Jacksonville Jaguars Media Conference

Sunday, October 6, 2024

Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Doug Pederson

Postgame Press Conference


Jaguars - 37, Colts - 34

Q. Why were you able to execute at a high level offensively?

DOUG PEDERSON: It's obviously things we work on during the week. To me, it's not necessarily a surprise. I just think it's a culmination of a lot of things. The way we work, the way we practice, the things we do during the week. It translated today. Proud of the guys for the way we finished. Great team efforts today.

Q. As a head coach, is it hard to celebrate too much, given maybe some of the defensive issues that you have, especially late down the stretch there?

DOUG PEDERSON: Any win, any loss is hard to celebrate because you're back to work tomorrow, less than 24 hours. We're going to enjoy this. We're going to look at the tape, make corrections, and move forward.

Q. Coach, obviously, Tank got his due today and you used him well down the road. Is that something the team will be moving forward to, instead of moving to Travis Etienne?

DOUG PEDERSON: No. Travis is our guy. Tank had a good game. That's the way games go. Happy for Tank. Great for the offensive line, obviously, in some of those situations there. Travis is our guy. Tank had a good game today, though.

Q. Doug, obviously, the offense has not been what you wanted the first four weeks. What was different about Trevor today?

DOUG PEDERSON: You know, Trevor's the same guy every day. Honestly. I didn't really see anything other than him working through some of the issues that we've had the first month of the season. And, listen, Trevor's a professional, and he's our guy, and we continue to help him and support him and do everything we can for him. I think he just has to understand that we're going to do that, right? And as a quarterback, you just go out and do your job. And he did that today. He ran the offense, and he saw the field well. Gosh, there were some big throws in there.

So I think it was just a great effort by everybody. But to me, Trevor was the same guy he's always been.

Q. What prompted you in the first quarter, I believe, to challenge the spot? Because it's early in the game. You could risk losing a time-out in that situation.

DOUG PEDERSON: No, it was clear that his knee was down prior to.

Q. Was that something you observed?

DOUG PEDERSON: The guys upstairs were on top of that with the replays that we got so it was pretty easy for me. It was a pretty easy challenge.

Q. Doug, congrats on the win.

DOUG PEDERSON: Thank you.

Q. You've been an ardent supporter of this offensive line during the tough times. You came up against a team today that was averaging three sacks a game coming in. You pretty much shut them down, kept Trevor clean in the pocket for a longer time than he has been. Tell me about the performance today. I thought that was such a key today.

DOUG PEDERSON: This is the second week in a row our O-line has played good as a unit. Listen, it's been the same five guys now, right? So when I say there's continuity keeping those five together, there's continuity, and they start learning to play together, and that's what you're seeing. I think these last couple weeks, you're seeing that.

It was just a great game by those guys again today. They do have a good pass rush. I know they're missing some guys. But still, even their second guys that come in can get after the pass. I thought our guys did a good job there, and the run game as well.

So there's consistency with playing together and working through your issues that helped us win this game today.

Q. Doug, even though Trevor's the same guy that he's been, when someone has a performance like this after some struggles, do you get a sense there's a weight off of his shoulders a little bit after today?

DOUG PEDERSON: Well, I think there's a weight off everybody's shoulders.

Q. Fair. Okay, fair.

DOUG PEDERSON: Right? Not just him. It's a weight off of my shoulders too. Now you guys can get off my tail for at least a week. Listen, that's what I told the guys, I mean, if they just continue to stick together and work hard and trust what we're doing and trust each other. That's what you're seeing, right? Is it perfect? No. It's never going to be perfect.

But the other thing you have to realize too, we've had five games. Four of them have been one-score games, right? So that's another thing we have to get used to. These games are going to come down to the last drive or two of a game. And that's something, as a team, we've got to embrace and we've got to learn to do. And today was a good step.

Q. I know Travis was on the sideline, I think, a lot fourth quarter towards the end. Was he having issues, cramps, any kind of an injury? Christian early in the game didn't seem to be -- wasn't involved as much. Is that just how you were going to go game plan wise?

DOUG PEDERSON: Sometimes, you know, it's the Gus Bradley defense. Sometimes it's going to happen that way. It's where the ball goes sometimes. And I'll tell you this, Christian made a heck of a play late in the game, and he made another one later in the game here in the fourth quarter that set up that game-winning kick. So it's just kind of the way the ebb and flow of a game goes.

But as far as T.J., I got to check with Ferg. Nothing was said during the game. I know there was one time he got hit on the sideline. He had to come out a play or two, maybe to catch his wind. I've got to find out.

Q. Doug, the offense has had a chance at the end of close games recently. How big of a step was it for them to take the last drive and take the game into their hands?

DOUG PEDERSON: It's huge. It's huge. It's an opportunity to go win the game, and the sideline was into it. The guys were into it. They wanted the ball in their hands. The O-line wanted the ball. It's good for us to do that as a football team.

I thought today was a really good complementary football game. Three aspects. We had a nice punt return in there. Cam with his kicks. Logan had a nice punt in there. Special teams did their part. Defense, obviously, came up huge. Travon, the three sacks today. The offense did their part. This is a really good complementary game today.

Q. I know you need to see the film. Travon, like you said, three sacks, force fumble. How big a presence was he out there today?

DOUG PEDERSON: He was good. It was good to see him take that step he and the D-line have been really close to getting to the quarterbacks during this first month of the season. I'm proud of those guys for the way they've stuck together and continued to work.

Q. Coach, it was Cam Little's first game-winning kick, Coach. I know you have a lot of faith in him. But I guess talk about that pressure for a rookie kicker.

Q. I think it's -- I mean, it's pressure. But if you know Cam like we do, like I do, he kind of embraces that, honestly. And just an excellent kick. Happy for him to be able to do that. I think it's the reason why we drafted him, and that's the reason why he's here. So hats off to him and the field goal team for finishing the game.

Q. Your first answer, you talked about nothing would surprise you with what this offense can do. But a one-play drive, a one-play drive, a two-play drive resulted in 21 points. How gratifying was it to witness that?

DOUG PEDERSON: I mean, it's a lot. Again, it just goes to the credit of the team, the credit of the players. The way they work during the week, the amount of time they spend with each other, and just to be able to finally kind of see it all kind of come together. We've been extremely close, right, in these games. And today it all came together, and proud of the guys for pulling this one out.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
149196-1-1866 2024-10-06 21:03:00 GMT

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