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Jaguars News | Jacksonville Jaguars - jaguars.com

Disappointed in last two games

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The following is the transcript of Tuesday's question and answer session between Vic Ketchman and Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver.

Vic: Wayne, what happened in Seattle?
Wayne:Vic, we are all disappointed. We just don't look like the same team that played Pittsburgh and Tennessee. We played with such intensity and emotion in those games. Clearly we have some additional injuries but I'm disappointed in the play of the team.

Vic: The slogan for this season is "Go All Out." Did you get that kind of effort from your team in Seattle?
Wayne: It's hard to say a player didn't give it his all but, certainly, you didn't feel the intensity and emotion in the play that we saw in the first weeks of the season. I can only say, again, I'm disappointed in our play. After winning our first two games, I really felt we would be 4-0 going into the bye week. We let some great opportunities get away from us.

Vic: No one has remained as supportive of your players and coaches as you have. What do you see in them that cause you to have such faith?
Wayne: There's no question that our players want to win. Tom Coughlin and our coaches are a dedicated bunch. They're working hard over there. It's hard to put a finger on how we let this get away this early in the season. We have to go back and regroup and give it another go on Thursday night against Buffalo.

Vic: With the game against Buffalo on the horizon, there's going to be concern again about a blackout. If you would, please give us the NFL's side of the blackout rule.
Wayne: It's very complicated. We have a big stadium and we are a small market. I keep saying that for six-and-a-half years we've sold this place out. To panic now and say our building is too big and we can't sell it out because we're a small market, I just don't accept. We have to do a better job internally with our marketing of the stadium. The league is not going to change its blackout policy. When we came into the league, we didn't complain about having a big stadium in a small market. It was one of the things that we used to say when you come to Jacksonville you're going to get a big team gate. We used that as a positive, not a negative. To go back now and say, guys, guess what, we have too big a stadium in a small market, to me that doesn't fly.

Vic: As I recall, the comments back then were that the stadium was not big enough.
Wayne: I don't know if I remember that. Maybe fans in the street were saying that. If you go over to Gainesville, they get over 80,000 people on a Saturday. The fact remains that we have to do a better job of marketing this stadium; re-pricing some of our tickets. There's a lot of issues where we have to do better.

Vic: What do the other owners say about the blackout rule and their situation pertaining to blackouts?
Wayne: I think most of them feel no different than I do. You have to put a competitive team out there and, if you do, we feel the fans will support us. Some of it gets into pricing our tickets and we have to be realistic in how we look at that.

Vic:Are there other franchises that are dealing with this problem?
Wayne:Several cities have much bigger problems than we have. The Cardinals in Phoenix, New Orleans, but I don't want to pick on any team for various reasons. I think, even with the storied history of the Cowboys, I think their fan base is struggling.

Vic:This is the bye week, which is generally reserved for teams to evaluate themselves. Will you do that this week?
Wayne: Yes, we have to look at what's happened between the first two games and the last two games. We clearly have some work to do.

Vic: Give me a feeling of what you think this season can still be and what your expectations are?
Wayne: I'm still optimistic. I'm a very optimistic individual. I believe we can regroup and be a playoff team this season. I'll tell you, though, we have to do a lot of things differently than we did in these last two games. Our work is cut out for us.

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