Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Press Pass | Doug Pederson: “One piece, one player, one game at a time.”

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Press Pass | Doug Pederson: “One piece, one player, one game at a time.” · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Um, it's like I told the guys a second ago
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: that this game tonight sort of uh kind of symbolizes
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: our season. You know. Um, there were some struggles, there
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: was some highs and lows, you know, but in the end,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: we had the victory. And you know, I'm so proud
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: of the guys for the way they have just all
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: season long, just hung together and and you know, through
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the face of adversity at times and even through some
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of the high moments, you know, just we just stayed
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the same, just stayed the same. We just kept kept
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: trusting in each other, kept you know, building on on
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: what we do. And um, the guys just improved every
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: single week and and it it showed. I mean it
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: just you know, it's it's not gonna be easy. These
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: games are never easy. And and I don't care, you
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: know what the score is. I just want more points
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: than the opponent. And um, that's a great football team.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: You know, My hats off to Mike. He had his
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: guys ready to go, and and you know it's always
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: a physical game with them, and um, but just so
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: happy and proud, happy for for Mr Kahan obviously, Um,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: it's been a while, you know that he's had nine
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: wins and UM, just so happy that we were able
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: to to do that for him today as well. Can
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: you describe ray Sean strip sack and Josh Allen's touchdown?
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: How that play developed for you guys? I mean, you know,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: as a coach, I mean you're excited, but as a coach,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: you go, okay, it's got to go to replay. UM,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: and and then when it when it was confirmed, it's
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: just it's the break we needed. I mean again, it's
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: just how the defense. I think defense and special teams
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: won this football game for us. And UM, and that's okay,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: it's okay, and uh we found a way. Um, that
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: was a great play. We needed it. We needed to
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: find a way. Guys did it. Um, hats off to
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the defense and our special teams, Agnew and the guys
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: did do a heck of a job. A coach, congrats.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: How far has this team come this season to be
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: able to play and win a game like this one?
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: And we've come so far, you know, I mean, you know,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: just think about back in April and May when we
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: first got together. You know, you're trying to teach a
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: winning culture. You're trying to flip you know, a script,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: so to speak, and and uh, you're just not sure
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: until you start playing games just how that's gonna look.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: And you know, listen, these guys they trusted me. I
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: trusted them. Um you know, they never never wavered. And
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: and to get a game like this, you know down
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: the strap, I mean it's just it's pretty incredible, you know,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: to to win nine nine games in our first year together. Um,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: it's pretty uh, pretty impressive for for the guys in
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: the locker room. And what did you think about the
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: environment and the fans here at the Bank tonight? I mean,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: it was it was electric. It was what we were
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: hoping for and and the crowd delivered. It was loud,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: they stayed to the end. I mean, I'm very proud
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: of our fans. Um, we're gonna need him again, you know,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: in a week or so, and uh, um, just just
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: a great, great way to cap off the regular season. Um,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: you know, as we head into the postseason and um,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: you know we're gonna need him again, so let's let's
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: gear up and get ready. It was awesome though, coach, congratulations. Obviously,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: the Dallas games show what home Field could bandage with
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: your twelfth man and boy did it come up big today.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: The louder it became. You know, when you took this job,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: you know, this is a town waiting. Knew we erupt
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: here with some success and we saw that with the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: twelfth Man. Seattle is known for about boy Jacksonville's waiting
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: new erupt here. Does that really make you feel pretty
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: enthusiastic about what lives? I add, Yeah, I mean that's
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: just it, you know. I mean, listen, we understand too
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: that you know, we've got to do our jobs and
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: we've got to win football games and ready to get
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: crowds like that. You gotta win on the field. And
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: and that's what our guys have done here in the
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: second half of the season. They put themselves in this position.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: We we talked about playing meeting meaningful games in the
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: month of December and January, and so here we are
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: and and the more success we have, the fans will
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: show up. And they did that and so very proud
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: of our fans. Um. Again, it was a great atmosphere,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: just uh, you know, electric and um loud, everything we expected.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: I think what was needed was trust. Um, I think
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: trust was broken with this team. You know when I
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: when I took the job, and so I had to
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: regain their trust as a coach. And you know, it's
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: not a it's not an overnight I said this way
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: back then. It's not an overnight fix. It's gonna take it.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: It's gonna take a process, it's gonna take a journey.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: And I think they saw right away that you know
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: that they can trust in me, I can trust in them.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: And and you know, it's one of the things I'm
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: always gonna do is I'm gonna shoot them straight and
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: be honest with them. The transparency is key, the communication
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: is key. And I think we just built over time
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: that that trust factor and it began to show, um,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: you know, throughout the course of the year. And I
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: think that's why you know, we hung together. Um you know,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: in the middle part of our year. That month of October,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: you know, you have five straight losses. It could it
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: could go sideways in a hurry, and and it didn't,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: and we just had to, you know, dig a little deeper.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: And um, you know, it's not about coaching harder, or
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: playing harder, or practicing harder. Is none of that. It's
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: just you just gotta tighten a few things up. You
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: just gotta play a little bit better, um, you know,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: and and and eliminate the mistakes. We did that and
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: and um, you know, uh, here we are. I mean
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: it's I think it means everything. You know to these
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: guys that have been here. You know, they were at
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: an ultimate low coming off last season obviously, and and um,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: now they're they're right now, they're an ultimate high with
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: with more football to play. And so it's you know,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: and that's really the the roller coaster of emotions that
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: a football season can can bring. But you know, these guys,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: the guys that have been here, Um, you can see
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: it in their faces, just how how excited and proud
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: and and um, it's not relief, but it's it's um,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: it's enthusiasm, and it's it's it means everything to them.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: They take it to heart and and um, it's something
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: that we can we can continue to build upon. By
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: by any we're not where we need to be or
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: want to be. But at the same time, you know,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: we're building it, and we're building it one you know,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: kind of one piece, one player, one game at a time.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: And this was a really good start for us this year. Okay, Doug,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: you talked about the Josh Down touchdown. But just how
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: important was that early Tyson Campbell interception and how much
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: has he grown sort of over the course of the year.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Tyson's Tyson's improved so much through the course of the year.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: And he's a he's a tough, tough player to throw
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: at and against, and he's so long and athletic and
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: to make plays like that, I mean, that's that's what
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: you know, that's what great corners in this league do.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: And and he's been he's such a humble kid and
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: it just wants to learn and get better and the
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: way he practices every day. Um, just a great uh,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: a great play, and then it really helped us to uh,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: you know, at least get three points on the board
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: at that time. Bruce Hope, Florida Star newspaper coach, you're
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: obviously a super Bowl winning champion. You know what it
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: takes to win at the highest level in this sport.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: At what point this season did you start to see
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: your team take that turn or take that proverbial leap,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: And what in particular did you see that allowed you
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: to know that those changes were happening and you were
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: starting to really make that step forward. You know, it
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: was somewhere in the middle of our middle part of
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: the year. It could have been somewhere in that you know,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: that Denver Vegas sort of you know, Kansas City sort
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: of stretch of three games right in their middle of
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: our middle part of our season where you know, that's
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: that's where things could have really gotten out of hand
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: for us. Um and and listen, we just we just
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: continued to stay disciplined and what we did, um, and
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: what we were doing, UM, we continue to just build
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: uh And listen, we knew we knew that it was
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: gonna be about what we did. You know, I mean,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: when we turned the ball over, that's us. When we
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: don't make tackles, that's us. When you know we we
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: miss field goals, actually that's us, right, It's it's it's
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: about us, and it's always gonna be about us. And
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: and I think that's when we realized that, hey, we've
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: got a pretty good football team if we could just
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: eliminate those mistakes we got into the by Um. You know,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: obviously you think about the go back to the Raider game.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: We're down, you know, down seventeen points in that game,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: and there was no lynch and really at that moment,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: I think is when we realized that that this football
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: team is a special team. We could make a we
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: can make a run at the end of the year
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: and see what happens. So is it more rewarding to
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: win this considering the whole you guys dug yourself in.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Is it more special for you and the players to
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: to claw out of that hole to win it like this?
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: You know, they're all it's hard to win in this
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: league period. Um. It takes a lot going your your way,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: you know, and you cherish every every moment you have
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: because you never know. I mean, we we saw it
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: this past week. I mean we saw you never know
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: when it could be your last coaching day, playing day.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: It's been a it's been a tough week for our
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: team and and you know, the rest of the league
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: for um, you know what we've what we've seen, what
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: we've witnessed, and obviously the blessing that you know we're getting,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: you know, um every single day with Damar So every
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: win is special. Um. It doesn't take away from you know,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: what our team did this year. You know, UM, I'm
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: just proud of these guys obviously to be in this
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: position to be in the a f C South champion
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: and and just to know the journey that it took
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: us to get here. You know, Um, guys, stay humble,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: you know, and and look, it's it's just it's just
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: a step in the direction that we want to go.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: And and you know, I wanted to be sustainable. I
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: just don't want to be like, Okay, you were the
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: champs and you know, not in twenty three. I mean
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: you want to be competing for you know, this division
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: every year. And um, but it makes it, it makes
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: it special just because of the way, um, you know,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: these guys battled and kind of what they've been through
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: in the last two years. Doug did did as a
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: play caller did as the game progressed into the second quarter?
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Did you feel, all right, this is gonna be a
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: low scoring game. Did you kind of change? Did you
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: get more conservative as a play caller as the game
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: went along? Now, you know, not necessarily conservative, as much
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: as just trying to find things that would work. Um.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: They did a great job with their front They changed
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: some things up from week fourteen, and and they pressured
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: us a little more off the edge. We didn't handle
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: it very well as an offense quite frankly, something we've
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: got to clean up or we're gonna continue to see it, um,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: you know. And we still tried to take shots down
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: the field. We just some leakage in protection, um, you know,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: whatever it might be. And you know, we an overthrow
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: in the end zone today. I mean, there's all kinds
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: of things in the offense just wasn't on point tonight.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: But sometimes that's okay, right, But as a play caller,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: you know, you're you're just you just trusted in your guys.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: It's somewhere somebody's gonna make a play, um. And for us,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: fortunately it was on the defensive side tonight, right making
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: a play. Special teams logan you know, kicked his tail
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: off as a punter. Um. But now we just you know,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: we'd try to stay stay aggressive as we could, trying
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: to find things that that worked. Coach Derrick Henry is
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Derrick Henry, do you coach the defense to say, just
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: to hang in there and you know you'll get a
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: play at the end of the day. You coached the
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: kind of defensive game plan that kind of went out
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: today that they kind of had him most of the game,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: and then just finishing the game. Derek's a great back. Um,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: he's he's big, he's powerful, he's fast, and and you know,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: we knew this was gonna be one of those games
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: where you know you kind of have to big your
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: bring your your big boy pads as we call it,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: and you know you're gonna have to bow up because
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's gonna get five six seven yards
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: every time. And um, you know, credit to the defense,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know kept him I think two three
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: and a half or three points six or so yards
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, and just you know, you have to commit
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: to living guys, you know, against a good back like that.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: And and our guys did a nice job. We had
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: an extra d lineman in there, you know, in our
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: game plan this week, and um, you know you're always
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: gonna be fighting to the end. Um because that run
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: game that they have can can keep you in a
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: lot of ball games. Doug, you get an opportunity now
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: to exhale a little bit. And you know you had
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: one day short. Now tomorrow you can turn that into
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: an extra day. And I'm sorry, I apologize. I don't
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: remember if in Philly you had a Saturday Sunday playoff
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: type of situation, but you knew who your opponent would be.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: When you wake up in the morning, you still don't
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: know who it's going to be. What's that going to
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: be like? The kind of monitor the one o'clock, four
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: o'clock games trying to figure out what it's gonna be
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: like for you. Yeah, I mean, you know, when I
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: was in Philly, um, we always played for the division
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: on Sunday, so we kind of knew at the end
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: of that day what was gonna happen. This is a
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: little unique because it was on it's on Saturday, and
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: you know, we have a good idea of who it
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: might be. But really, until tomorrow is finished, um, you know,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: we really won't know. But but I think history, um,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: history says that the a f C South winner usually
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: plays on Saturday. So we should have at least seven days,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: you know, to prepare, which I think is a good thing. Um.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: And so we'll treat tomorrow like a Monday, you know. UM,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: let the guys come in, sleep in, and if they
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: want to go to church, they can go to church
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: and then come in here um to our afternoon and
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: and and get ready for potential Saturday game. Thank you,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: all right? Thanks guys,