Head Coach DeMeco Ryans
On the Jaguars potentially getting Trevor Lawrence back and how that boosts their team
"Yeah, we're excited to go against whoever lines up at quarterback for them. This week really isn't about the Jags. It's all about the Texans, so whoever goes out there really has no bearing on what we're doing. We're just trying to go out and execute and play our brand of football. Play the best that we can play and that's it."
On what indication he is received from the players that shows they're taking it to heart and making change
"Our guys have attacked this week the right way. They've attacked with the right mindset. Just being out on the practice field today. Guys are dialed in and locked in on what we're doing. They're flying around. Energy is up, so I'm happy to see just the way that we came out to practice today. It's a great indicator of us having a really great week."
On what changes have been made over the last couple weeks
"Yeah, most of that is internal. It's for us to go out and execute. That's what everyone needs to see. We'll make the proper adjustments on things that we need to make and it just has to show up on Sunday."
On how he feels they have done with building a good team around C.J. Stroud
"Yeah, we have a really good team. I don't know where the narrative is going, but we're a really good team and when we play well and finish we're a good team. We have the guys that we need to go out and win games. We miss some guys, but that's all NFL teams. You're going to miss some guys here or there due to injury and those things, but you keep rolling and keep battling each and every week and that's what our guys have done."
On how difficult it is for opposing quarterbacks to deal with the pass rush duo of Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter
"Our rushing duo really raises havoc. I think it is really hard on opposing quarterbacks and we see that in how teams try to protect against us with the chips and trying to slow our guys down. That just shows how much respect that they have when the coordinators are preparing, they have to make sure that they block the edges and keep the edges blocked. Our guys are still doing a great job at finding a way to get pressure on the quarterback and get him down."
On the mental side of execution
"For our mindset when you line up, you have to first and foremost believe in yourself and believe why you're in the NFL as a player. You have to have that confidence that you can go out and make any play possible like that's why you're here. You're one of the best in the world at playing football. You just operate that way and not with a high confidence or sense of pride about yourself. You do it in a humble way and you just go out and execute to the best of your ability, but you have to have some confidence and some swagger every time you step on to the field and our guys have that confidence and swagger about them."
On if there is any past experiences he has had that he has leaned on during this tough stretch
"No, everything for me is just organic with our team and I have a good pulse of our team and where we are and what we need. I make sure that I lead in that manor."
On if there is any extra importance on this game leading into the Bye Week
"It's important that it's our next game. I don't know how you put extra importance on any game. Every game is important and that doesn't change. Every time I step in front of our team, every game is important. It doesn't change that just because we lost, it's more important. Well when we win, they're just as important as well. Every game matters and of course you want to win as many as you possibly can by going out and playing the game the right way."
On why the Titans game stung a little bit more than previous games
"That game for me last week that I've talked about for a couple days now, it's the mistakes that we made. Everything was about us and that's solely on us and the mistakes that we made is why we didn't win that game."
On if the defense will change with S Jalen Pitre out and how he is a unique player
"Yeah, Jalen is a very unique player. Jalen did a lot for us defensively and again, we'll deploy our guys however we need to put them out there. It doesn't change everything that we'll do. You'll miss the dynamic play making ability that Jalen has because he is such an impactful player."
On what things he wants to see from his team that he take into the Bye Week
"For me, everything is about Sunday. What I want to see our guys do is just go out and play clean football. Eliminate the negative plays that are self-inflicted and if we do that then that's all I want to see. That gives us a chance to truly compete and see where we are. Too many times in games that haven't gone our way, it's been solely because of us and things that we can control. My message to our guys is just intensely focus on the things that we can control and when do that and get out of our own way then we can fully focus on the opponent and focus on beating the opponent opposed to beating ourselves."
On balancing allowing guys to have time with their families while also being ready for the game
"For us, I told our guys it's really no holiday for us like it's a normal week for us. Of course, we'll give them time eat – not too much as Aaron says but we'll give them that time with their families. Our focus is on the game and that's where it has to be. If you focus too much on the holiday and Thanksgiving, then that sets you back and you're not prepared and ready to go on Sunday."
On how he balances the positivity and moving forward while also being accountable
"That's just my nature and who I am like that's part of the job. I balance it by just making sure every day is a new day for me and I attack it with a positive mindset and positive outlook making sure our guys are encouraged and upbeat with everything that we do. A lot of times when you lose a game or something doesn't go your way, you'd think that the sky was falling. Like everything is just doom and gloom because you lost a game and everyone has the answers on what you should be doing, or what changes you need to make. That's what we do. In the NFL you're going to lose some games and of course you don't want to lose, but it happens. That doesn't just zap all of our energy and zap what we're truly made of and who we are as men and people. We bounce back. It's another day and it's a blessing to see another day and it's a blessing to do what we do for a living. We have a positive outlook on everything and every single week we have a positive outlook on that and whatever we need to do, we've got to be the best team on Sunday. That's about executing on Sunday."
On if there is a theme with negative plays and when they're occurring
"Negative plays happen. You talk about technique, poor eye discipline, poor decision making with penalties. A lot of lack of – maybe it's a lack of focus in certain areas. It's just a lot of different things and different people that make certain mistakes and that doesn't change in football. That's what it is. Guys make mistakes all the time and nobody is perfect. I make that our guys know that no one is going to be perfect, but it's all about just making progress on the things that you can control like your eye discipline and decision making. You can control those things, so if you can control those things then that sets you up and puts you in position to make a play or help the team make a play. When your eyes are off or you're not listening or you missed a call, or a check. Those are things that are unacceptable for me."
On what S Jimmie Ward brings to the nickel role
"Yeah, Jimmie has played a lot of spots for us and Jimmie is a versatile player. He has played in the back end. He can play all over the back end and we'll see where Jimmie lines up on Sunday and he's been a good playmaker for us. Wherever he lines up, it will be dynamic and he'll make some plays. He flies around and has a swarming mentality, so wherever we put him, that's what he'll do."
Offensive Coordinator Bobby Slowik
On the struggle of executing on offense with the offensive line struggles
"I thought our protection was pretty good until the fourth quarter. I thought we did what we wanted to do in the pass game. We needed to run the ball better early on. Eventually you play, really a front four, all four guys are really good. That is why they are in second and third downs and number one in pass defense They have a very good rush, and we are aware of that. We have a lot of different protection things that we had built into the plan but eventually when those guys get one on ones and you have to throw enough, good players are going to be good players. It is something that you are aware of as a whole offense, not just as guys up front. I thought we did a good thing handling that over the first three quarters, from the o-line to the quarterback understanding where he had to get to and where we had to get the ball out. By the time we got to the fourth quarter, eventually they just caught up to us. Especially those last three plays."
On the key to getting RB Joe Mixon back on track this week
"We have only had two games where he has played and hasn't gotten 100 yards. That would be in Detroit and this last one. Those I would say are probably the two games that us as an offense would look at and say we did our worst job in the run game, starting with me and the schemes we were doing and trying to get done and then how we executed them. This last game, far too often we weren't blocking linebackers. Nobody is going to be able to run the ball well when we consistently have three linebackers. It really just starts from there. I know head coaches reference it, it is the same way through the team. Right now, we are hyper focused on doing our job to the best of our ability, to the smallest detail. That is what has shown up when we have issues."
On why it has been more difficult finding consistency on the offense compared to last season
"I am pretty positive our offense is better right now. I think outside of having abnormal situations. Everyone talks about the bad, but we do some incredible situational things for really half of the three quarters of the game. We are like fourth in points in the first half and I don't even think we are good in the red zone in the first half so there is a whole lot out there still. We do some really great stuff, and we have an immense amount of penalties that last year we weren't as disciplined in that regard. Just being willing at times when I have to let up. We have had a whole lot of errors that we have continued to clean up and has led to a whole lot of inconsistency. Last year, we had some of that but not as much I would say would be the big difference. Beyond that, I think all of us in the room when we get together there is a lot of belief that what we are doing right now and where we are going, we will be fine."
On the interior changes on the offensive line and why there is inconsistency
"I would say there has been inconsistency across the whole offense. I don't believe I have said anything about the interior guys. It is really just everywhere across the offense we have a fatal error somewhere along the way at a critical spot. I think a lot of the time it is easy to see the guys up front. That is the easiest place to see where something falls apart or breaks down. But there are some run plays where our tracks off. There are some run plays where we are not necessarily blocking the edge player like we are supposed to, whether it is the tight end or receiver position. There are some protections that look like issues where a route needs to be different, or the ball should be out. There are a lot of different things when you have 11 guys on the field trying to execute a play at the same time. I would say as far as the interior three goes, it is the same message as the whole offense. We just have to do our job more often to the smallest detail."
On thoughts on QB C.J. Stroud's season so far and the picks that are uncharacteristic of him
"C.J. [Stroud] is probably going to say it is not up to his standard if it is not a Hall of Fame year. He just has incredible expectations for himself, we all do. That is why we love him. He absolutely will carry the burden of whatever he needs to carry to get a win. Sometimes it is even too much. He needs to back off a little bit, C.J. is doing a really great job, he is growing. I know the games, I have gone certain ways in certain moments that maybe it doesn't seem that way but the stuff he is doing on the practice field for multiple weeks now, some of the plays he is making in the games. Really if he could take one play back from last game, other than that he played pretty spot on. That is all you can ask for from your leader. He is going to challenge himself to be better all the time. We have to be better around him. I have to do a better job with some of the play calls for him but what he is doing on the practice field in the past few weeks, it is just a matter of time."
On if he sees a change in the way teams play them in the second half that leads them to being unsuccessful
"I wish I did. I really wish I did. We have been talking about this for the whole season, I feel like at this point. We have tried all kinds of different things, we will continue trying a lot of different approaches in a lot of different areas until something fits. But at the end of the day, whatever happens in the second half was that we had an immense amount of penalties, we were bad on third down and we couldn't run the ball. It doesn't matter if you play first half, second half, you play at noon or you play at seven p.m., that is going to be bad football. That is really what it is when you go back and look at it. Every second half hasn't been bad, the ones that have been bad we have played bad football. They have doing really what we expect them to do. That is where I think early on it led to frustration that I am sure everybody felt from just us as an offense and now we are in a December football mode. We know what we have been doing in practice. We know what we have been doing in the meeting rooms, we know where we feel like we are going and how close we are at any given moment. How close we were to even winning that game if you just take a penalty away. Right now, we have a lot of belief in each other, and we are excited to play December football and showcase that to everybody."
On how necessary this bye week is for the offense
"Our mindset right now is just everything we got on Jacksonville. We use the phrase, 'empty the tank'. Give it all you got because after this it is literally a one game season, and we can think about the rest later. That is kind of where all of us are. I would say I haven't even realized it until someone told me this week that we have really been going from the Hall of Fame game to now. Which is probably the longest stretch I have gone through a season. It seems so far out there that it is hard to even get there yet. We have to do everything we can to get a W on Sunday."
On how they can fix the penalties in the second half of games
"Yeah, I think there's multiple ways. It starts with just everybody being accountable. I know we had a third-and-6 in the second half that we get a pre-snap penalty on, move back to third-and-11, we get another pre-snap penalty, we move back to third-and-16, we only have so many ops at third-and-16 we're going to convert. And I think on that one we actually had a chance and we just didn't make the play. But you can only overcome yourself so many times and we've been through this story so much this year. Everyone understands the repercussions. Everyone's extremely accountable in our room in understanding what they can and can't do and how it affects everyone around them and how important that is. But also, when you strain so hard, as everyone knows, as you strain so hard, you've got to learn, sometimes, 'When do I have to stop, or when do I have to make sure that, man, I've got some cue, or I've got some word where I've got to chill out for a second on some of this pre-snap stuff?' There's a lot of different things that go into that. We talked about a lot of them as coaches. I know they've talked about it a lot, probably more than we have, as players, because we know it's not who we are. It's not. And we don't do it in practice and the fact that it shows up in games is something that we've got to continue to work through and, really, we've had multiple games back-to-back, it has not been an issue for a while and it reared its head at home, which probably the most frustrating part is we're at home and that should be to our advantage."
On what makes him confident their struggles in the second half of games are abnormal
"The tape. When you watch the film, you could see how close, just like the first half, when we make plays, the second half, we haven't been making plays. I know our quarterback's history is that he is an extremely, extremely efficient and good two-minute quarterback and that's not going to go anywhere. And, I mean, how close we are, really, really, throughout the season on a lot of these plays in the second half is we're right there and you don't just change because all of a sudden he blows a whistle at halftime and we go in the locker room for two minutes and come out and now we're completely different people. We believe in the process and the process here is very sound and our players believe in the process and, like I said, we can see it it's been different the last three, four weeks and eventually it's just the nature of sports that's going to manifest itself on the field."
On if he thinks QB C.J. Stroud feels that the expectations set for him at the beginning of the season were too high and how the coaches are helping him grow in his second year
"I would say, specific to the expectations, C.J. is going to – no one in the world is going to have higher expectations for C.J. than himself. And then probably right below that is his family. And then probably right below that is us as coaches. And he is fervent in his desire to be coached and be coached hard and be as good as he can possibly be and embraces that to the nth degree. I would say as far as specifically this year, I think – I've got nothing but good things to say about C.J. I think, early on, he and us altogether worked through some things, really through the first four weeks or so and then he was able to retie to really what he did excellently last year and now it's been nothing but growth since then. Now, there's been some interceptions, there's been some mistakes. I mean, people may not have known it, but there were mistakes last year some of them hurt us, some of them, they didn't. But what he's doing right now and how he's growing as a quarterback and where he's at and how he sees the offense, how he operates and still, some of the things he does off schedule, all you're trying to really do at this point when he is as good as he is, is you need to build consistency. And he's on his way to doing exactly that and there's probably a lot of things that people from the outside see and think is on him and it's not. And there's some other things that he's going to continue to try to strain and improve upon. But I think every week for him, particularly the latter half of the year, he's been taking step after step after step after step, like I said, what he's doing on the practice field these recent weeks is a matter of time before it shows on game day."
QB C.J. Stroud
On what he thinks it will take to get the offense going in all four quarters
"Just focus. I think that's the main thing, just focus every play in and out. And just not hang your head down after one bad play. Learning to just move on from it and continue to just trust in yourself, trust in everybody around you. I think that's what we can do to have four quarters of good offense."
On how he feels the players hold themselves and each other accountable
"We handle that internally. We've been doing that since Week 1, every week, win or loss, accountability needs to be had. So, yeah, it's been all around, everybody's looked themselves in the mirror. So, we've done a good job of that. So, now it's just time to go every week try to improve and get better."
On if he thinks he should not be as hard on himself as he is sometimes
"Maybe. I don't know. I like it. I believe that, that helps me get better and just have a sense of urgency. I try not to be a careless person and try to – because I know a lot of people depend on me on the field, off the field. So, I've got to definitely be smarter. So, yeah, I don't think I – I try to have some grace with myself, but also at the same time, have that sense of urgency to know that I have to play better and get better for us to start winning more games."
On if his mom helps him have more grace with himself
"No, she definitely is like a mediator and tells me things that I probably need to hear. I try to listen to her more than I can and she does a good job of telling me to just smell my flowers and everything is not as bad as it seems, or it's not as good as it seems. So, she's very honest with me and does a great job of building me up when I need it."
On the challenges the Jacksonville defense presents
"Yeah, of course, Josh and Trey do a great job on the edge and then [LB] Devin [Lloyd] and [LB Foyesade Oluokun] 23 do a good job at backer. And that's kind of – the front seven do a really good job and then [S Andre] Cisco is leading the DBs. And they've got [CB Tyson Campbell] #3 back and he's a good player. So, I don't think the record speaks to the team they are. It's another great challenge, defensively, for us. They've played against a lot of good teams and held them to a lot less points. They played Minnesota very well, played Philly very well. So, we've got to come with our A-game knowing that every game takes every single play from the start to the finish to get a W."
On if he puts more weight on what the stats say about his performance or how the naked eye evaluates his performance
"I'm going off of film. That's the eye in the sky doesn't lie. And the question right back to you, would you want to stay the same year-to-year? Right, same with me. I just want to be better. I want to continue to grow. And I think I have grown in areas this year. And there's things that are out of my control that I can't handle, but there are also a lot of things that are in my control. So, I try to do those things the best as I can. But yeah, year to year, I want to see myself grow. I don't want to see myself stagnant and just – it's like a waterfall. If a waterfall is stagnant, it molds up, it gets dirty. When it's flowing and it's getting better, everything is clearer, you've got things coming to the water now and fish are eating, so that's what I see as everybody around me getting better. So, I just want to continue to get better and I think I'll be able to do that this year."
On what he does to reset
"Yeah, it hasn't been easy. I think we have the latest bye. So, we haven't had any time to kind of like breathe. But, I mean, that's the NFL. That's our job. So, this week, we've really got to come back with another week of just hard work, a lot of just grinding because we're right around the corner from our bye and I think that'll be a good thing for all of this team. But we're not focused on that right now. We've got to focus on Jacksonville and getting a dub and we'll get the rest after that."
On if he is seeing similar things on film as others of how close they are to cleaning up their second half performances and how he helps dial-in on those things
"Yeah, I see the same things. We've got some of the best teams in the league hanging onto the second half and then we just have, like [Offensive Coordinator] Bobby [Slowik] says, a play here, a drive here, a turnover there, whatever the case may be. If we clean those thing ups, we can really win more games. And I think our record, honestly, doesn't – it's not a bad record, but it's not a good record either, in my opinion, for the type of team we have. But we're at where we're at and the rest of our future is ahead of us. So, there's a lot of things to look forward to, but I think what our record says isn't the team we are. I think a lot of teams around the league know it too. But we know that, ultimately, inside, that our team can be a lot better and we can play with anybody and we've got to just learn to not play down our competition and play to win and dominate every single play and I think the more we can do that, the better we'll be."
On how important DE Will Anderson Jr. has been for his growth this season
"He's been huge. He's been amazing. He's been able to not only just help me in football, but on our walk with the Lord and that's been very big and also just we go through a lot of the similar things of being the youngest in our family, a lot of people depending on us, a lot of that weight. So, we've been able to talk to each other about those things as well. So, it's a lot of just brotherhood with me and him and I have a lot of love for him and just really appreciative of him building me up and then also being honest with me."
On what he would say is the Houston Texans brand of football
"Smashmouth, S.W.A.R.M. mentality. You can go on and on. I mean, explosive and I think we've aced a lot of those things, but it's the in between, the when they do play whatever coverage and it's not there, just taking the check down. Or – I'm talking for myself and just the little fundamentals of the game, I think, as well, we can get better at.
