QUOTES/TRANSCRIPTS REGULAR SEASON WEEK 17 AT HOUSTON
<strong>JAGUARS</strong> HEAD COACH GUS BRADLEY MEDIA AVAILABILITY MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 (Opening statement) “Like I said last night, I had a chance to watch the tape and boy, I’ve got the utmost respect for the Saints and what they did yesterday and their offense and how they came out and executed. With that being said, I think our whole objective was to be better on third down and to come out of the gates starting fast, and we didn’t do that. It showed up offensively, defensively; special teams I thought did pretty well. But the two major units, we lost the turnover battle coming out. Defense couldn’t get off the field. The time of possession was 38 minutes to 22 minutes. They gained 29 first downs, eight for 13 on third downs, so not exactly how we wanted to start the game the way we started. As I look back at it, offensively, you look at the second half, the way we responded. Blake was 18 of 21, 85 percent, 288 yards, 3 touchdowns, zero interceptions. That remains a strong suit for us. Offensively, we do score points in the second half and it was good to see. I think we scored on our fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth possession on offense, which is all good signs. Defensively, we just struggled. This is a precision league. Offensively, New Orleans was third in yards, first in passing yards, first in first down efficiency, second or third, I think, in third down. So a very powerful offense that has scored over 24 points the last four games, five games. We knew what we were getting into. When I talked to the defense about it too, it’s one thing to talk about precision, its one thing to talk about execution and how you have to be on it, but it’s another to experience that, and we experienced it. Hopefully, when you experience something like that, a hard memory like this, you can go back and draw from.” (How did you treat this game, having a lot of injuries?) “As far as with our players, it’ll probably be the same. We’ll see how they are health-wise, and we’ll make sure they’re healthy. We’ll make sure the guys can play and evaluate it as far as that’s concerned.” (Would you like to know your job status as you prepare for this game?) “No. My mindset has always been to do what’s best for this organization and what’s best for this team. Just continue with that.” (Is it a good idea to sit some guys?) “As we look at our guys, we’ll get the injury report, see where they’re at. Are they 100 percent? Where are they? But it’s like that every week. Can they do further harm? Is there a chance at re-injury? Can they make it worse? And then gather all of that information and decide from there.” (Would it make sense to reduce Allen Hurns’ and Allen Robinson’s playing time to see other receivers?) “We haven’t even had those discussions yet. My mindset is that if the guys are healthy and they can go, we talk about always compete, so let’s compete. That doesn’t mean that there might not be some personnel changes or guys that we look at, just like what we did with Nick Marshall. If there’s a chance that we think that can help us, if we need to take a look at it, we’ll do it.” (Do you regret putting Marshall in a couple of weeks ago?) “No. The consistency thing is what shows up. I think he’s experiencing some things now, different situations come up in the game. Some of the traits that we like about Nick, you’re seeing. We’re seeing the tighter coverage, we’re seeing him getting his hands on guys at the line of scrimmage. Just understanding the situations and understanding who you’re on and when you’re on him, the time of the game, the situation involved, those things he’s learning from that.”
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