Indianapolis Colts Media Conference

Sunday, September 10, 2023

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Doug Pederson

Visitors Postgame Press Conference


Jacksonville Jaguars 31, Indianapolis Colts 21

DOUG PEDERSON: Well thought out -- (audio/video glitch) so things that we can control, all of us have to be accountable, including myself there.

Q. You said the Blake Collins sometimes gets stunned -- pressed in that situation. Are these -- (audio/video glitch) or call plays, was it your plan?

DOUG PEDERSON: We'll see how it goes, but I've got a lot of faith in Press and our pass and all of us have to be accountable including myself. You know, we're 1-0.

Q. (Inaudible).

DOUG PEDERSON: I think it's huge. We haven't done so well obviously in past history and I thought the guys battled for four quarters. They played hard. They played tough. The things that we can clean up, obviously we will in all three phases but it was that type of football game.

I've been around this league a long time to know that you go on the road, division opponent, it's going to be a dogfight. It's going to be a battle, and you know, my hat is off to our guys in that locker room for sticking it out for the four quarters and pulling this one out.

Q. You talked about how Jamal Agnew's return was, the 47-yarder?

DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, obviously I think he got a great hop, a great bounce off the turf, but just he's so smart. We've got a lot of confidence in him and obviously give him the freedom to make those decisions because he usually does the right thing. So, great return. We had some great blocks there and really, really set us up there in good field position.

Q. (Inaudible.)

DOUG PEDERSON: Overall, without really looking at the tape, just kind of going back on memory, I thought he did some really nice things. Had a couple of explosive plays there, and the touchdown with kind of the scramble, I thought he really good a good job. Things we can clean up but overall, you know, pretty good for us, and just one of the Bowl preps that Trevor can use.

Q. (Inaudible.)

DOUG PEDERSON: You have to do that. You've got to continue to stick with that, and again, it's -- Phil Rauscher, the O-line coach and obviously Press and the offensive staff, trusting with that and sticking to our guns as far as the run game goes.

T.J., heck of a run, bouncing it out to the outside there and finishing that and Tank's big run inside the five I thought was just a great run for him to get us the first down there and eventually score. You know, you've just got to stick with it, trust the guys and you know, you get runs like that.

Q. Speaking of tank, what was that weird play where Trevor was called for a fumble and maybe Tank didn't realize it and the Colts end up getting a touchdown out of it but tank comes back and scores the go ahead-touchdown. Did you or anybody else give him an extra boost after the touchdown?

DOUG PEDERSON: Those, it's interesting, because if you go in there and ask every offensive player right now, they will tell you exactly what we talk about Thursdays and we talk about getting on every loose ball and for some reason, we all kind of froze.

You know, it's obviously a learning moment for Tank, for the offense, for the guys, but for a young player to come back like he did and have those tough runs late in the game, I think is a credit to him and the ability to shake off a negative play.

Q. Tried to come back --

DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, I think it's his right ankle. He was evaluated on the sideline. He said he could probably go but just, you know, couldn't brace and anchor and all that kind of stuff. You don't want to risk anything further. We will evaluation wit him obviously when we get back and I'll probably have an update for you tomorrow furtherer.

Q. Defensively, seemed like a lot of good things. What did you see out of your defense?

DOUG PEDERSON: I saw some great things. We knew coming in that, you know, this quarterback, Anthony Richardson, is a big, strong, powerful guy, and he showed that a little about the today. But I thought our defense really held in there and did a nice job, getting him off the field on third down. We kind of exchanged some fourth downs in the football game which we have to get better at and obviously none bigger than the goal line stand at the end of the game. But creating takeaways, we talked a lot about; they did that, and really kept us in football game the whole day.

Q. Josh Allen was physical, three sacks, had a nice tackle, what did you see?

DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, I thought Josh really came into this game focused, energized, ready to get the season off on the right foot for himself, played well, like you said, played physical and it was good to see. It was good to see from him and obviously a leader of the football team and the defense and just pleased by how he performed today.

Q. What did you learn about your team in this first game, a game where, a lot of mistakes, but I guess guys were able to finish, showing that resiliency. What did you gather about the identity of this team?

DOUG PEDERSON: Week 1 of the regular season, even Week 2, Week 3, you're trying to figure out who you are and what you want to be as a team. You're not a well-oiled machine going into Week 1 and that was obviously on display today.

But this team, I learned a lot last year with this team and you know, playing for four quarters and learning how to finish, learning how to win, that showed up today, and that's a great sign for our guys into that locker room, no matter what happens, I tell them all the time, there's going to be adversity in the game, right. You're going to give up scores and you're going to give up plays, whatever it is. There's going to be takeaways, all this stuff. But it's just how you respond.

They just kind of picked up where they left off last year with that that and put together a good fourth quarter game.

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136653-1-1003 2023-09-10 20:44:00 GMT

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