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Jaguars News | Jacksonville Jaguars - jaguars.com

John DeFilippo - Thursday, September 26, 2019

(Opening statement) "It's great to see everybody, hope everyone is having a great day. Obviously, that's a great team win for us in the division at home. Our crowd was awesome, they really did a great job of being loud and all those good things. When you look at it as a coach, those are the best type of victories because all three phases played really, really well. Obviously, it started off with special teams giving us a short field and us [offense] being able to connect to James [O'Shaughnessy] there in the endzone. And then, obviously, the defense played lights out. We were just fortunate we did just enough on our part to help the team pull off that big victory in the division. Denver is probably one of best, if not the best 0-3 football team that I've ever seen. They're very well coached. I've had a tremendous amount of respect for [Broncos] [Head] Coach Vic Fangio and [Defensive Coordinator] Ed Donatell, who I've known for a long, long time. They do an absolutely tremendous job of coaching their defense. Those guys fly around to the football and do a great job. So we have our hands full on Sunday, but we'll be ready to go."

(On if the offense is playing well enough to use the pass to set up the run) "That's a good question. There are different ways to attack the defense each week. We go in with a plan on how we're going to attack teams early. Our mindset going into the game on Thursday night [against the Titans] was to try to get Leonard [Fournette] downhill. Obviously the first play of the game we got eight yards but that hold [holding penalty] and then it just snowballed on us a little bit from there in the run game. You try to have them both [run and pass game] play off each other but, yes, you can at times do that."

(On the offensive line's focus this week) "We evaluated everything in the run game this week as a coaching staff. If you're not having the amount of success you want in a certain area, you have to be honest with yourself. How are we installing it? How am I calling it in the game? How are we executing it? If you don't look in the mirror and be honest with yourself then I think you have a really hard time getting better. Those are some of the tough conversations you have to have. This a big boy league and you have to have those big boy conversations at times. We were honest with ourselves this week and we went back and self-evaluated everything we're doing. From the way I'm calling it in the games, to the way we're teaching it, to the way we are executing it, to the pass, to everything. If you don't do that then you have no chance of getting better."

(On what Wide Receivers Coach Keenan McCardell has told him about DJ Chark's progression from last season) "The potential was always there. You see it a lot with rookies, you do. It's got to be a unique situation for a rookie to come in and dominate his first year, it really does. Some guys take longer than others. DJ was a little bit raw in some of his skills, in terms of the route running. I think you've seen DJ's confidence grow a tremendous amount, from what I've heard, from his rookie year until now. That equates to him playing faster. He's continuing to do a great job. We anticipate keeping him going at a high level. I don't see him slowing down at any point."

(On Leonard Fournette's pass-blocking ability) "It's greatly improved. That's what we need out of Leonard. That's what we expect out of our No. 1 tailback or anybody, but especially Leonard where that is somewhat of a new role for him. He's embraced it. He had a huge, huge blitz pickup on a key third down on the left sideline. He came across the formation and picked up the blitz and that was as good as it gets. It doesn't get any better than that. We need to keep him going in that realm and hopefully get him going running the football."

(On what strides he is most proud of that the offense has taken from last year) "It really doesn't have much to do from last year. It's really the resiliency of our offense. There is a lot of [adversity]. When you lose your starting quarterback 11 plays into the season, especially a guy that was a Super Bowl MVP and has continuity with the offensive coordinator that is new as well, I think you could have seen a lot of long faces in that locker room. That's a credit to Coach [Doug] Marrone and the way he has handled this team through the adversity. He is 'Steady Eddie.' I was talking to him about that yesterday. He's the same guy every day and you know what exactly you're going to get. I think that has helped our football team just as much as anything – it's his steadiness and not allowing us as coaches and players [to get down]. Let me tell you something, I was down as well. I'm human. When Nick [Foles] went down, I was down as well. When the leader of your team is steady, the people that are under him have a tendency to follow the leader and he's done an unbelievable job of keeping us resilient and on task."

(On how to slow down Von Miller and Bradley Chubb) "I slept about two hours last night. I did. A lot of those [hours] I laid awake thinking about 58 [Von Miller] and 55 [Bradly Chubb], to be honest with you. You have to have a plan because you can't let the other team's best players ruin the game. What's going to happen Sunday is going to happen, but you go in with a plan to not let the team's opposing best player ruin a football game. Now, who is better, 58 or 55? They're both great. They are both fantastic players and they are well-coached and they have all the pass rushing moves. The plan for them is – and I tell the offense all the time – we respect all, fear none. That's the mindset we are going into on Sunday."

(On if it is a fluke that Bradley Chubb and Von Miller don't have a sack) "I don't know. I'm not in that locker room, so I can't comprehend that. I know those two guys are as good as they get at their position."

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