Jacksonville Jaguars Media Conference

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Denver Broncos

Coach Vic Fangio

Visitors Postgame Press Conference


Broncos - 23, Jaguars - 13

Q. Did you make any adjustments or did you guys just play better?

COACH FANGIO: A little bit of both. Mainly we played better. I called it a little different after that. But not drastically different.

Q. What did you think of Courtland Sutton's performance? I saw you shared a moment.

COACH FANGIO: It was great. He made -- he made a lot of big plays in every game. The catch he made in the first drive of the second half there for the big one. I felt they were outplaying us at the ball both sides of the ball. DBs against our wideouts and their DBs against their wideouts. We needed to flip it, exclamation point.

Q. Looked like he's not all the way back, labored, then we looked up. Had a career day. Is that part of what you're watching or what do you see?

COACH FANGIO: No, he's back.

Q. One catch last week. Do you feel like that sort of got the rust out even though he was running routes?

COACH FANGIO: Yeah, last week, it wasn't like we weren't looking for him or he wasn't open or anything like that. It's just the way the plays went last week. With the reach for Teddy and the play design. And I knew he was ready for a big game. I didn't know if it was today or next week or the following week. I knew he was ready for a big game.

Q. (Inaudible)?

COACH FANGIO: Hell of a pick. Not many corners can make that play. At best most of them get a breakup. But he got the breakup and the pick. So that speaks volumes about his ability and the PI. But overall I think he played well. I wasn't watching him --

Q. (Indiscernible) penalties today?

COACH FANGIO: Way out of whack. I think they had ten -- we emphasized I think to the point of nauseam, if anything I emphasize it too much. We have to cut those out. Especially the ones that are unnecessary. False starts. Offsides. Post-whistle penalties. Those are just bullshit. We've got to eliminate them.

Q. To follow that up, also some inefficiency on third down, but the fact you're able to overcome those things on the road what does that say about -- couldn't play perfect?

COACH FANGIO: By no means did we. And we'll have to play better. But when you're eventually playing good defense, which we did, minus the first drive, and your offense is moving it. And they were moving it. Not -- we weren't getting points every time but I never felt like we were stymied, that we couldn't move it. And eventually tie your way through it.

Q. You mentioned false starts. Couple of those on punts and the kickoff return late.

COACH FANGIO: The kickoff return was disappointing, obviously. From my vantage point which wasn't a great one looked like we had a chance to tackle them real early. Everybody went by them. And that guy's a hell of a returner, one of the top five returners in the league. But obviously it's a problem. Not one that we haven't addressed.

We went out and got some guys, claimed at the final cut down, helped with some special teams. We played Josey Jewell on special teams. He got hurt on a special teams play. So it's been addressed. We just need to keep sawing wood.

Q. 2-0 coming back home, full capacity for the first time since the pandemic. What do you expect?

COACH FANGIO: I expect an electric stadium. So buckle yourself down. That stadium is going to be alive and well. I mean, I think Denver sports fans, particularly the Broncos, because they're the number one passionate team in the city, but even the sports fans of Denver are fantastic.

That the Rockies are fifth or sixth in attendance, they haven't had a chance this season, speaks volumes about the sports fans in Denver. I can't wait to get there. But I'm going to try to calm myself down and put in a good solid week of work.

Q. Teddy, 26 of 34. How impressed are you that he doesn't panic, see any panic on those plays where protection breaks down or coverage?

COACH FANGIO: That's a quality to have at all positions, especially quarterback, especially cornerback. And he has it. It's just in his DNA. I'd like to tell you that we have coached that into him. But we didn't. We got it when we signed him. And that's who he is.

Q. Do you think when you made the trade working through the preseason that he would having that big a role this early?

COACH FANGIO: I think your quarterback has to have a big role. Name me any successful team where the quarterback's not playing a big role in it. And at this point we're 2-0. We've been successful. He's had a big role in it.

The days of winning without your quarterback playing a big role, unless you're just so, so dominating on defense and the kicking game, those years are going to be far and few between.

Q. When Javonte has a 16-yard run like that where he breaks multiple tackles, what is it like on the sidelines watching that?

COACH FANGIO: It's fun. I like watching him play and running the ball. There's a guy with calmness. He is as calm as Teddy is but he's not the quarterback, so you don't notice it, but he plays a position that involves hitting and getting hit and breaking tackles. So, it's not as evident. But this guy for a rookie is really calm. And nothing's too big for him.

Q. After today's big performance by Teddy, do you think that label of him as a game manager, that silly reputation, has been fully shed?

COACH FANGIO: I don't know. That's up to you guys. But if he keeps game managing victories, we'll all love it. And he's just a damn good quarterback. And if you go back in his career, he was the starting quarterback of a playoff team in Minnesota, had the catastrophic injury in practice, just dropping back.

Basically lost two years to his career because of that injury. Ends up in New Orleans as a backup. Gets five wins. Plays the entire last year in Carolina. Started off very well. Now he's here with us. So he had that big hole in between.

Q. I know you haven't watched film, but what do you think of the offensive play, especially on the run game?

COACH FANGIO: I felt it was pretty damn good. Couple of the sacks we gave up, I know one for sure, was one of those where we were trying a special play. And they were in the best defense they could be in for it which made it extremely hard. And we had a sack that way. But I thought our protection overall was good and I thought our run blocking was solid.

Q. How confident are you that Glasgow will be cleared to play next week?

COACH FANGIO: Pretty confident. But I'm not a doctor. But led to believe that.

Q. Game balls?

COACH FANGIO: Courtland. Surtain for his first pick. And Kareem Jackson for his 20th pick in his career.

Q. Following up on the Kareem play, happened right in front of you --

COACH FANGIO: Was a great play. They tried a special play there. They tried a gadget type play where they're hiding the tight end through the line. He breaks out late up the field. He saw it. Made the play. I'd like to tell you it was a great call by me but it wasn't. He just made a great, great play.

Q. (Indiscernible). Is it the ankle he's been bothered with?

COACH FANGIO: I'm pretty sure about that but I can't swear to that.

Q. 2-0 going back home. Enough there in terms of third down penalties that guys won't rest on the start?

COACH FANGIO: I hope not. I mean, ten penalties is way too much for us. Historically, we've been one of the lightest penalized defenses in the NFL. Some will happen but right now we're having too many of them.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
112493-1-1045 2021-09-19 21:23:00 GMT

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