Latest / Press Pass / Press Pass | Trevor Lawrence: "If I Can Be Out There and Be Myself for the Most Part Then I'm Going To Be Out There"
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Could you at least talk about balancing what's best for
- 0:07Speaker 1: the team versus you really wanting to play in this game,
- 0:10Speaker 1: because you've never missed an NFL start, and I seriously
- 0:12Speaker 1: doubt you want to start now.
- 0:16Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the team's always the priority. You know.
- 0:20Speaker 2: We had obviously the same conversations before the New Orleans
- 0:23Speaker 2: game earlier in the season. And I'll never put myself
- 0:29Speaker 2: for the team in a position to where we're at
- 0:32Speaker 2: a higher risk or we're not going to play our
- 0:34Speaker 2: best because I'm not able to do my job. So
- 0:38Speaker 2: you know, that's those are all questions you have to
- 0:40Speaker 2: answer throughout the course of the week, and just for me,
- 0:43Speaker 2: it's just doing everything I can every second of the
- 0:45Speaker 2: day to get back as soon as possible, you know,
- 0:48Speaker 2: whenever that is. So that's yeah, that's the whole thought
- 0:52Speaker 2: process behind everything. Today. I feel a lot better, I
- 0:57Speaker 2: feel really, you know, I feel a lot better that
- 1:00Speaker 2: I would have thought i'd feel. You know, I'm very fortunate.
- 1:03Speaker 2: I'm thankful that it wasn't a worse injury, you know
- 1:07Speaker 2: than what I kind of thought it was on the field,
- 1:09Speaker 2: So I'm thankful for that, you know. Just some flexibility,
- 1:14Speaker 2: you know, will my guy in the in the weight
- 1:16Speaker 2: room that that trains me and stuff is doing a
- 1:18Speaker 2: good job. Needs it needs a raise or something. So
- 1:20Speaker 2: he's doing he's doing a good job. And uh, yeah,
- 1:23Speaker 2: I mean, I'm I'm just thankful and I appreciate all
- 1:25Speaker 2: the people, the thoughts and prayers, and thankfully it wasn't
- 1:29Speaker 2: anything serious. But you know that stuff means a lot,
- 1:31Speaker 2: and it worked. You know, I'm feeling feeling good, so
- 1:33Speaker 2: I'm thankful for that. Yeah, I mean I didn't know
- 1:38Speaker 2: obviously what it was, but I was. Yeah, I was
- 1:40Speaker 2: kind of concerned, you know, I kind of felt something
- 1:42Speaker 2: down in my leg and I or my ankle and
- 1:45Speaker 2: was definitely concerned about that and then obviously trying to
- 1:48Speaker 2: get up and had some had some pain there. So yeah,
- 1:51Speaker 2: I was concerned that it was worse and thankful that
- 1:53Speaker 2: it wasn't, you know, made it out cleaner than I
- 1:55Speaker 2: probably should have. So yeah, he mettle.
- 1:57Speaker 1: Something about the car thing because.
- 1:59Speaker 2: People losing their mind. Yeah want the car?
- 2:03Speaker 1: I want a walk?
- 2:04Speaker 3: Or how did that go down?
- 2:05Speaker 2: Yeah? You know, we we have a we have an
- 2:09Speaker 2: amazing medical staff that takes care of us and in
- 2:14Speaker 2: every way that you could imagine anything that we need.
- 2:16Speaker 2: They're always there. They work pretty much around the clock
- 2:19Speaker 2: to take care of us. So we got one of,
- 2:22Speaker 2: if not the best, in the league. So there's no
- 2:24Speaker 2: I mean, I've heard what Amanda is telling me kind
- 2:27Speaker 2: of all the stuff that's been going on, and yeah,
- 2:28Speaker 2: I didn't. We talked about getting a cart, and I
- 2:31Speaker 2: was going to get a cart, and then I'm standing
- 2:32Speaker 2: there and you know, I'm already on the sideline at
- 2:35Speaker 2: that point, the tunnels right there. I just wanted to
- 2:36Speaker 2: get off the field, get out of there. I didn't
- 2:38Speaker 2: know what was going on with my ankle, and I
- 2:39Speaker 2: felt like I could get off, and I was like, hey,
- 2:40Speaker 2: you're good, just don't bring it out. I'm going in.
- 2:42Speaker 2: And then once I got in there, I'm like, this
- 2:45Speaker 2: is a pretty long walk, you know. But I was
- 2:47Speaker 2: already there, and they asked again if I wanted a cart.
- 2:48Speaker 2: I'm like, no, we're gonna make it the whole way there.
- 2:50Speaker 2: I didn't know there was cameras in the tunnel, you know,
- 2:52Speaker 2: so that's kind of there everywhere exactly. So, but no,
- 2:56Speaker 2: it's of course we have carts and we have everything
- 2:59Speaker 2: we need. And I was the one that that didn't
- 3:02Speaker 2: choose to take one, you know, so you guys put
- 3:04Speaker 2: that on me, and maybe that was dumb, maybe I
- 3:06Speaker 2: should have taken one. Whatever, But it's nothing to do
- 3:09Speaker 2: with us not having a card available. I don't think
- 3:11Speaker 2: that would that would happen in the National Football League,
- 3:13Speaker 2: especially here with the with the crew that we have. So, yeah,
- 3:17Speaker 2: can you take us through.
- 3:18Speaker 1: What actually happened in the play?
- 3:19Speaker 3: Obviously watched it from the guy that went through Just
- 3:23Speaker 3: what what?
- 3:25Speaker 2: What would now? What do you mean like with how
- 3:28Speaker 2: like the guy like stepping on my ankle or what exactly?
- 3:31Speaker 2: Are you looked like you were supposed to give? What
- 3:34Speaker 2: actually play? Yeah? I mean, you know, I don't it's
- 3:40Speaker 2: good good teamwork. Yeah, I mean we had we had
- 3:45Speaker 2: we had a we had a play on and you know,
- 3:47Speaker 2: it's a tough situation. Obviously, with Christian going down first
- 3:50Speaker 2: play the game, there's a lot of there's a lot
- 3:51Speaker 2: of intricate things that we do in our offense that
- 3:53Speaker 2: center around Christian. He's a really great player, smart player.
- 3:57Speaker 2: Me and him have a lot of time on task
- 3:58Speaker 2: and a lot of chemistry. So Parker's thrown in as
- 4:01Speaker 2: a rookie into that role and the guy that's also
- 4:03Speaker 2: kind of been injured this year coming back and now
- 4:06Speaker 2: kind of getting him back in the swing of things
- 4:07Speaker 2: the last few weeks with a going down and then
- 4:09Speaker 2: now Christian, so he he got I mean from the
- 4:12Speaker 2: second play of the game, he had to play the
- 4:13Speaker 2: whole game, and Christian spot and did a heck of
- 4:15Speaker 2: a job, made some great plays, and we just had
- 4:17Speaker 2: a miscommunication on that one of kind of what you know,
- 4:20Speaker 2: where where he was gonna sit down, where he's gonna
- 4:22Speaker 2: run his route all that, and I thought something he
- 4:24Speaker 2: was gonna do something different, and it was a miscommunication.
- 4:27Speaker 2: So then I was kind of stuck behind Walker, and
- 4:31Speaker 2: you know, I didn't drop because I was trying to
- 4:33Speaker 2: get it out quick and just improve our field goal
- 4:35Speaker 2: position there. And it's just the game. We play a
- 4:38Speaker 2: freak thing. You know, if if I'm six inches to
- 4:41Speaker 2: the right or left, it doesn't happen or you know,
- 4:43Speaker 2: so you can't you can't play that game. It's it's football.
- 4:46Speaker 2: Stuff happens. But yeah, it was unfortunate, you know, And
- 4:49Speaker 2: that's stuff that we talked through. And Parker's gonna keep
- 4:52Speaker 2: getting better every week. He's a he's a really good player.
- 4:54Speaker 2: You see him flash in the game, made some unbelievable
- 4:57Speaker 2: plays that we really needed, the touchdown catch, the scram
- 5:00Speaker 2: will catch, a couple other plays that he made, and
- 5:03Speaker 2: he's doing He's doing a great job and he's gonna
- 5:05Speaker 2: be a great player. So excited for that opportunity for him,
- 5:07Speaker 2: and definitely need him to step up. Obviously, with Christian
- 5:10Speaker 2: down for a while, Parkers don't have to step up,
- 5:13Speaker 2: and he will. He's prepared and he's done a great job.
- 5:15Speaker 2: How much does Christian Kirk meant to this offense and
- 5:18Speaker 2: not having him out there on the field, just even
- 5:20Speaker 2: the leadership that he brings to the group, he means
- 5:22Speaker 2: a lot, you know, Like like you said, it's not
- 5:25Speaker 2: just obviously his ability on the field and the plays
- 5:29Speaker 2: that he can make. I think just the voice he
- 5:31Speaker 2: is in that room on the team. You know, he's
- 5:34Speaker 2: a great leader. He does things the right way, super
- 5:37Speaker 2: hard worker, has battled through a lot of stuff to
- 5:40Speaker 2: play this year as long as he has. You know,
- 5:43Speaker 2: of course this time you're everybody's dealing with something, But
- 5:45Speaker 2: that's a guy that's just I got a lot of
- 5:47Speaker 2: respect for him for what he sacrifices for the team,
- 5:50Speaker 2: and you know, it's it's sucks sing him go down.
- 5:52Speaker 2: You know, it's it's it's hard to win a player
- 5:55Speaker 2: like that, and that means someone's a team to rally
- 5:57Speaker 2: after a guy goes down first play, and especially after
- 5:59Speaker 2: a big play like that. You know, it's just but
- 6:01Speaker 2: I thought the guy's a good job of staying focused
- 6:04Speaker 2: and trying to fill in the gap and and just
- 6:06Speaker 2: take control of the game. I thought we did a
- 6:07Speaker 2: good job of that. But yeah, he means a lot
- 6:10Speaker 2: to this team, and we're gonna have to, like, guys
- 6:13Speaker 2: are gonna have to step up, and we're gonna have
- 6:14Speaker 2: to find ways to to to to keep moving forward
- 6:18Speaker 2: offensively and to play well. There's no excuse for a
- 6:20Speaker 2: guy going down. No one really cares in the NFL
- 6:22Speaker 2: if you get a guy hurt, there's no excuses to
- 6:24Speaker 2: not to not perform and to not produce. So we
- 6:28Speaker 2: understand that and the guys are gonna step up, and
- 6:29Speaker 2: we got great players. And that's why you have depth
- 6:31Speaker 2: because in this sport, you know, you can't take anything
- 6:34Speaker 2: for granted, and you you're not never gonna have a
- 6:36Speaker 2: guy for the whole season guaranteed. Anything could happen to
- 6:39Speaker 2: any moment. That's why guys have to be prepared, and
- 6:42Speaker 2: you see guys having to step up with that will
- 6:44Speaker 2: and that that have in the past.
- 6:46Speaker 1: You need to see going into New Orleans to be
- 6:48Speaker 1: able to play, feel comfortable to play, and kind of
- 6:51Speaker 1: like when.
- 6:51Speaker 2: Did you know and how will that play out this
- 6:53Speaker 2: week for what you need to feel to be comfortable. Yeah,
- 6:57Speaker 2: I mean it's still it's still early in the week.
- 7:00Speaker 2: Obviously New Orleans. I didn't know until right before the game,
- 7:02Speaker 2: but and that was this is a short week, but
- 7:05Speaker 2: that was a really short week. So we'll have a
- 7:06Speaker 2: couple more days than we did then, which is which
- 7:08Speaker 2: is nice, but still lost the day playing on Monday night.
- 7:11Speaker 2: So I guess that's just the way it's been going
- 7:13Speaker 2: this year with some of that stuff. But you know,
- 7:16Speaker 2: I'm really just taking it one day at a time.
- 7:18Speaker 2: I'm trying to do do as much as I can
- 7:20Speaker 2: each day without you know, aggravating it or making anything worse,
- 7:24Speaker 2: but trying to progress towards you know, hopefully playing Like
- 7:27Speaker 2: that's the that's the goal every week and and every
- 7:30Speaker 2: day is to try to get as healthy as possible.
- 7:32Speaker 2: And in the past, what forty eight hours have been
- 7:35Speaker 2: some big steps and I'm really happy with with how
- 7:38Speaker 2: it's it's healing up. So we'll see. You know, obviously,
- 7:41Speaker 2: can't give any answers right now, and I'm just gonna
- 7:43Speaker 2: take my time and do everything right and with with
- 7:46Speaker 2: the medical people downstairs and the trainers and in the
- 7:49Speaker 2: weight room, so just you know, to check every box
- 7:52Speaker 2: that I can to try to be able to play
- 7:54Speaker 2: on Sunday.
- 7:55Speaker 1: Will this be totally a decision based on just what
- 7:57Speaker 1: the doctors say.
- 7:58Speaker 2: They say, hey, I.
- 7:59Speaker 1: Think you you'd be good to go without risking further damage,
- 8:04Speaker 1: or if they say probably better if you hold off
- 8:07Speaker 1: another way, well you just sort of just follow what
- 8:09Speaker 1: their recommendation is.
- 8:10Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, I'm always gonna consult with with with
- 8:13Speaker 2: those guys like that's that's obviously they know a lot
- 8:16Speaker 2: more about injuries and stuff with the body than I do.
- 8:20Speaker 2: But it's always a collaborative process, you know what. You
- 8:23Speaker 2: don't want to take any further risks esecially where we're
- 8:25Speaker 2: at in the season. You want to be you want
- 8:27Speaker 2: to be able to play, you know, through the rest
- 8:29Speaker 2: of the year and into the playoffs, So that's something
- 8:33Speaker 2: on your mind as well. But you know, if I
- 8:35Speaker 2: can be out there and I can be you know myself,
- 8:40Speaker 2: you know for the most part, then I'm gonna be
- 8:41Speaker 2: out there. So and I don't have the answer right now,
- 8:44Speaker 2: but that's that's just how I think and how I
- 8:46Speaker 2: view things. So of course I'm gonna talk with them,
- 8:48Speaker 2: and we're gonna make the best decision for the team
- 8:51Speaker 2: for one and then also for myself in the long haul,
- 8:53Speaker 2: like I want to be able to, you know, to
- 8:55Speaker 2: bounce back from this and be one hundred percent as
- 8:57Speaker 2: this season goes on. So those are all things you
- 9:00Speaker 2: got to you gotta answer. Yeah, He's you know, just
- 9:06Speaker 2: that's a hard job. It's it's a job where you
- 9:09Speaker 2: don't get a ton of reps, especially with the guys
- 9:13Speaker 2: you're throwing to when you do have to play, like
- 9:15Speaker 2: with the starters, like during the week, like I'm getting
- 9:17Speaker 2: the reps because obviously I'm playing. And then a guy
- 9:20Speaker 2: has to come in. One has to know the system
- 9:23Speaker 2: inside out, has to prepare like a starter, which he does,
- 9:26Speaker 2: and then you got to be able to go in
- 9:27Speaker 2: and make plays and crunch. I mean, he had to
- 9:29Speaker 2: come in. I don't know how much time was left.
- 9:31Speaker 2: I think it was what five minutes when he came
- 9:34Speaker 2: into the game and it's a tie game and has
- 9:36Speaker 2: to go, you know, or it was we were down
- 9:38Speaker 2: by I guess three on the last drive and has
- 9:40Speaker 2: to go make plays and run the offense. And you know,
- 9:44Speaker 2: it's never a one man show, even no matter who's
- 9:46Speaker 2: in the game. Like, we got great players around us,
- 9:48Speaker 2: but the quarterback position is important. And for him to
- 9:50Speaker 2: be able to put together a drive to get us
- 9:52Speaker 2: in field goal range, kick the game tie in field
- 9:54Speaker 2: goal and send it to overtime, that's huge. And to
- 9:56Speaker 2: have that faith and confidence and in your second guy
- 9:59Speaker 2: that he can go do that no matter the situation.
- 10:02Speaker 2: So we have a ton of confidence in him. He's
- 10:04Speaker 2: he's prepared for it. He's played a lot of football too,
- 10:06Speaker 2: He's been a starter in this league, you know, so
- 10:09Speaker 2: there's no concern there. And we have a ton of
- 10:12Speaker 2: confidence and not only the staff and myself, but also
- 10:16Speaker 2: our guys up front, our skill guys. Everyone has a
- 10:18Speaker 2: lot of confidence in CJ. So you know, he's he's
- 10:20Speaker 2: the perfect guy for the job and he's gonna he's
- 10:23Speaker 2: gonna do great if if he does need to play.
- 10:25Speaker 2: So we'll just go from there.
- 10:27Speaker 1: Right under heels a game back with five to play.
- 10:29Speaker 3: Does this team still need that?
- 10:30Speaker 2: I mean, it's making the transition from Hunter to the
- 10:33Speaker 2: Hunted this year.
- 10:34Speaker 1: Do you think this team will respond with that sort
- 10:36Speaker 1: of pressure from behind him standards?
- 10:39Speaker 2: We can't worry about what's behind us. You know, it
- 10:41Speaker 2: doesn't matter what's what's behind us. We got to just
- 10:43Speaker 2: focus on the team we're playing this week. And you know,
- 10:46Speaker 2: same thing goes back to last week. It's you got
- 10:49Speaker 2: to take care it's one week at a time, and
- 10:51Speaker 2: you got to take care of business. You got to
- 10:52Speaker 2: play your best each week and just find a way
- 10:55Speaker 2: to win. And we weren't able to last week, and
- 10:57Speaker 2: so yeah, I mean that obviously makes things closer in
- 10:59Speaker 2: our division, But I think we got to focus more
- 11:02Speaker 2: on what's in front of us and who we're playing
- 11:04Speaker 2: this week and just find a way to win this week.
- 11:06Speaker 2: And the next week we'll come we'll address that and
- 11:07Speaker 2: we'll find a way to win that game. But we
- 11:09Speaker 2: can't worry about Houston or Indie or whoever's behind us.
- 11:13Speaker 2: If we take care of business, we're gonna be fine.
- 11:15Speaker 2: So it's a little bit of that you have to
- 11:18Speaker 2: have that I don't want to say arrogance for that
- 11:20Speaker 2: confidence of it doesn't matter what these other teams do.
- 11:22Speaker 2: We're good enough to beat anybody on any day, and
- 11:25Speaker 2: we have to do that. And we didn't do that
- 11:27Speaker 2: last week, and we get another opportunity opportunity to this week.
- 11:30Speaker 2: We still control our own destiny, but we can't worry
- 11:33Speaker 2: about teams from behind us, because that's what that adds. Pressure,
- 11:36Speaker 2: adds anxiety, and you just worry about playing one week
- 11:39Speaker 2: at a time. It doesn't matter. We've already played Houston twice,
- 11:41Speaker 2: We've already payed Indie twice. We got Tennessee later in
- 11:44Speaker 2: the year, and we're not gonna get another opportunity to
- 11:46Speaker 2: play those guys, So we can't focus on what they're
- 11:48Speaker 2: doing or how close they are to us. We got
- 11:50Speaker 2: to take care of business on the field each week,
- 11:52Speaker 2: and that's our responsibility.
- 11:54Speaker 3: Speaking of anxiety, do you walk around worry that you're
- 11:57Speaker 3: gonna step off the curb or step off the thing
- 12:00Speaker 3: and make it worse. You're saying your job is to
- 12:02Speaker 3: not make it any worse. Right as you can can
- 12:04Speaker 3: continues to get better. You're not in the boot anymore.
- 12:06Speaker 3: You don't see crunching, So like, how do you go
- 12:09Speaker 3: about your day not worried about that?
- 12:13Speaker 2: Just uh, I can't have a good answer for I mean,
- 12:19Speaker 2: just walk normally and uh slowly carefully, try to keep
- 12:23Speaker 2: people away from the legs, try to keep my dogs
- 12:25Speaker 2: from jumping all over me at the house, and stuff
- 12:27Speaker 2: like that. But it's a great question mark, you know,
- 12:30Speaker 2: I don't know. Yeah, yeah, we're good, all right,