Jaguars 37, Colts 20
Q. Can you start us off with an update on Trevor?
DOUG PEDERSON: I don't have an update yet.
Q. How do you think he played? Was there any second thoughts on the play call where he was rolling out late in the game?
DOUG PEDERSON: I thought he played really well. As far as that play call, those are situations that we understand, too. We were trying to get a short sack, not necessarily trying to circle the defense. Part of it's on us, part of it's on Trevor. At the same time we have to be smart there.
I thought he played extremely well, saw the field well, threw the ball well. Just the one miscommunication with Christian for the interception. But we'll clean that up.
Q. Indy comes out 16 plays, eight and a half minutes. How important was it to respond immediately?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, I mean, obviously we try to start the games fast. It was a good drive by them. They mixed it up. Ball was out of Gardner's hand extremely fast. They did a nice job. They stayed first down, second down, went down obviously in the red zone, stopped. We kept them to three there.
But it was good. It was good for our offense to respond there and get the touchdown. Just pleased with the effort, especially in the first half, defensively creating takeaways and offense scoring. That's something we haven't really been able to do, scoring in the red zone. We were able to do that.
We were able to actually score further out on a couple of plays, so that was good to see, too.
Q. Four turnovers saved by the defense, 15 on the year. How good of a job are they doing? How important is that?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, I mean, defense sometimes doesn't get enough credit for that. The takeaways are something that we as a team talk about. They talk about it as a defense. It just shortens the field for your offense, right?
Pass-rush again today, there was pressure on Gardner, putting it in places that he maybe didn't want it to go. Again, just a great team effort on defense to play the way they did today.
Q. So much talk all week about how teams respond after London. Pleased with the intensity and effort overall?
DOUG PEDERSON: The effort, intensity, guys responded really all week. It is hard. It's hard when you're over there for 10 days, your bodies are used to that time change. Coming back here, it takes a while. It takes several days to get back on East Coast time.
But the guys handled the week extremely well. Proud of 'em. They had a lot of energy today. That was really good to see.
We've got a short week, so we got to keep that rolling.
Q. Was it a concerted effort to get Brenton Strange in the passing game this week or was that something that just happened today?
DOUG PEDERSON: More organically happened. Every week we've got opportunities for him to catch the football. It just happened this week was the week. It's nothing that we schemed up specifically for him.
There are plays that have been in each week and we finally were able to get to them.
Q. Do you have any updates on the other two guys?
DOUG PEDERSON: No. I'll have it for you tomorrow.
Q. On a day like today where you have a couple guys go down, does that change your approach to this week?
DOUG PEDERSON: It doesn't matter. The week's the week, right? Anybody that got nicked up in this game, they just got to live in the training room and get treatment 24/7. It's the nature of the week, right?
We slow things down, it becomes more of a mental day. We're trying to get everybody as healthy as we can going into Thursday. On the road against a good football team.
So, yeah, it doesn't change the nature of the week.
Q. Was the initial fear on Trevor, that it was pretty severe when you saw it happen, when he came off?
DOUG PEDERSON: I mean, I guess it's the same level of concern as when Brandon went down. I'm always concerned for my players when they go down in situations like that. Tyson is the same way. It's just unfortunate there.
Yeah, we'll see. We'll see where they're at here later tonight. Probably will have an update for you tomorrow.
Q. There's going to be people asking why weren't you running the ball right there, running it in the line, eating up 40 seconds. Can you explain why that call was in?
DOUG PEDERSON: Well, that call's in the game plan because it's a movement play. It allows the quarterback to get on the edge. In situations like that, listen, you've seen it work a million times, right? A million and one, it didn't work. We were able to get three points out of it. From that standpoint, it was effective.
Look, is there a little bit of risk there to run your quarterback? Yes. But at the same time, the reward is you get the first down and you stay on the field and ice the game in those situations.
Definitely wouldn't change the scenario, the situation. We can coach that a little bit better and ask him maybe to go down a little bit sooner.
Q. Obviously the defense had a tremendous game. The fourth quarter, obviously not many teams go backwards 17 yards, get a field goal out of the whole deal. What was your assessment of the fourth quarter?
DOUG PEDERSON: Obviously, yeah, you'd love to not give up that many yards on one particular play. The fact that Brandon was kicking the ball extremely well. Getting the three points there was big, it stretched the lead.
I mean, the fourth quarter, we knew they were going to be in four downs the rest of the game. So the defense could really put the pressure with the pass-rush, again creating the takeaways they did, putting the offense in short fields...
I would much rather some of those things, you'd rather have touchdowns in situations like that. Coming away with points were big.
Q. Are these three games kind of what you guys thought you would be or could be going into the season?
DOUG PEDERSON: I think it's a glimpse of what we can be. There's still some areas that we have to clean up, obviously. I think the team really in these last three weeks kind of figured some things out, figured out who we are as a football team. That's exciting to see. They really embraced that.
To come away with three wins, especially after the two losses we had, it's pretty special for these guys. So I think we're figuring that out. Again, six weeks in, a lot of football ahead.
Q. Can you touch on Josh Allen. He had a strip sack today. The most consistent pass-rusher you've had. Contract year.
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, Josh is heart and soul on defense. He's been playing extremely well. It's good to see. There were a lot of things. He probably felt a little pressure maybe to start the season, to perform. He's answered. He's answered that.
He works hard during the week. So it's no surprise that this is what he's capable of doing. Just continues to find ways to get around the quarterback, affect the quarterback. It obviously impacts the defense when he's creating the plays that he's doing, either a tackle-for-loss or a strip sack, fumble, things of that nature.
It's a credit to Josh, how he's getting himself ready to play.
Q. You've been here almost a year and a half. Three straight weeks, halftime leads, two double-digit. That's rare for this franchise. What has it been like coaching with the lead as opposed to what you're used to, coming from behind?
DOUG PEDERSON: It's never satisfying. It's still nerve-wracking. This is the NFL. You see it each week where a team is way up and the other team comes back, right? Even in college football it happens.
Obviously, yeah, you're excited, team's playing well, you got that type of lead at halftime. The message has always been and always will be that we've got to finish the game, right? I think there was a little bit of a lull offensively to start the third quarter. I think we went three-and-out right there.
Those are things that we have to fix. That's one of the areas we have to address, right? You want to come out in the third quarter there with the ball and try to go down and get points, if possible.
The game's never over, game's never out of reach. Obviously we experienced that a year ago. So my message to the team is always that we've got to continue to play for 60 minutes.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports