August 5, 2025 • 22 mins
Jacksonville Jaguars HC Liam Coen & QB Trevor Lawrence speak to the media after practice at 2025 Training Camp, presented by Dream Finders Homes.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Eric arm said, just not being able to work and
then having the packinger.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I mean it's you know, he's a veteran who you know,
ultimately he'll probably know how to get himself ready to go.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I would, I would hope.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
You know, the key is just making sure that he's
you know, he's healthy and ready to go for the
first game. And ultimately, it's a long season, as we
know now, not to say that early ones aren't obviously
as important as late ones, but it is a long
season and we're really just trying to.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
You know, get him to be as healthy as possible.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Do you expect him to be good to go by
week going?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah, I would think show. I would think show. It's
hard for me to say right now though.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
And then last times the just and with Mason Smith
out as well, that kind of creates a little bit
of a depth issue. I would imagine, just just one
of the challenges you guys are working through.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
You know, we just signed Austin Johnson, so made a
nice play already in the team run today, so you know,
brought in some depth and competition. We'll continue to get
those guys some great reps. I felt like I felt
the D line a little bit more today, you know, impact,
whether it was in the run game or and some
of the protection stuff. I just kind of felt more
(01:09):
of a presence in a rush. So that was encouraging, right,
And it's great to get those guys some reps, but
we absolutely need to continue to improve.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Today.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Once he brought to the steplet.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I mean, as you guys see, it's every day something right.
It's every day it's making a play right, And there's
only so much right within a scheme that you can
teach and coach. Ultimately, they have to go out and
make plays. And he just continues to be a steady,
consistent professional that communicates at a high level. He brings
(01:46):
a calmness to our back end, he brings a playmaker
to our back end, and a great leader for the
guys to be able to continue to listen to back there.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Oh yeah, guy every day.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I mean, you guys have seen him many diving either
pass breakups or interceptions he's had. I had, you know,
I had so much respect for him coming when we
played him in Tampa this year, he made a unbelievable
interception that basically sealed.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
The game in their favor. And he's just come here.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
From the moment we sat down and talked to my office,
from till till now, it's been exactly what he has
said he wanted to do and what we actually and
what we also wanted from him from a veteran leader,
professional show some of these guys the way, and he's
taken that role on and ran with it.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
Evaluate first day of Travis having the penny, going back
and forth and that final team period we didn't see him.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Was that a situation a four minutes stuff?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We weren't playing in any eleven personnel, So you know,
he's he's still learning twelve personnel other positions so that
he can continue to get in right in some of
those personnel grouping, you know, because he plays the F
in eleven, to go and play the Z and twelve
is just you know, it's just another added learning curve
(03:10):
that we need to continue.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
To work on. But you know, I think he'll say it.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Was probably it was a little bit more tired than
he you know, usually gets, but I thought, you know,
still showed up, made some plays across the middle as
he's kind of continued to do, and it's just good
to get into that, you know, habit of we mentioned
we wanted to get to this point of post scrimmage,
just starting to let him roll in between racks to
get them some extra work.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
It's good to be the new normal, very similar.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
You know, we might not be every single day, but
I would say it would probably be a little bit
more normal than not.
Speaker 7 (03:41):
We would how much the starters are gonna go on
Saturday yet.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Not yet, We're still working through.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
We wanted to kind of get through these padded these
next two padded days to evaluate see where we're at
as a group before making that decision. We've obviously had
conversations as the staff and with Tony and James as well,
but we're gonna let these next these two days play out,
see what it looks like, and make a decision from there.
Speaker 7 (04:09):
It makes sense to talk with the other team about
ones or it's just just something that it almost feels
like it's not a perfect science with three games compared
to four.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, I texted coach Tomlin the last night, So we're
touching base today at some point here to just get
on the same page, you know, about what they're doing,
what we'd like to do. Ultimately, you know, we'll have
to ultimately make that decision tomorrow, but we're gonna touch
base today.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Is that a hard decision as a head coach to
figure out this because you want them to play, you
want to see them, you see what you got, but
you don't want to risk injury.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Right, That's right?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
That is the ultimate uh debate. Oh you know it's
not uh obviously came from being in LA It was, shoot,
you're you're ones and twos don't really play right, and
so you're you're ultimately uh playing with a lot of
younger guys, which is kind of the that's the whole
selling point in LA is you do that and it
(05:02):
helps you get you know, CFAs and get guys to
come in because you know you're going to get a
lot of great quality reps in film, whereas in Tampa
we played some of the guys and and got some
quality work. So it's it's definitely a difficult decision that
we've been wrestling.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Back and forth with a little bit.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
But we'll we'll have a better idea tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Finally going against finally going against an opponent because.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Pump porch is that for you guys in your evaluation
processing the whole Roshington.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Yeah, it's big, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I mean, we don't know what you have ever, right,
you really don't. I mean you have a feel, you
know what you're doing against each other.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
But as we saw even.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
In the scrimmage the other night, like we'd be lying
if we didn't see some you know, bright eyes and
and maybe getting into guys doing some things that maybe
they hadn't been doing in practice settings because.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
We were in the stadium and there were some fans there.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Right, It's just it is different to go through the
pregame routine, to get into your routine of getting ready
to go play a game. But also, like you mentioned,
going and competing against somebody else, especially Pittsburgh specifically on
the defensive side of the ball, plays a little bit
of a different structure than we do. They play differently
with their D line than we do in some ways,
(06:16):
So it might be great for us to get some
of that work.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
A couple of the drink questions, just Jaylen McLeod kind
of his status and always a week.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
To week but yeah, I think he's more week to
week than day to day. Okay, Yeah, as far.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
As then what that means for that competition and Sam Linebacker,
what have you seen from guard E since he came back.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Yeah, I mean he's still just getting into the swing
of things.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I think he'll.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Start to probably feel more and more like himself as
the next probably weaker and a half go. I'm excited
to see him be able to go and come off
the edge and get him some more team reps. He's
just a little bit limited in some ways still right
now within the team setting. So I'm excited. I'm excited
to actually see who can step up. It's a bummer
(06:57):
because Jalen was doing some good things in some of
the pass rush actually when he was going and four
down and playing the end and getting some of that
stuff going, which is what he did a lot in college.
So that's you know, it's a bummer, But the competition continues.
Speaker 6 (07:13):
And then a lot more. Just whyatt I feel like
why it is almost every position is that he came
to you guys and said that.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Or not, that's our I mean, you guys just kind
of seen it since the spring. It's kind of our
philosophy is moving guys around. We did at the other
night as well. I mean that's something that I thought
we did a nice job in LA when you know,
Aaron Kromer was our offensive line coach. It was constant
moving guys around. You ultimately want to make sure you
(07:40):
set your groups as close to game as you can
to have the time right like where you can have
a little bit more time to work. But it's great
because you just don't know, especially at the old line
guys right, it's when you don't have depth or guys
have experienced playing specific positions and a pinch happens, it
is the worst fing in the world. And so I
(08:02):
went through it in twenty twenty two and we had
thirteen different starting o lines, which was an NFL record.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Not a record do you want to be known for.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
So since that we have just really tried to make
such a conscious effort of adding depth in there while
also cross training.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Coach, what are you looking for specifically?
Speaker 5 (08:20):
These xt couple of practices before Pittsburgh rules in the town.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Less penalties, you know, I mean it was great. We
got Alex Kemp out here, a great you know referee
crew out here that did a great job. We met
with them as a staff at seven am this morning.
They will meet with our players, excuse me, this afternoon.
They'll also meet with the rookies and explain some of
the rule changes from college to pro this evening. And
(08:45):
so we are making a conscious effort, and the league
is making a conscious effort. Detailing formations, alignments, assignments and
motions is.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
A huge part of the rule.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
The rules this year, the two men in motion and
illegal formation, shaving the line of scrimmage is show all
showed up today, all the things that they are trying
to emphasize. So long winded way of answering your question,
I'd like a little bit more discipline.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
Okay, a couple more real quick.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Coach Crewd and Coach Coughlin both here this week.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
What's it like just happening those guys around and yeah,
really cool.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I mean those guys.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Shoot, Coach Coughlin, I grew up, you know, a Patriots fan,
so broke my heart a few times. And you know,
Victor Cruz, being my college roommate, obviously very close with
Coach Coughlin, and he's been such a support for me
since I've been able to have the opportunity to take
this job and live here. And then Coach Gruden and
I were neighbors in Tampa, so we lived in the
(09:41):
same neighborhood, and so that was great.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
I actually saw it, ran into him a few times
last year in.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Tampa, and right before I actually got hired here, I
ran into him and you know, we were having a
conversation about that. So it's great to have him here.
We're talking some ball. I mean, there is a lot
of the evolution of our offense comes from him in
so many ways. Right when Seawan was with him in Tampa,
Sean was in Washington with his brother, and there's a
(10:10):
lot of similarities.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
It's pretty cool, that's sure.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Robert Little has been consistent. Now I left tackle at
close to other Tran Camford has really moved around a lot.
Just kind of speaking to him, he said, it's nice
to be consistent and feel like you can really grow
in that position.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
What have you seen out of him?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah, I think his run blocking has improved. I think
a lot since last year, coming off the rock, finishing better.
I think he'll also be, you know, the first one
to tell he's got to, you know, work a little
bit more on some of the past pro in terms
of just you know, timing up his hands, using his hands,
using his length, you know, to his you know, to
(10:49):
his best abilities because he does have some length. He's
a long dude that is athletic as well, so.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Needs to continue to improve.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
But I have been I've been pleased with, like you mentioned,
some the consistencies and those guys had been I thought
today was probably our worst day in a while up
front in some ways or just as an offense executing
the run game, but in some of the past protection
I was not pleased with as a group, whether it
was the ball not coming out on time, not getting
open on time, whether not protecting well enough. But I
(11:20):
think they, you know, had been playing with some confidence
as well.
Speaker 6 (11:23):
Thank you for the offensive line. For the offense as
a whole couple of days. What would you how would
you evaluate maybe where the struggles came from.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
Yeah, I don't. Today was definitely one of our worst
days as an offense, you know, And even speaking just personally,
I felt like I just, you know, we didn't see
it as great today, you know, I just thought we
were moving a little slow coming off the off day.
Just need to bring a little bit more juice next time,
and just you know, one play at a time, just
takes one play to kind of get you back going.
And I think we could have brought a little bit
more energy. A little sluggish today coming in, So we'll
(11:55):
watch the tape though and see what it was. There
was a lot of stuff just kind of everywhere. There's penalties,
there were some missed assignments, there were some couple of
bad reads by me. There's just a little bit of everything.
So we'll have to watch it and see. You know,
it's practice you rather have or rather it happened out
here and learn from it. And then you know, we're
not playing yet, so we got some time to fix it,
but we need to address the issues and you can
(12:17):
kind of learn from them.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
Do you expect to play on Saturday? Do you want
to play?
Speaker 5 (12:20):
Yeah? I mean I yes, I'm expecting to play, getting
myself prepared myself to play. I'm not sure exactly what
the plan is yet. I think we're still evaluating some stuff,
but yeah, I'm ready to go. If so, you know,
be excited to get back out there. It's been a while,
so you know, anytime you can play, even preseason, it
means something to get on that field. So I'll be
ready to go if that's the case, and if not,
(12:41):
the other guys be ready to roll through it. The
last few years.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
How much is playing in the preseason kind of helping
you get ready to week want?
Speaker 5 (12:47):
I think it does help, you know, just from the standpoint,
especially as a quarterback. You know, you can get hit.
It's you know, all off season, in all training camp
you can't get hit, So there's a different Sometimes there's
a different time clock in the pocket. Try to always
play it real and practice, but sometimes you kind of
hang on to the ball and take a little bit
more chances in the pocket because there's no consequences. But
(13:08):
when you're live, it's a little different. So it's nice
to fill the time clock sped up, to feel the
communication with the whole offense, with offensive line protection, you know,
just live full speed reps. I think it is valuable.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
I think there's gonna be smart too though as far
as how much you play and all that stuff. That's
that's for you know, coach and all them to figure
out and for us just to do our job. So
I do think there's value though, the.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Offensive comfortable guard and the scrimmage. You know, how did
you come out from that? What did you sort of
think of the offense and then your own performance?
Speaker 5 (13:39):
Yeah, I thought We operated really really smoothly. You know,
I think it was still left a couple of plays
out there. That's always going to be the case, probably
not gonna play perfect, but I feel like there was
a couple of plays I definitely left out there, but
I think that's just an offense. Overall, we operated clean,
not a ton of penalties, you know, just having the
(13:59):
call it mentally to move the ball. Playing situational football,
that's fun. You know, practice, you play situations, but they're
all in block so sometimes it doesn't always feel like
a game because of the flow is just different. So
it was nice having the clock moving. You know, every
every play is spotted about where it would have gone down.
You play every second along third and shore, third and medium,
(14:20):
you play all the situations. We got a two minute
drive in all those things. It feels more a little
bit more realistic as far as the game flow. So
I thought that was really good and some stuff to
build off of. Maybe putting to Day's side, how do
you feel like you can total I think I've you know,
made some huge strides from the spring as far as
listening to the system and being comfortable playing fast, getting
through progressions, letting it rip, especially across the middle and
(14:42):
anticipating some throws. I think it's been a lot better
than the spring, So you know, I think going into today,
I was pleased with just my progress, you know, not
necessarily overall performance, but just getting I felt like I
was really just playing better every day, and I think
that's what you want to do. And today obviously had
a little bit of a rougher day, so we'll have
to watch it and just learn from it. And it's
the same thing, even if you don't perform you want to,
(15:03):
you got to learn from it. So just taking all
the coaching points and all the stuff I can from
each day and trying to make the corrections the next
day and play better considered a progress.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
And put work becoming a more.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
Natural for sure, footwork becoming more natural, tying my feet
with my eyes, and then just seeing the concepts because
I've seen them now three or four times installed and
you feel more comfortable. You know what the backside is
going to look like, you know what gets you off
the front side, and you kind of just play a
little bit quicker. But there's still some of that muscle
memory that sets in from some of my old footwork
(15:33):
and drops and stuff that I just have to continuously
just work and indie and then team drills and you know,
while we're in practice and it's not live bullets flying,
this is the time to fix it. And we've made
some good progress, but there's a lot more work to do.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
How big of a jump can this team make just
from maybe getting rid of the dysfunction of last year?
We saw it from twenty one to twenty two. It
was a pretty big jump just by getting rid of dysfunction.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
I think that's a hard question to answer to put
a you know, specific measure on it. I think that
this is a this can be a really good team,
you know. I think we're talented, our schemes are really good,
we're well coached. We're still getting better and dialing in
on the details, and we need to play cleaner and
be better operationally and just you know, gel more as units.
(16:22):
But I really think, not to be cliche, the sky
is the limit for this team. I mean, I think,
like I said, we're talented, we're well coached, we got
a good scheme. You know, you can't speak on the
results because we have to go out and do it
and we have to perform. But I really feel confident
that we'll be prepared come September whatever it is, the
first first game, and we'll be ready to play. And
I you know, we had a lot of work to
(16:43):
do until then. The camps a long.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Time, but things happening behind the scenes in the building
that affects what happens on the field. Is that safe
to say that we've seen that?
Speaker 5 (16:54):
Yeah, I mean there's always there's always things that I mean,
in the NFL, it's a crazy business. There's always things
going on all the time. So you try to compartmentalize
and do your job and ignore everything else. And sorry,
and at times when the bigger the distraction, the harder
it becomes. But you still have a job to do.
And that's the challenge we're all faced with, is to
do your job despite everything happening around you. And sometimes
(17:15):
it's easier than others, but that's our job and we've
got to do it.
Speaker 6 (17:18):
What do you see from the three rookie running backs?
Speaker 5 (17:21):
They've been awesome. I think I think all three of
them have have had days and sports where they've played
really well. And then also as rookies, learning the system
isn't easy, and they've done a nice job in the
protections and knowing what to do and who to pick
up and but they've all made plays, you know, you know,
running the ball or out of the backfield, catching it,
making plays down the field. They've all had their their
play So we got a lot of a lot of options,
(17:42):
a lot of great options. A lot of them are young,
so we've got some juice in the backfield, which I'm
excited about. Trevor. For the short time you're going to
be out there on Saturday or whatever time they're going
to give you, what do.
Speaker 6 (17:51):
You want to see out of yourself and what do
you want to see out of your offense against pits
ready tea.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
Just to play clean, you know, no penalties, operation in
and out of the huddle, quick up to the line, communicate,
just play clean ball and execute whatever's there. You know.
Obviously the plan not as much game planning when you're
talking about preseason games, so I'm not sure exactly the
plan as far as what we're going to do, but
whatever it is, it's stuff we've done all training camp,
(18:16):
I'm sure. So just execution at a high level with you. Also,
coach Colin mentioned the penalties even today. Yeah, Yeah, just
clean up that stuff. It's the stuff you can control.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Right.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
This game is hard enough playing against all these great players,
these great teams, and when you beat yourself with the
pre staff penalties and not lining upright or you know,
little stuff, maybe it's a can that I go the
wrong way on because you didn't see it right or whatever,
it's that's stuff that you can control. So if we
can be you know, damn near close to one hundred
(18:45):
percent on those, it's just going to put us in
position to make more plays and to have to be
more successful when the ball is now.
Speaker 7 (18:51):
Roddy Kniver is the best combination act with you and
Brian Thomas Junior frustration a little bit on Sunday and
before that, where are you right now with Ryan?
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Yeah? I mean this is something where timing with receivers
is so important. Chemistry, that connection, all that stuff, and
then when you change offenses, it kind of resets a
little bit because there's new routes and there is some carryover.
For sure, everyone does similar things, but just the communication
and talking. I think we've made some big steps since
the spring, and you got our thing too. We didn't
(19:23):
get to play a full season together, so you know,
We've been trying to build that and be just in
lockstep and always know each other's thinking and when we
get those one on ones, making all those plays, giving
them opportunities, always getting them, giving them a chance to
get his hand on the ball. And there has been
some frustration, I think from both of us, and just offensively,
because there's been somewhere you know, I might miss a throw,
(19:44):
I might not make a contested catch, you know, maybe
they push coverage to them. And there is days where
it's a little frustrating, and that stuff you work through
in practice, and we both expect a lot out of
each other and I think that's the cool thing about
our relationship, as we expect to make all those plays,
so it's frustrating when you don't. Like I said, we
just got to keep working in and keep he's such
a great player, just keep giving him all the opportunities
and putting the ball somewhere where you can get it
(20:06):
and always giving him a chance. It's really important.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
What have you seen from a Britain Strange It seems
like he's really come along with the last ten tracks.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Yeah, I think just the same thing. More comfortable in
the offense, playing faster, understanding what we're doing, and that's
for all of us, and me seeing him quicker, getting
the ball to him in some different scenarios where maybe
in the spring all's not audition it to him and
getting backside or doing whatever. I think, getting more comfortable
seeing him in different spots in this scheme and knowing
what to expect, how he's gonna run certain routes. And
(20:34):
I love Britain man. I've always loved how he plays,
plays really hard, he's a really good blocker, and then
what he can do in space too. He doesn't get
enough credit for how good of a route runner he
is and very physical, great after the catch. So he's
gonna be a problem for us.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
I was gonna say, are you seeing more from him
this year? You know, now that he has been through
us sort of more in that in that receiving world.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
Yeah, I think just given more opportunities so you see more. Before,
you know, we had Evan, and Evan had been here
and been very productive. He's an older veteran player and
you know Britain's kind of behind him learning from him,
and so he just didn't get the same An opportunities.
And now he's looked at as as the guy the
matchup at tight end, you know, to go make plays
in the passing game, and he does a great job,
(21:13):
especially what all he's asked to do between that and
the run game. Tight end is a crazy position. Those
guys are their beast, you know, physical and then they
go run fifty yards down the field and come back
and then blocking the end. It's hard to do, and
he's on a high level.
Speaker 7 (21:25):
I know you see intervidy in practice, but just as
somebody else does, how excited.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Or you to see Travis in a game setting is
what a cow.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Looks like, A really excited I mean, if if Friday
was a glimpse of it, I'm pretty right we should
all be excited to see him running around out there
wherever it's at on offense defense. Hopefully more offense throw
one in there for us there. But just the way
he plays, energy, plays with even just little things like
interacting with the fans and just the juice he brings
into the stadium like that stuff does mean something, you know,
(21:53):
and not everyone necessarily has that personality, but he has
something about him that's just I don't know, it's just special,
the way that energy brings in energy plays with and
the joy and all that stuff. The way he runs
around like it's it's fun to watch and it's fun
to play with a guy like that. I think he's
starting to play a lot faster now that he knows
the system and can play free. You think.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
Also one of guys that I've kept him having a
penny on.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
Yeah, it's it was interesting. Yeah, he played corner once
to everything, came back and had to run like a jet.
Sweet motion. So just we've talked about how and how
good a shape he's in. But it's funny to see
him back and forth. It's pretty crazy. Never never see
anything like it. Awesome
Eric arm said, just not being able to work and
then having the packinger.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I mean it's you know, he's a veteran who you know,
ultimately he'll probably know how to get himself ready to go.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I would, I would hope.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
You know, the key is just making sure that he's
you know, he's healthy and ready to go for the
first game. And ultimately, it's a long season, as we
know now, not to say that early ones aren't obviously
as important as late ones, but it is a long
season and we're really just trying to.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
You know, get him to be as healthy as possible.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Do you expect him to be good to go by
week going?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah, I would think show. I would think show. It's
hard for me to say right now though.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
And then last times the just and with Mason Smith
out as well, that kind of creates a little bit
of a depth issue. I would imagine, just just one
of the challenges you guys are working through.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
You know, we just signed Austin Johnson, so made a
nice play already in the team run today, so you know,
brought in some depth and competition. We'll continue to get
those guys some great reps. I felt like I felt
the D line a little bit more today, you know, impact,
whether it was in the run game or and some
of the protection stuff. I just kind of felt more
(01:09):
of a presence in a rush. So that was encouraging, right,
And it's great to get those guys some reps, but
we absolutely need to continue to improve.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Today.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Once he brought to the steplet.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I mean, as you guys see, it's every day something right.
It's every day it's making a play right, And there's
only so much right within a scheme that you can
teach and coach. Ultimately, they have to go out and
make plays. And he just continues to be a steady,
consistent professional that communicates at a high level. He brings
(01:46):
a calmness to our back end, he brings a playmaker
to our back end, and a great leader for the
guys to be able to continue to listen to back there.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Oh yeah, guy every day.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I mean, you guys have seen him many diving either
pass breakups or interceptions he's had. I had, you know,
I had so much respect for him coming when we
played him in Tampa this year, he made a unbelievable
interception that basically sealed.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
The game in their favor. And he's just come here.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
From the moment we sat down and talked to my office,
from till till now, it's been exactly what he has
said he wanted to do and what we actually and
what we also wanted from him from a veteran leader,
professional show some of these guys the way, and he's
taken that role on and ran with it.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
Evaluate first day of Travis having the penny, going back
and forth and that final team period we didn't see him.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Was that a situation a four minutes stuff?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We weren't playing in any eleven personnel, So you know,
he's he's still learning twelve personnel other positions so that
he can continue to get in right in some of
those personnel grouping, you know, because he plays the F
in eleven, to go and play the Z and twelve
is just you know, it's just another added learning curve
(03:10):
that we need to continue.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
To work on. But you know, I think he'll say it.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Was probably it was a little bit more tired than
he you know, usually gets, but I thought, you know,
still showed up, made some plays across the middle as
he's kind of continued to do, and it's just good
to get into that, you know, habit of we mentioned
we wanted to get to this point of post scrimmage,
just starting to let him roll in between racks to
get them some extra work.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
It's good to be the new normal, very similar.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
You know, we might not be every single day, but
I would say it would probably be a little bit
more normal than not.
Speaker 7 (03:41):
We would how much the starters are gonna go on
Saturday yet.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Not yet, We're still working through.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
We wanted to kind of get through these padded these
next two padded days to evaluate see where we're at
as a group before making that decision. We've obviously had
conversations as the staff and with Tony and James as well,
but we're gonna let these next these two days play out,
see what it looks like, and make a decision from there.
Speaker 7 (04:09):
It makes sense to talk with the other team about
ones or it's just just something that it almost feels
like it's not a perfect science with three games compared
to four.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, I texted coach Tomlin the last night, So we're
touching base today at some point here to just get
on the same page, you know, about what they're doing,
what we'd like to do. Ultimately, you know, we'll have
to ultimately make that decision tomorrow, but we're gonna touch
base today.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Is that a hard decision as a head coach to
figure out this because you want them to play, you
want to see them, you see what you got, but
you don't want to risk injury.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Right, That's right?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
That is the ultimate uh debate. Oh you know it's
not uh obviously came from being in LA It was, shoot,
you're you're ones and twos don't really play right, and
so you're you're ultimately uh playing with a lot of
younger guys, which is kind of the that's the whole
selling point in LA is you do that and it
(05:02):
helps you get you know, CFAs and get guys to
come in because you know you're going to get a
lot of great quality reps in film, whereas in Tampa
we played some of the guys and and got some
quality work. So it's it's definitely a difficult decision that
we've been wrestling.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Back and forth with a little bit.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
But we'll we'll have a better idea tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Finally going against finally going against an opponent because.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Pump porch is that for you guys in your evaluation
processing the whole Roshington.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Yeah, it's big, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I mean, we don't know what you have ever, right,
you really don't. I mean you have a feel, you
know what you're doing against each other.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
But as we saw even.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
In the scrimmage the other night, like we'd be lying
if we didn't see some you know, bright eyes and
and maybe getting into guys doing some things that maybe
they hadn't been doing in practice settings because.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
We were in the stadium and there were some fans there.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Right, It's just it is different to go through the
pregame routine, to get into your routine of getting ready
to go play a game. But also, like you mentioned,
going and competing against somebody else, especially Pittsburgh specifically on
the defensive side of the ball, plays a little bit
of a different structure than we do. They play differently
with their D line than we do in some ways,
(06:16):
So it might be great for us to get some
of that work.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
A couple of the drink questions, just Jaylen McLeod kind
of his status and always a week.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
To week but yeah, I think he's more week to
week than day to day. Okay, Yeah, as far.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
As then what that means for that competition and Sam Linebacker,
what have you seen from guard E since he came back.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Yeah, I mean he's still just getting into the swing
of things.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I think he'll.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Start to probably feel more and more like himself as
the next probably weaker and a half go. I'm excited
to see him be able to go and come off
the edge and get him some more team reps. He's
just a little bit limited in some ways still right
now within the team setting. So I'm excited. I'm excited
to actually see who can step up. It's a bummer
(06:57):
because Jalen was doing some good things in some of
the pass rush actually when he was going and four
down and playing the end and getting some of that
stuff going, which is what he did a lot in college.
So that's you know, it's a bummer, But the competition continues.
Speaker 6 (07:13):
And then a lot more. Just whyatt I feel like
why it is almost every position is that he came
to you guys and said that.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Or not, that's our I mean, you guys just kind
of seen it since the spring. It's kind of our
philosophy is moving guys around. We did at the other
night as well. I mean that's something that I thought
we did a nice job in LA when you know,
Aaron Kromer was our offensive line coach. It was constant
moving guys around. You ultimately want to make sure you
(07:40):
set your groups as close to game as you can
to have the time right like where you can have
a little bit more time to work. But it's great
because you just don't know, especially at the old line
guys right, it's when you don't have depth or guys
have experienced playing specific positions and a pinch happens, it
is the worst fing in the world. And so I
(08:02):
went through it in twenty twenty two and we had
thirteen different starting o lines, which was an NFL record.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Not a record do you want to be known for.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
So since that we have just really tried to make
such a conscious effort of adding depth in there while
also cross training.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Coach, what are you looking for specifically?
Speaker 5 (08:20):
These xt couple of practices before Pittsburgh rules in the town.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Less penalties, you know, I mean it was great. We
got Alex Kemp out here, a great you know referee
crew out here that did a great job. We met
with them as a staff at seven am this morning.
They will meet with our players, excuse me, this afternoon.
They'll also meet with the rookies and explain some of
the rule changes from college to pro this evening. And
(08:45):
so we are making a conscious effort, and the league
is making a conscious effort. Detailing formations, alignments, assignments and
motions is.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
A huge part of the rule.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
The rules this year, the two men in motion and
illegal formation, shaving the line of scrimmage is show all
showed up today, all the things that they are trying
to emphasize. So long winded way of answering your question,
I'd like a little bit more discipline.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
Okay, a couple more real quick.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Coach Crewd and Coach Coughlin both here this week.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
What's it like just happening those guys around and yeah,
really cool.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I mean those guys.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Shoot, Coach Coughlin, I grew up, you know, a Patriots fan,
so broke my heart a few times. And you know,
Victor Cruz, being my college roommate, obviously very close with
Coach Coughlin, and he's been such a support for me
since I've been able to have the opportunity to take
this job and live here. And then Coach Gruden and
I were neighbors in Tampa, so we lived in the
(09:41):
same neighborhood, and so that was great.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
I actually saw it, ran into him a few times
last year in.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Tampa, and right before I actually got hired here, I
ran into him and you know, we were having a
conversation about that. So it's great to have him here.
We're talking some ball. I mean, there is a lot
of the evolution of our offense comes from him in
so many ways. Right when Seawan was with him in Tampa,
Sean was in Washington with his brother, and there's a
(10:10):
lot of similarities.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
It's pretty cool, that's sure.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Robert Little has been consistent. Now I left tackle at
close to other Tran Camford has really moved around a lot.
Just kind of speaking to him, he said, it's nice
to be consistent and feel like you can really grow
in that position.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
What have you seen out of him?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah, I think his run blocking has improved. I think
a lot since last year, coming off the rock, finishing better.
I think he'll also be, you know, the first one
to tell he's got to, you know, work a little
bit more on some of the past pro in terms
of just you know, timing up his hands, using his hands,
using his length, you know, to his you know, to
(10:49):
his best abilities because he does have some length. He's
a long dude that is athletic as well, so.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Needs to continue to improve.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
But I have been I've been pleased with, like you mentioned,
some the consistencies and those guys had been I thought
today was probably our worst day in a while up
front in some ways or just as an offense executing
the run game, but in some of the past protection
I was not pleased with as a group, whether it
was the ball not coming out on time, not getting
open on time, whether not protecting well enough. But I
(11:20):
think they, you know, had been playing with some confidence
as well.
Speaker 6 (11:23):
Thank you for the offensive line. For the offense as
a whole couple of days. What would you how would
you evaluate maybe where the struggles came from.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
Yeah, I don't. Today was definitely one of our worst
days as an offense, you know, And even speaking just personally,
I felt like I just, you know, we didn't see
it as great today, you know, I just thought we
were moving a little slow coming off the off day.
Just need to bring a little bit more juice next time,
and just you know, one play at a time, just
takes one play to kind of get you back going.
And I think we could have brought a little bit
more energy. A little sluggish today coming in, So we'll
(11:55):
watch the tape though and see what it was. There
was a lot of stuff just kind of everywhere. There's penalties,
there were some missed assignments, there were some couple of
bad reads by me. There's just a little bit of everything.
So we'll have to watch it and see. You know,
it's practice you rather have or rather it happened out
here and learn from it. And then you know, we're
not playing yet, so we got some time to fix it,
but we need to address the issues and you can
(12:17):
kind of learn from them.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
Do you expect to play on Saturday? Do you want
to play?
Speaker 5 (12:20):
Yeah? I mean I yes, I'm expecting to play, getting
myself prepared myself to play. I'm not sure exactly what
the plan is yet. I think we're still evaluating some stuff,
but yeah, I'm ready to go. If so, you know,
be excited to get back out there. It's been a while,
so you know, anytime you can play, even preseason, it
means something to get on that field. So I'll be
ready to go if that's the case, and if not,
(12:41):
the other guys be ready to roll through it. The
last few years.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
How much is playing in the preseason kind of helping
you get ready to week want?
Speaker 5 (12:47):
I think it does help, you know, just from the standpoint,
especially as a quarterback. You know, you can get hit.
It's you know, all off season, in all training camp
you can't get hit, So there's a different Sometimes there's
a different time clock in the pocket. Try to always
play it real and practice, but sometimes you kind of
hang on to the ball and take a little bit
more chances in the pocket because there's no consequences. But
(13:08):
when you're live, it's a little different. So it's nice
to fill the time clock sped up, to feel the
communication with the whole offense, with offensive line protection, you know,
just live full speed reps. I think it is valuable.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
I think there's gonna be smart too though as far
as how much you play and all that stuff. That's
that's for you know, coach and all them to figure
out and for us just to do our job. So
I do think there's value though, the.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Offensive comfortable guard and the scrimmage. You know, how did
you come out from that? What did you sort of
think of the offense and then your own performance?
Speaker 5 (13:39):
Yeah, I thought We operated really really smoothly. You know,
I think it was still left a couple of plays
out there. That's always going to be the case, probably
not gonna play perfect, but I feel like there was
a couple of plays I definitely left out there, but
I think that's just an offense. Overall, we operated clean,
not a ton of penalties, you know, just having the
(13:59):
call it mentally to move the ball. Playing situational football,
that's fun. You know, practice, you play situations, but they're
all in block so sometimes it doesn't always feel like
a game because of the flow is just different. So
it was nice having the clock moving. You know, every
every play is spotted about where it would have gone down.
You play every second along third and shore, third and medium,
(14:20):
you play all the situations. We got a two minute
drive in all those things. It feels more a little
bit more realistic as far as the game flow. So
I thought that was really good and some stuff to
build off of. Maybe putting to Day's side, how do
you feel like you can total I think I've you know,
made some huge strides from the spring as far as
listening to the system and being comfortable playing fast, getting
through progressions, letting it rip, especially across the middle and
(14:42):
anticipating some throws. I think it's been a lot better
than the spring, So you know, I think going into today,
I was pleased with just my progress, you know, not
necessarily overall performance, but just getting I felt like I
was really just playing better every day, and I think
that's what you want to do. And today obviously had
a little bit of a rougher day, so we'll have
to watch it and just learn from it. And it's
the same thing, even if you don't perform you want to,
(15:03):
you got to learn from it. So just taking all
the coaching points and all the stuff I can from
each day and trying to make the corrections the next
day and play better considered a progress.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
And put work becoming a more.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
Natural for sure, footwork becoming more natural, tying my feet
with my eyes, and then just seeing the concepts because
I've seen them now three or four times installed and
you feel more comfortable. You know what the backside is
going to look like, you know what gets you off
the front side, and you kind of just play a
little bit quicker. But there's still some of that muscle
memory that sets in from some of my old footwork
(15:33):
and drops and stuff that I just have to continuously
just work and indie and then team drills and you know,
while we're in practice and it's not live bullets flying,
this is the time to fix it. And we've made
some good progress, but there's a lot more work to do.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
How big of a jump can this team make just
from maybe getting rid of the dysfunction of last year?
We saw it from twenty one to twenty two. It
was a pretty big jump just by getting rid of dysfunction.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
I think that's a hard question to answer to put
a you know, specific measure on it. I think that
this is a this can be a really good team,
you know. I think we're talented, our schemes are really good,
we're well coached. We're still getting better and dialing in
on the details, and we need to play cleaner and
be better operationally and just you know, gel more as units.
(16:22):
But I really think, not to be cliche, the sky
is the limit for this team. I mean, I think,
like I said, we're talented, we're well coached, we got
a good scheme. You know, you can't speak on the
results because we have to go out and do it
and we have to perform. But I really feel confident
that we'll be prepared come September whatever it is, the
first first game, and we'll be ready to play. And
I you know, we had a lot of work to
(16:43):
do until then. The camps a long.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Time, but things happening behind the scenes in the building
that affects what happens on the field. Is that safe
to say that we've seen that?
Speaker 5 (16:54):
Yeah, I mean there's always there's always things that I mean,
in the NFL, it's a crazy business. There's always things
going on all the time. So you try to compartmentalize
and do your job and ignore everything else. And sorry,
and at times when the bigger the distraction, the harder
it becomes. But you still have a job to do.
And that's the challenge we're all faced with, is to
do your job despite everything happening around you. And sometimes
(17:15):
it's easier than others, but that's our job and we've
got to do it.
Speaker 6 (17:18):
What do you see from the three rookie running backs?
Speaker 5 (17:21):
They've been awesome. I think I think all three of
them have have had days and sports where they've played
really well. And then also as rookies, learning the system
isn't easy, and they've done a nice job in the
protections and knowing what to do and who to pick
up and but they've all made plays, you know, you know,
running the ball or out of the backfield, catching it,
making plays down the field. They've all had their their
play So we got a lot of a lot of options,
(17:42):
a lot of great options. A lot of them are young,
so we've got some juice in the backfield, which I'm
excited about. Trevor. For the short time you're going to
be out there on Saturday or whatever time they're going
to give you, what do.
Speaker 6 (17:51):
You want to see out of yourself and what do
you want to see out of your offense against pits
ready tea.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
Just to play clean, you know, no penalties, operation in
and out of the huddle, quick up to the line, communicate,
just play clean ball and execute whatever's there. You know.
Obviously the plan not as much game planning when you're
talking about preseason games, so I'm not sure exactly the
plan as far as what we're going to do, but
whatever it is, it's stuff we've done all training camp,
(18:16):
I'm sure. So just execution at a high level with you. Also,
coach Colin mentioned the penalties even today. Yeah, Yeah, just
clean up that stuff. It's the stuff you can control.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Right.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
This game is hard enough playing against all these great players,
these great teams, and when you beat yourself with the
pre staff penalties and not lining upright or you know,
little stuff, maybe it's a can that I go the
wrong way on because you didn't see it right or whatever,
it's that's stuff that you can control. So if we
can be you know, damn near close to one hundred
(18:45):
percent on those, it's just going to put us in
position to make more plays and to have to be
more successful when the ball is now.
Speaker 7 (18:51):
Roddy Kniver is the best combination act with you and
Brian Thomas Junior frustration a little bit on Sunday and
before that, where are you right now with Ryan?
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Yeah? I mean this is something where timing with receivers
is so important. Chemistry, that connection, all that stuff, and
then when you change offenses, it kind of resets a
little bit because there's new routes and there is some carryover.
For sure, everyone does similar things, but just the communication
and talking. I think we've made some big steps since
the spring, and you got our thing too. We didn't
(19:23):
get to play a full season together, so you know,
We've been trying to build that and be just in
lockstep and always know each other's thinking and when we
get those one on ones, making all those plays, giving
them opportunities, always getting them, giving them a chance to
get his hand on the ball. And there has been
some frustration, I think from both of us, and just offensively,
because there's been somewhere you know, I might miss a throw,
(19:44):
I might not make a contested catch, you know, maybe
they push coverage to them. And there is days where
it's a little frustrating, and that stuff you work through
in practice, and we both expect a lot out of
each other and I think that's the cool thing about
our relationship, as we expect to make all those plays,
so it's frustrating when you don't. Like I said, we
just got to keep working in and keep he's such
a great player, just keep giving him all the opportunities
and putting the ball somewhere where you can get it
(20:06):
and always giving him a chance. It's really important.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
What have you seen from a Britain Strange It seems
like he's really come along with the last ten tracks.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Yeah, I think just the same thing. More comfortable in
the offense, playing faster, understanding what we're doing, and that's
for all of us, and me seeing him quicker, getting
the ball to him in some different scenarios where maybe
in the spring all's not audition it to him and
getting backside or doing whatever. I think, getting more comfortable
seeing him in different spots in this scheme and knowing
what to expect, how he's gonna run certain routes. And
(20:34):
I love Britain man. I've always loved how he plays,
plays really hard, he's a really good blocker, and then
what he can do in space too. He doesn't get
enough credit for how good of a route runner he
is and very physical, great after the catch. So he's
gonna be a problem for us.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
I was gonna say, are you seeing more from him
this year? You know, now that he has been through
us sort of more in that in that receiving world.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
Yeah, I think just given more opportunities so you see more. Before,
you know, we had Evan, and Evan had been here
and been very productive. He's an older veteran player and
you know Britain's kind of behind him learning from him,
and so he just didn't get the same An opportunities.
And now he's looked at as as the guy the
matchup at tight end, you know, to go make plays
in the passing game, and he does a great job,
(21:13):
especially what all he's asked to do between that and
the run game. Tight end is a crazy position. Those
guys are their beast, you know, physical and then they
go run fifty yards down the field and come back
and then blocking the end. It's hard to do, and
he's on a high level.
Speaker 7 (21:25):
I know you see intervidy in practice, but just as
somebody else does, how excited.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Or you to see Travis in a game setting is
what a cow.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Looks like, A really excited I mean, if if Friday
was a glimpse of it, I'm pretty right we should
all be excited to see him running around out there
wherever it's at on offense defense. Hopefully more offense throw
one in there for us there. But just the way
he plays, energy, plays with even just little things like
interacting with the fans and just the juice he brings
into the stadium like that stuff does mean something, you know,
(21:53):
and not everyone necessarily has that personality, but he has
something about him that's just I don't know, it's just special,
the way that energy brings in energy plays with and
the joy and all that stuff. The way he runs
around like it's it's fun to watch and it's fun
to play with a guy like that. I think he's
starting to play a lot faster now that he knows
the system and can play free. You think.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
Also one of guys that I've kept him having a
penny on.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
Yeah, it's it was interesting. Yeah, he played corner once
to everything, came back and had to run like a jet.
Sweet motion. So just we've talked about how and how
good a shape he's in. But it's funny to see
him back and forth. It's pretty crazy. Never never see
anything like it. Awesome
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