JAGUARS HEAD COACH GUS BRADLEY MEDIA AVAILABILITY MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2016 (Opening statement) Just got done with our team meeting. It s tough. We talked about, we don t accept defeat. Our guys are having a hard time with this one right now in the locker room. They re in meetings now, meeting with our coaches and going through some things that took place. I mentioned yesterday, it was a hard-fought game. You see it on tape, too. Two teams really battled. When you look back at the beginning of the game, it didn t start the way we hoped. We came out, threw an interception and then our defense went out on the field, a short field and gave up a touchdown. That s not exactly how we wanted to start. What I give credit to this team is the poise they had. It wasn t like, Oh, here it comes, what s going to happen? There was none of that. The tension on the sideline, their focus on the sideline, it was great. I know after that series, there were a couple of times where we exchanged punts between both teams. We really started to get on a roll. We started off with Brad Nortman s punt when he pinned him down inside the 5. Then the defense came out and got a threeand-out. It was a huge part right there. I think it was that poise at the beginning of the game, the confidence that we had, we re going to get this thing right, really held true there. We came back offensively. I think Marcedes (Lewis) had the big screen play and T.J. Yeldon scored to get back to seven and seven. Then it went back and forth, a couple good punts again, and then a couple three-and-outs that were strong. Next thing you know, we re up in the game. I think those were all really good things for our team to understand and learn from. Go into halftime, a two-minute situation, that stung us too. A couple of good plays for us, a minute and nine, one timeout left going into the halftime. For them to get a touchdown, we can t have that happen. At halftime, I think, our mindset in the game was to continue to do things that you re doing. Defensively, they were one-for-five I think on third down. It was the red zone, though. They had three scoring opportunities. It was either feast or famine for the defense: three-and-out or they scored a touchdown. It was one or the other. Our mindset was to come out in the second half, field goals. If they have any opportunities, it s got to be field goals, but stick with the plan. Offensively, again, to keep going and believe in it and the drives will come. In the second half, it was really a mirror image, both teams. Both teams, first two drives, had long drives. There s only three series for each team in the second half. We kind of knew that with the game, the way we were going to play it. The way it just turned out. And then, two long drives for each and then the defense went out and got a three-and-out. Offensively, came out, 10-play drive, got to the 14. We just didn t finish. That s the truth that we told them. There were some things that were very good. There were things that we ll set the standard for. We ll have a lot of room too. A lot of areas to improve on, which is a good thing. (When did you learn about the Chris Ivory situation?) I was alerted in the early morning, early, early morning. (Have you talked to him?) Yeah.
(How are his spirits?) I talked to him before and I talked to him afterwards. He was down, obviously, not being able to play in the game. Afterwards, his spirit is, he just wants to get better. He just wants to get better. (Would you change anything about the final offensive play?) You always look at it that way. You know what, it was a situation where, on a fourth-and-one, they had a tendency to bring a lot of pressure, even cover zero pressure. They did a good job. They normally have a safety high over the slot receiver. They changed it on a different type of blitz and put the safety inside in the corner press. It wasn t exactly the greatest look that we like. We felt strong about having the run-pass option going into it. That situation presented itself and they did a good job. We felt like even if we could run the ball with 23 seconds left, by the time we get up there and spiked it, you normally average five, six seconds a play. We felt like we could still get three plays off, even if we ran the ball. (On the refereeing) One of the our keys to victory this week, and every week, is catch the balls that are thrown to you. I think there s adversity in all of the games. In every game, there s going to be adversity. I m not saying the officials created adversity, calls went both ways. We just have to be strong enough and good enough to be in in positions where we can control it. That s what we talked to the team about. Worry yourself about things that we can control. (On the run game) It felt like we were straining. It felt like we were running the ball hard, but when I looked at the stats at the end of the game, there were some lost-yardage runs that add to it. I felt like T.J. (Yeldon) ran really hard and made some people miss. We just didn t get any explosive runs. There are areas of improvement. We can strain, hold on longer to blocks and blocking is a little bit better. The stats don t really show it. (Was the defense out-flanking you on a couple of plays?) No. I feel like the toss play, they did a good job and it was a tackle for loss. They did a nice job setting the edge on that. Some of our schemes, it s a little bit different than what we did last year. You can see some longer runs, like you re talking about. With that, there can be zero yard gains and -1, -2. We understand going into it. (On the look that they gave the defense on the final offensive play) It was two by two, I think. It was two by two formation. They came down over the slot with the corner. Give them credit, they came down and they pressed him. It can still work. The wide receiver has to come down flat and maintain the block. I won t say it was an ideal look for it. They did come with the pressure. (On Luke Joeckel and Kelvin Beachum) I thought Luke played pretty well. When you look at all of the offensive linemen, not everybody graded out 100 percent. There are going to be plays where some guys have some minuses. I thought, overall, they played pretty well. I think it s what we anticipated. I think he showed up and did some really good things. I think in a lot of the areas, he played better than what we anticipated. There are still some things that he can work on, but playing the position for the first time for the first full game, pretty good, pretty solid. (What are some areas that he played better than anticipated?) With him and Beachum playing next to each other for the first time and that trust and that communication, it just felt like it showed up a little bit better than we anticipated. The strength, the ability to be strong at the point. I think that showed up. We felt like, overall, he played pretty well. He didn t grade out the best of all of them, nor was he the worst.
(On Marcedes Lewis and Julius Thomas production) It was great to get Julius involved. I thought he did a good job. Julius, not only got involved in the passing game, but he showed some good toughness, too. We ran over the top of him a couple of times. I just thought he played pretty well. Marcedes, there were some things that we saw in training camp that impressed us. The big catch obviously showed up. The things that he does at the point of attack. (On Thomas touchdown) It worked out. We felt like Blake had a good throw and catch by Julius. It was a match-up that we liked and we executed it. (On who stood out on Lewis 37-yard screen pass) I thought there were some good blocks downfield. I saw A.J. [Cann]. I saw [Brandon] Linder. Linder came all the way over and made a great block. Allen Robinson downfield. I know when you look at it in slow-motion, it looked like Marcedes could have cut back on it with where he was taking (the defender), but it was in the heat of the battle and you always keep the ball close to the sideline and get as much as you can. It was just really well executed. (On the tight ends efficiency) Good. It was good. I think we had three drops if you count the one that Marqise the interception the one that was thrown behind him. Whether you count that as a drop on the receivers or not, it was a drop. To go through the game that was one of our emphases. Catch the ones thrown to you. You can say, That is pretty simple, Gus. Well, we are trying to simplify this game for them. We just had some other opportunities. I thought, really, the guys did a pretty good job on that. (On the decision not to play Tyson Alualu) It was tough. I don t think he has ever been down. It is always a challenge. It is by game, what we looked at and what we needed. We had an idea that they were going to come out in a lot of three-wide looks and to have the rushers up [rather] than if it was a heavier run team. (On if Lewis looks more athletic this year) I am trying to compare it to last year. I know that is how he has looked when we run it in practice. He has had a really good training camp for us. Really good training camp. It is not surprising to me. (On Telvin Smith s postgame speech) He is very passionate. We have had guys that will talk and things like that, but I just think our guys felt like we missed an opportunity and it hurt. We talked about building a team that is a group of very spirited guys that care a lot about football. He cares. He cares, along with a lot of guys in that locker room. (On Marqise Lee s performance) Pretty good. I know he had that drop closest to our sideline. Just overall, his speed and some of the things that we want to get him the ball on. We will continue to look for ways because he is explosive. Thirty plays we will look because I think both Allen Robinson and Hurns had over 60-some plays. We will have to take a look at that. I know yesterday was pretty hot. We want to make sure we keep fresh. We will look and see at how we can improve that. (On if Rashad Greene Sr. got enough reps as he would have liked) Yeah. I told you Rashad Greene had a good week last week. He just needs to continue that. (On how Allen Robinson handled himself throughout the game) I would hope our whole team would handle it that way. He is pretty poised when it comes to that. One of our rules is no whining, no complaining and no excuses. No one wants to hear it anyway. Let s move on. He really is. It is hard to say
a guy at his age is a true pro, but he has demonstrated over and over again the way he handles it and he is such a fierce competitor. I think his mind goes on to the next play. (On the pass rush plan for Green Bay and how the team executed their plan) One of the things that we looked at was the number of explosive plays that they had. If you look at last year, it was about six a game, but when Jordy [Nelson] was there, it jumped. He is back this year. A lot of these explosive plays came off of extended plays, so we decided to go with more of a controlled pass rush. It is tough on the defensive line. They are going after it. We did not turn them loose. It was not a game like that. It was more of a detailed pass rush to really try to constrict him and force him to stay in the pocket. Even when we did that, you will see it on film, there were times where we got up field too far and he extended the play. To put it on the d-line and say, Boy we really just didn t feel you. I would have to take a lot of the blame for that. If you didn t feel that because of what we were doing in there (or) trying to do. I think they had five explosive passes. They had 199 yards passing. One explosive pass came off an extended play. That was what we were hoping -- that we can control that enough to keep those explosive passes down. It wasn t enough. (On if the staff was pleased with how the defense executed) I think you always look and say, What more could we have done? What more could we have done to get pressure and to affect the quarterback? What would we do differently? You go through all those questions. That was the game plan going in, though. (On the positioning of the members of the secondary being based off scheme or personnel) I think getting Cyp [Johnathan Cyprien] more in the box is something that we decided to do. He is playing more like a linebacker in some of our defenses with [Tashaun] Gipson back. We can exchange that and move it around a little bit to switch it up. We style ourselves to be an aggressive defense. Sometimes aggressive people think to blitz all the time, but no, we are going to play tight coverage. I thought for the most part our coverage was pretty tight. There were a couple where we let some guys loose. [Packers QB Aaron Rodgers] is a great quarterback. He is a great quarterback. Some of the throws he made were perfect throws. You can t fault our guys when it is tight coverage. They just made great plays. That is part of the NFL. (On Blake Bortles performance) I thought he did well. He is always going to want some back, but I thought he managed the game very well. I thought he controlled the protection schemes very well. His consistency and his reads were good. He always went through his reads. I thought that was excellent. There are probably a few that he would like back, as far as accuracy. (On if Bortles is going through his reads quicker) It appears to be. It appears to be that because of his understanding of where he wants to go with the ball. He was really on his reads. (On getting Myles Jack more involved in the defense) I think with Myles, he is learning both positions now with the MIKE and WILL. We really got him at the WILL linebacker spot in the Atlanta game, the last preseason game. We are trying to do everything we can to speed this process up to see where he is at. I think the mental side of the game this was a tough game mentally, going into it. I think where he understands the football 501 part is going to be big. He has made great strides now. We are going to keep pushing that because of his athleticism, but he has to be able to know exactly what his responsibilities are at all times. You saw it yesterday. If you are not on it all the time, these quarterbacks will make you pay.
(On the goal of dropping Dante Fowler Jr. in a zone coverage) Just different looks. Different looks in our blitz package as far as turning the protection to a certain guy. You have to do that on occasion to keep offenses sharp. (On if it seems Chris Ivory will miss significant amount of time) I wish I could say. I cannot tell you that right now. I am going to meet with our trainers after this. My hope is that I know he is feeling a little bit better. To what degree? I am not sure right now. (On if the team needs to make personnel changes at the RB position) We have not talked about that. (On who puts the game tape together that is then sent to the VP of Officiating, Dean Blandino) Our coaches. They put it together if they have questions. Some of the questions are more, What do you see here? Then they come to us and we can take those teachings to our players. (On the game film being sent to the league office being more about supposed missed calls) No, no. It is more, How did you see this? So we can better understand it, so that we can talk to our players. We have had multiple discussions. They have been great with that, as far as I am concerned. (On penalties) I think we had nine penalties. There were probably four or five that were foolish penalties. The offsides and the one on our sideline that we had. Those are the ones there are always going to be one or two of those, but five is too many. I think that is what we need to knock down. Some of our penalties are going to be aggressive in nature. Defensive holding at the line of scrimmage because we play so much press some of those could happen. The foolish penalties, we have to knock those down. (On if the staff envisions a role for Jalen Ramsey similar to the role Ronde Barber played in Tampa Bay) I don t think we envision him like that. At our nickel spot, it gives him a lot of freedom. Obviously to cover the slot, you have to be pretty talented -- short area quickness and long speed. He has those traits and he is a physical-type player. To bring him on some pressures would best utilize his skill set, too. The challenge is that he is also a good cover guy. Just like dropping Dante, I think you change things up on occasion just to keep the offenses off-guard on what is taking place. (On if the heat had any impact on the team) I didn t feel it. You look at it and a guy that plays like Allen Robinson plays 60-some plays. I think we had one person cramp and it was quick. I didn t really feel that that was a factor in it at all. (On if that is a good sign) That is a really good sign. That is a really good sign because you go through training camp and preseason games and our guys, it is not like they played a full game, so you wonder the conditioning and shape that they were in. They were in good shape. (On the special teams performance) Unbelievable. 100 percent in scoring opportunities. That was a key to victory. Set up a score. That was a key to victory. We felt like with the punts downed inside the five, we had two of those and then the return by Corey Grant to the 32-yard line. Great job there. 100 percent possession. Scoring opportunities. They did a great job. Check marks by every category that we had hoped to accomplish on our special teams. (On the problems, schematically, Julius Thomas presents when he splits out wide) I think what can happen is you try to find out. Some teams will do it when you are in man or zone because if they see a
linebacker out there and the corners are over then you are generally in man principles. If the corner is over, then it is generally some form of a zone. You can look and find out what type of coverage they are in, man or zone, when you do that. Sometimes you are looking for matchups. Who is matched up against him? Sometimes it is to attack. Putting speed over at one side to attack a defense with speed. Every play has a different idea of why you are attacking the defense doing that. (On how versatile the offense becomes with Thomas and Marcedes Lewis ability to catch the ball and also block) Now that we feel strongly about that, teams have to make a decision about what they are going to do when both Julius and Marcedes are in. Are they going to go base or nickel? (On burning timeouts early in the second half) It is not ideal. It would have been great to have our timeouts. There are situations that come up in a game and we tell Blake, if there is a look that he doesn t like or feel comfortable with and he can t get out of it, that he does have that freedom. I know there was a look that he didn t like. I know the clock was running down on one of them, too. Those things happen. They are precious. You want to be able to have them at the very end of the game. I think with seven minutes left to go in the game we were out of timeouts. That is not the ideal situation. (On if the loss is still tough on him today) Yeah, when we we re planning for this game, I expected our best. I felt that we were going to play really well. I am shocked that we didn t play well. I think that what I am surprised is that I really felt that we are going to win this game. That is a good sign. It is a good sign for our team, too. There is a difference between you expecting to win and you knowing you are going to win. When you know you are going to win, you are shocked if you lost and that is what this team is feeling now. I think that is a good step for our team. We do not accept the loss. We do not accept it. How they are handling it now shows me a lot about them. (On Prince Amukamara and Davon House s performances) I thought on the perimeter, pretty good. When they have extended plays it wasn t like they completed one pass on an extended play. They got out of the pocket on numerous occasions and that is where they (were) made. We did a good job downfield. I can remember early in the game, Prince, and he did a good job. I thought on the perimeter, pretty good. Pretty good on the perimeter, as far as our coverage. There were a couple receivers that were cut loose. That happened and have to clean those things up.