Clearly, we've got a lot to talk about. Before we get into that, I'd like to take a look at what our coaches and players said about yesterdays game!
Head Coach Jack Del Rio:
Opening Statement:
"We identified this as a big, big game and a big challenge. A good football team the Texans brought in here and it was going to take a team effort and I thought we had that, so it's good to get out of here with a nice solid victory. We have another one coming up next week before you know it. So we're going to enjoy this one today, and then we have an extra day in the week going forward so we will take tomorrow off as a team, the players take tomorrow off, and we'll get back to work Tuesday. We've got a lot of work in front of us. A very solid team effort. There was some adversity we had to fight through early in the ballgame. Guys did a nice job of playing with discipline and poise, two things that I stressed all throughout the week. I feel like the maturity of this football team is improving. The hunger that we're playing with and the attention to detail we preparing with during the week are things that I believe in. We talk about our process and how to go about our work and I think it's been very solid, so therefore here we are starting our second quarter of our season with a good solid home win. Some outstanding individual efforts; Maurice Jones-Drew clearly had a phenomenal game. I didn't even have to wait until we got to tape to give him a game ball. He was sensational. There were a lot of good efforts. Fred (Taylor) got us started with that big run. David (Garrard) played, again, very, very good football, making good decisions, really directing our offense, getting us in some good plays, accurate with the ball. I can't say enough about the way he's playing. He's done a great job for us. The passing game is coming. We're making progress there. Defensively, I thought we gave up a couple of things through the air that we'd like to clean up, but by and large a really solid effort. A little garbage time late, it kind of makes it look a little different than it really felt, but all in all a good solid team victory."
On the Onside Kick:
"We talked as a football team about going to play to win and doing it in attack mode, and it was something we thought we would be able to accomplish successfully; gave it a shot."
On the slow start:
"No. Why would I be? I think it was a good solid half, back and forth stuff, two teams going after each other. I delivered the message; told our sideline before we did it and be ready to back me up now. If we don't get it, we were ready to roll, ready to play. I think the guys bought into that whole `we're going to attack and play this game to win right away."
Quarterback David Garrard:
On the game:
"It feels great. The way things started off, I didn't know if that was going to happen, but the guys stuck with me and allowed me to make a few mistakes, but they continued on making plays. As the game progressed, my passes got a little better and we started running the ball better, so overall I would have to say it was a total great job by our guys."
On what kind of mistakes he made:
We weren't quite clicking as well as I thought we should. I was missing guys. I got sacked on the first play. I allowed their coverage--not to fool me--but the way I saw the corner sitting outside, I didn't think I could get the ball to our guy. I thought he was sitting on it pretty good, I just trusted what I saw. Plays that I knew I should be completing the ball, those are the things when I'm out of my "A" game."
On the Jaguar ball control offense:
"It's really not ball control. We want to stretch the field; we want to throw it deep. We want to have the 30, 40, 50-yard plays and score fast, but sometimes the defense won't let you do that. So we have to take what they're giving us and offensively, we can do that. We're just going to continue to go out there, take what they give us and not try to press. We don't want to try to do more than what we're capable of doing."
On helping the defense:
"One of the best things we're doing right now is giving the defense time to rest. Whenever you can go through a game and not have to punt the ball, that's a big thing. And to have two turnovers early and still be up at halftime is also big. It shows how resilient this team is."
On the touchdown pass to Wrighster:
"We practiced that play all week long. I remember the last time we ran it in practice, Wrightster dropped it and he was that wide open in practice. But I knew when it happened in the game, I knew he was going to make the play. There was no doubt in my mind he would make the catch."
On continuing to throw the fade route:
"All week long we were throwing fades and completing them.--every one of them. I think we completed 12-for-12 all week long. All of them for touchdowns. Then we get in the game and were trying to hit the guy in the first row. That's something we'll work on and next week and the weeks after, the things we do right in practice, we can carry over to the game."
On how defenses are playing the Jaguars offense:
"They're putting everybody in the box. They're trying to stop the run. They're making us throw the ball outside, but they're really not giving us anything deep. They know we have big receivers, so they're really bailing out and making us keep everything underneath."
Running Back Maurice Jones-Drew:
On the difference the last two weeks with his plays:
"I think just practicing, improving on the running game in general. We go into practice and everyone has that mindset of `we're going to do what it takes.' It's always one person's block if you don't run the ball successfully, it's always one thing that's going to go wrong with our running game. And so today everyone was doing their job. Everyone was on a guy, we were running toss plays, there were giant holes, we were running all type of things. Everyone was on their block and everyone was hustling to the ball. When you have that I'm able to make moves or have someone behind me coming to help me out."
On worrying about a sophomore jinx:
"No, not really. I think more than anything coming off last year, just like you guys, we expected the running game to be the same. It's a new season and coming in the first couple of weeks everyone wanted to stop the run. So we had to show we could throw the ball around. After we threw the ball a little bit people started to lighten up a little bit. Now we're able to get back into our running game and our offense more - I think we had 200 yards rushing and passing today. So it's kind of hard to hone in on one deal because if you hone in on one it's kind of like picking your poison."
On repeating the performance next week:
"Last year was last year. We kind of figured that out at the beginning of the season. We're not too much worried about last year, we know we have a tough game coming up Monday night obviously. The Colts are playing great, they still didn't pick me in the draft so I'm still upset about that. We'll just have to go out there and play. Their defense is playing pretty good right now, so I'm expecting some calls this week, they're expecting some, too. It's going to be a fun game, give everybody a great show."
On going after defenders:
"You've got to deliver the blow; you don't ever want to accept it. I'd rather deliver it than accept it - it hurts more when you accept it. I figure by the end of the second quarter they won't want to tackle you up top anymore. That's kind of our motto. You see Fred do it all the time - he'll kind of give a guy a little shake and he'll run into him. You've got to keep them off-balance a little bit."
On not catching the long pass:
"Oh, man, I had him beat, too. Dave threw a great ball. I had him beat and I tried to lay out for it. I saw the receivers can do it, so I thought I could, but my arms aren't long enough to go out and try to bring it in at the same time. So it looks like I'll be working on that."
On the fourth quarter breakout:
"I think it was those long drives we had in the beginning. We had two costly fumbles in the beginning, and guys were upset about it but there's nothing you can do about it. That's kind of our mindset. We just went in and kept grinding. We had those two long drives and that kind of tired them out. You know the Jacksonville weather gets you if you're not used to it. I guess they kind of got worn down and we were able to do some things. The offensive line was great blocking, the tight ends and receivers were out there blocking and it was just a great overall effort."
On touchdown celebrations:
"The theme this week was `non-fineable.' I tried to do as much as I can not to get fined. We saw the Karate Kid earlier this week so I decided to do Mr. Miagi. I stole Mike Peterson's flex-cam, I did that a little bit. I was just trying to have fun and that's all that matters. I think when you have fun everyone has fun. The offensive linemen love it anyways. They always say, `do this, do that, do that one.'"