Skip to main content
Advertising

Jaguars News | Jacksonville Jaguars - jaguars.com

Todd Wash - Tuesday, September 17, 2019

(On if he expects Jalen Ramsey to play on Thursday) "He's on our football team. We are status quo moving ahead. He was out in walkthroughs and meetings today taking notes and he's a competitor. If he's in our building and all that kind of stuff, we anticipate he's going to play and he's going to play well. That's just who Jalen is. In my opinion, I hope so. I'd like to see him on the grass."

(On if he gets a sense that Jalen Ramsey feels like he isn't being used properly) "Nobody plays the same defense every time obviously, but we go in each week as a staff figuring out what gives us the best chance to win as a team. Obviously that is the most important thing. With not only Jalen, but some of our other players, we kind of give them a heads up, usually on Monday nights, 'Hey, this is what we are planning on doing. This is where our major calls are.' There is communication back and forth all the way. The bottom line for us is that we are going to do what we need to do as a staff for what we think as a staff it takes to win the football game. Unfortunately, the other night we played very well on defense – Jalen played extremely well versus [DeAndre] Hopkins – and we just fell short."

(On his reaction to Jalen Ramsey's trade request) "Obviously we want what's best for Jalen, but for me being selfish, I want him to be a Jaguar forever. He's an elite player. Obviously I think some stuff gets misconstrued about how he's a hot head. He's just very competitive. It doesn't matter what he does, he wants to win. I just hope he's a Jaguar for a long time."

(On what he's going to say to the defensive group that is different this week than anything else) "I think we are all professionals in that room. The team knows what is out there in the media. They follow it, obviously more than I do. I don't know anything about what's going on really. They are concentrating on the Tennessee Titans. That is the only thing that matters right now. Whatever happens with Jalen, they understand the business side of things, but it's our job as coaches and their job as players to get ready for Thursday night versus a heck of a ball club."

(On if he was surprised that Jalen Ramsey was still mad about not challenging the play against Houston) "Talking about it afterwards, I'll be honest with you. I don't notice a lot of that stuff. I'm worried about the next call when we come on the sidelines. Whatever happened, I didn't see it. I'm worried about the next adjustment and that kind of stuff. Like you said, Jalen's competitive and he wants to win every down regardless. Obviously, a situation broke out and that kind of stuff on the sidelines, but once again, once everybody calmed down and everything, we continued to roll as normal and Jalen played well. I think as a defense we played well last Sunday."

(On how the team doesn't allow Jalen Ramsey's trade request to be a distraction) "We focus on Tennessee. Like I said, we got a game coming up. We only have 16 of them. This is a big one, a divisional opponent. They know all of our focus is on getting ready for them and our players. We had a heck of a walkthrough here, we're about to go out to practice. We are focused on Tennessee, not the situation."

(On if the short week makes it helpful in terms of limited distractions) "There is a lot of information going at them quickly. We have first and second downs, third down today. Tomorrow, we have short yardage, goal line, red zone. There is a lot of information going at them and the players are worrying about that instead of this situation."

(On if he takes it personal that it's been reported Jalen Ramsey doesn't like the Jaguars defensive scheme) "No. There ain't nothing personal in this business if you ask me. People are going to be unhappy, fans are going to be unhappy. We're just trying to do the best we can to try and put the Jaguars in position to be successful. That's the only thing that matters to me – this organization and winning football games."

(On if he thought he may be fired after the Tennessee Titans game last season) "No, I don't even worry about that to be honest with you. If that's what it is, that's what it is. I think as a coach, you know in this profession that is what you get yourself into. It's about production. I don't know what your opinion is, but we've played pretty good defense the last three years. If it's good enough, it is. If it isn't, then it isn't. But hopefully we can go out and play well on Thursday."

(On what Tennessee has done well the last two prime-time matchups) "Derrick Henry is something to deal with. He's a big, big man. We have to have a tackling plan. That was a lot of our conversation today and we all know about the 99-yard run and the missed tackles and that play. What they do is they get him on space. They get his big body on some of our smaller guys, corners and safeties and stuff like that. We have to do what we can scheme-wise to try and keep him between the tackles. They do a nice job in the running game and it sets up all the play action for Mariota. Obviously our linebackers have to be disciplined and really feel what's going on, so they can play some of those play action shots that we are going to see."

(On if he will show the team the 99-yard run from Derrick Henry last week) "No. We don't need to watch that again. I see it on NFL Network all the time. My wife always brings it up. [She says] that wasn't a very good play, so I'm like, 'Mr. Obvious, right?' No. They have seen it before. The bottom line is he made a play. Give credit to him, but we have to do a better job of stopping it this time on Thursday."

(On if he used that game at all for any kind of motivation) "It is dismissed. We go back and we look at it and see how they attacked it and all that kind of good stuff. The biggest thing we have to do is tackle him and he is a big, big man. All of the credit in the world for him. Their coaches do a great job of getting him the ball in space, so he can break tackles. Our priority over the summer [was] we have to find a way to tackle him, to study how other teams approached it, how we approached it and hopefully we can bring him down on Thursday."

Advertising