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Jaguars News | Jacksonville Jaguars - jaguars.com

Doug Marrone - Saturday, July 28, 2018

(Opening Statement) "This morning we took David Grinnage off PUP, so he should be practicing tonight. We are looking forward to that. Obviously, it is the first time in pads, so now I think we are starting to play. 

(On how much he has talked to his players about the helmet rule and how he is going about teaching that) "For the last couple of days, we have talked to them about how it is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate or make contact with his helmet against an opponent. Obviously, that has been a lot of the talk around the league and what we have been trying to get accomplished. I think the league has tried to come out … It's been a couple of the head coaches that have made tapes. It is kind of like training tapes. We had the ability to show that – all of the tapes to our players. We showed them all the tapes, and we are constantly coaching in our meetings trying to make sure that they understand the proper way to play the game. We want them to play the game safely, but yet we don't want to lose the physicality. I think it's going to be important. Hopefully everyone is doing that, and I think that we have to take the lead on it, and we have to do a heck of a job coaching it." 

(On if Leon Jacobs is ahead of where most rookies would be at this point) "I don't know if he is ahead or not from that standpoint. Blair [Brown] is very good off the football. He's done a good job. Leon's done a nice job, and we are just going to look at him where he is playing."

(On what he likes about Leon Jacobs) "I like his length, like his strength, think he has good speed, good change of direction, but again, the pads are on now, so we will see." 

(On if there is anything he looks for from rookies when the pads go on) "No. I don't really look at people like rookies or veterans when I'm watching them play football. I'm evaluating them, what they do on the field talent wise. I guess if I would say anything that I look at with rookies is that we have guys here before, so we showed tape today about how we want to practice and what THUD is and things of that nature. For me as a coach, I just want to make sure that they can see something, show them on tape and they can go out to the field and do it and not try to be a hero during camp." 

(On if everything is OK with Donte Moncrief's ankle) "OK enough to give it a try tonight." 

(On if he has noticed a difference in the way Blake Bortles throws the ball compared to when his wrist was bothering him) "No, but you guys have been around. I think he has gotten off to a better start than he did last year." 

(On if Bortles' improvement is due to the health of his wrist improving) "Not to my knowledge. I have no idea. He would be much better at answering that question than me." 

(On how excited he is to see Taven Bryan in pads) "I don't know. If he does a good job, I will be excited. If he doesn't, I won't be. Like I said, I don't go in there with high expectations for some, low expectations for the others. I just kind of take it how it is. If it is a good job, it is a good job, and I want to make sure I congratulate the players on it. If it's a poor job, I want to try to find something positive and try to get them to do it right. My job is obviously to never get too high and never get too low and try to keep things even-keeled and just basically what is on the tape is on the tape. Whether you did something last year and you did it well … To me, I made mistakes before in the past, which I promised not to make again, which is all of a sudden if someone does not do it well, you say to yourself, 'Well, they did it before. They will be able to do it again.' B.S. They have to show that they can do it, and we have to coach it and we have to do a better job of coaching it and then hopefully it is about … It's not hopefully, but this business is about results." 

(On if he has a better handling on the kickoff rules and how they will strategize with it) "We have a good handle on the rules. It will be interesting … We put obviously a lot into it – the thought process with [Special Teams Coordinator] Joe [DeCamillis] and [Assistant Special Teams Coordinator] Mike Mallory. I do not know in the preseason if you are going to see maybe the extent of what you are going to see when the season starts, but I think it is going to be something where everyone is going to be looking at all 31 other teams. Everyone is going to be looking to see what people are doing, to see if we made sure we covered all of our bases." 

(On if he expected the defense to still have a chip on their shoulder) "I don't know. I don't go in like, 'Hey, I want you to have this attitude. I want you to have that attitude.' But make no mistake about it, I like it when people have a chip on their shoulder. I have a boulder on my shoulder." 

(On if there are advantages of training camp being less physical than they used to be) "I don't know. I don't really bring it up as much to the players, not as much as I do when we talk in here. I don't want to sound like, 'When I went to school, I walked uphill both ways in three feet of snow.' You know what I'm saying? I don't want to do that. I don't know what the players bodies are going through, and I think any time something happens to you, you always think it's probably worse then what is happening. I think we maximize the amount of time that we have and it is tough for the players. In my opinion, everyone's training camp is tough."

(On what Cam Robinson has done to improve since the end of the 2017 season) "It's always hard to tell. It is a great question because there are a lot of things, but I have seen guys do a lot of great things in their offseason and not have the results that they wanted. I have seen some guys maybe not do everything that they were supposed to do, but then they had results when they started to play. For me, the plan goes out there – this is what you need to do and this is where you need to be. If you fall short of it or you have gotten ahead of it, it is still going to be about how you play and the results of it. I think sometimes you get a little bit too enamored with the stats or the weights and all of that. I do think it is important. I am not dismissing that, but to me, I think it is more important to see how he does on the field and one of the things is that he has been in the system for a year. I think he has a better grasp of it, but I still think he is a young football player and has a lot ahead of him." 

(On if Jalen Ramsey gave him a date for his return) "He is going to try to get back here as fast as he can. I do not want to give you a date and then all of a sudden…He will be here when he can get here." 

(On Tyler Patmon making plays in Jalen Ramsey's absence and what he has seen) "Exactly what you said. I think that 'Pat' has done a nice job. He has made plays on the outside, and he has also been doing a good job on special teams. That was something that we stressed with him in the offseason, and he has responded to that. That is something where he showed he has the ability to be in position to do that, and then now it is a matter of when we start playing to actually do it when we get on the field." 

(On if Keelan Cole has a rare professional approach as a second-year player) "I think he is a guy that does not take anything for granted. I think that he is an extremely hard worker. I see the same traits that he had when he was trying to make the team last year, which everyone is trying to do. Everyone is trying to make the 53-[man roster] again. In summer, I was here a couple of times. I was here over the weekend, and I saw him in here. That does not surprise me because of his work ethic. I think that he is a player that stays hungry. He seems like he has never lost sight of where he came from, meaning what he had to do. I appreciate that. I appreciate that in all players when I see the extra work that they put in, the extra time and the things of that nature. Sometimes you see it and they are able to get the results on the field, and it is great. It is hurtful when you see it, and they can't achieve those results on the field because you know that someone has put everything into it. That is the tough part I have always had about this game. I have had a lot of players where as far as their effort and what they have done … A couple of them have become coaches, and they are very good coaches. They are at two major universities. Those two players were probably the hardest working players, did everything that you wanted, were tough, had good leadership, but at the end of the day they just fell short from what they needed to do to make the team with nine offensive linemen. They were 10th a lot. That is the hardest part, when those players come in and you have to talk to them and you have to release them. You wish everyone had that type of attitude as far as how they worked and things of that nature. It is easy to cut someone that does not really give a [expletive] and doesn't care and does not do what they are supposed to do and doesn't get results. It is tough when people are pouring everything in their lives and doing everything they possibly can." 

(On how Andrew Norwell adds to the physical aspect of the team) "I saw it on tape in Carolina. He did a nice job. I thought he was a good, physical player. He played extremely well being a Pro-Bowl player. We are looking for him to get better and repeat that type of productivity. He has done a nice job. He goes out there. He is a guy that goes to work every single day, does not really say much, plays with great intensity, and we will see how he does coming up here in the next couple of days."

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