. We ask him to be a gunner on the punt team and he doesn't get enough credit for some of the dirty jobs that he does. I'm really proud of the way he handles his business."

Advertising