JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG MARRONE MEDIA AVAILABILITY Monday, January 1, 2018 (On how he feels about coaching against his former team) For me, the past is the past. I m happy for them. They ve earned it, as well as we ve earned it. My focus is going to be on our football team. It s easy as that for me. (On if he s had the chance to see what they do well) No. I ve seen them during the year, but I really haven t. Sometimes you see some teams. It gets crossed, so some of the games you cover, you re able to see. We really haven t. We were well-prepared before knowing that we were going to play after the season is over. We were able to get all the stuff broken down and do all of those things of that nature, so we were ready to go right away. (On if he still receives backlash from Buffalo) I wouldn t know. I really don t really look for it. I don t know. (On if he received it when he took the head job in Jacksonville) I m sure. I don t know. Anytime you leave or go back, people make stuff bigger than what it is. My job is to coach this team. It s plain and simple. (On Buffalo experiencing a playoff game) They ve earned it. I look at it a different way. Maybe I m screwed up. I look at it for our fans, their loyalty and resiliency throughout difficult times here and not having been in the playoffs since 07 and not being able to have a home game since 99. I m excited for our team and I m excited for our fans. They ve gone through quite a bit. (On if he puts more stock into playing at home or winning the turnover battle) Winning the turnover battle, absolutely. I really believe that. (On if the game means more to Marcell Dareus because of his past) I just told him to be smart. He s the one, I think, the last one, he came from a trade. I just told him to be smart. (On what Chris Ivory has to do to get back on the field) It s not Chris. It s the same thing. It s a good situation, but it s a difficult situation when you get up there and you can only dress so many for a game, and you re looking at the positions and what you have and what you have to do. If we were dressing just based on their ability to contribute, then it d be easy. Chris plays running back, T.J. (Yeldon) plays running back and Leonard (Fournette) plays running back. We also have a bunch of other positions on special teams. That comes into play. Each week, whoever is healthy and whoever is up, it s a topic of conversation of what gives the team our best chance to win. It s always a tough decision each week. (On Marcell Dareus performance at Tennessee) The last two games, he s played well. I think when you put on the last two games, I think he s played well and looks like he s becoming more comfortable with the calls and what we do. Again, it s hard to insert someone right away. You know how hard it is for me
to give defensive line credit because when I was an o-line coach, you always work with the defensive line coach. I used to always joke around when training camp comes around and you have installation. The offensive installation books from where I ve been have been like this [makes a large stack gesture]. The defensive installation book was like this [makes a small stack gesture]. Now, granted, I will give credit to, and this is in general, not just here, everywhere I ve been. The DBs have a lot. There s a lot that goes into coverages and routes. The linebackers have a lot of adjustments. I used to always say to the d-line coach during installation, I m always like, So what do you do all the time? My meetings are always like, we re going on and on and on. They re like, Close right, close right. You line in three, you line up in the shade. Hey, close left, close left. Wait a minute, you line up at 3, you line up in the shade. How much can you do with that stuff? I coached with one coach that had a bunch of first rounders, Denny Marcin, when I was in New York. We had a good, scrappy group of o-linemen, good football players. He goes, Marrone, you don t know how hard it is coaching all of these first rounders. Gosh, Denny, I hope one day, I can find out. To answer that question, the purpose of me telling you that story, I do think there is a lot of learning for the defensive line, the more that I ve gotten around it and knowing the calls and what we want to get done. My point with Marcell is that he s getting more comfortable and I think I ve seen that the last two games with him performing better. (On if he prefers playing on Sunday to maintain the team s normal routine) I do because, like you said, I think it s something you re used to. You re not rushed. It s more of what you ve been doing all year. (On if the team is allowed to practice in pads this week) Yes. (On if the team is allowed to practice in pads once this week) Yes. (On if the team will practice in pads on Thursday) Yes. (On if the schedule will remain the same as other weeks) Yes. (On getting to postseason football) Just like I told our team, you could take all the season and you can take that stuff and all that stuff is great. This is the start of a different type of season. This is 12 teams. Six in the AFC and six in the NFC. Every one of those teams has overcome something during the year and has earned the right to be here. Every one of those teams is dangerous and it comes down to how you perform on that Sunday. It really does. For me, I am concentrating on getting this team ready to play its best football come Sunday. That is how I see the second half. (On his concern with the turnovers the last two weeks) The turnovers if I sit up here and say I am not concerned I always am, but I am going to keep my focus the same way and do everything we possibly can to make sure that doesn t happen in the future, especially on Sunday. (On if he preaches normalcy with the players during the playoffs) The routine is the same. I think the focus just naturally picks up. You want to make sure there is a lot of communication. It is like you do every week, but you are just checking the boxes, just one more time. That is probably it. To say, you want to make sure everything is clear, the plan is clear, what we want to do is clear, everyone understands and the reason why, that is a big thing is because when everything is clear, you can play harder and play faster. Those are the things you want to do. You don t want to say that is not what we have been doing during the year. I just think the focus and everything rises up and I think the level of play rises up. Now it is single elimination and you have all the teams that have been through a lot and teams that have earned their way there.
(On if running the ball and having a great defense gives you an advantage in the playoffs) If you can execute, I think so. Me, personally. It has always been my philosophy. I think if you can play good defense and you can run the football and play well on special teams, you are always going to have a chance. I have said that many times. (On if he has been portrayed fairly publicly since he left the Bills organization) I haven t read a lot of that stuff. Do you know my social life? What has passed, has passed. My goal is to be and I will tell you guys the truth, my goal and my function this stuff, and I am going to shoot everyone straight, this stuff happened so long ago. There has obviously been a lot of stuff out there. That stuff is done. It is over. I can t put it any simpler than that. I am not going to take away from my primarily responsibility to look back on a situation that occurred three years ago. If I do that, then I shouldn t be the coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. My job is to make sure I do the best job for this team. Am I happy [for Buffalo]? I am, I am. I am happy for their fans and I am happy for the organization, as well as I am for the other ten teams that are in it. My focus in on our fans, our team and where we want to go. It is going to be a week of people trying to pull that apart. I am not going to let that happen because of what my job is. (On where he has seen himself grow as a head coach in Jacksonville) I think you are always learning. I think I have probably learned more this year with Coach Coughlin than maybe any other year. I give him a lot of credit to my development. If we didn t win a lot of games, then Coach might say he didn t do anything for me [laughs]. I give him a lot of credit. I think you continue to learn. I have said this before, when you are not in that seat, no matter what it is, whether you are an assistant coach or coordinator, coordinator to head coach, when you are not in that seat, you always look at it and say, I can do that job. What is that guy doing? That doesn t seem that hard. Then, when you get into that chair, there is a lot of things that come up. You are constantly learning. I think once you say, Hey, I have this down. Hey, this is good. I think you are in trouble, especially in the NFL. With the team and the influx of players, you have to keep communicating with each player or each individual and every year the team changes, which it does. You have to make sure that you have a good beat on your availability and making sure you are with the team. To answer your question, I have consistently learned because I am big on going back and saying, What did I do a poor job of? What do I need to do a better job of and things of that nature, so I can help myself get better. (On if last season he was making mental notes as if he was the head coach or was his sole focus on coaching the offensive line) That is how I am. I have always looked at that way. If you are thinking about something else it goes back to early on. When I was at New Orleans and I was trying to prepare myself to maybe a head coaching job, I never did any work on it while I was employed by New Orleans. I waited until I went on vacation in the summer and I would wake up early, do the work in the morning and spend the rest of the day with my family. I always felt that if you are working for a team and you are taking time from that organization to work on something outside of what your job is, I never agreed with that. (On what he has learned from Tom Coughlin) I have learned a lot. In practice, scheduling, dealing with players, dealing with issues. A to Z really. I wouldn t even have enough time to really talk about it. It didn t just start when he was here. It started back when I was at Syracuse and meeting with him. It has continually grown. It grows every single day. There is not a day where I might just say, Hey, Coach, can you take a look at this and tell me what you think of it? Or how do you feel about this? Our communication level I talk to him more than I talk to my wife. Right now during the season. The offseason, I hope that doesn t happen.
(On his concern level with the defense giving up big plays) I thought a couple things, they did pretty well. I thought physically they played well. I thought that there was a couple times during the game where in the past we have lost our composure. I thought we did a very good job of that. Obviously they ran a good play and we weren t able to make a play on it. I thought we did a good job on third down with 19 percent. I thought defensively, they came back strong, but they did show all of us something that they do have the ability to keep their composure when someone takes a shot at them or things of that nature, which is going to be important moving forward. (On Allen Hurns) Good. I thought there was a play where he limped a little bit out there. He fought through and I thought he played well and he should be better coming into this week. (On mixing in some tempo offense yesterday) Yeah, part of it we were just waiting to get the younger guys that are around. We ve always had it in the system, but we couldn t really implement it in the games because of the young guys we had at receiver. (On is having a lot of playoff experience overrated or a must to be successful) I think it s good. I think anytime you have experience of something, it s good, so this way as you re up there as a coach or you re trying to make sure you have your team focused in the direction you want to go when you re not around your team and the player sitting next to someone, Hey, what is this like and that. You have that experience in your locker room. I think that s important. (On how much he leans on what he learned from Dick MacPherson, Sean Payton, Herm Edwards to handle playoffs) They re all different. They really are. Coach Mac was never really, he always tried to not down play the game, but he d always try to downplay the venue, meaning, Hey listen, we re going to go out and play this team in this game, but really what does it matter? We ll play this team in a corn field with no one there and we re still going to play the same way, the same intensity, the same focus, and things of that nature. Coach Payton was very animated, as far as getting the team ready to go. I think everyone of the people I ve been around, Herm Edwards was the same way when you re getting ready for the playoffs, but every one of them, they were who they were and I think they felt they were doing what was best for the team and I think that s what you have to be able to do. If I said I m going to do what Coach Coughlin has done or I m going to do what so and so has done, you don t know if that s going to have the same effect on your team. I think that s one of the responsibilities as a coach is to make sure you know how to get your team prepared and get them ready. (On any familiarity with the current roster in Buffalo) I think looking, when we went through their personnel today and went through their active roster, I think there s only two players on offense and three players on defense. (On what jumps out on how this Bills team is constructed) As a playoff team. I think they do a good job. They earned it. I haven t spent a lot of time on them yet, about ready to do that after this. (On if his coaching staff having a lot of playoff experience helps his team as well) Sure. I think it does. Like I said before, experience is a good thing. You have it and you know what you have to get done and how you have to present it and what you have to do. You get a feel for how the practice should be and the focus and all of that. I think all that stuff helps. Anytime someone is curious about what is this like, what should we be prepared for and you have people in your locker room, you have coaches that have been through it, that s something that is there to support and something that could help.
(On if it is double overtime for him and his coaching staff to get ready) I can t put in any overtime. There s no more time left in the day. I m serious. Coaches are creatures of habit. Everything on the schedule, it s like, I could go back, it s so easy if someone says, during the season in 2007 and whatever on this Wednesday at this time, what were you doing? And if it s something during work time, I can pretty much tell you we were doing red zone or we were doing third down. Everything is based on time and what you re doing. Sometimes you get caught a little bit and you might not have enough information and take it a little bit longer. Here, when we get into this situation there s always a lot more information that you ve got to get through, so it does take a little bit longer because you want to make sure you re going through a whole season. (On what did he work on Thursday of 2006 playoffs against Chicago week) Thursday? We were always Thursday in New Orleans was red zone night. I can tell you exactly what we ate, too. We always had pizza and we always had, for me, I always wanted crab dip. Outstanding. So we always had that and that night we went through every single red zone clip from the season, from Chicago season and I guarantee you I didn t get home until about 12:30. Defense went home at about 7 p.m., they were deciding whether they should eat dinner or not because defense in the red zone is a little bit easier. There you go. I m really beating up the defense. Are we going to play cover zero or play cover two. Those guys used to bust our chops, but we did spend a lot of time on that. Situationally you spend a lot of time. That s where you spend a lot of time because you have more situations to look at.