Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Press Pass | Rodriguez & Murray on Mindset Before Bye Week, Creating More Explosive Plays
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What areas of the run game do you feel like
- 0:02Speaker 1: you guys have been able to excel at through six games,
- 0:05Speaker 1: and where do you feel like you need to improve?
- 0:08Speaker 2: Yeah, first off, I hope you're doing well also.
- 0:13Speaker 3: I feel like.
- 0:15Speaker 4: For us, we've got to improve on just setting up
- 0:17Speaker 4: our blocks. For me, I would say, I can't speak
- 0:20Speaker 4: for everybody else, but I think for me it's just
- 0:24Speaker 4: setting up plays, and I feel like watching myself, I feel...
- 0:29Speaker 4: I like look kind of stiff and uptight. I think
- 0:31Speaker 4: if I like loosen up, um, I can kind of help,
- 0:35Speaker 4: help out, uh, all around. And then, uh, what was your,
- 0:38Speaker 4: what was the other, the other part of your question?
- 0:40Speaker 5: Well, just, just in terms of, of what do you
- 0:43Speaker 5: feel like you guys can improve at?
- 0:44Speaker 2: Just what have you excelled at though?
- 0:47Speaker 5: Yeah.
- 0:47Speaker 4: Uh, what have we excelled at? I feel like is, uh,
- 0:50Speaker 4: honestly is a new line of scrimmage. You know, we
- 0:53Speaker 4: say that from the old lineman standpoint, um, you know,
- 0:56Speaker 4: the best runs is when you can, get those guys
- 0:59Speaker 4: off the ball, and create a second line of scrimmage.
- 1:02Speaker 4: And I feel like we've done a pretty good job
- 1:03Speaker 4: of that. And for me, I just say running downhill,
- 1:08Speaker 4: trying to get back into a rhythm and flow of
- 1:10Speaker 4: being who I am and being who got me.
- 1:13Speaker 2: Here, essentially.
- 1:15Speaker 1: And last thing for me, just, and, and Liam talked
- 1:18Speaker 1: about this yesterday, wanting to get more explosives out of
- 1:21Speaker 1: the run game, 15, 20 yard gains. How do you
- 1:25Speaker 1: feel like you guys can, can get there? And do
- 1:28Speaker 1: you feel like it's close?
- 1:29Speaker 2: Oh man, it's there. I mean, you just watch the film.
- 1:32Speaker 2: Like it's there.
- 1:32Speaker 4: There's been plenty of times where, you know, me and
- 1:36Speaker 4: Basil have talked and we're like, man, if we just,
- 1:39Speaker 4: you know, slowed down a little bit or had a
- 1:42Speaker 4: bit more patience, or if we would have, read it
- 1:45Speaker 4: out all the way through the, you know, through the
- 1:47Speaker 4: guy and not just reading our first read, but our
- 1:49Speaker 4: second read, man, we'll have so many explosive. And we
- 1:52Speaker 4: talked about it today, man. There's so many yards that
- 1:55Speaker 4: we left out there in this past game.
- 1:56Speaker 2: And, you know, it's, it's over. We can't get them back,
- 2:00Speaker 2: but the only thing we can do is learn from it.
- 2:01Speaker 6: Move on.
- 2:03Speaker 5: I appreciate you.
- 2:04Speaker 6: Yes, sir.
- 2:04Speaker 2: Appreciate you.
- 2:09Speaker 7: Hey, Chris, thanks for doing this. Just at, It seems
- 2:12Speaker 7: like the run game has been, you know, efficient, you know,
- 2:14Speaker 7: since the season started. What was kind of the mindset
- 2:17Speaker 7: this whole training camp offseason on, you know, the run
- 2:20Speaker 7: game and kind of picking it up? I know you
- 2:22Speaker 7: weren't here last year, but it was a big emphasis
- 2:23Speaker 7: for the team improving it. Just what do you think
- 2:26Speaker 7: has made you guys, you know, so efficient and so
- 2:28Speaker 7: much improved at running the ball this year?
- 2:31Speaker 4: Well, first off, I think it starts up front, you know,
- 2:33Speaker 4: with those guys up there getting the right points. And
- 2:34Speaker 4: then it just kind of, you know, just got to
- 2:38Speaker 4: get our reads as a running back. I think going
- 2:41Speaker 4: through camp, uh, it was also a big emphasis on like,
- 2:45Speaker 4: you know, we, we know we have the guys coming back, um, Parker, BT, uh,
- 2:53Speaker 4: Jacoby strange and all those guys and Trevor. Um, and
- 2:58Speaker 4: you know, I feel like last year, like you saw
- 3:00Speaker 4: like kind of like a little spark of tuning and, uh,
- 3:03Speaker 4: you know, I feel like he, he kind of wanted
- 3:04Speaker 4: to just, you know, make a name for himself this year,
- 3:06Speaker 4: which he has, and he's done a great job of it. Um,
- 3:09Speaker 4: I feel like as a running back group, we could
- 3:12Speaker 4: be so much better. I think just going into this
- 3:17Speaker 4: bye week, we're going to have to just try to
- 3:21Speaker 4: focus on a few things, myself included. There's a bunch
- 3:25Speaker 4: of things I need to focus on, but just picking
- 3:28Speaker 4: a few. At the end of the day, man, we've
- 3:31Speaker 4: been successful because of those guys up front. I pride
- 3:35Speaker 4: myself in getting what's blocked first and then whatever happens
- 3:39Speaker 4: after that happens.
- 3:41Speaker 3: Thanks, Chris.
- 3:42Speaker 5: Yes, sir.
- 3:42Speaker 2: Thank you.
- 3:45Speaker 5: We'll go D-Rock and then Justin.
- 3:49Speaker 3: D-Rock.
- 3:53Speaker 6: Hey, Chris. How are you?
- 3:55Speaker 2: Hey, doing good. How you doing?
- 3:56Speaker 5: Pretty good.
- 3:58Speaker 6: When you were with Liam at Kentucky, did you guys
- 4:00Speaker 6: run a lot of screens? Did he call a lot
- 4:02Speaker 6: of screens then?
- 4:03Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah.
- 4:07Speaker 2: If I remember, yes, he did.
- 4:11Speaker 4: He had a few of them that were more so
- 4:15Speaker 4: for the receivers. But we did run a few of
- 4:20Speaker 4: them while I was there.
- 4:21Speaker 2: We also had a dude. I don't want to say
- 4:24Speaker 2: a dude.
- 4:24Speaker 4: We also had a player who was the second running
- 4:29Speaker 4: back who did most of the screens.
- 4:33Speaker 5: Okay.
- 4:35Speaker 6: What's the biggest thing? that has to happen on a
- 4:38Speaker 6: screen for it to work. I mean, is it, is
- 4:40Speaker 6: it as simple as timing? Um, it's just been a
- 4:43Speaker 6: struggle the last year and a half, uh, screen wise here.
- 4:47Speaker 6: And I'm just trying to figure out what, what could
- 4:49Speaker 6: potentially be one of the things that's holding it back
- 4:52Speaker 6: from being really successful.
- 4:54Speaker 5: Um, yeah.
- 4:56Speaker 4: So I don't know what it was like last year,
- 4:58Speaker 4: this year, um, from a running back perspective. Um, yeah,
- 5:02Speaker 4: it's about timing, but, uh, there's more that goes into it. Uh,
- 5:07Speaker 4: It's a great sale by everyone on the offense. I
- 5:13Speaker 4: know for me, it's about being a great actor, especially
- 5:16Speaker 4: if the screen is to me. It's about being a
- 5:18Speaker 4: great actor and getting out to your landmark, of course.
- 5:22Speaker 4: And then, like you said, it's timing. Other than that,
- 5:27Speaker 4: I mean, you just got to get it rolling.
- 5:31Speaker 6: What's maybe the biggest difference personality-wise in Liam that you've noticed?
- 5:37Speaker 6: since the last time you were with him, or is
- 5:39Speaker 6: there anything?
- 5:40Speaker 2: There's nothing different about Liam.
- 5:42Speaker 4: He's still going to, you know, tell you when you're wrong. And,
- 5:49Speaker 4: you know, me and him have had a conversation plenty
- 5:53Speaker 4: of times about, you know, what he expects out of me. And,
- 5:58Speaker 4: you know, he's one of those dudes who, I mean,
- 6:00Speaker 4: he's known me for a long time now, and he's
- 6:03Speaker 4: always kept it real with me.
- 6:05Speaker 2: Is that.
- 6:07Speaker 6: I don't want to say rare, but I'm sure you've
- 6:09Speaker 6: probably been around coaches where it's maybe not as honest
- 6:12Speaker 6: face to face as it is with Liam.
- 6:16Speaker 5: Yeah.
- 6:17Speaker 4: Uh, I mean, I've only had what I guess two
- 6:21Speaker 4: other head coaches now in the league. Um, none that
- 6:25Speaker 4: I've known since I was, well, I guess I was
- 6:27Speaker 4: like 19 years old. Uh, but you know, I think
- 6:33Speaker 4: just having that, you know, Liam is, um, He's an
- 6:36Speaker 4: offensive guy, so it makes it that much easier, especially,
- 6:39Speaker 4: like I said, I had him at Kentucky.
- 6:42Speaker 2: Thanks.
- 6:44Speaker 3: Appreciate it.
- 6:44Speaker 4: Yes, sir.
- 6:51Speaker 5: What's going on, Chris?
- 6:52Speaker 2: Thank you for doing this.
- 6:53Speaker 5: Yes, sir.
- 6:56Speaker 8: I just wanted to know, you know, you've had six
- 6:57Speaker 8: games here and then the whole offseason. Just kind of
- 7:00Speaker 8: how has it been being in Jacksonville and kind of
- 7:03Speaker 8: being back with Liam for you?
- 7:05Speaker 4: Yeah, man, being in Jacksonville is nice, man. I love
- 7:11Speaker 4: it here, you know, and I plan on staying here
- 7:14Speaker 4: as long as I can. You know, it's a different
- 7:19Speaker 4: type of vibe, man. I like it here, you know
- 7:22Speaker 4: what I'm saying? But, you know, being back with Liam, man,
- 7:25Speaker 4: it's a good feeling, especially, like I said, being with
- 7:29Speaker 4: him in Kentucky, you know, we have that mutual connection,
- 7:33Speaker 4: you know, we can talk crap about Kentucky football or
- 7:37Speaker 4: whatever it is. And, um, you know, uh, it's just,
- 7:42Speaker 4: it's just great. You know, I know him and I know, uh,
- 7:45Speaker 4: what he expects as a coach. And, um, he's just
- 7:49Speaker 4: one of those guys, again, like he can sit there
- 7:51Speaker 4: and basically me and just, you know, tell me like, yo,
- 7:57Speaker 4: you supposed to be doing this like this. And I
- 8:00Speaker 4: expect you to do it like this. Um, And I
- 8:04Speaker 4: won't take it to heart, you know, because I know
- 8:07Speaker 4: the type of guy he is and the type of
- 8:08Speaker 4: coach he is. And at the end of the day,
- 8:11Speaker 4: he doesn't mean any bad intention behind it. He just
- 8:13Speaker 4: wants what's best for us.
- 8:16Speaker 8: And then how has it been playing with Trevor? Yesterday,
- 8:20Speaker 8: he had a good game. Liam brought up several times
- 8:23Speaker 8: during this press conference just how dialed in he is
- 8:27Speaker 8: right now.
- 8:28Speaker 2: Dialed. Man, Trevor, honestly, man.
- 8:33Speaker 4: Having him as a quarterback, man, it's honestly like it's
- 8:36Speaker 4: a blessing, honestly. You know, not too often you have
- 8:39Speaker 4: a quarterback who, I mean, the whole team is, you know,
- 8:44Speaker 4: basically riding on his back and he's locked in, laser
- 8:49Speaker 4: focused the whole time. You know, he can have a
- 8:52Speaker 4: bad play and he'll come up and he'll admit it.
- 8:55Speaker 4: He'll be the first to admit it and be like, hey,
- 8:56Speaker 4: we got to go back out there.
- 8:57Speaker 2: We got to score.
- 8:58Speaker 4: And, you know, having a guy like that where he's
- 9:01Speaker 4: on his stuff all the time, every game, every practice,
- 9:06Speaker 4: every walkthrough. Um, you know, it makes it easy to
- 9:09Speaker 4: go out there and play, you know, at your fullest
- 9:12Speaker 4: because you see him giving it all he's got.
- 9:15Speaker 8: And then last thing for me, what was the celebration
- 9:18Speaker 8: that you guys did? I didn't know what it was.
- 9:21Speaker 2: Uh, shout out to my shout out to Amir.
- 9:24Speaker 4: Uh, I had no idea until I think Friday, what
- 9:29Speaker 4: that video was.
- 9:31Speaker 2: Um, Amir showed us.
- 9:34Speaker 4: We were actually out to dinner with the running backs,
- 9:36Speaker 4: and we were in the Uber back to the hotel,
- 9:39Speaker 4: and Amir showed me and Basial.
- 9:44Speaker 2: There's a video.
- 9:45Speaker 4: It's from the movie Rumpelstiltskin, and basically he does that,
- 9:51Speaker 4: and somebody made an edit over it where they put
- 9:54Speaker 4: the tip toeing in my jaw that little thing so
- 10:00Speaker 4: Amir was like man we gotta do it he was
- 10:01Speaker 4: like man if either one of us score we all
- 10:03Speaker 4: gonna run out there and do it so kind of
- 10:06Speaker 4: caught me by surprise hence why I'm in the back
- 10:08Speaker 4: of the group we were supposed to be like in
- 10:09Speaker 4: a line but caught me by surprise Amir ran out
- 10:13Speaker 4: I don't even know if it's legal to run out
- 10:15Speaker 4: on the field after somebody scores but when I saw
- 10:18Speaker 4: Amir run out all.
- 10:19Speaker 2: Right, all right, this is happening. So we all ran out,
- 10:22Speaker 2: did the celebration and, uh, and honestly it was pretty funny.
- 10:26Speaker 5: Yeah, it was a good one.
- 10:28Speaker 3: Thank you, man.
- 10:29Speaker 6: Yes, sir.
- 10:29Speaker 2: Appreciate it.
- 10:31Speaker 1: Hey, Eric, appreciate you doing this. Um, just in terms
- 10:35Speaker 1: of the, um, in the secondary, what, what in your
- 10:38Speaker 1: opinion have been some of the issues you guys have,
- 10:41Speaker 1: have had?
- 10:41Speaker 9: Uh, I would say like the biggest thing would be communication. Um,
- 10:46Speaker 9: just in terms of a lot of moving parts, um,
- 10:50Speaker 9: with the people that's playing. Sometimes, you know, lack of
- 10:53Speaker 9: time on task with certain people, it can get.
- 10:56Speaker 3: The best of you.
- 10:59Speaker 1: And then just in terms of how Travis Hunter has
- 11:02Speaker 1: progressed since you have been here, since he had been
- 11:04Speaker 1: here last year, what have you seen in terms of
- 11:06Speaker 1: the growth? What maybe is he doing this year that
- 11:09Speaker 1: maybe he wasn't necessarily doing last year?
- 11:11Speaker 9: He's just comfortable with whatever role that they've given him.
- 11:14Speaker 9: I think in the beginning, it was a lot of
- 11:17Speaker 9: uncertainty on what position he would play, right? So giving
- 11:20Speaker 9: him a little bit more certainty on defense and with
- 11:23Speaker 9: a sprinkle of offense, you just seeing him be who
- 11:25Speaker 9: he's always been.
- 11:27Speaker 6: So, yeah.
- 11:27Speaker 5: Appreciate it. We'll go DRock and then Justin.
- 11:44Speaker 6: Hey, Eric, how do you take stock of where the
- 11:46Speaker 6: defense is right now heading into the bye?
- 11:50Speaker 9: I thought, you know, just in terms of the games
- 11:52Speaker 9: we played, we strung together some good performances. I think
- 11:57Speaker 9: the biggest thing going forward is just hitting on consistency
- 12:00Speaker 9: and just getting back to what we do at a
- 12:01Speaker 9: more consistent basis. Not necessarily, you know, putting ourselves in
- 12:06Speaker 9: bad positions to where, you know, we can't make plays
- 12:08Speaker 9: and going off of that, but just being more consistent.
- 12:12Speaker 9: I mean, we 4-2 at Dubai. There's nothing to, you know,
- 12:15Speaker 9: be crazy about. It's just lock in and keep going.
- 12:20Speaker 6: Was that kind of Liam's message before, you know, whatever
- 12:24Speaker 6: day you guys got back Monday, yesterday? I'm not even
- 12:26Speaker 6: sure what day it is.
- 12:27Speaker 5: I got back yesterday.
- 12:29Speaker 9: That's just the overall thing going forward. I mean, it's
- 12:32Speaker 9: a football season for a reason. So there's going to
- 12:34Speaker 9: be a lot of ups and downs. And, you know,
- 12:36Speaker 9: you can't get too caught up on, oh, we wanted
- 12:38Speaker 9: to win like this or we wanted to do it
- 12:40Speaker 9: this way.
- 12:40Speaker 3: It's, you know, just do it and execute better.
- 12:45Speaker 5: Thanks.
- 12:52Speaker 8: What's going on, Eric? How are you doing? What have
- 12:56Speaker 8: you seen out of Antonio this year? It seems like
- 12:58Speaker 8: he's making plays everywhere, and he's really kind of in
- 13:01Speaker 8: this year two in camp defense really taking to his role.
- 13:06Speaker 3: Antonio's a big rangy guy.
- 13:07Speaker 9: I think, you know, just in year two, like being
- 13:10Speaker 9: the second year as a full-time starter in the role
- 13:13Speaker 9: that he was entering, it's just really helped, you know,
- 13:17Speaker 9: continue his growth.
- 13:18Speaker 6: I mean.
- 13:19Speaker 9: Um, he started off really well last year and, uh,
- 13:21Speaker 9: it's just continuous trajectory.
- 13:25Speaker 8: What's your favorite thing about camp's defense?
- 13:28Speaker 9: Uh, the versatility and, uh, the communication. I think, you know,
- 13:31Speaker 9: when we all out there and we all communicating at
- 13:33Speaker 9: a high level, um, you know, we're really potent defense
- 13:36Speaker 9: in this league and it's hard for, you know, offense
- 13:38Speaker 9: to move the ball. Um, and then on the inverse,
- 13:41Speaker 9: a lot of the times, like when we don't communicate well, you.
- 13:44Speaker 3: Get games like how we had. So, um, I love it. Uh,
- 13:49Speaker 3: it's a love and hate relationship, but it's, it's good overall.
- 13:51Speaker 3: Cause I know how we're going to respond.
- 13:53Speaker 5: So.
- 13:54Speaker 8: Oh, you kind of mentioned it. You guys are four
- 13:56Speaker 8: and two. There's nothing to get crazy about with those
- 14:00Speaker 8: two games. Kind of just how, how can you shift
- 14:03Speaker 8: the mindset knowing that you left kind of meat on
- 14:07Speaker 8: the bone, so to speak?
- 14:09Speaker 9: Um, I mean, it's just a lot of football left.
- 14:10Speaker 9: I mean, that's exactly what you said. Like it's, it's
- 14:13Speaker 9: tons of football left. Um, how can we get better
- 14:16Speaker 9: at those reps and how can we get better at
- 14:18Speaker 9: our techniques going forward? So the things that showed up
- 14:21Speaker 9: in those two games don't continue to show up throughout
- 14:24Speaker 9: the course of the season.
- 14:26Speaker 6: Thank you, Matt. Enjoy the pod.
- 14:27Speaker 5: Thank you. We'll go John and then D-Rock.
- 14:40Speaker 7: Hey, Eric. Thanks for doing this. You mentioned the communication
- 14:44Speaker 7: in the second, Eric. How is that something you guys
- 14:46Speaker 7: can continue to work on throughout the week, even during
- 14:49Speaker 7: the bye week? Is it just something as simple as
- 14:51Speaker 7: just being on the field together, time on task, like
- 14:53Speaker 7: you said?
- 14:54Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
- 14:54Speaker 9: Yeah, just being on the field together, watching more tape together,
- 14:58Speaker 9: you know, simplifying the acts that we're being asked to
- 15:01Speaker 9: do during the week so, you know, those reps are
- 15:04Speaker 9: more intentional and more concentrated and those looks are more
- 15:07Speaker 9: dialed in.
- 15:07Speaker 6: So, yeah.
- 15:08Speaker 5: Thanks, Eric. Mm-hmm.
- 15:18Speaker 6: Eric, what's your favorite saying from camp?
- 15:21Speaker 2: What's your favorite thing that he says?
- 15:25Speaker 3: Wow.
- 15:27Speaker 9: I probably would say probably one of the boxing quotes
- 15:36Speaker 9: he would probably put up there. And just in terms
- 15:38Speaker 9: of like, you know, it may be a 17-round fight or,
- 15:42Speaker 9: you know, something like that in terms of if you're
- 15:44Speaker 9: putting that into the context of a football season, right?
- 15:47Speaker 9: And during the boxing match, you take a lot of hits.
- 15:49Speaker 9: You give a lot of hits, right? So I probably
- 15:52Speaker 9: would say that's the favorite thing about him is those
- 15:55Speaker 9: analogies and just to keep on persevering through, you know, punches.
- 15:58Speaker 9: And a lot of people don't have, you know, the
- 16:01Speaker 9: mental fortitude to when they get punched in the face
- 16:03Speaker 9: or something like that to keep going forward.
- 16:04Speaker 5: I mean.
- 16:08Speaker 6: I'm assuming when you were in high school and stuff,
- 16:10Speaker 6: you played some offense too. Most of you guys were
- 16:12Speaker 6: two-way stars, right? So you've been around some offensive coaches.
- 16:16Speaker 6: Is it just really the defensive coaches that seem to
- 16:19Speaker 6: really load up on those sayings and stuff like that
- 16:21Speaker 6: in your experience?
- 16:22Speaker 3: Yeah, defense and special teams, for sure. Those are those
- 16:26Speaker 3: type guys.
- 16:28Speaker 6: Why do you think it's just limited to those two
- 16:31Speaker 6: or maybe mostly those two?
- 16:33Speaker 3: I think on defense you've got to hit people.
- 16:34Speaker 9: And then in terms of special teams, a lot of
- 16:37Speaker 9: the times you're going against people who may be 20
- 16:40Speaker 9: pounds more than you, 15 pounds more than you. It's
- 16:44Speaker 9: been times where I've been on special teams and I've
- 16:46Speaker 9: got to block an end or I've got to block
- 16:48Speaker 9: a linebacker. So those are those type of heavyweight hits
- 16:52Speaker 9: that you're taking throughout the course of a year. that
- 16:55Speaker 9: you just got to keep on swinging. You might not
- 16:57Speaker 9: win every rep, but you got to take every punch
- 16:59Speaker 9: for sure.