Broncos 21, Jaguars 17
NATHANIEL HACKETT: Lloyd Cushenberry didn't finish. He's got a hip.
Q. What was your impression of the fourth quarter offense? What did you see out of that group on that drive?
NATHANIEL HACKETT: We challenged the offense this whole week. We need to be able to make big time plays in big time situations. I think that's been the kind of thing that's been holding us back.
We've been in a lot of different football games, had a lot of opportunities, and haven't come up with those. We needed that to happen, and we challenged them, like I said, and those guys stepped up. I give a lot of credit to Jacksonville. They changed up a lot of their scheme and then I thought our offensive coaches did a great job. We made some major adjustments at halftime and were able to move the ball and get some good touchdowns.
Q. You went nine plays, 98 yards in the first drive of the second half, four minutes and 22 seconds, best football you've played offensively all season. Can you just talk about that drive?
NATHANIEL HACKETT: I agree. It was funny, we were back there -- that's always one of those things you've got two ways to look at it. You're either on the minus 2 or you get to have a chance to get 98 yards of offense.
I thought those guys took it that way. They wanted to go 98 yards. They wanted to get those stats. They wanted to get those plays. We changed the tempo up a little bit. Russell started getting comfortable. We really were attacking a whole bunch, both in the run game and in the pass game.
Intermediate we were mixing everything up. I thought that it was great to see Russell feel comfortable, especially on that drive. Just sitting in the pocket, the line did a great job of protecting him during that time. I thought it was a really good drive.
That kind of led to some other adjustments throughout the game.
Q. On Russell specifically, what happened in the second quarter?
NATHANIEL HACKETT: Yeah, the first quarter, that was a hot start. We come out and we go three-and-out, throw a pick on the second play. Again, that comes to that pressing, people wanting to make things happen instead of operating and not trying to do too much.
Talked with Russell, told him to take a breath, breathe, just do what he does. I think that as we kind of came into what we wanted to do in this game after we saw the adjustments that Jacksonville had made, we were able to get some efficient plays for him.
That's how he started feeling in that groove, because it's a long football game, and with a great defense like we have you're always going to be in that game and I think he knows that.
Q. Any time you get a turnover in the red zone it's a big play, but given where you guys were at in the season, how big of a play was that?
NATHANIEL HACKETT: It was huge. Justin had the penalty I think in the same drive right before that had advanced them. He didn't skip a beat. He knew, bend, don't break. Goes down there and they run the sprint over to the right and he picks it off, which is absolutely an incredible play and huge for us.
We didn't get to capitalize and score on it. We just got that ball out of the end zone, which is so huge to get any stop in the red zone. I think for us in the red zone we were three for three.
Whenever you have that going for you you're going to have a chance to win the game.
Q. There was a lot made this week about your future, the future of this team, what the outlook was for this season. We saw your emotion after the game. Can you take us through what this win means for you personally and for this team?
NATHANIEL HACKETT: I mean, all that stuff I can't control. For me, it's about controlling what I can control. All the coaches, all the players. We always want to focus in on what we can do so we continue to get better. We've had opportunities to win a lot of football games. That's facts.
We've hurt ourselves. So it's about us continually learning to not hurt ourselves to give us a chance to win the game, and I think this game is more important for us because of how we won it, being up and then down and then up and being able to weather that storm.
That I love so much about this game and this team in here, is sticking together throughout what anybody says. They've been staying together through it all, and that is what I appreciate and that gives you a sign that it's a chance to be a good team.
Q. In the second half, struggled offensively. Did they change anything in terms of planning?
NATHANIEL HACKETT: A little bit. We kind of went into the half having an idea of how we wanted to attack them the second half. They then made some other adjustments. It's that chess match. It goes back and forth. Wanted to get to one thing, they ended up changing that up, then we came back to something else.
And I thought it was great to see that even with those things happening to us, they still didn't waver and we were still able to get a drive to win the game.
Q. The catch made by the receiver in there (indiscernible)?
NATHANIEL HACKETT: Well, we all know Courtland is a good football player, and so everybody is going to try to take him away. That is going to open up opportunities for Jerry and KJ and Dulcich, because the more people that you have that people are nervous about, the more it'll open Courtland back up a little bit more.
But if they're going to try to do that, then other people need to step up and make a play. We had talked about that in between the series, that we wanted to give KJ an opportunity for a go-ball to that side, and we got the look we wanted and he executed it to perfection. That's what we're looking for, just when you have those opportunities, being able to make it happen.
Q. Besides you, Russell gets a lot of guff and has received a lot of guff the last couple of weeks. Do you think that affected him at all, and how do you think he responded?
NATHANIEL HACKETT: I don't. I mean, he's an amazing human being from that standpoint. Everybody says what they want. They say whatever they want. That's part of this game. It comes with the territory.
As a head coach, as a quarterback, you're always going to get that, especially if you don't win, especially if the offense doesn't look good, like it hasn't.
I think for us we just band together, we put our heads down, and try to find a way to win and help this team any way that we can.
It was funny, because even that beginning wasn't what we wanted it to be, but just watching how he is and the kind of person he is and how he thinks positively, he was able to battle through that.
I thought that was really impressive. That's a hard thing to do, and he did a great job of it.
Q. Your defense, obviously another outstanding performance. Can you expand on what they did?
NATHANIEL HACKETT: Day in and day out, they do such a great job. I think with some of the injuries, also. You know, another guy goes in and steps up. Nik Bonitto comes in there and makes some plays. Jonathon Cooper gets in there. Kongbo got in there. So I think it's not just them individually, but as a group, they're just bonding together so well.
Justin Simmons having a really good game and K'Waun having that amazing pick at the end. He's got one arm, and how you catch that, I still don't know.
But I think just watching their cohesiveness. A lot of these guys have played together for a minute now, and so you see that gelling together, which is what I love.
They're attacking, they're pressuring, they're playing covering. It's really great to see.
Q. In a sport where you're judged a week at a time --
NATHANIEL HACKETT: It's going to be a lot better, no doubt. Anytime -- and going into a bye, we always say, be able to have a win going into a bye, you're very excited.
I've always believed that when you win, you get to coach them harder because we have a lot of things we still have to correct and a lot of things that we still have to get to because we're not where we want to be.
This was kind of a step in the right direction because we were able to make that big-time play when we needed to, both running the ball and in the red zone. We've had the red zone issues. We were all in those situations at the end of the game.
So to see those guys step up, that's something to build on, but we still so much improvement that we need to do.
Q. Coach, one of the things was the penalties, 10 in the first half. What changed in the second half and what are some of the other things --
NATHANIEL HACKETT: We talked about that a little bit at the half, talked with the coaches, told the guys to settle down. I think the frustrating ones are some of those -- whether it be a personal foul or taunting foul, we've got to get that out of the game. We can't do that. It's just that simple.
You talk about it. You show it. It's funny, one of the penalties we actually had a presentation on it on Friday to explain it and how you can't do it. In the end, these men are out there and they're going full speed and things happen quickly. They don't mean to cause a penalty, but they do, and we have to continually point it out.
They have to learn from it, and we can't do it because, again, those are those self-inflicted wounds, and we don't want to keep battling back from those.
Q. Greg Dulcich, can you talk about how dynamic of an entity he is all of a sudden in this offense?
NATHANIEL HACKETT: I'll tell you, his blocking ability has really helped us because he strains. He's not a killer over there. He's not going to -- something you want to major in, but I think his ability to be able to block in the run game and then his ability to go down the field both vertically and in that intermediate zone is really impressive. He can catch the ball.
Russ is starting to get a nice flow with him, and he's got great hair, too, which is always impressive. So I think watching him come in, especially after not playing football for so long and having to do that, again, I give him and Jake Moreland, his coach, so much credit on getting him ready to be able to contribute right away.
Q. Can you expand on the take a breath conversation with Russell?
NATHANIEL HACKETT: We hadn't had something like that happen to us that early and that quick, both one three-and-out and in the second play an interception. Just went up to him and just tried to explain, hey, take what they give you. Don't force it.
He looked, and it was like he had a big smile on his face. You learn a lot about a quarterback when they throw a pick, especially early. I've had some quarterbacks that go in the tank; I've had some quarterbacks that are like, hey, got that one out of the way.
That's what you want to see. He got it out of the way early. I'm glad. We didn't need that later in the game, and he was able to rebound and come back and make some plays.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports