Jacksonville Jaguars Insider Podcast: Breaking Down Monday's Comments

What do we make of the comments made from members of the Jacksonville Jaguars at the Miller Electric Center on Monday?

Sep 8, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Devin Duvernay (12) runs with the football past Miami Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks (20) during the third quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

In this today's episode of the Jacksonville Jaguars Insider Podcast, we take a look at everything we heard at Miller Electric Center on Monday.

Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson spoke on Monday. Here is a partial transcript of what he said.

Q: On if close losses stick with the team longer?

Pederson: “They do. Any loss, right? It's a tough one to deal with after the game. Obviously. today we’ve got to go back through it, but I will say there was a lot of good too that came out of this football game. Things that we can coach and teach and correct and show the guys. But games like this—they're always going to hurt.”

Q: On if the team played conservatively in the second half?

Pederson: “I don't know what game you were watching because we had a backed-up drive started at the three-yard line. We ripped off a 26-yard run, I think. Then, we came back and hit Gabe [WR Gabe Davis] and we hit TJ [RB Travis Etienne Jr.] in the flat. Next thing you know, we're at the 15 and we fumble going in. That's pretty aggressive to me in the second half. So. no, I don't feel like—I elected to go for it on our end of the field, showing sign of aggressiveness there. Defense did a great job of stopping them and missing a kick. So, kind of a wash, but no, not at all. Third down was our nemesis.”

Q: On WR Brian Thomas Jr. not getting targeted in the second half?

Pederson: “No. It's really the tale of two halves. Offensively, I felt like in the second half we did some good things in the run game to try to stay ahead, which we did. But it was nothing in the game plan that took us away from not throwing it to Brian or not throwing it to Gabe or Christian [WR Christian Kirk]. If you go back and look, even look at some of the third downs that we had, they were in unique situations and they were third-and-really long and gave up a couple sacks in those situations too.”

Q: On CB Tyson Campbell’s injury status?

Pederson: “Yeah, he's going to miss some time.”

Q: On Campbell’s expected timeline for return from injury?

Pederson: “I'm not going to put him in a box that way. I'm not going to put any expectations on it. We're just going to let him go week-to-week and see where he comes.”

Q: On any other injuries to report?

Pederson: “No, everybody's good.”

Q: On if there is any concern carried over from last year about the ability to close out games?

Pederson: “Yeah, I mean, you take that play away, or say you make that play, right? You're in the end zone, it’s 24 to 7 at the end of the third, right? Then, you're kicking off as opposed to giving them the ball at the 20. We can stand here and play ‘should’ve, would’ve, could’ve’ all day long. Bottom line is, we did not do enough to finish the football game. These are all the things that as coaches and players, we need to fix and get corrected before this week.”

Q: On giving up sacks and how the offensive line played throughout the game?

Pederson: “To me, sacks are a combination of a lot of different things. There's a lot of factors. Miami was in two-man on the last one. Great job. Covered us up, right? The other one, Trevor was off on his progression a little bit. It happens, there's quarterbacks, there's the offensive line, there's receivers, there's the defense. So, sacks can go a bunch of different directions. From that standpoint, we need to be better in those situations. If you look at the bottom line, you rushed for 128 yards. On paper, great. They played really well. Now, we’ve got to do better in short yardage. We’ve got to do better in fourth-and-one. We’ve got to do better in certain areas. But overall, I thought they played physical, they came off the football. We had, I think, a few communication errors that took us off some blocking schemes. All things that we can fix and get better.”

Q: On how to convert short yardage third and fourth downs?

Pederson “Keep doing it. Keep doing it. Keep doing it. I'm going to continue to trust the players. We’re going to continue to put them in good situations and good plays and we'll just continue to execute better.”

Q: On if this was RB Tank Bigsby’s best game as a pro?

Pederson: “Probably so. Still a little room for improvement, but he did some nice things and there's some things that we’ve got to continue to, as a young player, continue to detail with him as well.”

Q: On if a productive game can give Bigsby confidence?

Pederson: “Sure.”

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