DABOLL: No injury updates.
Q: (Quarterback) Jaxson (Dart) looked pretty good out there. How would you summarize his performance?
Q: What was that when you put him on the field for that one play?
A: You never know when you’re going to have to go in, so just part of the multiple things we’ve done with a young quarterback in years past, where I was before, and thought it would be good for him for a play to get in there and not know that he’s going in there. He didn’t know it. He threw a little screen pass for 30, doesn’t hurt.
Q: How did you know exactly when you wanted to do that?
A: I didn’t tell anybody. I didn’t tell the coaches, I didn’t tell anybody.
Q: Why that exact moment?
A: Because I felt like it.
Q: One play in, one play out?
A: You don’t know what’s going to happen. Just be ready to go when your number’s called.
Q: Does it help that Dart’s done that in training camp so he already has that mindset?
A: He hasn’t done exactly – I mean, he’s done that a little bit. Again, it’s just you’re trying to put these young quarterbacks in as many situations as you can, so that’s what we did.
Q: Those situations that you put him in during camp and now in preseason, is it fair to say he’s met the expectations you had for him in those situations?
A: Yeah, he’s still got a lot to learn but he’s growing every day. Like I said, that’s why we drafted him. We spent a lot of time with him, have a lot of confidence in the young man. He’s done a good job for us since he’s been here in every area you could do, off the field, on the field, leadership, moxie, intelligence, but it’s early. We’ve played a couple preseason games against probably some vanilla looks but he’s making strides everyday and that’s all you can ask of any other young player.
Q: You guys believed in Jaxson, traded up for him, you got him. When he exceeds in these moments that you guys are putting him in, is there any sense of pride from you guys? Like you believed in him and it’s coming to fruition?
A: No, I just think we have a good relationship, both on the field and in the building and outside and you work as hard as you can as a coach or as a player to keep improving every day and that’s what he does. Does he make mistakes? Absolutely, he makes mistakes, he makes a lot of them. I make a lot of them, but you learn together and for a young quarterback, you grow together and that’s what we’re doing. We’re making mistakes, we’re trying to learn from them, making some good plays, you learn from those. That’s where we’re at. Early part of a young quarterback’s development.
Q: Can you talk about (wide receiver) Beaux Collins? Obviously, he had a big play tonight.
A: Yeah, he hit the one. Hit the post. What a great ball by (quarterback Russell Wilson) Russ, right? Eighty-yard bomb, dropped it in the bucket. Great protection by the offensive line off an action pass. Really just great vision by Russ to lay it up there and we were an inch short, whatever it was. And then the second one, where we threw the pick, the long one, that’s just some time on task – I can do a better job with that, but I like the aggressive nature of the quarterbacks – all the quarterbacks. We threw a couple picks, but they were down field, they turn it loose, they’re convicted on their throws, they’re convicted in their vision. Good guys to work with.
Q: What is the next thing you’d like to see from Jaxson?
A: Keep getting better. Do a good job of rehabbing tomorrow whatever he needs to rehab and keep growing in the offense and we’ll see how it pans out on Thursday night.
Q: Jaxson’s played really well in the preseason. You’ve said Russ is the starter. Is there anything he can do to get himself in that mix at this point?
A: Yeah, Russ is our starter and we’re going to keep developing Jaxson.
Q: With Russ remaining as your starter, would you like Jaxson take some first-team reps to see what he can do against that competition as part of his development?
A: We have a plan. We had a plan a while ago. Previous stop we’ve had, we’ve had a plan for this quarterback. It’s specific to each quarterback that you have, they have to possess the traits that you covet, that you look for in the draft. I think we just have to keep working with him and understand there’s going to be a lot of downs. I know there’s some ups right now but there’s going to be a lot of downs and we just got to keep growing and communicating, just keep getting better.
Q: Does the plan include first-team reps?
A: There’s a lot of stuff that’s in the plan. It started back in April so keep growing him.
Q: The plan you had in Buffalo seemed to change quickly so is there anything Jaxson can do to force you to change whatever plan you have?
A: Jaxson’s just got to continue to work to get better and we got to help him get better.
Q: Why was it important to you to give Jaxson a drive with the starting offensive line?
A: Because that was part of the plan.
Q: That seemed to be an escalation of him getting more of an opportunity than he’s had.
A: We have strategy and a plan of how to develop a young quarterback and that was part of it tonight. The one play in, the one play out, the reps, the situations, the situations in practice in the red zone, unscripted periods, scripting plays and then completely scrapping them, putting new plays in, having him call his own plays… I mean, there’s a variety of things that we’ll continue to do but he’s doing a nice job.
Q: You’re developing him or are you preparing him for the possibility of playing early in the season?
A: What we’re trying to do is help Jaxson be the best quarterback he can be, just like all the quarterbacks. Just like all the players on the team.
Q: What did you think about (quarterback) Jameis Winston?
A: Did some good things. I know there’s a couple plays that he’d like to have back. Moved the ball down, scored points, but we’d like to finish with touchdowns rather than field goals, but another guy that’s working as hard as he can work and doing a good job in our system and good leadership, glad we have him.
Q: Why did you do so much up tempo with Jameis and Jaxson?
Q: What did you see from Russell?
A: A great shot. We can clean up… That’s two guys that haven’t worked a particular route.
Q: Are you talking about that interception?
A: Yeah, they haven’t worked that particular route. I’m not too concerned about that. Nice pass to (wide receiver Jalin) Hyatt there, backed up. It was good, executed well.
Q: When you talk about your plan, where has it materialized throughout your career? Was it coming together with (Buffalo Bills quarterback) Josh (Allen) in Buffalo? When did the plan become the plan?
A: I would just say this is unique to Jaxson, our plan with this player right here. You know, you take a lot from your experiences, where you’ve been, and who you’ve learned from and who you’ve watched play quarterback or developed as a young player as a quarterback. Some on the fourth string, some that wasn’t going to play and then a guy gets hurt or whatever it may be. We alter that daily, we talk about it every night. It’s a big priority for us, to help him improve. It’s a hard position to play. Again, he’s played two preseason games. He’ll be the first to say that there’s not terribly difficult looks or anything like that. I’m proud of the way he prepares, I’m proud of the way he practices, the way he communicates, the way he executes.
Q: When you look at the offensive line, obviously you mentioned…
A: Another good job tonight with all the guys.
Q: Also, the confidence you had in the offensive line when you’re backed up in the end zone, for Russ to make the throw to Hyatt, have you seen this progression and development with the first unit and is it different from the past two years?
A: I think everybody helps the offensive line out. The offensive line has done a nice job but the quarterbacks got to throw it on time, in rhythm, pull the trigger. When he sees it, let it go. Backs got to protect, receivers got to run the right depth, the routes. It’s an all-encompassing thing on offensive football. Everybody’s got to do their job for a play to work and you have to have confidence in the players that they can go out there and execute but confidence comes from seeing them do it in practice, even though it’s not a live situation or putting the ball in Russ’s hands, who has done it a variety of times and know he’s going to make the right decision, or Jaxson, or Jameis, or (quarterback) Tommy (DeVito), whoever it may be. But they’ve done a nice job. How many sacks did we have? One? On a naked, I think.
Q: With how much your starters played together in these first two games, do you feel that the team is more ready? That they needed this?
A: Time will tell. We had a target of what we wanted to get. For example, the inside linebackers, we were hoping for around 20 each so I was asking between every series, ‘Where are we at with (inside linebacker) Bobby O (Okereke)?’ ‘He’s at 15.’ ‘Where we at with (inside linebacker) Micah (McFadden)?’ ‘He’s at 21 or 20.’ ‘Alright, get Bobby O one more. Where we at with (inside linebacker) Darius (Muasau)?’ ‘He got 25.’ We had how many reps we wanted to get so who was in there, when they were in there, doesn’t really necessarily mean anything. It was a number of reps we were trying to get our guys to hit a sweet spot of the first game we played and then the second game we played. Now, does that change a little bit with (nickel) Dru Phillips playing the nickel or (wide receiver) Wan’Dale (Robinson) playing the slot and the personnel we’re using? Sure, that can happen so then you get to a certain point in the game and say, ‘Okay, Wan’Dale’s only got seven reps. We don’t need to play him anymore – but he only had seven’ But that was a byproduct of how we called the game with (assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Mike) Kafka, or how the Jets utilized them so Dru Phillips is in. That’s all it comes down to. Not like, ‘Bobby Okereke only had 20 but then he went in the second…’ like that’s not how it works. What works is we calculate the numbers. I’m talking to the coaches in between every series, where they’re at, target number. (Cornerback Cor’Dale) Flott had a couple more than we were going to give him. I think he had 18, we were shooting for roughly 10-12 but they got into a little bit of a series. (Wide received Darius) Slayton and Hyatt were right around 10-12, which they got right around that area, so I’d say the reps or the rep counting that everybody’s doing, I understand it, but there’s a specific plan for it and the reason why we do it.