WATCH: Jaguars HC Doug Pederson Reflects on Texans Brawl
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson spoke to the media on Monday in the wake of Sunday's 23-20 loss to the Houston Texans, and we were there for it all.
To listen to his interview, watch above.
Jaguars linebacker Foyesade Oluokun spoke on Monday. Below is a transcript.
Q: On his perspective on the late hit on QB Trevor Lawrence?
Oluokun: “I can talk from both sides. As a defensive player, he's running for the first down. I can see you’re running, giving your max effort, but just the way that he went about the actual tackle part of it. Trevor slid, you know quarterbacks slide, and it was—he slid. So, you going low anyway, like, what were you aiming for? And then, you made that—it was a dirty play. I'm not going to say he’s a dirty person, but it was a dirty play. He knows better. I think in his mind, he knows he shouldn't have done that. As a defender, I understand being aggressive and wanting to make every play. I saw he said something about trying to hit everybody as hard as he can. For sure, I understand that mindset. But you understand how the game is played especially today, and there's no room for that in the game right now.”
Q: On what the challenge is for a linebacker when a quarterback is about to slide?
Oluokun: “I understand being aggressive. I understand making sure, running, he doesn’t get the first down. He slid. He slid, and you went low. Like, if he didn't slide, he was going low. If that's how you're going to tackle a quarterback, that's just weird anyway. He’s a quarterback, he’s not going—you’re going to stand him up and run the feet, drive him back. Instead, you saw him slide, and he went down after he slid, basically. So, mindset-wise, I understand the attacking mindset. I don’t understand the finish of the play. I'm not trying to throw him under the bus, but as a defender, I understand playing on defense, the mindset we have while trying to run up and make a tackle. But he did, he slid pretty—you understand that you messed up. He understands that he messed up.”
Q: On the attitude of the team this morning?
Oluokun: “I think we're more just trying to get it right on our end. I think that division title race, I think that was going to be taken care of if we got things right on our end. We haven't done that yet. So, still, we’ve got five games to try to make stuff look right in our preparation and just the way that we take our preparation to the game. There’s bigger fish to fry than the division championship right now. I think as us being professionals and the talent that we have not being able to get it right is what we need to focus on week-in and week-out.”
Q: On what his personal frustration level is right now?
Oluokun: “My personal frustration is I feel like I want to be not only a player that plays well, I want to be a player that can lead his team to win, and that people can look at and it's like, alright, he's been a winner in the league. So, my personal frustration is that it kind of haunts your head, like, ‘What am I not doing right?” Obviously done a lot of good things up until this point in my career, what do I need to keep getting better at? It’s just those little questions that creep into your head, but you’ve got to stay confident out there. But clearly, I’ve got to look at myself in the mirror, go back to the drawing board, whenever that time comes, and see what I have to do differently coming into the year or during the year, during these next five weeks, just to get people going the right way.”
Q: On if there are talks within the team about potential staffing changes?
Oluokun: “There are no talks of it. That would be handled when it's handled. I think everybody right now is just trying to get these next five weeks right, starting with this week up. I think you’ve got to understand, this is a pretty good locker room in terms of focusing on the next play. Nobody's pointing fingers at stuff. I definitely have a lot of respect for the guys in the locker room because you've heard about other teams and these types of situations kind of cave and start becoming a crapshoot, I would say. So, everybody's kind of being professional about it and we're searching, but we need to take ownership and get these things right.”
Q: On how he would feel if the team shut Lawrence down for the rest of the year?
Oluokun: “I don't know what he has. I don’t know the grade of the shoulder and I don't know the severity of the concussion. That’s up to Trevor, don't ask me about Trevor’s thing. If he feels that he can come out and play well and make the team better, I'd say he can do it. If the Jaguars, as a business, if you want to talk to me about the business side of football, I don’t think I'll do that on this podcast. But if he feels he can come out and make the team better and he really wants to do that, then he should be allowed to do it. If he feels like he's—like you said, that shoulder, I don't know what he's going to do in the offseason with it, and the concussion, and we’ve got five games. As a team, I said we’re already trying to get stuff right. If he feels like he's not able to help that and the team wants to sit him down, that's their decision to make.”
Q: On if it’s nice to see guys like OL Walker Little get extended?
Oluokun: “Yeah, it's always good to see the next guy get their reward like that. That’s a guy who comes in and works every week and he's playing better and better. It's always good, and I'm always pro-teammate. I've seen him work. I've seen him put in those hours and stuff. I've been with him in the training room and stuff. It's always cool to see somebody get what they deserve coming up.”
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