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Press Pass | Zay Jones: "It’s just things coming together." · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Say, what was that dynamic? Like what your dad? I mean,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: was he happy for you, upset for his whole team?
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: He was ecstatic for me? Yeah, he really was. He
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: was a little tipsy too, it was he was for sure. Man,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: it was a good time though, for real, it was
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a good time. I want to take you back to Detroit.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: You played that game through injury and then to have
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: a game like yesterday you had to drop in Detroit
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: and now third touchdown game just for you didn't feel
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: really good to kind of get that back, get back
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: to me. It felt amazing. Man. Glory to God too,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: because it felt amazing. It was. It was a moment
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: of you know, overcoming with personally I was going through
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and to be there. But I mean, uh, it was
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: quite special to say the least. There's no, it's not
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: really words for it. For sure. What did win that
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: game yesterday? Kind of tell everyone about this Jaguars team.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: This Jaguars team is so special. Um, just from every
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: player that we have. I can think about top of
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: the head. I mean obviously Trevor the way he's playing phenomenal.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Marvin Jones Jr. Uh guy has an incredible career. Numbers
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: speak for itself. Christians resiliency. Christian caught an amazing catch yesterday.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I don't think a whole lot of people highlighted, but
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: it was so crucial to our game. The way that
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: he just responded, Um, I thought was phenomenal. Evan Ingram
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: fighting for extra yards in that game crucial. We needed it. Resign.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna stand um, Chris Man hurts pen block, Uh,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Walker little stepping up, Clay Brooks DT flying down there.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Do we you know coming in doing his role, doesn't complain.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Leads us in a pregame speech to go out there
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: and play Cam Robinson. Um, guy fights every single week.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: One of our leaders that we love, Walker, a little
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: stepping up, Jamachael Hasty fighting for extra yards, t getting
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: in there, Andre Cisco coming back playing well. Guys who
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: do the scout team for us weekend and week out,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Buster Brown, Greg Jr. Giving looks, d Dicks giving us looks.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's just really special. What this team is
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: is overcome. Um. I wouldn't change anything now in our season,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: even the adversity obviously you know, losses, but helps build
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: build something moving forward. And I think that, Um, I
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: think that we're heading in the right direction. I'm just
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: so proud of this group right now. It was curious
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: where were you at during Ray Shawn's pick six? And
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: oh yeah, I don't even shout out Ray, shout out.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's what I'm saying. Bro, like so many
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Riley for you know, for coming in there and kicking
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: it Ray and the defense, Foyer flying around making tackles,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Trayvon Walker, for being a great teammate on the sideline.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: You know, It's just a whole lot of pieces that
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: just came together, I think for us to have that
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: success that we had. But yeah, shout out Jay Man,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: that was huge. That was a huge play man. You
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: mentioned about all the adversity that you guys have gone through.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: It seems now all the breaks you weren't getting in
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: October are now going your way in any way to
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: just make you even think for a second that this
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: that this could be a team of destiny. I said
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: October with spooky and but December and November and December
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: is where it counted in playing good football right now, Um,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: I just want to keep the same approach that we've had.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: I think, uh Doug's done a great job of giving
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: us the entire outlook. Okay, what's the rest of the schedule,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: But we still keep it one day at a time
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: in focus, and so that's just where our approach is
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: gonna be as great as yesterday was. It's a very
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: very short week and we're going to play a very
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: very good team on their home turf, So our preparation
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: it's going to be expedity, expedity just a little bit
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: with the short week, and um excited for another opportunity
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: for us to to continue to grow as a football team.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: I guess guy said that if there was an expectation
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: that if you got to want to go down to
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: tie that game on after try respond away any right, um,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: and there was a belief that the you guys were
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: were to live the game. What you need to was
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: that belief there earlier diseason? And how did you how
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: long did it take to get into that. I don't
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: think earlier in the season. Um, I I don't know.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: That's a good question. I think if I'm answering truthfully, no,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: because to be in that situation there, I think you
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: had to go through something first, right, So obviously I
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: believed in my teammates, but I couldn't have drawn up
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: that scenario. So I go back for a second after
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the unfortunate turnover. You know, I kind of felt like
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I let the era out of me a little bit
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: in a couple of teammates, and it was Christian Kirk
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: who came to me was like, we have three time
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: outs left. Our defense is going to get a stop.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: All we need is a field goal. So that's just
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: a highlight Christian and where his thinking was. So I
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: think if it's individual belief in the players that we
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: had that Trent and the team has brought in here, yes,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: But I couldn't have said in August I was gonna
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna play the Cowboys tending three at
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: home and it's gonna be Now, I can't say that.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: How much does that say about your growth? Because I
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: talked to Marron Christian yesterday and they both just talked
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: about how the wide receiver room especially has gotten closer
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: and gotten tighter through everything you guys have gone through
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: this season. We have, we we most definitely have. I think, uh,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: it's a very special group with just the eight age
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: ranges that we have, what we each bring to the table, um,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: the roles that we have within the team and we've
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: definitely meshed closer than I think that we ever had.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: And so I really meyer um Christian and Marv's game. Um,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I admire what Tim Jones does for this football team.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: A lot of people call it the dirty work, but
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: that guy works very very hard. Um, what our guys
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: do on uh practice squad level with Jamal Actnew is
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: able to do from a standpoint of running the football,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: catching the football. I mean we saw a glimpse of
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: you know what he can really do, and you guys
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: have witnessed over the years. So this receiver group is
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: very special to me. And um, we definitely bonded more
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: than we were doing a white Elephant thing today, which
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: I think is pretty cool. I've never done white Elephant.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: I've done Secret Santa, but it's fun stuff like that.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: It's pretty cool. Does coming off a game like this
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: one help you on a short weeket all in your preparation? Um,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: So I would say that when we had that game
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: in Detroit, I think it helped me from a standpoint
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: of like, Okay, I gotta I gotta flush it, learn
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: from it and move on. And so I think that's
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: the challenge as as athletes and even as professionals, right, Um,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: not necessarily just like erasing, but like what can I
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: take from it? What's gonna benefit me? Because nothing's gonna
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: carry over. Za Jones doesn't start with three touchdowns against
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: the Jets, you know, Trevor doesn't start with you know
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: everything that it's zero zero, we gotta line it up again. Um.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: And so it's professionally you have to carry yourself in
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: that way. So I mean, after this, after this interview
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: and stuff, all my focus is going to the to
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: the next game. When you look at Trevor and in
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: our fear recently, the way he said, do you do
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: you have added that London game as a turning point
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: below of any game to turn over, maybe some things
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: that were said privately on him may get him. Um.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't say a turning point in then. UM. I
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: know the the outside perspective is like these individual games.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: But I see Trevor every day in practice, right, So
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: when I see him work consistently and I see him
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: stay a little bit later, and when he shoots me
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: a text about something he sees, or when he's like, hey,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: can we get this throw again? Those are the things
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: that his maturation as a as a leader, and as
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: a quarterback in this league I've seen from respectfully other
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: UM veteran quarterbacks. Those are things. Those would be like
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: the turning points for me. Um ending the game in
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: London with interception, it doesn't mean a whole lot to
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: me because he was trying to He was trying to
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: make a play for our team, and so I don't
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: view the mistakes the same way others may. Um. I
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: judge a man by how he comes to work every
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: day and the things that he's able to do for
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: his team, whether he's batting through injury, whether he's going
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: through something at home, whether he had a poor game
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: last game, or whether he was written off last year.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: That's kind of how I view who a man is.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: And Trevor Lawrences proved to me it's not anyone that
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: he's here and he's here to stay. Do you go
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: back and look at some of the throws he makes
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: and you're like, how does he fit that in there?
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Like maybe the one that set up the field goal?
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: To you, I was so zeroed in on the football
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: that I didn't realize that I I had went through Um
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: uh was it Wilson six? I didn't realize it went
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: through his hands. So I'm sitting at home and it
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: was my brother Caleb, who was like, bro, you gotta
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: check out you know Trevor's throw. I was like, all right,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: So he shows me the camera angle and I was like, Wow,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: that's incredible. It's an incredible play that he was able
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: to make. I mean, rolling to the left, right handed
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: quarterback didn't bad. No, I didn't blink, complete confidence and
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: just let it rip. So I mean, yeah, that's true
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: control of your own destiny. Now, with the last few
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: games of the season, how big is this game for
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: your I think it was just as big as the
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: last one, UM and the one before that. You know,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: I think the cliche saying is it's big because it's
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: the next one. UM Jets head coach is we know
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: what he's like, and we know he's gonna bring to
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: the table. We know how he's gonna inspire his guys,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: and I know they have a little bit of the
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: quarterback situation. But I think, uh what, White and Wilson
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: are both very very capable, UM, great players, and so
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: it's it's just gonna be a matter of us preparing
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: the way we need to throughout the week, Um, understanding
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the elements maybe uh, their home turf. I know they're
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: gonna be hungry for a win. Um. It's this part
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: of the season where like this is where it's fun.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: You know, not saying it's not fun in the beginning,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: but you know it's it's gonna come down to who
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: wants it more, who's going to execute, And we get
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: to see what what we're made of down the stretch.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: And I'm very confident in the men that I'm going
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: to battle with week anything. I guess we get to
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: be home for Christmas. You know, That's That's the thing
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: I can think of off the top time off but
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: put it right, No, I mean I think you I
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: think if you think that way, it could hurts you.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: I mean I think you could draw positives from it.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: You get to jump right back into a new week,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: new opponent. Um, you get to work on your craft
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: a little bit more. Um, you get to watch the
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: film quicker and then you know, advance to the next
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: team and start studying and preparing, and then you're gonna
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: have a prime time moment to display, um your team
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: and your talent to the nation. You know, on on
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Sundays sometimes maybe you don't get that prime time slot
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: because there's people watching, like the red Zone and like
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: so many things going on. But this moment is going
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: to be about you and in your team and you
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: guys um to kind of you know, being that spotlight
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: and it's just an incredible opportunity to have. I mean,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: I think this is why we love sports so much,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: is the adrenaline rush that it gives you. Um, the
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: narratives that are are drawn from it, and the ability
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: to to root for your team and in a critical
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: adverse situation. I've seen yourself grows since you got here.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, coming in day one will be a big
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: part of the offense, getting to work with Trevor and
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Doug and learn the offense. How have you seen yourself
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: kind of girl as a player from when you got
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: here to now? Um, I think honestly, Uh, just the
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: consistency of playing through a duration duration of a season. Um,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: I did it earlier in my career. UM, I'm more
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: so had to take a different approach and role when
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: I was with Las Vegas as far as you know,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: knowing the dynamic of our team and what my role was,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: and this one I'm more part of it. More game teams,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: more opportunities. UM, So maintenance on my body, trying to
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: stay as healthy as possible. UM, understanding that, you know,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: when I look at Christian and Marv you know, and act,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: and I'm like, hey, it's just us. We have to
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: go make the play like no one else's is going
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: to do it, Like we're the ones that has to
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: do it. I think earlier in my career as a
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: younger player, you understand that there's more so the responsibility
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: on the guys that are ahead of you, and understanding
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: that we are those guys. And so it's it's an
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: interesting challenge to accept that and to accept that role
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: and to know what it means to be the player
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: or one of the players to make a moment or
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: catch or play for your team. And I think, um,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: just that process of growing and enjoying the space that
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: you're in and and and accepting that challenge, I think
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: is something that I've been adapting to and learning over
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: the duration of the season. Plans make play generally explain
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: the quantit them over the last four by games of years. Awesome, yea,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: I think that's just the beauty of our game. Um.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Sometimes guys make plays all the time, but they're not
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: the ESPN highlight plays, you know, the plays that we
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: hold onto and grasp one too. But the players in
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: the locker room no, the coaches no. And so I
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: think I think it's safe to say that I've made
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: a lot of those plays throughout the season, but they
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: weren't like mind blowing. Uh. Week two, Indianapolis Colts, fourth
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: and three, Trevor throws me a shallow for four yards
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: and that's huge to converting. You know, I remember that.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: You know that. I'm sure they remember that. But like,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: it's just Evan Ingram last week. I mean, he ran
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: a double move and to be honest, it was really
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: really good coverage and Evan goes out and he makes
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: the play though, So it's just the is coming together.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I'm grateful and humbled to be highlighted this week, but
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: it's a new new opportunity for someone else or whoever,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: to be the guy next week. And uh, we have
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: a beautiful roster of of guys who are more than
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: capable of making it happen. Thank you.