Jaguars-20, Titans-16
Q. You talked a lot since you have been here about the culture that you guys wanted to instill and that winning was a part of that. Even through that struggle in October you stuck with -- you guys wouldn't let it fall off the rails. Seeing it all come together, how far has this team come, and how close is it to the vision that you saw when you talked with Doug Pederson and you guys really set the things in motion?
CHRISTIAN KIRK: Yeah, I think we've obviously made tremendous strides. The month of October was tough for us, but when you look back to it for all of us, it's something that we went through, we persevered, and we came out on the better side of.
Since we went through that, I think whenever we get in these type of games and things may not be going right, the momentum is kind of not going our way and, you know, we may be down, nobody blinks. Nobody hesitates. No negative thoughts go into our minds.
You know, we just know that if we just keep chipping away at it, things will go our way. Personally I think that tonight wasn't our best performance, but at the end of the day it's all about how you finish and getting wins. Especially this late in the season.
So just so happy and proud of everybody the way that they have fought and just glad that we were able to get this win to get in.
Q. Christian, can you, if possible, describe for us what it was like walking into that locker room after this game, the emotion, and just sort of the picture of being the champs after being so far behind the 8-ball?
CHRISTIAN KIRK: Yeah, unbelievable. You could just see all the joy, and that type of energy comes from all the amount of hard work and dedication and sacrifice by each and every person in this building to get to this point. And for it to pay off, it's an incredible feeling.
And to be able it on share that moment, everybody in this building that's a part of this deserves to feel that. Like I said, just so happy that we get to enjoy that, enjoy this moment, and keep working towards our goals that we've put in front of us.
Q. The Cowboys game you guys were able to win in walk-off fashion defensively, and it looks like tonight the defense led to the final points again. So this team is not only proving that they can do well offensively to win games, but what about your thoughts about the way the defense has been able to pull off game-winning points to enable you to come away with these triumphs?
CHRISTIAN KIRK: Yeah, you said it. They won us the game tonight. They've been incredible these past couple of weeks. You know, tonight offensively we had our struggles. Didn't put our best foot forward, but defense just kept chugging away. They put us in position and kept us in the game the whole entire time.
They have so many guys over there that just make plays and their energy. You know, for us offensively it's just watching them and feeding off of their energy. They set the tone tonight and just obviously very glad to be on their team and just to be able to watch them work. Like I said, they won us the game tonight.
Q. Christian, you and Zay Jones were the first Jaguar wide-out teammates since 2001, Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell to both have 80 receptions in the same season. How are both of you able to develop such synergy and chemistry with Trevor Lawrence this year to be able to do that?
CHRISTIAN KIRK: Yeah, Trevor is such a mature guy, so the communication part was really easy. Just connecting with him.
Me and Zay have had a prior relationship to coming here. Just Zay's work ethic and his approach and his unique ability to be able to communicate what he is seeing and just have relationships throughout the locker room has just been amazing. Just really happy for him and all the personal success he has had.
Just being able to connect with Trevor and make the plays when they're supposed to come to us, that's why we're here, and we're here to help us in games like this. It's been great to see.
Q. Obviously you weren't here last season, but something Doug was talking about when taking this job was having to kind of rebuild the trust, kind of regain the trust of that locker room. He feels like that trust has grown. From your perspective as a player and one who was on a different team last season, what has Doug or his staff been able to do to cultivate trust and buy-in in the locker room?
CHRISTIAN KIRK: Yeah, I just think Doug is an incredible leader. You know, when you are an incredible leader like that, there's a lot of traits that you have to possess. One of the ones that he has is just connecting with everybody. He connects with everybody within the locker room. He treats us fair, and he sticks to his word. He is always thinking about us, and he puts us first.
To have a coach like that who is always going to put you in the right position to succeed, it's pretty easy to buy into. Then when he keeps manifesting and telling us it's always going to be about us and it's going to come down to Week 18. You know, he is saying these things that, you know, maybe in other times guys may not believe, but when it's coming to fruition and it starts happening, it's pretty easy to buy into that.
You just know that if you just stick to the course and stick to what we're trying to do here, all the goals and all the things we're trying to accomplish will happen. He has done an incredible job. Like I said, he is just an easy guy to buy into, and I know everybody in this locker room is very grateful to be able to play for him.
Thanks, guys.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports